Selling at craft markets - hard lessons learned.

[riooso]

This is an excellent thread! I am just starting to consider selling to the general public. What do internet sales do for people? Another angle I have thought about is actually having a 4X5 at the booth to spark conversation and show how it all works. I would think that one has to get a bit "carney". Is there any way that numbered prints work?

Just Curious,
Richard

[Charles Carstensen]

To me, this says it all. Make the print for yourself first and the buyer second. You have the choice - quantity or quality. Quality costs more.

Best,
CEC

Bruce,

If you want your work to be considered as valuable, YOU have to consider it as valuable. Pricing too low tells me you don’t think much of it. If you don’t value it, why should others. Price at the upper end of the scale and present your work and yourself accordingly.

Hang in there.
Jerome

[Scott Knowles]

I agree, excellent thread, and thank you. Like Wayne, I talk to photographers at booths at fairs, festivals, and events I shoot, and my impression is that unless you are an established photographer - meaning your images are known in galleries, magazines, calendars, etc., you're chasing a lot of customers with modest returns at best, except maybe for Christmas. And I've looked at marketing cards in independent gift/card shops, and again, I discovered it's a very competitive, low profit business where you're spending a lot of time not doing photography.

So I shelved any real plans to market my work until it's clear it's worth my time outside of photography. In the meantime I produce card for friends and family with plans to offer packets for non-profits benefits and auctions or on consignment for group invitations. Otherwise, I shoot for myself and continuing learning photography.

[BrianShaw]

Nevertheless, if I was to sell at a fair I would bring not only the print but a few of the work prints where I could show a potential customer the steps I went thorugh, why I took those steps and the reasoning for making the changes as well as the LF negative or transparency.

I guess it is up to us to educate people that no, it is not just a matter of pressing a button. That no, they cannot do what we do (at least not without some years of practice and growing) and that in a way the negative is our "brush" and the paper that we print onto is our canvas where we pour our talent and vision.

I can't agree more with this. People understand wedding/event photography and commercial photography... but art photography needs a lot of explaining. In fact, if the image doesn't immediately captures the potential buyers soul, it probably won't be bought.

[eric black]

I have been selling at art fairs for a several years now and can add a few more insights to any thinking of taking this route-

yes, competition is at an all time high with lots of digital photographers thinking they can pay off that next camera they want by printing out a bunch of mediochre shots and setting up a booth. Most shows that I do have 3-4 people of whom I consider to be showing excellent work and I dont think its a coincidence that most of them are LFers! I have been to several shows where there have been over 80+ photographers distributed among the 400 booths.

The investment to start doing this competitively is considerable- at a minimum you will need a tent, an inventory of prints in several sizes, framed work to hang up, inventory bins, and a bankroll to submit to juried shows (several can be as high as $500). dont skimp too much on the setup as several shows I get into are more interested in what the booth looks like as opposed to what the work looks like.

Be prepared to price your work well below what you probably think it is worth and keep in mind most people are interested in the $15-50 price range and wont spend a penny over that for a photo.

Be prepared to explain to hundreds of people what makes your work different and answer the following questions repeatedly- Is this film or digital? Is this enhanced in any way? and my favorite- Did you take all of these?

But most importantly, be prepared to leave a show or two losing money- in todays economy, people are very tight with their money. This is based on discussions with many other people in various mediums that I talk to at the shows I do- its not an easy time to be entering this market- so if you do, be sure you are in it for the long run.

[photographs42]

I think one of the questions you have to ask yourself is “Why do I want to sell my work at Art Fairs?” The answer for me is different than for most of the photographers I know that sell at the same shows I do.

I have never tried to make a living selling photographs. I photograph what I like, print what I like, the way I like, and recognize that there is a limited market for the type of work I do. My wife and I enjoy the shows and treat them like a vacation of sorts. We stay at nice hotels, eat at nice restaurants and enjoy the company of other artists we know from all over the country. I have done shows for 27 years now and have many repeat customers that have become friends. I do 5 to 12 shows a year and manage to pay for my hobby and stash a few bucks in my slush fund account.

During the glory years of the 90’s I did very well. The last few years have been less profitable. The photographer friends I know who are still making money at these shows are doing it primarily because of their marketing ability. One of the best marketers I know is emerson ( http://www.emersonimages.com/ ). His work is great but the way he markets himself is the key to his success. He never met a stranger and he has a charisma that makes people want to own his work. He understands what sells at which shows and displays accordingly. I wish I was like that but I’m not and it can’t be faked, so I do what I can.

One thing I know is that you have to find your market niche. I have found that, for my work, juried shows in art-oriented venues are my best bet. I don’t sell well at shows that feature funnel cakes. When I do a new show, whether sales are good or bad (or non-existent) I try to read the audience. Sometimes sales are slow but reaction is good and I find that if I do the show again it can be profitable. Other times I get the feeling that the show isn’t attracting my type of customer and going back isn’t going to help. Probably one third of my sales are from past customers or people who have been on the edge for a year or two.

I price my work at the upper end of the middle range and make no attempt to sell to the impulse buyer. My matted 8x10’s are $90.00 and larger sizes are proportionately higher.
I don’t do smaller and cheaper because I don’t want to (although I am considering it because I have a virtual mountain of mat board that is too small). If I were trying to make a living doing this I would definitely have smaller stuff, but then I would also do color instead of B&W.

Anyway, that’s a few of my thoughts on the matter.

Jerome

[photographs42]

..............Be prepared to explain to hundreds of people what makes your work different and answer the following questions repeatedly- Is this film or digital? Is this enhanced in any way? and my favorite- Did you take all of these?...........

And my favorite followup question...."Were you there?" (No, I just sent my camera)

[Paul Metcalf]

Jerome/All-
Do you know if there is any "advantage" to having one-of-a-kind (more or less) prints like hand coated prints (salt prints, Vandykes, pt/pd)? Does that angle add any value to the over-saturated digital print market at these fairs? Thanks. Paul

[Dave Aharonian]

Bruce, I too live in Victoria and I know that this is a strange place in terms of photography and art. I have never tried selling at a venue like the one you have, but I have sold prints through venues such as the Sooke Fine Arts Festival and I charged a fair amount for them too. My take on it is that the tourists here in Victoria don't spend much on photography, but so far it looks to me like the local people will purchase some photography through the right venue. Since the Sooke show I've had people contact me and I've sold a few more prints directly. Having said all this, I have no illusions about selling very much here. Victoria is a smaller market and in my opinion has a rather "immature" attitude to photography as art. I think this goes for the west coast of Canada in general. Photography sells in Toronto and Montreal and there are numerous galleries devoted to photography in those locations. There is nothing like that here (or in Vancouver). Yup, its frustrating for sure, so I'm looking to trying to sell my work in others areas such as the USA.

[tim atherton]

Bruce, I too live in Victoria and I know that this is a strange place in terms of photography and art. I have never tried selling at a venue like the one you have, but I have sold prints through venues such as the Sooke Fine Arts Festival and I charged a fair amount for them too. My take on it is that the tourists here in Victoria don't spend much on photography, but so far it looks to me like the local people will purchase some photography through the right venue. Since the Sooke show I've had people contact me and I've sold a few more prints directly. Having said all this, I have no illusions about selling very much here. Victoria is a smaller market and in my opinion has a rather "immature" attitude to photography as art. I think this goes for the west coast of Canada in general. Photography sells in Toronto and Montreal and there are numerous galleries devoted to photography in those locations. There is nothing like that here (or in Vancouver). Yup, its frustrating for sure, so I'm looking to trying to sell my work in others areas such as the USA.

Mind you, N Vancouver has one of the best public photography galleries in Canada and the Vancouver Art Gallery has one of the best collections of photography in the country

As well, commercial galleries like Equinox in Vancouver represent a number of good photographers (Geoffrey James, Fred Herzog) as does Catriona Jeffries among others.

And there are places showing and selling Arni Haraldsson Ken Lum, Roy Arden, Stan Douglas and others

I've always found photography and photography in galleries to be pretty vibrant in Vancouver especially (in Victoria, of course, anything younger than about 1935 is considered "modern"... )

Mind you, that's not your craft fair fare... but it's a long way from not accepting or valuing photography in my experience