Art Print Issues by Barney Davey

Limited Edition Prints Versus Open Edition Prints - More Perspectives

When it comes to digital fine art giclee prints, readers who follow this blog know I hold strong opinions about using open editions for marketing them.

There is no single solution on the open vs. limited edition debate.

It's not that I am against tradition. It's more that I believe the arguments for using open editions outweigh those for continuing to use them.

I also am the first to admit there is no 100% solution for all artists. How could there be when there is ample evidence there are many artists who continue to effectively market their fine art giclee prints.

There are believable points and great examples to support both sides of the debate.

In recent days, I have been reminded about how some artists are doing well in open editions while others are profiting from limiting editions. Here is a note from fine art photographer, Jeffrey Stoner. He is a long-time follower, friend and supporter.

"Your writings about limited vs. open edition prints were one of the deciding factors in my choice to go to open prints in 2007.  It was definitely the right decision.

I began a series of Angora Goat images in 2008.  There are now five in the series. The goats are part of a 10-year experiment to control the growth of Canadian blackberry bushes on the open balds.

The balds are treeless mountain tops and the one they are on is at 5800’ along the Appalachian Trail on the Tennessee / North Carolina border.  The goats are brought to the mountain top on the first day of summer and come back down the last day of summer.

 The series took off and the first goat image (Arlo) which I made in 2008 was my best selling image of all time with 9 months. If I had limited the sales of this, and succeeding, goat images I would have lost a lot of income. 

And, Arlo is still a big hit. One gallery owner jokes that Arlo will pay for my retirement. I've included shots of Arlo from 2008 and Nash from 2010.  I’m working on the 2011 edition to the herd." — Jeffrey Stoner

The other side of the coin has compelling rational to it

I had a long chat with Roger Laudy, the CEO and mastermind behind Image Wizards the other day. His company is the premier provider of fine art and fine art photography printed on aluminum. The results for the right images are nothing short of spectacular. Roger listened intently as I laid out my argument for why I believe in open editions:

• I'm an artist advocate and I don't believe artist should have to arbitrarily cap their income by limiting how many copies of their work get sold.
• I believe most collectors will buy open editions as freely as limited, or that the upside on the open will exceed the loss on the limited.
• In an age of digital printing where even lightly informed buyers understand there are no actual limitation to possible number of prints produced, it seems somewhat disingenuous to be selling limited editions.
• I have more the argument, you can read about it in this post, The Double Entendre of the Visual Artist Selling Out Redux, or get more perspective on any of the posts here.

Roger is in touch on a regular basis with some very successful fine artists and fine art photographers. He made the powerful point that his best customers, those who place the most frequent orders, nearly all sell their work in limited editions.

He gave me the example of the fabulous oceanic photographer, Marc Montocchio who has a limited edition print on metal of a live marlin in its natural habitat in the ocean.

This is a one-of-a-kind piece. He is selling a very limited edition run of the image, and stands to make a boodle doing it. You can view the YouTube video on how the image was taken here.

Ultimately, every artist will come to his or her own conclusion

So, I get it. I can look at artists like Ford Smith, Jennifer Vranes, Yuroz and countless more who are profiting in the limited edition market. It proves it is not an open and shut case. My only retort to such overwhelming evidence of success is to question how much money those artists lose by capping their income.

The heirs of Maxfield Parrish and Ansel Adams continue to get royalties from their estates. If these artists had opted for limited editions of their work. The income from those original prints would have long ago dried up.

The open edition print versus limited print debate is ongoing and likely to never be resolved

I'll leave it at that. As always, I know you will come to your own informed decision. Two competing ideas that are both wildly successful are Art That Fits, a company owned by Larson-Juhl, the world's largest supplier of picture frame moulding and supplies. It is notably owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway group. Art buyers can browse its site and order open edition prints in a variey of sizes.

The other is Jen Bekman's 20x200.com site that sells very limited editions. It has enjoyed VC investments in the millions. She is proving the argument for limited edition prints. And, the debate goes on... and on.

P.S. If you live in the U.S., you can order a free sample kit from Image Wizards. International orders pay a small shipping fee to have the samples sent to them.

How to Sell Art, Make Money and Be Happy

If you can learn to sell your art at regularly increasing prices, consistently make more money and be happy with the results that would make a great art career. 

We all know the amount of money we make is not the real reason for our true happiness.

It is natural to conclude if you sell enough art your earnings will make you happy.  Certainly, selling art regularly makes life pleasant. And, undoubtedly, when the stress of worrying about money is relieved, it is easier to be happy. There is just more to it than sitting on a pile of dough. Money can just as easily be the cause of problems.

“Money won’t buy you happiness, but it will help you look for it in lots of places.”

There are many artists who have modest means, modest sales and who enjoy a high happiness quotient. They are the ones who have achieved balance where making art and selling art both provide pleasure.

It is undeniable there is so much more to being happy than being successful in an art career. Health, family, friends, faith spirituality and sense of purpose all contribute. Nevertheless, for visual artists, there is no getting around if your goal is to live a comfortable life based on the fruits of your creative artistic endeavor, then you must be able to effectively sell your artwork.

I have extensively written about how to sell art here. Some of the most popular posts are:

• How to Sell Art: Use the Five "C"s for Success
• How to Sell Art with No Fear
• Shhh! How to Sell Art with Silence
• How to Sell Art Prints - a reader question answered
• Seven Great Ways to Sell More Art

These days, selling art is different than in the past. For sure, the traditional means of getting work to market through galleries, dealers and consumer shows remains a staple for many career artists. However, print-on-demand technology (POD), social media, email marketing, e-commerce, changing consumer buying habits, and other factors have changed the rules and opened the door for artists to directly sell work to their collectors.

New Rules Create New Opportunities

These new rules apply to musicians and authors. My book, How to Profit from the Art Print Market – 2nd Edition, is a result of POD availability in the book market. The similarities in selling a POD book and selling giclees helps me walk the same path as artists who read this blog. I sell direct, and am listed on all the electronic bookseller sites. That compares to an artist selling directly from his or her website and blog and also listing on sites such Zazzle, Fine Art America, ImageKind, Etsy, et cetera.

These days, authors like me who have a message and an audience to deliver can totally bypass the traditional book publisher means of getting work to interested buyers. Musicians can create their own CDs, sell them on the road, via Facebook and MySpace and cut out the recording companies.

Sell less art, make more money is totally possible with POD and Web 2.0

The upshot of the convergence of POD technology and Web 2.0 phenomena, such as Facebook, means artists can sell for the same price to far fewer buyers and still make a substantial income from the effort. In my case, I make considerably more on each book sold than I would if I were getting a royalty from a publisher. I can't imagine an offer a publisher could make me to publish this book that would entice me.

Traditional means to get your work to market are the best in certain circumstances

Don’t get me wrong; with the right book and right deal, I would be all over working with a publisher. When it comes to the mass market, they still are the preferred path. But, with the narrow focus of interest my book has, and the relatively paltry royalties publishers can afford to pay, it makes no sense for me to have publisher in the mix.

Working with galleries remains a viable choice for many artists, just not exclusively

It is only in recent time with the advent of above mentioned developments that it is possible for creative people to take their work directly to the buyer. In a series of blog posts last year, artist and blogger extraordinaire, Lori McNee, and I explored whether artists should sell direct, work with galleries, or do some combination of both.

We each came to the conclusion that the best course for most artists was to find the balance and strive to do both. We came to that conclusion independently without debating before we started the series. Here are links to the my posts in the series:

• Visual Artist’s Challenge: Should I Work with Galleries, Go Direct to Collectors or Both?
• More Thoughts on Artists and Galleries Working Together
• The Art of Self-promotion for Visual Artists

Artists should make controlling direct distribution of the their work a top priority

However, the ways things are these days, it is my strongly held conviction that artists should seek to control as much direct distribution of their work as possible. In the end, the artist is only person he or she can fully rely upon to carry their water. And, if you grow your own viable list of interested collectors, you put yourself in strong bargaining positions with galleries and dealer who might want to work with you.

It’s a far different thing to say come into a negotiation being able to say I can help you sell my work versus I hope you have everything you need to sell my work. What a relief it is to know you are not desperate to make the connection. That is a huge byproduct being in control of the distribution of your artwork.

The resources for artists to learn how to sell and make more money are abundant

The good news is besides the wonderful array of tools to help you sell your work, there also is an abundance of help from a stellar lineup of artist advocates who offer a steady stream of great ideas, information and inspiration. Your success is there for you to take and to make. These include:

• Jason Horejs, author of 'Starving to Successful: The Fine Artist's Guide to Getting into Galleries
• Alyson Stanfield, author of I'd Rather Be in the Studio
• Ariane Goodwin, founder and organizer of the long-running smARTist Telesummit
• Tara Reed, author of How to Be a Press Friendly Artist and numerous other helpful books, article and courses on succeeding in the print market
• Tamra Fleming, founder and coordinator of the Creative Souls Telesummit

Of course, these are just a few of the talented and hard working artists advocates. Folks who by and large could make more money working in other fields, but who have chosen to help artists instead. I'm sure there is a happiness quotient at work here, too.

Success Is Personal - So Is Happiness

I believe success is personal. There is no one universal description of it and the same is true of happiness. It is strictly your choice. When you achieve it, which you will if you plan and execute like you truly want it, you will find happiness is the fine residue of the hard work you put in to accomplish your goals.

I wish I could tell you how to be happy, but it is too personal. Your definition is going to be as unique as your personality and your art. You will know it when you have it, and without question, enjoying success in your art career is a big step towards achieving it.

There are a few spots left for the Catch a Star - How to Sell Fine Art Giclee Prints Webinar

You can’t learn how to sell art, make money and be successful by reading a single blog post, but you can get a serious jump on creating success in the giclee print market when you participate in one of my upcoming two-hour Catch a Star - How to Sell Fine Art Giclee Prints - Art Career Webinar. Seating is limited, there are some spots left, act now to reserve yours.

The dates and times are:

•    Tuesday, May 24, 4 – 6 pm (Pacific Daylight Time) 
•    Saturday, May 28, 9 – 11 am (Pacific Daylight Time)

The price is only $24.95 and will include handouts from the presentation, including dozens of resource links to help you research your next moves. My guarantee is I will do my best to help you learn how to sell more art, make more money and will leave the finding happiness to your own making.

Click here to register now!

Digital Arts Studio – a Giclee Printer Profile

All giclee printers know when it comes to reproducing their original art, artists understandably are picky. One does not create art and not care about color and fidelity in giclee fine art reproductions. This makes the job of operating a professional digital fine art giclee printing service, such as Digital Arts Studio, a challenging occupation

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Given the broad range of opportunities in the wide-format printing business, one can only conclude that those who decide to work in the fine art field do so as much for love of art and artists as it is a way to make an income. The bottom line is those who toil to make perfect giclee prints for visual artist could likely make more money with less hassle in a similar line of work.

Digital Arts Studio ranks among the best giclee printers

Fortunately for visual artists, there are numerous dedicated professional giclée printing services available to them. Digital Arts Studio ranks among the best of those in the field. Barry Glustoff, Robin Zelizer and Peter Leafman opened Digital Arts Studio in 2003. It was their desire to help artists take advantage of the growing interest in using digital fine art reproductions to grow their art careers.

These three partners each have many years experience in art related fields. Together they have worked more than 80 years in art reproduction, marketing and retail custom picture framing.  In addition, Barry, Robin and Peter have put together an outstanding team of technicians, including skilled photographers, professional artists, graphic designers and digital imaging specialists.

Using state-of-the-art equipment and techniques is essential

DAS uses the latest and best possible technology available to help its fine artists clients achieve superior quality, color accuracy, and consistency on every project. Color management is not only about technical expertise; it requires and artistic background and keen color sense to be able to make a winning collaboration with all artists, regardless of their technical knowledge and expertise.

The staff at Digital Arts Studio combines its technical expertise and marketing savvy to show artists how to enjoy increased profits for works created using the fine-art giclee printmaking process.  Whether artists are serious amateurs or seasoned professionals they find their images reproduce wonderfully as giclées with the technical quality to be museum collector items.

Digital Arts Studios uses the latest equipment and techniques in its giclee printmaking process. It specializes in creating archival prints utilizing affordable, state-of-the-art printing that produces true-to-the-original work in highly accurate full color. DAS furnishes related products and marketing support to artists and photographers nationwide. Its efforts are focused on providing new and established artists with the best possible technology, superior quality, color accuracy, and consistency on every project.

Providing full-service makes a huge difference in the level of service and trust

The team at Digital Arts Studio has earned a reputation in artist communities nationwide as a premium quality, full service, fine art giclée printmaker and custom picture framer. In addition to its traditional high-resolution image capture, large format giclée printmaking services, DAS is a one-stop resource for artists. It handles everything from printing and custom picture framing needs to order fulfillment services. 

As a fine art digital giclee printmaking service, Digital Arts Studio is unique among other printing companies. It goes the extra mile in helping artists get to market by offering graphic design, sales and marketing assistance. An example of its unique service is its retail gallery space is made available to clients to display and sell their work without any fees.

An online e-commerce enabled gallery complements the retail gallery services

The company is dedicated to providing proactive resources to assist visual artists with all their sales and marketing efforts. Its FineArtMarketplace.com proves the point. It is an e-commerce web site created for clients to use as their "sales portal." Artists benefit with complete fulfillment services for print orders, payment processing and direct shipping. 

DAS’ philosophy is that artists should spend their time creating art, and not having to deal with the mundane tasks of processing print orders. Their intentional action to help artists clearly demonstrates the company walks its talk when it comes to supporting its customer’s efforts in becoming successful artists.

Encouraging artists to learn about the business of art makes DAS stand out

Another example is it has routinely advised artists to read How to Profit from the Art Print Market. A book exclusively devoted to helping visual artists succeed in the print market. It has sponsored a live seminar with author Barney Davey and more recently a webinar with him, all in a continuing effort to educate its clientele and help them with their sale sand marketing efforts.

The company is a proud member of Adobe's Print Service Provider Network. It belongs to many other professional organizations. It also sponsors numerous local and national art and photography groups. It is a premier book sponsor advertiser in the Giclee Business directory, which contains listings from more than 500 companies with products and services aimed at helping visual artists operate their art businesses more successfully.

Transforming Art Marketing

If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevancy even less. - General Eric Shinsheki, Retired Chief of Staff United States Army

The speed of change in how we communicate with each other, how we find information, how we make decisions is increasing. We find, use and rely on all matter of sources that were not in existence until recent times. Check out this Transform Your Marketing Slideshare presentation from the the smart marketing folks at Hubspot.  You'll find the quote above in it. 

Transform Your Marketing

View more presentations from HubSpot Internet Marketing

Embracing change is no longer optional

Granted Hubspot's focus may be above and beyond the reach of most self-published artists, there is still much the smallest art marketing operation can take away from looking at how it operates. The reality is artists selling digital fine art giclee reproductions have to find ways to distribute their own work.

This doesn't mean artists should turn their back to traditional marketing, as in using galleries, although many have. It means the tools are there, the rationale is there and the changing landscape in how consumers want to buy everything, including fine art prints, has changed.

How art gets to market and how artists promote themselves is constantly evolving

The significant changes in how art prints are marketed is why I re-edited and then added four new chapters, which increased the content by 30%, to the second edition of How to Profit from the Art Print.

  The same is true for the Alyson Stanfield, the Art Biz Coach, who has revised and expanded her art marketing book, I'd Rather Be In the Studio. It's a must have for visual artists who do their own self-promotion. It is available in a pre-order special on her website with some great bonus offers if you place your order now.

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GicleeBusiness.com - Digital Fine Art Printing & Art Business Directory

The Giclee Business  Digital Fine Art Printing & Art Business Directory Debuts

If having a convenient, easy-to-use giclee printer directory, plus a digital fine art printing services and robust art business resources guide would help your art career, then you will love the Giclee Business directory!

Giclee printing and art business resources at your fingertips

Until now, artists seeking to learn more about how to get their original works reproduced as giclees have had difficulties finding giclee printers, fine art image capturing services and other fine art business resources.

Your problem is solved with the Giclee Business online directory of digital fine art printing resources and fine art business and art marketing resources. It contains a growing list of nearly 500 giclee printers, fine art digital printing service providers, and contacts for the art market's top art marketing and art business resources.

The Giclee Business directory connects visual artists and companies with services for them.

Here are some short videos to help you get started:

 

 

 

In addition to the videos, you will find answers to your questions on the Giclee Business Frequently Asked Questions pages. They are designed to help you find the information you need to get the most from the directory whether you are a visual artist user, or a company seeking to list and advertise to reach visual artists.

For giclee printers, and those companies providing art marketing and art business services, GicleeBusiness.com is a great place to affordably advertise to reach artists

If you want to reach artists in the most powerful way possible, this directory is for you. When artists and fine art photographers come to the Giclee Business directory, they will be seeking solutions to help them in their careers. There is no better time for your message to reach and influence visual artists than when they are actively looking for the products, services and advice you routinely provide them.

The Giclee Business Directory is produced by long-time industry pro, Barney Davey

This directory is curated and published by Barney Davey, author of How to Profit from the Art Print Market, a perennial bestseller on the Amazon.com "Business of Art" category since 2005. By being intimately involved in the fine art print reproduction market since 1988, he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this exciting new giclee printer directory developed exclusively for visual artists and fine art photographers.

Since 2005 he has published more than 400 hundred posts and articles aimed at helping artists learn how to work smarter and keep more of the money they make. Most of that information can be found here in the Art Print Issues archive, one of the most highly trafficked and well respected art business blogs on the Internet.

Digital Arts Studio Rocks How to Profit from the Art Print Market and GicleeBusiness.com

Our good friends and supporters at Digital Arts Studio in Atlanta and Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale are already enjoying the benefits of their advertising in the directory and also in the 2nd Edition of How to Profit from the Art Print Market.

The ad for Digital Arts Studio seen on the right can also be found in the book. Look for a profile about this the premier giclee printing studio in an upcoming issue. You'll want to learn more about them.

Part of its benefit package includes an exclusive webinar provided for its artists coming up on Arpil 4.

Because the book is produced just like giclees with print-on-demand technology, it is never too late to start advertising. You can get full details here.

Please help spread the word to publicize the Giclee Business Directory

I will greatly appreciate your help if you would kindly share this post with your artist friends, blog about it and link to it. It will be a way to make it more useful and to make the many hours in its production all the more worthwhile.

Art Business Brightened by Uptick in Luxury Home Magazine Ad Sales

The print magazine business is just another sector that has been unmercifully hammered by the convergent effects of tech-driven changes in consumer information consumption and purchasing habits and a perilous economy.

I am an example. Not that long ago, I read every issue of numerous magazines cover-to-cover, including news magazines, trade magazines, art magazines, woodworking magazines and design magazines.

With 24-hour news and a wealth of information on the Internet, I have considerably cut back using print media. And, overall I spend more cautiously. It's obvious my changes are reflective of national trends in consumer habits.

If you’re riding ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there. ~ Will Rogers

No matter how successful you are, you are not immune to changes. This means if visual artists have game and can bring it, they can grow their art business at the expense of leaders whose market share once seemed bullet proof.

As an example of how things change, look at the magazines that cover the home and interior design field. They have seen the worst of times with ad page sales and circulation lows not seen in decades. Not that long ago smart money would have given long odds that Architectural Digest would be ever be surpassed by Elle Decor. And, it would have been wrong.

Vision, planning and execution are the tickets to success

I note the venerable Magazine Publishers Association (MPA) has changed its name to the Association of Magazine Media, which lacks a ring to my ear. No doubt, this is part of its effort to keep abreast of an evolving situation for print media. It will take more than a name change. Success comes from visionary thinking, smart planning and great execution. These are what makes the difference and cosmetic name changes without it won't save the day. It won't for visual artists either.

It's not just a good time to make changes, it is a necessary time to make changes

A recent story from the Associated Press titled Luxury Home Magazines Get Facelifts offers a positive spin on improvement in the luxury home decor market. The piece reports how changes at top interior design publications are being implemented. The idea is for these properties to try new things so they can stay relevant and keep ahead of the herd without losing it. Readers here should take note of this lesson and consider changing things up to try new things as well.

Ad page sales figures portend well for the art print market

What is truly heartening is the reports of advertising page growth in Architectural Digest, Elle Decor and Traditional Home in 2010. That is a sign that bodes well for the art market. If money is flowing into advertising in the "shelter books", as the home magazine category is nicknamed, then there has to be confidence the consumer is loosening the wallet and may be ready to spend more liberally in 2011.

I have reports from friends in the decorative art market that the poster business improved in 2010. This is encouraging sign for all visual artists. Still, it's not all hearts and roses in the art print market. You can look at the trade magazines that serve the art print market and know things remain anemic. For instance, Decor magazine hasn't had a digital issue or any changes on its website since December.

Trade magazines serving the art print market still hurting

The most recent electronic Art Business News January issue had only 30 pages with many devoted to the Toronto Art Expo, which it is promoting. The digital version of Art World News is a bit more robust with more print advertisers, but still only has 40 total pages. In years past, those books would have carried more than 40 pages of advertising in a January issue.

Ad sales figures like that cannot support a full-time magazine staff. So, we are still not out of the woods with the fate of art print publications, which a terrible shame because when they function as they are capable, they offer the industry leadership, experience and opportunity. The good news from the luxury home publications means if their page growth trend holds up it will help the art print and decorative market as well. Let's hope so.

Art Expo New York remains an industry bellwether

The 32nd Art Expo New York convenes at the end of March. It is aiming for 400 exhibitors. The Toronto Art Expo has about the same target. These are well off the peak years, especially for the New York show. Let's hope for good weather in New York and a decent turnout from buyers. Should these factors occur and the trending good news from the shelter books continues, the result could significantly boost morale and outlook for the remainder of 2011in the art business.

How to Profit from the Art Print Market - 2nd Edition sales are robust

From the very positive sales figures of my newly published and completely rewritten second edition, it appears artists are hungry for useful timely information to help them navigate the art print market today. I can't complain about the book zooming to a top spot on a couple of Amazon.com categories, "Business of Art" and "Prints." 

Sales through this blog and my www.BarneyDavey.com website have exceeded my expectations. Naturally, that is good news for me. Moreover, I believe the optimism shown by the sales of the book is a good harbinger of improving opportunities in the art print market.

How to Start Your Own Art Publishing Company

I received a request by email to weigh in on a post at the Wet Canvas General Art Business forum today. The title of the thread is How to Start Your Own Art Publishing Company. My answer turned out to be even more lengthy than the lengthy question. To save you the trouble of logging in over there, I have reposted here:

With advances in technology is it feasible to become your own publishing company today?

Both my wife and I are full-time artists and we feel, and many others have said, that our works would do well as prints and cards. We know this is true, at least on a small scale, as we already do sell prints regionally (printed on our own Epson 2200 printer) and those have done fairly well...but what does it take to go to the national level?

My wife has been with one of the largest art publishing companies for 6 years now. She makes 10% of the wholesale cost, and the results have been disappointing, about $1,000 a year average paid out to us. Also, the company has been hurting recently as they try to figure out this tough economy, and sometimes they even have to miss payments and then will double up on the next payment....obviously not a good sign (payments made quarterly). This is one reason I've been wondering if it's a wise thing to publish ourselves and keep the full profit?

Our niche or specialty is painting animals. Obviously we can't print enough out on our own little Epson printer, so we need to find out:

1) Are there larger personal printers now that can produce prints fast enough and economically enough? Or, do individual images still need to be shipped off to a large commercial printer and printed out in the hundreds or thousands? If so, are there competitive printers in the USA still, or is everything done in China/asia?

2) I realize that the first few years require a lot of work going to gift shows, art shows, trade shows in order to become known. Also, to expand ones web presence as much as possible. Any other venues or ways to get ones name 'out there'?

What are some other thoughts/ideas/considerations on all this?

Do you know of any self-publishers who are doing well? I recently came across http://www.annemadecards.com/ and http://trollart.com/
I assume they do well as I've come across them now in quite a few shops. Of course that's just an assumption as I dont know for sure. You can see that 'AnneMade' sells her cards for $1.50 each....so I'm assuming she's getting these printed in China?

There's also big names like Mary Engelbright and Jodi Bergsma. They are big now and control their own future, but I'd like to learn exactly how they did it when they started out. Of course, today is obviously a much different time than just 10 years ago, so how much would the old ways even work today?

One big reason I'm considering this direction is because we received a relatively small inheritance (less than $25K) and it's the only 'freebie' we're ever going to get really. So do we dink it away on what-not, or invest in this self-publishing idea? I know that's not a lot of money anymore, but perhaps with advances in printer/computer technology...it's enough??

Right now, with the Epson, we print with archival inks, and these are not cheap! I'm thinking more along the lines if one prints out their own images on a high volume personal printer...on card stock, with regular inks...and then perhaps varnish with a UV varnish. I know these will eventually still fade, but will at least be initially cheaper to produce (and sell more reasonably). If there arent good personal printers in this regard, how about getting inexpensive postcards printed (you see their ads in magazines) and turning those into prints or even greeting cards? I'm just kind of thinking out loud now at this point.

If one goes to a big gift show, they need to either have on hand a large inventory, or the ability to go home and produce orders quickly. It would just be so nice to be in control of the entire process rather than have to deal with commercial printers, handing over chunks of money per every image.

I hope I havent rambled too much here. I just wanted to get the ball rolling as I know there are smart/helpful people here who will have some thoughts and insights on this. I was also hoping this could be a thread of interest to the other artists who might also be thinking of doing their own self-publishing on a larger (even national) scale.

Many thanks....

My reply is:

I received a request by email to comment on this thread, which was inspiring. As much as I would like to post regularly, working full-time leaves little time to participate here. Between spending 50 hours weekly on the day gig, maintaining my Art Print Issues blog (now approaching 400 posts), and promoting the newly released second edition of How to Profit from the Art Print Market, where it remains a bestseller on the Amazon.com "Business of Art" category, and a couple of other projects, I run out of time and energy to get here and some other boards where I like to post.

So putting excuses aside, I do have some comments for Olde Bob. Yes, it is still feasible to start your own art publishing company. In many ways, it is the best of times to do this. Yes, the economy and market changes have created huge challenges, but how art is made and marketed has changed also.

As never before, artists now have more new and effective ways to control the direct distribution of their art. With the changes on the gallery scene, I think it is incumbent on every artist to create direct distribution of their art. When you do, you can sell less and keep more. You don't keep the full 50% of retail you pay galleries, a big chunk of that goes to marketing.

There are digital printers that print relatively fast and inexpensive, but not like a four-color offset press. The difference is in inventory. If you bet wrong, you end up with stacks of paper and no where to sell them. I think printing in large quantities only makes sense for established artists who have volume buyers seeking their work. Sending to China creates potential quality issues, expensive shipping and long lead times. Again, more suited for established players than newbies.

Working for a publisher was never going to be something that would pay all the bills for most artists. If you consider, your wife's publisher only made $10,000 from selling her work, you can figure if you were the publisher, it would not be a living from those sales. Publishers have big overhead costs that you would absorb trying to compete with them.

Tradeshows do not pack the same punch as just a few years ago. Look at what has happened to most of them. I am still shell-shocked that the Decor Expo Atlanta show has failed to produce in the past three years. This was once a show with 2,000 exhibitors and an absolute "must attend" for virtually every poster publisher and many self-published artists as well. Art business related trade magazines are hanging on by threads.

Artyczar offers good advice. You would be better served, IMHO, carving out a niche based on quality and uniqueness with the aim of developing a loyal collector base. I wrote a blog post titled, Build an Art Market - Profit from Your Passion. It was about how artist, Ashley Goldberg, built a $100k annual business on Etsy and ended up being featured in an Inc Magazine cover story about how it is possible to follow your passion and create a dream job.

By your questions and references to various artists, you seem to be more interested in the gift and licensing market than the art print market. That's fine. I advise trying to tackle one or the other, but not both at the same time. It is tough enough to get traction in one of these arenas without trying to manage trying both.

You mention the $25,000 inheritance and then talk about how expensive archival inks are. These are clues to your situation and your thinking about things. My advice would be to decide to put a small portion ($5-7,000?) of that into marketing your work, and putting the rest aside in safe investments for the future.

Regarding printing your own work; there are many hidden costs in printing your own work. There is lost time and money when things do not come out as expected. The investment in high quality image capture equipment can easily exceed $25,000 and then you have to learn how to use it properly. You are adding this time and expense to making your art and marketing it. How much cheaper can you do your own printing? I would not be at all surprised for most artists, after all the costs are included, the lost time from the studio, and hidden expenses are added up, that the savings amount to less than 10% for work produced on the amateur level.

I love your optimism about going to a big show and coming back with a suitcase full of orders. It shows you have the ability to think big about your career. Unfortunately, the reality for most first-timers at shows, even back in the good old days, is that the likelihood is what you learn will be greater than what you earn. In other words, it takes more than one big event to turn on the big orders. It takes consistent marketing.

Perhaps the most important thing to consider, and this is often the hardest thing for artists to do, is to be able to honestly and brutally evaluate the marketability of your work. Your perspective is warped by being too close, your family and friends are not reliable because they love you and want the best for you and they likely have no art marketing experience to weigh the commercial viability of your work.

At the heart of the business every successful artist lies the ability to create work that resonates well with a large section of the potential market. Making stuff people want to buy and want to continue to buy is a crucial ingredient. It is not always about how your work is better than so and so's. It is about how many people are willing to open their wallet and vote with their disposable income on how much they like your work.

I can't judge how well your will do, often experienced publishers can't judge it either. The final arbiter are volume buyers and retail buyers. If you can learn to tap into their needs you can build a successful print career. If your work is less accessible, more esoteric, or just not as commercially viable as others, you can still build a market. You may have to work harder at identifying where your buyers are and how to to reach them.

Learning how to reach them means being a student of the art business. Most artists will seek teachers far and wide to learn how to apply paint, but they won't invest any time in learning how the top producers built their businesses.

The information is not laid out neatly in Wikipedia, you have to do your own sleuthing to ferret out the details and then spend more time figuring how to make them apply to your business. Fortunately, the cost of doing this is more in time than in money, which leaves you more money to spend on your marketing.

Lastly, the tools to get your work directly to your collectors are the best ever. I think every artist should have a website. Period. Most should have a blog. Working on using social media can be the single most important thing you will do for direct distribution of your work.

Whatever you do, don't undercut your partners, galleries and dealers, specifically. Treat them fairly and honestly and with integrity. The best way to find them is by working concentric circles around where you live. How many potential galleries and alternative spaces that could repeatedly sell your art do you have in a 300-mile radius around your home? Probably enough to support your business if you are successful in getting into 10-20% of them.

This has turned into a piece so long, I am going to repost on Art Print Issues. Best wishes to Olde Bob and thanks to TC Steele for inviting my comments.

This has turned into a piece so long, I am going to repost on Art Print Issues. Best wishes to Olde Bob and thanks to TC Steele for inviting my comments. Of course, I would be remiss from my own advice to artists, where I admonish them to be their own best self-promoter, if I did not encourage interested readers here to order my book.

If you want to learn more about the art print market and how to make a go of it in today's changing challenging environment, my book will be a useful resource for you.

Visual Artists Using Fine Art Giclee Prints to Create New Markets

Long time readers know I am a strong advocate of using publicity and press releases as a key component of any art marketing strategy.

As I also believe in walking my talk, I have a press release out today with the above title. Its goal is to promote the recent release of 2nd edition of How to Profit from the Art Print Market.

Coordinating marketing efforts to create synergy is also part of what I preach. Besides scheduling a press release my book, I took part in the smARTist Telesummit MasterMind Panel this week. Click the link for a free excerpt of the Day 1 Panel. 

You also will find me on a Web Broadcast this Tuesday, January 18 with Jason Horejs of Xanadu Gallery. The subject is: Creating New Marketing Opportunities with Giclees | a Conversation with Barney Davey.

Jason is the author of the top selling book, "Starving" to Successful: The Fine Artist's Guide for Getting into Galleries. His insightful straightforward advice offers great advice for artists seeking to work with galleries.

The press release submitted via PRWeb.com is below. As an FYI, the release for the first edition has been accessed 63,000 times.

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Visual Artists Using Fine Art Giclee Prints to Create New Markets

For visual artists and fine art photographers who want to break into the fine art giclee print market, the 2nd Edition of How to Profit from the Art Print Market will be an invaluable resource. On January 14, 2011, the book became available through online bookstores and the publisher at www.barneydavey.com.

Scottsdale, AZ (PRWEB) January 17, 2011 -- The expanded and completely revised second edition of How to Profit from the Art Print Market details how artists can use giclees to make more money, diversify portfolios, increase price points and find new buyers. Its authoritative advice arms readers with practical directions they can use to capitalize on opportunities in the changing fine art giclee print market.

Print-on-demand and other disruptive technologies have caused sweeping changes

Artists will discover how the evolution of digital fine art print-on-demand technology (aka giclees ), e-commerce, social media, and changing consumer habits are disruptive forces they can harness to create exciting new ways to sell their work. The book's clear guidance on the decision to self-publish or to work with a publisher will be welcomed by visual artists. They will learn that top selling artists have enjoyed successful print market careers with either choice.

How to Profit from the Art Print Market offers art marketing solutions for visual artists

The book sheds light on how disruptive forces have marginalized to near extinction traditionally reliable sources of new business, such as trade advertising and tradeshows. It also provides insights on how artists are finding they can sell direct to collectors without abandoning traditional marketing partners such as galleries.

Other topics include selling art online, social media marketing, art licensing, the economics and marketing of self-publishing, common traits of exemplary self-published artists, finding and working with publishers and with giclee printers, identifying trends and more. Readers will find the expanded Resources section a prized useful tool. A review of the Table of Contents reveals timely updates and four new chapters.

When it comes to the art print market, the book has no competition

Ironically, despite demonstrable upside potential, solid advice for artists on how to benefit from the print market is nonexistent among the abundance of art marketing books. The second edition of the book continues to fill the void in providing insightful, informative art print marketing education for visual artists. It demystifies an art print market that many find baffling.

The first edition of How to Profit from the Art Print Market has been a bestseller on Amazon.com's "Business of Art" category since its publication in 2005. It was excerpted in The Artist's Magazine and was a selection in the North Light Book Club.

High praise from a very successful artist

Michael Geraghty, named the nation's best equine artist by The Daily Racing Form, had this to say: "I've said it before: it's the single best 'business' book ever written for artists. What's humbling is that by the time I discovered Barney's book I had sold over a million dollars in art and thought I knew all I needed to know about the marketplace. I quickly realized "How to Profit" was a treasure chest of knowledge I did not possess. I truly regret the book wasn't available 20 years ago."

Book offers artists groups, guilds and organizations an educational fundraising opportunity

Arts organizations, artists guilds, groups, associations, societies and clubs are encouraged to use the book for educational and fund raising activities. They should visit the publisher's information page for details. Art educators are welcome to contact the publisher to learn about special educational prices.

Barney Davey, the author, is an art industry veteran who began his career in 1988. He publishes and produces books, blogs, media, workshops and seminars for visual artists. He also publishes the highly respected Art Print Issues blog. Its top page view ranking proves it to be one of the industry's most popular business blogs. Davey's newest project, www.GicleeBusiness.com, is a comprehensive giclee printer directory and art business products and services resource.

Details: Paperback: 302 pages
Publisher: Bold Star Communications (January 14, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-0976960737

Contact: Barney Davey
Phone: (602) 499-7500
www.barneydavey.com

Related posts:

Publicity is a Big Deal for Visual Artists and All Small Businesses

As a Visual Artist, Are You Press Release Worthy?

What Topics Would Be Press Worthy for a Visual Artists? (Part Two)

Using Press Releases to Gain Publicity for Visual Artists (Part Three)

How to Write a Press Release for Artists

Pre-order & Save - How to Profit from the Art Print Market - 2nd Edition

 

Your How to Sell More Art Resource Is Bigger & Better! Pre-order Now & Save $15.00.

I am pleased to announce the new Second Edition of How to Profit from the Art Print Market is available at a special pre-order price. Your copy will ship in early December. You will only pay $24.95, plus shipping, instead of the $39.95 retail price.

If you have been looking for new ideas or new ways on how to get into the print market or how to sell giclees, get this book. It has four chapters added, a third more content, more resources and has undergone a total rewrite to update all existing material.

You will find this new edition completely rewritten with an abundance of new content and innovative ways on how to sell giclees and digital fine art print reproductions. The pertinent information, new chapters, and timely advice are geared to help you boost your art career and generate fine art print reproduction and giclee sales in today's changed marketplace. 

BONUS! The Resources section has been vastly expanded and is sure to a source you will return many times to locate new business and marketing companies, products and services. 

A minor investment to increase your art marketing knowledge today will make a major improvement in your art career tomorrow!

Order now! Early orders will ship in early December in time for the holidays!

The First Edition was initially published in June 2005. It is hard to fathom the amount of change the art print market has undergone in the ensuing years. Despite the changes, I've been humbled to see the book remain a bestseller on the Amazon.com "Business of Art" category since it first hit the charts in the 4th quarter of 2005. It is a testament to the basic core value of its information. I believe this second edition improves on the knowledge imparted in the original version.

A need to follow up on changes sparked the creation of Art Print Issues. Part of the original motivation for this Art Print Issues blog was to help my readers stay abreast of changes within the industry, and to alert them to new opportunities. As I waited and waited for changes to slow down and the right time to publish a second edition, the blog evolved into as much a business advice for visual artists medium as it did report on the ever changing nature of the art print market.

The value of lessons learned in the past five years are included in this edition. The waiting provided perspective and much of the insights I've gained over the past 5+ years since the first edition are packed into this second edition. I trust when you read it you will find the advice, information and inspiration more than just worth your time and money, but rather a rich repository of practical advice on how to sell art, especially giclees and digital fine art reproductions.

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Raise Funds for Your Arts Organization, Your Company, or Yourself!

Join my affiliate marketing group to use the 2nd Edition of How to Profit from the Art Print Market to make passive income. You can learn more about raising funds here. It will be an easy passive money raiser for your visual arts group!

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2010 Decor Expo Atlanta Canceled

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end

Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again ~ The Doors

Just about the worst possible news for the art and picture framing industry was announced a couple of days ago. The management of the Decor Expo Atlanta show put out the official word the show was canceled for the second year in a row. A show twice canceled, even one as strong as Atlanta was in its prime, is toast now and for the foreseeable future.

There are no guarantees in life or business that what has reliably worked for you for decades will continue to do so in the future. Business models get outmoded, they get pummeled both by changing market forces and the inability to adapt to shifts in sentiment from customers. All those things have happened to the art and picture framing tradeshow and trade magazine businesses.

Due to technology, changes occur faster now than before making being proactively aware and nimble necessary ingredients to keeping a business running profitably. In the final analysis of the demise of the 2010 Atlanta Decor Expo it was the exhibitors who pulled the plug on the show. Management was willing and did all it could to make a compelling case to keep the show alive. But, it is a collaborative effort and all sides were not buying into keeping the show alive.

In the end, exhibitor's lack of support killed the Decor Expo Atlanta show. There were just too many exhibitors who believed it was not good for the industry to try and support two tradeshows, or those who forecast participating would not give a decent return on investment.

In past years, there was always enough who would take a gamble on a new show with hopes of opening a new market to help them grow their business. Now, it is apparent there are not enough supporters to keep a venerable old show like Atlanta operational, much less invest in a new location.

Things change much more and much more quickly now than any previous time. The evocative above lyrics from The Doors eerie song, The End, could not be more apropos for this post. For all who participated in the glory days of Atlanta and helped it grow, and who took pride in the way it came to represent how our little industry, the retail art and picture framing picture patch, had become all grown up and morphed into big business, this was a very sad, if not inevitable, end to a storied glorious run of tradeshow success. For those of us who took part in the golden years, this news is akin to the loss of a reliable good friend.

I have published this blog, and its email/online newsletter predecessor since 2005. During those five years it has been the only voice to truly tell it like it is when it comes to tradeshows in our business. I accurately forecast the move from New York to Baltimore would be a bust nearly a full year before the first show opened there. I took no joy in making a brash statement such as that, but felt someone should say what should have been obvious to experienced show exhibitors and attendees.

I was criticized by some for encouraging attendance at ArtExpo Las Vegas. Mostly, it came from those who took schadenfreude from my blunt comments about Baltimore. The difference is I knew Baltimore was a bust, and although I was never overly amped about the possibilities for Vegas, I could see there was a glimmer of a chance for a modestly successful show there. So, why pile on when the industry was in sore need of a winner? And, it was equally important and obvious we were running out of options for viable shows.

While ArtExpo is mostly about the giclee print business, Decor Expo is a combination of picture framing and art print suppliers. The latter could potentially succeed without support from art and art publishers. But the fine art digital print market, aka giclee print market, would be much more damaged by a loss of any potentially viable ArtExpo show.

The facts showed poster publishers had already largely abandoned Decor Expo Atlanta and had been replaced by scads of cheap oil prints from China. If Decor Expo Atlanta were to survive, it would primarily be on the budget of picture framing companies. Art Expo, on the other hand, is solely reliant on getting support from higher end art print publishers. Without them and without good dealer traffic, ArtExpo cannot survive.

From my perspective, there never was much need to talk about the second ArtExpo Las Vegas. It was a weak show in the first year and came into the second year worse off with an economy hitting head winds as never witnessed by anyone living. The show opened the day the market dropped something like 600 points. Its fate was sealed before the stock market drove a spike it its heart, but the economic news did give minor cover to the show organizers.

Regarding ArtExpo New York, I was encouraging with a post titled, The Show Must Go On. Read it and you will see I predicted the outcome if it were not well attended with buyers open to buy. Basically, I said it was in danger of losing its dates in the prestigious Jacob Javits Center. Just as I forecast, when the traffic was not there in 2009, you found the show moved in 2010 to Pier 94 and on to a very slippery slope.

I am not the Carnac the Magnificent. Rather, just someone who understands the intricacies of what makes tradeshows successful and can see the obvious when all the pieces are not in place. When all the pieces aren't there, the puzzle is never successfully completed. Successfully producting tradeshows is not unlike assembling a large intricately detailed puzzle. It takes creativity, skill and all the pieces to take a bunch of jumbled parts and make it into something pleasing.

I haven’t written at all about the canceled ArtExpo Chicago show or the ArtExpo Los Angeles show in October. This is because I did not feel there was much to say. As much as I would love to, I could not muster any enthusiasm for either location, but didn’t feel it was helpful or necessary either to point out the low chances for success at either venue.

You can learn much from history, especially in the show business. Here are the facts. There has never been a wildly successful art tradeshow in Chicago. Decor Expo had some modest success there in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but nothing really to get excited about. Whereas I believed there was a small chance of a good result at the Art Expo Las Vegas show in 2007, I do not carry any hope for Los Angeles or the canceled Chicago before it.

There are some successful consumer shows in Chicago, but there is no history of art shows that catered to the trade. The history of Los Angeles as a venue for art tradeshows is so-so in the best examples. There were some decent ArtExpo shows held at the L.A. Convention Center in the early and mid-1990s. But never any that were considered a barn burner. Decor Expo flopped around Southern California for years without success. (Anyone who can recall the fun (sarcasm) years in Pomona can attest to that.)

Decor Expo Los Angeles / Long Beach could never get good dates because it did not deliver the coin of the realm in tradeshow equity, which is counted in room nights. If you can’t put bodies in the beds, you can’t get good dates. Despite being a desirable destination, the shows were nearly always populated by day trippers. Dropping in to see a show for locals meant maybe a tank of gas and a couple of convention hot dogs.

Local traffic is not why those large convention center barns were built. They were built to bring in overnight visitors who would spend hundreds or even thousands while in the host city. Without room nights you find yourself trying to convince exhibitors and attendees that working on Superbowl weekends and other terrible dates are okay. The reality is you never get the traction to make a go of it under these circumstances.

It got so bad for Decor Expo Los Angeles that it eventually could find no dates at all for its traditional Southern California mid-spring calendar. This opened the door for the West Coast Art & Frame Show. The entrepreneurial Gherman gang at Picture Framing Magazine saw this opened flank and took a wild chance on a week day show in Las Vegas.

The first WCAF show was scheduled for the first week after New Year’s Day. This was considered tradeshow suicide by most observers. It was also a gamble because the dates were mid-week. Vegas did not cater with guranteed room block to small shows on weekend dates then, and it is still a very tough ticket even in today's troubling times for Sin City.

When the Gherman’s realized their first show was going to bomb as a tradeshow, they nimbly and quickly adapted to a picture framing training conference with a show component, which saved the day. Ironically, the West Coast Art and Frame Show is the last man standing in what ultimately became a brutal and humiliating downsizing for many of the industry’s top companies, including the media companies that produce the trade magazines and tradeshows.

I was a cheerleader for the resurgent 2010 Decor Expo Atlanta show for many reasons. On a personal level, it is owned and managed by friends and former colleagues, many of whom I worked with on a daily basis for more than a decade. I spent much of my career at Decor promoting and working to help build the Atlanta show into the behemoth it became and hated to see it come to an end.

For the sake of so many friends and acquaintances who were my customers, or whom I had gotten to know over the years, I believe the demise of the Atlanta show is loss. When it worked, it was show to make money and meet new buyers. That opportunity is lost now. Just as much, it is a lost networking opportunity. Beginning when the Decor Expo shows were called the Art Buyers Caravan (ABC) Shows, we came together in different cities eight or ten times a year. When you regularly get to hang out with the same people, you get to know them and learn from them.

I will wager there were more good times had by many folks in Atlanta than at any other show, although New York would give it a run for its money. By good times, I mean getting together over fine meals in great restaurants, and not necessarily cavorting in night clubs après dinner, not to say that didn’t go on too. I understand no one puts on a tradeshow because they are settings for good times and great parties, but it sure was a great side benefit.

Conviviality aside, there were just these wonderful opportunities to meet interesting successful people and have the chance of a lifetime to get them to share how they had become successful. Opportunities like those are lost with all the other benefits of a live tradeshow. I don’t think they are going to come back.

It appears to me that the demise of the 2010 Atlanta Decor Expo Show is the signal that doing business through tradeshows is all but over. Despite the West Coast Art & Frame Show hanging on, the model of using tradeshows to grow a picture framing supply or art publishing business is a washed up concept. It is truly time to move on. I’ll have more to say about where we may be headed next in a subsequent post.