I received very valuable information from many of you on my last post. I can say that much of it made sense and I thank you for your feedback & replies. I will probably not pursue commissions at this stage - to be honest, the idea scares me quite a bit. I do not do portraits well at all, but I may attempt a few dog portraits for some friends. I'll see how that goes.
I can tell you that I signed up with DPW and now have 4 paintings up for auction. I started at a price of $40, but saw little (if any) interest. I have since lowered the starting bid to $30 and have seen a bit more. No one has put a bid in but the statistics with the site help me track how many people have looked. I don't think I will lower the pricing more, at least not yet. I worry about going too low (such as $1) and then having to sell it at that price. I'm still exploring this and sort of feeling how it all works. I may have to adjust pricing again -- I should probably figure what is the lowest price I will go down to & just place the starting bid at that. It's all very interesting and I will probably continue with it, as DPW also gives you a "gallery" of your own too. Not the same as a website, but still gives a viewer to see all your work & click for more info.
I will probably take the website down I have, as the $28 per month is just a bit too steep for me to keep paying while I try & gather a following. If you're interested, click here to head over to the gallery & see what I've uploaded. Since I'm still testing the waters, so to speak, I only put 4 images up for auction - 2 landscapes & 2 still lifes. I want to see how things work, and if the traffic increases on DPW for me. The 5th image that is there, is the Japan painting I did for the DPW challenge that was an auction for helping Japan Red Cross. That painting did sell and I was very happy to do what I could to help the Japanese people during their time of need.
I will keep you posted as it goes. Thanks again to everyone who commented!
4 comments:
Hi Nan,
I have a book I'm reading about marketing myself which includes selling on Ebay or Etsy, etc. It suggests we start low with our prices and obtain a following first for a period of time. When our followers start to compete with each other to obtain our works and the bids get better, then we increase the starting bid price. It also says we should do small works like 6 x 8 or 5 x 7.
It looks good on paper; but I know how you feel about selling your work at a low price. I know a fellow artist who has quite a following now and sells on Ebay. He does only small works and is successful getting the prices he wants. He sells all his large pieces at art show circuits. If you'd like, I can give you his name. Just go to my blog and let me know if you're interested to see how he does it.
I would suggest you send an email out to your address book and tell them about the art and bidding at the DPW and send a very small jpeg for them to peak their interest. Include the direct link to the artwork.
I hope this helps.
Thanks Linda, some very good info. Starting low until you are "found" is probably the best step to take to getting "found." I like the address book idea - and I'm also now exploring a Facebook Fan page, dedicated just to my work. Facebook Pages are not very easy to figure out, but I will - and once I do, I will "like" it and then invite my facebook friends. Your friend sounds like similar stories to Karen Jurick, Carol Marine & Carollee Clark. All their small works sell, consistently (as do Dreama & Leslie). I listened to the interview that Dreama & Leslie did with Karin - her story was interesting. Her biggest advice - hang in there, don't give up and it will happen. Something to be said for positive thinking -- and patience!
Yeesh, Nancie. I looked back over yesterday's responses and boy, do I feel foolish. I don't sell art and can't believe I went on and on about something I have no experience in. Please do forgive me. I think what I've picked up has been from reading so many blogs. I am far from knowledgeable so do forgive me for being a big old windbag. I am so excited to see how many followers you have now!! Woohoo!!
I have nothing to say, as I am only starting to think about the same moves in selling. So I am very interested and follow your research with attention, thank you so much!
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