Hola gorgeous Goddesses!

A special workshop today… just for art goddesses!

Marketing wisdom & how to sell your stuff. Hurrah!

First and foremost:

I want to sell my artwork as prints. How do I do that?

How to do prints: There’s a decision to make here. Print them yourself or outsource them?

How to get your art into prints

This all depends on your kind of artwork.

Small artworks:
If it is smaller than A4, you can scan it in using a scanner. Scanners come in most multifunction print units now – getting so cheap! Yay! Weeoooo!

Large artworks:
If you can’t fit it onto your scanner, you can either photograph it, or scan it in different parts and then stitch it back together using Photoshop. I can’t tell you if your camera is good enough to take prints – just trial it and see how it goes! You may not necessarily need an SLR camera to do it – your point and shoot might rock it. Tips when photographing art: Don’t use flash. Don’t put in direct sunlight. Photograph in the shade, or in a well lit room. Try and get the sides of your frame to line up parallel with your artwork to make cropping easier later. Stand parallel to your artwork.

You will need to crop it using a digital photo editor like Photoshop or Elements. You will also want to play around with contrast and colour to get it looking as lovely digitally as it looks in real life. Colours usually get dimmer when you scan/photograph an image, so digital photo editing is all about restoring that & making things pop again.

If you don’t have a camera, or access to a digital photo editor, you could try:

• asking a friend to do it
• hiring a professional studio to take photos & edit for you.

How to price your prints:

• Usual pricing is about $25 for A4 sized prints, but can range from $10-$100 (with a high end priced print, you’ll need to have them professionally printed)
• Hint: If you print A4 sized, you can send them in a flat envelope and it is much cheaper. As soon as you start making bigger that you have to roll, it costs WAY more to send in a tube.

Print them yourself:

• You need to buy a colour printer if you don’t already have one. I have an Epson CX5900 printer/scanner, but I think any is fine.
• Print on some good card stock. I would just buy watercolour paper at 180gsm and print on that. It gave a lovely texture to it!
• Just start out with one size for right now.

Pros:

• More profits
• You can do sales on them when you like & hand-package
• My feeling is that if you list your prints on Etsy (which you can’t when you outsource the printing), you get more sales.

Cons:

• You need to buy printer, ink and paper
• You need to print & mail them out
• It can get frustrating when your printer makes mistakes & screws up ink/paper.

Outsource the printing:

• Upload your images to a Print on Demand service, which will host a shop for you. People buy the prints, and the company prints & sends them out.
• You decide how much royalty you want to earn for each print.
• Options for this: www.redbubble.com & www.lulu.com & www.cafepress.com.

Pros:

• You don’t have to print & send them out
• You don’t suffer ze cost of print mistakes/messups
• You don’t have to outlay anything for printers, ink & paper.

Cons:

• You don’t get as much profit.
• I don’t think you get as many sales through companies like this.
• Some companies won’t pay out your royalties until you reach a certain level like $25.

My recommendation:

Do what is doable for you right now.
You can always change later.
If you can do the printing yourself great. Or if outsourcing prints is good for you right now, go for that.
DO WHAT IS DOABLE.

Share your gifts. Start now, beautiful Goddess!

I want to sell my art more. How do I actually tell people about what I do? And get them to buy??? I feel so frustrated!!!

I so hear you sweetie. It can be so, so frustrating… to want to do big things in the world and not know HOW.

So, first I have a story. And then I have some practical bits.

Story Time!!!

Ya know, when I was growing up, I was a little cowgirl. I rode horses & mustered cattle & got very very dirty & stinky. And I loved it. My horse was my best friend. And if I could bottle the smell of horse so I could spray it over me everyday, I totally would.

Me at 12 & my horsey soul mate, Rebble.

Anyhewsies, sometimes, I’d fall off my horse. And I’d cry, and in one movement, my Dad would come over, scoop me up, dust me off, check me over for broken bones, kiss my cheek, and plant me firmly back in my saddle again.

Back on the horse again, darling. It’s good up there.

When pushed why I needed to get back on there, he simply said:

Because the longer you leave it, the more you get afraid of getting back on.

He was right in his own way. My elder sister came off once and didn’t get back on that day, or the days that followed. I think she still hasn’t been on one.

I think about my sweet horses often. Especially when I get frustrated, when a door closes, when a No appears, when the way I want things to happen… just doesn’t.

It would be easy to toss aside horses. Write it off as The Thing That Didn’t Work Out.

But I look around. And I get back on the horse. Because up there?

That’s where I belong.

There’s no place in the world I’d rather be than making miracles with my art & words. Even if I get thrown once in a while.

So no matter how much my butt hurts from a fall in frustration, I get back on.

So my darlingheart, that’s my story.

Now. Let’s get on to some super-practical wisdom, mmmmkay?

Now let’s get people to know about you.

The first 7 practical steps:

1. Set up a website at www.weebly.com.
2. Make a blog on your website. Everytime you create something new, post it on the blog and share about what it’s about, why you painted it, whatever… and put a link to where they can buy it (either on Etsy or print company).
3. Make sure your website has an About page. On the About page, write a love letter about you in first person. Have a picture of your face on it. Let us know you!
4. Create a Facebook page or profile for your art. I see more people creating profiles instead of pages. I’m cool with both.
5. Update your Facebook page regularly with new art, etsy links, links to your blog.
6. Mailing list! Get people to sign up to receive regular updates from you. You can get a free mailing list for up to 500 people at www.mailchimp.com.
7. If you are on Twitter, hang out there & share about your art & blog whenever you feel called.

Magic ways to get the word out:

• All you are doing is helping people learn about you, and remember what you offer.
• Some people will be utterly called to your work. That is perfect. That is all you need to focus on. Some people won’t need your work right now. That is utterly perfect too.
• The more you can involve people in your story, your world and your art, the better.
• People want to be excited and inspired and part of a movement.
• Share in your voice! Have fun! You will find your way, dearest heart!

Things to try when it doesn’t feel like things are working: