27th
How To Sell Your Art Part-Time
Yeah, I totally said that correctly.
How to go - PART time selling your art. I wanted to begin a discussion on this.
In the beginning, many artists focus on being able to create our art full time by:
- quitting our day job.
- make an income that’s good enough to live off of, and maybe more.
- expand our art’s exposure and therefore…opportunities.
Little do we realize all the work, sweat, blood, and tears we must experience to get to that iffy place.
To be a successful artist, this is not magic. It’s really really hard work. And on top of that HARD WORK, you also have to do all these other jobs as I’ve listed before:
1- photographer
2- designer/ad creator
3- identity design
4- marketer and PR
5- customer service
6- packaging and shipping
7- networking
8- market research
9- product testing
10- upkeep of all web presence (websites, auctions, sites, etc)
11- sales rep
We have more than one job. I remember specifically that I didn’t ask to have different jobs. I just want ONE.
For many artists, the dream is definitely the opposite of working full-time.
For me, I’ve been working full time as an artist for over 4 years, without any sabbaticals (though I’ve come close) or breaks in between. My sales are consistent. I get opportunties and my art is being exposed at a nationwide scale. But I’m working over 10 jobs, which is not as compact and simple as it may seem. I front all the contacts, the stress, the changes, the tax issues, etc.
What I really dream about is being able to focus on more important things in life instead of sitting in front of a canvas and computer 24/7. What does that mean to an artist like me?
HOW TO SELL YOUR ART PART-TIME
You will need multiple streams of income become streamlined. Offer products with low expense and little time needed to create. You are living off the hardwork of many years of creating.
- Get into print sales. This is your bread and butter. Invest in large format printers and offer multiple sizes in your prints.
- Sell art cards/aceo prints of your art
- Work on paintings that only sell at full price. No more art auctions, no more deals, no more sales. You may have artwork for years until that one day they are sold. You retain your art’s worth and in turn work less.
- Get rid of excess projects and work on what’s important and vital to your income.
- Make blog posts and newsletters automatic. You can time your blog posts and newsletters to come out at exactly when you need them. Write blog articles and posts ahead of the week and set them on that Monday to post each day for a week. Plan your newsletter’s themes for the month and have your newsletters set to email your members each week or month, depending on the frequency you choose. You never have to go and blog or post a newsletter each and every day!
- Check emails only twice a week (make a note on your blogs and everywhere you sell that you will only check them on the certain days you choose. Have an automatic email sent to someone each time they email you, stating this.)
- Ship on only two or three days a week. Also make note of this on all major places you sell or post.
Another artist, who’s efforts in self-promotion and genuine goodness I admire,