I’ve been conducting a survey for about a month-and-a-half now: Artist’s Survey: The Business of Art. (Today – April 15 – last day to take it, but you can continue to sign up for the results on the same page as the survey).
The survey assumes you are interested in selling art, so it is targeted at those who want to sell art.
The number 1 challenge for artists out there showed up early and has kept the lead the entire survey: How to price your art.
I sort of thought that might happen, and had already started thinking about it in my post, How Do You Price your Art?
In addition to multiple choice questions, I had open ended questions that let artists tell me what’s on their minds. After all, that helps me write content that is interesting to everyone out there.
Many (many!) artists say that they want an art agent.
Someone that will (please please!) sell their art for them. Please!
Artists as a tribe seem to long for the story of just making art and having everything else fall into place all on its own. Someone who is going to take care of everything but the art making for them, so they can concentrate on their genius.
Hmmm.
Okay. I get that.
I want the same thing.
And here’s what I’ve learned on my way to getting an art agent:
- Galleries take 50% of the cost of your piece. These days I’m seeing more and more who take 60%. That helps them pay for the building and staff who will sell your art.
- Agents start at 10% and can go to 25% or more, depending on their client list.
- Do the math. You get 10 – 40% of the retail price of your art piece.
How do those numbers work for you?
Note: I think 40% is reasonable – if I could find a way to work that out, I would take that in a heart beat. So far I haven’t.
So what’s an artist to do in order to make a space to keep doing her genius work – her art?
I know that one too! Because it’s what I do.
Hire A Marketing Assistant
Find or train someone to market for you. At a given price per hour. This adds to the cost of doing art, but frees you up from doing something you aren’t doing, don’t want to do, and so aren’t likely to do anytime in the near future.
I found my marketing assistant at a local women’s network group. She charges $28/hour and in about 3 months has brought in 5 new stores (and I’ve already gotten reorders from 2), organized all my shop information, and regulated the outreach and keep in touch information (Me: I need labels. Her: Okay! Here they are!). Guess what I get to do while she’s doing that: art!
You can also check with local colleges and even create an internship for marketing students. That could be anywhere from less expensive to free, but be aware that you have responsibilites for knowing what you want, for training, and for reporting back to the school with these types of arrangements. That $28/hour could look better and better because you’re doing your art, not training someone or doing paperwork for them.
Either way you can see that in order to do your genius work, your art, you are going to have to start investing in buying yourself time.
Artists interested in selling their work are entrepreneurs – whether they like that designation or not. That means they are running a business.
The good news is that once you start treating your art business like a business and not some “oh, but I am an artist – I just make it and they will come” pie in the sky, you will find doors opening for you that DO allow you to make your art.
So go ahead and want that agent. But then go ahead and DO something about it. What’s your next step?
Wylde Women’s Wisdom
…while mastering technique is difficult and time-consuming, it’s still inherently easier to reach an already defined goal – a “right answer” – than to give form to a new idea. It’s easier to paint in the angel’s feet tp another’s masterwork than to discover where the angels live within yourself. Bayles and Orland
5 Comments
Hi Ana bela
1.5 months is not very long for a gallery to get their customers introduced to you. A bit of patience!
You can check out my on-line course: Sell Your Art, Keep Your Soul (http://www.SellYourArtKeepYourSoul.com or just click on the tab at the top of my website)
for help in thinking through venues and approaching them. But in the end, it’s one at a time, and a working partnership between you and the shop or gallery
Tammy, truly you are looking in the right places, I have worked in Marketing over 28 years, withing sales and marketing to improve sales. This is truly a tough economy, but only if you let it be. I have an assistant out of George Mason, and she works in her apt. and complete her tasks daily in an unbelievable way. I would like to get some more information about getting in stores as you have. I am represented by two Galleries, the one that I spent the most was tragic, 2 years ago, they did not sell for me one piece, I did in my reception opening date. I was there for 1.5 months. I could not believe it. Not everyone knows how to sell works and how to know a buying customer to a window shopper.
Brilliant post Tammy. More and more I need a virtual assistant. It will make all the difference.
Randall, you don’t say which part of this doesn’t work for you: running art as a business? hiring someone to call shops for you? what?
Well that is good advice for normal artists but what about ones with major disablities? Wish someone writing things like this would remember its not all the same for everyone across the board.