Information on Fine Art Sales

greenspun.com : LUSENET : B&W Photo: Creativity, Etc. : One Thread

I'm putting together a business plan and am looking for information on how to project sales from a body of work.

Specfically, I am hoping to contact people who have had experience with shows at galleries to get a sense of the sales history of the images, i.e. what percentage of the images in the show sell, how much sells at the gallery show itself vs over the next year second year and beyond, and if books are associated with the show similar questions.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

-- Allen Birnbach (allenb@indra.com), June 06, 2002

Answers

Lots of work

Allen,

What you are going to do, I have done. I'll be brief and go from worse case to the better side.

Galleries are a tough place to market from. Plan on doing a lot of door knocking and pounding the pavement. These folks are in the business and they pretty much know what's going to sell and what's not. Many see photography as little more than a copymachine process so stand-by for a lot of rejection. My work is B/W Scenics. Large prints and smaller prints. Some gallies charge for space, just for setting up and showing. I avoided these places. Others want as much as 75% print price. I avoided these also. Most I ever 'suffered' was a 30% fee. Also, 'they' want to see fresh work at a consistant rate. So prepare to spend a lot of time re-visiting the galleries.

Presentation is the number one consideration. I found that keeping it upfront and proffessional business style (no hungry artist look) you'll 'close the deal' more often.

My first year though I looked sharp, I was the hungry photographer. I poured more $$ into it than I liked. The second year I was much smarter and started to break even. Exposure (to make a pun) was the key element. Fairly simple. I did a 'one man show' for 30 days at one gallery but quickly realized all I had done was decorate their walls. You need to be present to sell, otherwise all you'll get is praise. It helps the ego a bit, but does little to fund your continued efforts. Third year I looked at it like a business and made decisions based solely upon return. Things started to come togther. I had requests to make one-time personal images and followed the advice of a friend. Formula = How many other images and prints can you make to market in the time you 'perform' this one-time print. So, when asked I made my 'offer' via letter detailing what they got and what services would be performed and,.. included a substantial price tag. You will be amazed at what $$ people have to dispose of.

Fourth year took off like a rocket. I was doing around 20 shows per year, down from 35 in the second year and though rewarding both in income and ego, it was flat exhausting. Jan-March were the slow months, so I could recuperate some.

I have slowed some in recent years and still sell via galleries.

Make the business plan, make it sound and workable. Don't go too fast and know when to say enough is enough if it goes that way. If you look at the 'great photographers' most were hard at it, making peanuts and didn't establish the 'great name' until late in their lives. Be prepared. I can recommend reading about Ansel Adams, the book was written my his dear friend and employee, an biography. The ol' boy was a financial failure, and only in his later years with the aid of someone else balancing the books did he ever make it financially big.

The summary is simple. It's a lot of work. Plan for the best, prepare for the worse. It needs a lot of patience and you'll feel punch drunk some days, but when you hit it, boy does it feels great!

gb

-- gb (gbush350@earthlink.net), August 11, 2002.


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