By Dawn’s Early Light
I recently read an article on Noenga.com about the difficulties involved in selling art online. And a similar article today on Art Is Broken. Both of these articles sum up what I’ve suspected to be true….selling art online is NOT your ticket to the easy life.
Specifically Noenga’s article summarizes that
* Selling art online has low potential and low ROI (return on investment).
* Art through social media is BIG but the art market through social media is still small.
My experience has generally been that in order to make a few sales online one had devote an enormous amount of time to promoting yourself online – an amount of time that simply wasn’t feasible to sustain for any length of time given the low return. If one figured out the time and money put into making those few sales, vs the profit made on the sale, you’d be in the hole big time. And if you factored in paying yourself even minimum wage for your time, the picture would be very bleak indeed.
Being the eternal optimist, I’ve looked at various online art sales venues with an eye of finding a venue that would match my needs. When I’ve found sites that hold promise I’ve written to ask for some sales data. The response has been 100% silence. No online art selling website is willing to back up their claims with data to support them.
I’m currently working with a print publication on an advertising campaign for later this year. In trying to determine whether this publication will provide a good return on my advertising dollars, I’ve been given what is commonly called a Media Kit. The media kit is a lengthy document backing up the magazine and providing the necessary information for an individual or business to determine if the publication is a good match for their ad campaign.
For this particular magazine there is data on the readers demographics with information such as a sex, ages, and income levels of readers. Of more specific information, I know what percentage of readers purchase art and how they purchase it. And I know how many people are purchasing and reading the magazine. So why can’t website owners provide similar information?
My suspicion has always been that the statistics on readers and sales would not make for an attractive advertising vehicle. Silence is seen as the better option, with the website owner realizing anyone smart enough to ask those questions won’t become a customer, but the pond of hopeful artists willing to invest in online marketing sites is huge, with each one hoping this will be their ticket to finally making a living from their art.
Disappointment usually results and eventually they give up, but for each artist that gives up a handful of new hopefuls is waiting in the wings. In various conversations the tone of artists is generally that of disappointment, but there are always mentions of the few that are successful giving hope that they (we?) can find the magic formula too.
In one such conversation recently I posed the question to name names. Just who are these so-called successful artists? I wanted to see them. I wanted to see their websites or where they were advertised online. And you know what? I met with the same fate as when I ask online galleries for some statistics. Silence. So are these so-called successful artists (and by successful I’m only talking about successful at selling their art online – not successful in the traditional art world) just a myth like the claims of fame and fortune generated by online art sales sites? If not, why isn’t anyone (except those wishing to capitalize off the idea of successful online art sales through memberships, workshops, ebooks, mentoring, etc.) coming forward?
My conclusion in all of this is that I’m not willing to buy into all the hype that traditional art galleries are a dyeing breed and social networking will work to replace the galleries in marketing art. The majority of my work has been sold through brick and mortar art galleries, and I expect it will continue that way for some time to come. While I have a small following of gallery patrons, I have struggled with an online following. And when those online followers have gone to see an exhibition in person their #1 comment is “these are so much more beautiful and vibrant in person – the internet does not do them justice”.
So when it comes time to make decisions where to focus my time and attention, it’s a no-brainer that the majority of it should be focused on improving my relationships with gallery staff and patrons, and in person art sales opportunities. I will continue to market my art online, but if I have to choose between sitting behind the computer trying to scrounge up a few more fans and actually going out to follow my heart by creating new works, I’ll choose to follow my heart – followers or not.
on March 5, 2010 at 7:45 am
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Roberta,
You should take a look at fineartamerica.com
They’re pretty open about everything (sales, traffic, etc.):
http://fineartamerica.com/recentprintsales.html
http://fineartamerica.com/art-website-reviews.html
John
on March 2, 2010 at 11:04 pm
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yes! i have been thinking along the same lines only i am not ready to even remotely go about it right now. i think i am at the point where i will continue to learn and create and when i am finally able to retire from my desk job and free up my time, i can start promoting myself … in the real world … which is always so much more satisfying anyway.
in the meantime, i think i am learning to just relax and find the balance in my busy life, whatever that means
xo
on March 3, 2010 at 6:55 pm
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You have that special quality that makes you like a magnet for people. I suspect no matter what you decide to do you will be successful. You already ARE successful in life and are such a creative individual. But chilling out and taking it one day at a time is an excellent way to go, especially if life is already busy.