Artists in rural markets often find it difficult to get support and locate opportunities that are close to them, much less sell their art.
How do you navigate your rural market?
What do you do differently than artists in metropolitan areas?
Thriving as an artist in a rural market Read
When buyers fall in love with your art, are you making it easy for them to say Yes? In this solo episode of *The Art Biz*, I talk about how to remove barriers in the buying process—those extra clicks, missing prices, or unanswered questions that cost you sales.
Learn how clarity, ease, and trust turn casual admirers into collectors, and challenge yourself to audit your own buyer’s journey.
Remove barriers to buying your art (237) Read
In this solo episode of The Art Biz, I dive into the necessity of creating demand for your artwork in order to achieve a certain level of success—stressing the importance of setting realistic expectations, refining your original artistic voice (key!), and nurturing genuine relationships.
I discuss the balance between ambition and practicality in the art market and offer five essential tips to assess and cultivate demand effectively.
Creating demand for your art: why it matters and how to start (206) Read
Discounting your original work might be unpalatable, but there are reasons for doing so, including the fact that unsold work is taking up space and energy. (Promotion might be a better word than sale.)
In this episode and article, I discuss the psychology and process around having a sale of your art or any products 6 options for structuring it and 3 mistakes you don’t want to make.
How to have a sale of your art and feel good about it (167) Read
We often think of sales as a single step. Either someone buys your art or they don’t.
There’s so much more that goes into making a sale. It’s a process.
We have to adopt a new mindset around sales in order to be successful, and we have to understand what is involved. In this conversation, Miriam and I review her 10-step sales process.
A sales process for artists with Miriam Schulman (140) Read
Plenty of online galleries will happily take your money in exchange for “exposure.” UGallery has a different model. They are paid on commission, so they do whatever they can to see that art sells.
This isn’t a commercial for UGallery. Instead, I want you to be aware of people and companies who are working hard for artists and doing things the right way.
The Art Biz ep. 132: Not All Online Galleries are Created Equal with Alex Farkas Read
It’s thrilling when a new opportunity comes your way. You want to jump on it. But then the doubts creep in. There’s no reason to get cynical. Approach the opportunity from a place of trust because you never know what will come of it.
Then you must back up that trust by verifying it with research and written agreements.
Trust, verify, and secure artist opportunities Read
In all the years I’ve been helping artists build their careers, I can say with a good deal of confidence that there are 4 clear steps to kick-start a rewarding art career and business.
Everything starts with devoting yourself to a consistent studio practice. Then you can start the connection and documentation for marketing your art.
The first 4 steps toward selling your art Read
Twenty years ago it would have been unthinkable for me to suggest that artists add shopping carts to their websites. Above all, it was crazy expensive to do so at the time. But also it was considered a bit tacky.
Boy have things changed! Not just since Covid, but even in the decade leading up to where we are now.
Online shopping carts are affordable and easy to implement, and the vast majority of the population is comfortable buying online—even buying art online. Some even prefer the online experience.
Then there are the galleries. Many of them struggle to make sales (again, even before Covid) and haven’t quite gotten the hang of social media. They were the last of the art world to come into the 21st century way of doing business.
But now even galleries are selling online, with mega-dealer David Zwirner leading the way in 2017.
Why wouldn’t you make it easier for people to buy directly from you?
That’s what Lynn Goldstein thought, too. She built a shopping cart for her website earlier this year. And the sales rolled in immediately after the March launch.
To date, Lynn has sold 18 original paintings and about a dozen reproductions directly from her site, and I wanted to find out how.
It must be said that neither Lynn nor I are not experts in all of the options you have for shopping carts. I wanted to share Lynn’s experience and, above all, her results.
Listen in if you’re curious about how she did it.
The Art Biz ep. 58: Adding E-Commerce to Your Website with Lynn Goldstein Read
Want more help selling your art? You have a sales force right under your nose: Your current buyers and collectors.
The people who loved your art enough to buy it and live with it are your biggest fans, and are probably itching to share your art with their friends, families, and colleagues. It’s your job to make it easy for them. Here’s how.
How to turn your buyers and collectors into a sales force Read
