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Tags: art marketing, artist business consultant, business of art
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Comments (221)
Grace
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Hi Ann,
I’m a portrait painter and want to increase my own sales locally while still retaining the services of brokers in areas I can’t reach on my own. It has been suggested that I do a donation for a private school auction as a way to have my target tribe see my work. I have done this in the past, did the portrait and that was it, I didn’t even get one call from a prospective client. The school wanted a total donation not a discount on my services so I put in considerable time on something that gave me no return. I would like to try again with the private schools as I think this is a way I might get to my tribe but I don’t want to do a total freebie. Also how do you feel about direct mail promotions to private affluent households?
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Ann Rea
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Direct mail can work but it depends on the quality of the media, the quality of the list, and the number of exposures. You won’t know unless you try it. Do the math first. What is the total cost of the campaign? What is your take for one commission?
Always cultivate referrals. They are free and easier to close.
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Grace
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Thanks Ann. I will run the numbers and see if it is something I should do now or postpone.
What is your feeling about the donation? How should I approach it so it is a win win for both myself and the organization?
Thanks again.
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Ann Ryals
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I’m looking for a legal form that gives me permission, from the buyer, to exhibit my work, that have have purchased, at any time. Do you know where I can obtain this form? Do you know what the wording should be?
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Ann Rea
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Ann,
I don’t know of a form. Have you asked them? Why not ask them? Then document and questions or issues that come up in conversation, or in your head, in a clear agreement.
Be sure to have a business attorney in your state review your agreements.
Ann
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Jason C H
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sorry—I hit send by mistake. Hi. My name is Jason and well, I’ll try to keep this brief. I read your bio and it really inspired me. I am a 39 year old artist who has been in the restaurant business for 20 years. Many times I “thought” , I should sell my art but always lacked the confidence. Recently, I have gained confidence in myself and also, I have some pretty major health problems that could shorten my life and I want to do what I love for me and to make a decent living…which is art. I’ve started these different ideas and sites but I realized that I have no clue what I’m doing. I thought I’d do it “different” with my music commercials I made and such but it’s like having a passion to put a car engine together from scratch to create a beautiful, smooth running engine, with 1000 parts in front of you with not even a basic set of engine building directions, you know? I’m determined, I’m scared, I’m passionate about my art and selling it. Do you have any advice for me? https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.402784969757783.81746.401905383179075&type=3 this link is a facebook photo album of a lot of my work. Thank you!
Jason
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Ann Rea
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Hello Jason,
The scope of your question is a bit to general to offer you decent advice.
I would start be determining a SMART goal and outlining an action plan.
Kindly,
Ann
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Adele
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Hi Ann
I am looking at e-commerce options and wonder your opinion about sites like Fine Art America vs. one’s own e-commerce site? How does one decide which kind of site to use?
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Ann Rea
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Fine Art America is the last place I would go.
You need to own your own eCommerce site.
We are going to be rolling out an eCommerce Course and eCoommerce solution.
Stay tuned.
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Frustrated
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Hi Ann,
So i have had a tough week with an annoying client. I was under deadline to finish his storyboards by tomorrow. The sketches were already approved, so I did the final line art and sent him scans for approval of color comps. Wednesday night he send me a laundry list of revisions to be made after he already approved the sketches. None of his comments had anything to do with color, just the fundamental aspects of the drawings. So considering the deadline, I decided to enforce the terms of our agreement and told him that in order to get new drawings there would be an extra fee and I may have to push the deadline a few days. He freaked out and told me I was too difficult to work with and decided to scrap the whole thing. Keep in mind, this is the second project we have done together, and I have delivered all works in a timely manner up to his standards up to that point. I kept all of that to myself and sent him another message imploring him to change his mind and at least let me finish the project before we went our separate ways. He threw the offer in my face and asked to immediately be billed for the cancellation costs. So I let it go and sent him the invoice. He paid it. Done.
A few hours later….he is emailing me again telling me he has others depending on him for the art and now wants me to finish it however I see fit. I think he had an idea in mind to keep all of the scans that I emailed him previously for approval and get someone else to finish them. When I sent him the invoice, it clearly restated the terms of the contract that he signed stating “upon cancellation all rights revert to the artist and any copies/scans sent for approval must be destroyed.” I’m guessing that is why he is doing this.
I know I can get the work done. it will be a great inconvenience to me at this point since I already took another job but I know I can get it done by the time he asked for. I will just be miserable doing it. Should I just let the water go under the bridge and finish the work or tell him to beat it?
Thanks,
-Frustrated
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Ann Rea
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He sounds fickle. Get paid for the work you have done and get paid up front for the future work.
Detail your deliverables with your invoice.
Use PayPal for immediate payment.
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John wilson
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Ann, thanks for all of your info and insight but I need to reach out to gallery owners in a larger market, what do you feel is the best format to send to gallery owners so they will actually take a look?
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Ann Rea
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John,
Artists Who THRIVE is about maintaining creative freedom through business savvy. We do not advocate taking the traditional permission based scarcity approach of working with galleries.
I can’t help you with that.
Good luck,
Ann
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Jamie Martyn
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Hey Ann!
Jamie here! (we met at the Meakin’s gala event and also the Polo) How are you? I hope well.
I was wondering if you could share what you would think would be a reasonable split between the artist and vendor? And vendor in this case would just be a blogger. There is no gallery in which my art is shown but rather someone’s blog.
We(me and blogger) are thinking about doing a collaborative project in which my art would be printed on tshirts and then displayed on her blog for people to buy. I would be providing the designs and I believe we would split the costs of the tshirt printing 50/50, but as far as the profits made from the sale of the tshirts, do you think 50/50 is also reasonable, or since the design is mine, do you think that 60/40 is better?
The blogger is someone who is really into a music scene, and some of her followers and music people might see these tshirts. She proposed 50/50 split, but I am kind of uneasy about splitting it right in the middle since my work is not in the space of a physical gallery but free website, also as the designer I thought 60/40 might be better.
I tried researching this online but couldn’t find good results regarding the split between an artist and someone like a blogger who would display their work.
Look forward to your response!
Thank you!!
Jamie
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Ann Rea
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Hi Jamie!
Everything is negotiable and that means there are no rules.
Negotiate and represent yourself the best you can.
Ann
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Billie Wells
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Dear Ann,
Thank you so much!
I learned so much during our session about target market. I have much to think about and work on. I can see so many possibilities. You really changed my way of thinking!
Thanks for your help and guidance!
Billie
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Ann Rea
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You are welcome!
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Paula Brett
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Hi Ann,
I’ve been looking through your Artists Who Thrive site- great info.
I did send you a comment about an ‘ecommerce solution’ you said to email Amy@AnnRea.com about. I did this, but received a comment from you to build a wordpress theme with an ecommerce theme.
I understand that you are working on unveiling a course and updating your site. Is this ecommerce solution you have something that I can purchase separately from the course? And if so, when will it be available?
In response to your comment to get a theme, I’m hot on the search for a good one. Right now I have something that’s free with no ecommerce, wp-folio. Thinking about Thesis, but not sure if this is good for artists. I also found Canvas through Woo themes, and it seems to look good.
I do love your annrea.com site and your ecommerce section- it’s really wonderful. I want something like this for myself. And finally, do you print and frame on demand, using local businesses?
I realize I’m asking a lot of questions, and I do appreciate your time in answering them.
Thanks, Ann.
-Paula
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Ann Rea
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Hello Paula,
We are looking at adding an “eCommerce for Artists” supplement to the “Making Art Making Money” course.
My prints are created in my studio.
Hope that helps.
Ann
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Gina
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In one of your workshops you mentioned a good book for business by Russell Simmons,
do you remember the title?
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Ann Rea
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Do You.
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