Selling shovels to miners – Who made the most money in the gold rushes of the old west? The guys who clawed at the rock all day hoping to hit pay dirt? That single large nugget of gold that would set them up for life or the guy who sold them the pick axe – and the dungarees (Levi Strauss comes to mind), the whiskey, the whores, the bath and maybe even the train ticket back to “Emptypocketsville”.
There are plenty of people catering to artists and photographers who give advice – for a fee that is – books on how to be successful, webinares, advertising sponsored blogs, YouTube channels.
Then there are the marketplace websites that take a commission on your work even if you do all of the marketing. Manufacturers who will sell you all of the equipment to dig yourself so deep in a whole that you can never make a profit.
But keep in mind the old adage that those who can’t teach. Or coach. Or write a book or want you to purchase their newsletter.
I honestly think that the only way of making it in the highly competitive art world is to find your own way. Create great artwork, following your unique passions and develop a following over time.
If you are creating work that stands out from the crowd and engage in the world, eventually your work will get noticed.
I give a lot of sales advice here but no one’s path will be the same. Everyone starts with different type of work and not everyone is willing to put in the work required to become successful one day, because let’s face it. In the art world one does not achieve success overnight. It takes years of hard work and dedication to build up a presence.
One little success here or then won’t create any lasting effect as the public moves on from the daily if not hourly next great thing. But if you stay engage, you might find a sale from someone who was attracted to your work years ago.
Attract Buyers Not Other Sellers
People whose goal is to make their dime off of other makers rather than their own work will try to attract other artists to their “how to sell” product.
But most artists are interested in selling their own work, not someone else’s work. The problem I see most of the time is photographers hanging out with other photographers and artists hanging out with other artists. They do equipment reviews, how to demonstrations, tips etc.
They end up with an audience not for their artwork but for their advice and information. This is all fine if you are interested in making money off book sales, but not so good for selling your artwork.
Because an audience of makers is not exactly interested in buying your stuff, they can make their own.
The challenge is creating content that attracts buyers, not seller. This is difficult for most people because they have to put themselves in the art buyers shoes. Maybe the artist never purchased art. Maybe they don’t have a new big house that has tons of room to decorate. Maybe then can’t imagine what an interior decorator’s day is like when they have to buy 400 pizza related images for a chain of Italian restaurants.
But they do know how to chat with fellow artists. There is the problem, learning to communicate with potential buyers and discover what motivates them purchase artwork.
