Art Plunging: A Letter

Be charming!

Today I had an interesting letter in my Inbox asking for advice on selling art and maintaining social media networking, etc. Much like the letter I got asking for help getting started in freelancing I decided it would benefit quite a few people if I posted my answer here as well...with a bit more elaboration since there is more space. Here is the reply I sent back to my fellow artist -the italicized stuff is additional points I want to make for a broader audience. Happy reading and be charming!

"Thanks for writing. I really like your art and don't see why you'd have a problem selling it but it is one of the more confusing things to do in life...this selling art stuff! I can only tell you what I've done/tried and am trying. As for social media I have two "art" pages (accidentally...I made one before they made "fan pages"). I keep those updated with show dates, little teaser photos of new works in progress and any news about my art. I also blog and find that a lot of people really connect to that. I've been blogging about my adventures as a freelance artist...other artists curious as to what that entails like to read it. So in a nutshell I create interesting content weekly that keeps my "fans" connected to me. 

I also twitter (you can set up your twitter to your fanpage on facebook so it automatically "tweets" what you post here) and try to keep my flickr account updated, seek out new groups and forums and post periodically. You want to keep your name out on the web and you want to create as many links back to your page as possible. I have a website which I keep updated and I have an etsy shop. If you can afford it- experiment with as many things as possible. A lot of this is trial and error.

 But the other two very important things I can say is...get to know your market. My market right now is a lot of my friends, so I do affordable works in their price range. The works I do out of their price range I make prints of so they can still have a little piece of that. Then I try really hard to get my work seen by galleries, enter competitions and open calls. Second and foremost- be an awesome artist that cares to connect with your audience. In the event it's not your personality- that is what agents are for ha ha!  You will notice I have over 1,000 "friends" here on facebook....I let just about anyone on board here knowing they could be potential buyers or know someone who is. I use this media as a selling platform as well as a way to keep in touch with friends. I hope any of this helps. Theres lots more to say on the subject but it could be a novel!  Oh also- refrain from a lot of spammy posts in order to sell. Be creative. If you want you can read my blog http://www.artplunge.blogspot.com/ where I'm slowly imparting advice on how to live being a freelance artist. 

So being charming and chatty is not your nature? It's not really mine as well. I get totally drained after an art show where I've spent the night shaking hands, smiling and answering questions. I feel most comfortable in my studio behind the easel painting not in front of it waving my arms around saying LOOK AT ME AND MY AWESOME ART BUY BUY BUY! So the public aspect of "selling" it still eludes me. I can only answer questions, try to get to know people and genuinely be interested in their perception of the work and not so much "how can i get them to buy this?". In that regard an AGENT would be best for me. Be honest with yourself. However- online I feel a little more in control, wittier...I have more time to think about what I'm going to say...so most of my sales have been online and on facebook more specifically. What are your strong qualities? Weak qualities? How can you work with them?

Right now I am still in the process of learning (shouldn't we all be?) and have yet to be that artist selling stuff daily on ebay, etsy, etc. Who is succesful and what are they doing? Ask questions, cyber follow them, read blogs and websites from people DOING IT. I did a lot of reading on the Etsy blogs, tips and tricks and so on and so forth..when someone got interviewed because they were selling hand over fist I followed them. What are they doing? Who is their audience? Are they similar to me? Don't COPY their art just their approach to selling. Just as the fellow who wrote to me in order to seek more info on the subject...don't be afraid to ask! You never know what kind of valuable information you'll come away with.

Be yourself. If you're kind of a jerk, overly chirpy, scared of people, whatever....that's you. Your job here is to do your art and if you aren't good at selling it yourself find someone who is. 

Hopefully some little bit of this helped someone out there!