People don't like to admit it, but it does motivate you to make work if you're selling it.
There is a drive in that. (Zoe Benbow)
Chanson d'Amour
Continuing the discussion from the other day about different
kinds of art sites and the potential for burn out from having to keep up our
presence and participation in various online art venues, I thought I’d tackle
the other half of the equation – the reason we do all this! As I mentioned, our
first priority may not be sales, but I think it’s a bit ludicrous to say, “I’m
only in it for the art” when we’re working our rear-ends off trying to market
ourselves every which way to Sunday. There probably isn’t one of us who wouldn’t
celebrate a sale even if just as an affirmation that what we create appeals to
someone besides ourselves.
And we’ve probably all bitten off more than we can chew when
it comes to self-promotion. We read blog after blog about how to market
ourselves online, how to be more visible to potential buyers. Maybe we even buy
packages that promise to show us how to get 10,000 Facebook fans in just weeks.
Then…the next blog you read says, “Don’t count on Facebook to sell your art.” More
successful friends recommend Google+ or Pinterest and so you do that too.
As artist Dan Turner says, “Too often, artists start down the online
art marketing path and quickly find themselves bogged down in “how-to” details.
They reach burn-out before they ever get a fundamental marketing plan in place.
Trying to connect the dots in a half-baked, half-finished marketing plan is disheartening
and counter-productive.” Dan’s written a simple, easy to follow art-marketing
primer called, “7 Keys to Selling Art Online.” Best of all – it’s a free e-book
download. Remember though, just because Dan makes it look simple with his
clear, step-by-step advice, doesn’t mean it isn’t going to take work…lots of
work…but at least the end result might be those sales we keep pretending aren’t
important. That doesn’t mean I’ve changed my mind about why I create in the
first place or how I measure my success as an artist…it just means that it
would be less than honest of me to suggest I wouldn’t like to sell a few pieces
now and then too!
You can get Dan’s free art marketing guide here: http://danturnerfineart.com/dan-turners-7-keys-selling-art-online-free-ebook-artists/ But don’t stop there…he’s got lots of worthwhile advice in
his blog too!
Perhaps it's true that as Abigail Brown says, "We cannot judge our art because it does or does not sell." In the ideal world, that's the way it should be. But the real world is more likely to be like this:
Perhaps it's true that as Abigail Brown says, "We cannot judge our art because it does or does not sell." In the ideal world, that's the way it should be. But the real world is more likely to be like this:
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