Art Print Issues by Barney Davey

Perspective on Success and Visual Artists ~ It Never Was Easy

2010-03-20T23:26:50-07:00

It is interesting how one thought leads to another, and sometimes how one blog post inspires someone else to add to the conversation.

This action and reaction is one of the many things that makes interaction on the Internet so compelling. Without question, such occurrences extend well beyond the art business.

Not too long ago, I wrote a post titled What Is the Secondary Art Market? It attempted to give some definition to the what the secondary art market is and speculate on where it is headed. It is lengthy, but worth the read I shamelessly suggest.

The piece attracted the attention of artist Peter Leighton. In addition to being a visual artist, he also is the founder of Penny Prints Press, a 13-year-old fine arts digital press located in Austin, Texas. Peter also pens a blog on his www.PennyPrints.com Website. The image here is from his most recent post.

He had some interesting things to say in response my post. His was titled The Printmaker's Dilemma. Here is an excerpt:

Over the past year, I've certainly seen a dramatic downward trend in giclee print prices online... Original digital art prints, for example, in the 17x22 inch range and once selling for $200-$300 are now being offered at below $100. Many of these images being sold by print-on-demand online galleries attempting to aggregate as much content as they can in one place to get the biggest bang for their buck. Thus feeding the notion that digital art prints, no matter their perceived quality, are disposable art objects, to be enjoyed for the moment, but not collected... My only concern with this trend is that not all digital printmaking processes are equal.

While there are numerous ways digital prints are made, there are yet more sides sides to the issues of how to get the most value for artists and collectors from digital prints. As Peter noted, they are not all equally made, which creates a marketing and perception problem for serious professional artists who publish reproductions using the giclee printing format.

I left this comment on Peter's blog:

We can all pretend things are the same, or we can face they are different and never going back to where they were. Somehow, I believe those truly committed to making a career at something, such as professional artist, always will find a way to make do.

There is no question some big opportunities are gone or diminished, but I see more opportunities now than before. The big fat pipes of distribution are getting smaller as new much smaller, even micro ones, come into play. As I have said before, it was never a walk in the park in the good old days to garner great success. That is one thing that remains the same.

I still find artists who successfully are managing their careers at a very high level selling originals and limited edition prints of their work. One thing I note is those who have such success have many things in common. In particular, they all built their collector base methodically and over time. There aren't any overnight successes among them. They went down many paths and drilled many dry holes on the way to their success.

As my comment on Peter's art blog indicates, it was not easy back in the day to build an art career. Obviously, it is not easy now. It is just different. I believe trade magazines and tradeshows were instrumental tools in helping artists then build a solid dealer base. I still believe these vehicles have their place and can be used effectively. But, like broadcast television, their reach and influence has peaked.

What artists have today are simply amazing new ways to make and reproduce affordable high quality art reproductions.Print artists also have the means to find collectors on their own and to build a distribution mix of dealers and direct-to-collectors channels that did not exist just a few years ago would astound previous generations.

This at a time when consumers are much more tuned to digital printing, in the form of what is still widely called giclees, as a great way to buy art. I am committed to help you find new ways to capitalize on this interest and the challenge to tap it.

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Barney Davey's Top Ten Tweets & Retweets for February 2010

2010-03-16T22:37:52-07:00

Last month, on my @barneydavey Twitter.com account, there were some great tweets and retweets with an informative mix of useful helpful art business, art marketing and online marketing links to choose from. These were February's best and most clicked:

How to Sell Art with No Fear

2010-03-14T23:41:51-07:00

Art marketing is activity designed to get you or your message in front of a prospect. Selling art is helping an art buyer make the purchase decision.

In the art business, selling art with no fear is powerful!

Learning how to sell art with a few advanced skills will improve your career and morale. A No Fear tactic I like is what I call the "No-close close." Although it may seem contradictory, it simply is easier to sell if there is no apparent urgency on your part to do so.

You may doom the sale if your prospective buyer senses desperation. On the other hand, if you exude confidence with a hint of exclusiveness, aloofness or just being nonchalant, without being blase, you encourage sales.

If you are really good at selling art, you may take the sale away in a manner that challenges the buyer to buy. You know, "Perhaps this piece should not be in your collection." Robert Genn had a recent piece on his Painters Keys site titled, How Galleries Succeed. In it, he mentions one of his gallerists who successfully sells by bluntly telling collectors they would be stupid if they did not buy a particular piece.

You can use this idea without being snobby or elitist, the point is just don't be too eager. Using the "No Close Close" at its highest level is a rare skill. It is one used by top salespeople in selling art and many other items in the discretionary income category. I realize it may be out of your repertoire to use such a tactic, but if you can employ it on a scale that fits your style, you can succeed with it.

Successfully selling art starts with proper questions

For those reading this who find asking for the sale less than natural, there is help. To begin, ask general closed end questions that are sure to elicit yes for an answer. This opens a dialog that eases you and the buyer while starting the important pattern of your buyer answering yes. Here are some "yes answer" openers:

Welcome to the gallery / booth / show. Can I:

offer you a bottle of water?
tell you what is unique about my art?
provide brochure on our artists or gallery?
tell you about our current promotion?
show you the special features about the gallery? How our art / gallery / exhibit is arranged?

Will you let me know if you see something you like or have questions?
We like to let our customers browse freely and enjoy the art. Will you kindly tell me if you have any questions?
Isn't this beautiful / brutal weather we are having?

Progress from "yes answer" questions to open-ended questions

Once you have some rapport, you can work up more interest and bring your prospect along by using information gathering open ended questions. This type question does not ask for a decision, but helps you gauge interest while engaging your potential buyer. You are seeking an opinion and information rather than forcing a decision. Here are some examples:

What types of art do you collect?
What kind of art do your have in your home?
Where are you from?
Are you visiting or local to the area?
I have had requests for this piece in an unframed gallery wrap. What do you think?
I am assembling a few of the best pieces here for a show /exhibition /competition. I find outside opinions greatly valuable. Which pieces seem the strongest to you?

Classic closing questions are classic because they work

The choice close of offering two possibilities may be the easiest to implement. The variations are only limited by your imagination and situation:

Would you like to pay cash or with credit card?
Do you want this with the black frame or the gold frame?
Would you like to take it with you or ship it?
Is this for your home or office?

A reminder here is you do not want to pester or pepper your prospects with questions. There is a learned art to engaging, falling back and re-engaging. The more relaxed you are, the better your response will be.

If you can feel your nerves in these situations, practice taking a short imperceptible breath just before you make your offer. It will help you to be centered, relaxed and focused. If you realize the worst the worst that can happen is you don't get the sale and that your life will be the same either way, it will greatly lower your anxiety and calm your nerves.

If you appear and sound calm, you exhibit confidence. The little take-a-short-breath breathing exercise above can help you conquer your fear, which will give your buyer an aura of assurance about you. Both Marilyn Monroe and Hall of Fame sportscaster, Howard Cosell, used this technique to overcome stuttering. A short breath before speaking works wonders whether stammering is an issue or not.

Only a lucky few naturally know how to sell art. Every one else had to learn. You can too.

To be able to naturally and easily sell art is a savant-type gift like drawing, singing, or playing a musical instrument. Not all have the same native talent, yet virtually all can improve by studying, practicing and trying harder.

Knowing your buyer will help you learn how to sell more art

Some things are easier to sell than others. Selling things, such as firewood to Eskimos, is easy. While the least skilled would do a creditable job with it, change to ice and watch them struggle. Although selling art is not the equivalent of ice to Eskimos, its discretionary spending category makes it challenging, especially in the current economy.

You will always have just three types of prospects. Being able to identify them will improve your sales.

The first is the committed buyer who is predisposed to buy your art. Your only job here is to make sure you offer big and take the order.
The second has some interest, but needs to be sold. Your job here is to determine which images your potential buyer is interested in the most. Then to use FAB (Features, Advantages, Benefits), to present the work and ask for the sale. Or at the least, get a them on your snail and email list. Remember first time fine art buyers may take up to two years before converting. Staying in touch how you stay in the game.
The last is the truly not interested buyer. He or she may have no money, does not spend money on art at all, or has no interest in your style of art. You want to be able to quickly identify them and get them off your list and out of your mind.

The first type often reveals their interest immediately. While you always should seek to offer a big, and to present what may seem an almost ridiculous sale, (how about the whole wall/display/series) to everyone, it is easiest to miss this opportunity with your low hanging fruit category. That is, in the excitement of getting an easy sale, you can rush to finish the transaction without exploring other options. Try something like this, "You have made a great choice, I know you are going to love owning this piece. I had great fun making it. Let me show you a couple of other pieces that are perfect companions for it."

The second category is your ticket to success. Increase your sales here and watch your career soar. These are folks who like your art, but are non-committal. If you can match personality types, you can tailor an offer. There are four primary personality types:

Driver - Type A competitive person. Stick with the short version on details. Show them the best piece in the gallery, not necessarily the biggest most expensive, but the one you think is your masterpiece. Mention celebrity or well-known collectors.
Amiable - Wants to feel safe. Give them warm and fuzzies. Offer details how long you have been in business, how many happy repeat buying collectors you have, or that your art sales have never been more robust, and you have seen a steady increase year-after-year in the number of collectors coming back to buy more.
Analytical - Needs details on everything. You have been a professional artist for 10 years. Your art prices have increased year-after-year. Your art prices are based on a per square inch basis. That a certain piece is value-priced because it is the last in a series and subsequent similar series will have a higher price. Your prices are fairly priced. Explain your credit and payment options, hanging service options, refund policies. Make sure they have a brochure about you.
Expressive - Wants validation for their actions. Paint a mental image of how happy they will be when they see the work in their home. Encourage them how they will enjoy sharing the work with their family and friends. Offer to take a picture of them with you in front of the painting they like.

Using FAB (Features, Advantages, Benefits) goes something like this, "(F)This giclee print is made on a state-of-the-art 6-color high quality fine art digital printer by a master printer. (A)For generational longevity, it is printed using the best archival inks/dyes and canvas/paper available. Although you see it in this size, we can customize to make it smaller or larger to fit your needs. (B)You can easily make this piece the focal point of any room you hang it in. It is the kind of work you and your family will enjoy for decades to come."

The third category are those not pre-disposed to buy your art. Being able to identify who they are will allow you to avoid spending time, money, energy and effort to convert them. While some will just tell you they are not good prospects directly or indirectly, with others you will have to develop some radar to help you identify them. The greater the percentage of this category you can weed out, the more resources you have to spend on the middle category.

Being a realist, I know reading these instructions are not going to change your selling skills overnight. However, I do believe if you accept the premises on which they are made that their effectiveness will seep into your selling skills. If you actively practice them, you can expect to see better results for your efforts.

Don't fall prey to making your art career a hostage to irrational feelings or emotions about selling

Buyers will be buyers. You can no more mesmerize them into buying than you can bore them into it either. Your job is to make art people want to own, then to build a case why they should buy, and finally to always always ask for a buying decision. The more astute you become at each task, the greater your reward for your effort.

You can learn to identify your prospects and to do your best to steer them to a favorable buying decision. You can use everything discussed here and still be ethical and honorable. Besides, what ever means tilted a sale your way, you should rest easy knowing you have a fair return policy for those sales where the buyer has remorse or other reasons for reversing a decision.

Your buyers are adults with full capabilities of processing your offers and deciding to take them or not. If you wait until someone asks you to buy, you reduce your odds of making sales and being as successful as possible. Every day people trade success for staying in their comfort zone. Don't make the mistake of making your career a hostage to any negative misplaced feelings about using sophisticated sales techniques to help.

You will sell more just by offering more and more often. As the famous Nike slogan goes, "Just Do It!"

Buy TOMS Shoes - Design TOMS Shoes - Do Some Good

2010-03-10T23:28:49-07:00

Today we will put a new twist on the art business and talk about artists' soles. More specifically, we are going to talk about TOMS Shoes. Check out the snazzy pair pictured here. They are from a limited edition shoe line hand painted by artist Tyler Ramsey.

Last fall, CBS News joined TOMS Chief Shoe Giver Blake Mycoskie in Southern Ethiopia, a region where TOMS gives shoes to children at risk for a debilitating disease called Podoconiosis. The story recently reran on the CBS Sunday Morning News, which is the best major news shoe in covering and supporting the arts.

Watching the story, I am reminded once again of Stephen Covey's maxim, "There is no limit to the amount of good one turned on person can do." Here, the idea is simple. For every pair of shoes TOMS sells, it gives a pair away to someone who really needs shoes. Many have never had shoes in their lives with lifesaving results when they get them. That the shoes are fun and stylish and do good beyond an owner's profit should make it easy to get online an order a pair.

The model in this blog is sold out in several sizes, but there are other "artist" styles to choose from. The regular lineup offer some good looking comfy rides on their own. But wait, there's more:

TOMS and TeenVogue Want to See How You Style Your Sole!

How do you express your individuality? Your design could end up as part of a real TOMS limited edition shoe and sold on TOMS.com

TOMS and TeenVogue will select 10 finalists, and then it’s up to you to pick the winner.

The contest will run from February 15, 2010 – April 30, 2010.Voting will be open to participants April 16 – April 29, 2010 and the winner will be announced on April 30, 2010.

The winning prize:

Shoe design sold on TOMS.com
Tour of TOMS HQ
Two coach airfare tickets, two nights hotel stay

So, whether you take the challenge and submit a design, or just buy a pair, you are in for some fun, maybe some glory, and unquestionably taking a step forward to do some good.

Are You Reading the Great Advice for Artists on ArtBusiness.com?

2010-03-09T00:08:29-07:00

Alan Bamberger has been editing his seminal ArtBusiness.com Website for what seems like forever ...at least in Internet years. He was prescient enough to purchase the domain name ArtBusiness.com in 1997, long before most had any idea how important a medium the World Wide Web would become.

Bamberger is the author of The Art of Buying Art, and innumerable magazine articles and posts on his Website. He writes for both artists and collectors, and each constituency should be grateful for his wisdom.

Here is some information about him from the About page on his ArtBusiness.com site:

Site principal, Alan Bamberger, is an art consultant, advisor, author, and independent appraiser specializing in research, appraisal, and all business and market aspects of original works of art, artist manuscript materials, art-related documents, and art reference books. He has been selling art since 1979 and rare and scholarly art reference books since 1982, and has been consulting and appraising for artists, galleries, businesses, organizations and collectors since 1985.

If you read the entire biography on his site, you will see his is one prolific author when it comes to writing about the business of art. He has a link to a page on his site just for the articles he has written for artists. If you have somehow missed knowing about this rich growing treasure trove of information, you are in for a treat. Should you have already visited his site, it is still a good thing to check in and see what is new there.

I chose the following as some of my favorites from among the dozens of art business articles edited for artists on his site:

Whether you read through the posts from the above links, or go to his site to choose your own, you are guaranteed to come away a smarter, more well-informed artist than you were beforehand. There was a time not so long ago when the only way you could have received such sage advice was to pay dearly for it. Now, you can enjoy and be enriched by it freely. If you like what you find, do as I have done and make a small contribution to support the site.

Alan Bamberger is a gem of a resource to art professionals, artists and collectors. He is proof positive of Stephen Covey's maxim, "There is no limit to the amount of good one turned on person can do." The art business is far better off from his efforts.

Time to Build Your Art Career on Defensive Opportunistic Optimism

2010-03-04T23:16:03-07:00

There was disturbing news this week in the art print market. *Boundless Gallery, an online art venue had been around for a several years, and also had become an important online art business retailer and a steady source of income for some artists. It abruptly announced it was closing its doors saying the business model was no longer profitable

This week, I added my comments to a lengthy and ongoing commentary to Maria Brophy's blog post, Should you be a Sucker or an A-Hole – You Decide. Maria manages the business for her artist husband, Drew Brophy. He has been rocking the surf art world for 20 years. Her post details how an arrangement went sour with a company had hired Drew to custom paint 50 of its camper van rentals.

The gist of the post is after tough negotiations that led to an original discounted price, the buyer announced he was getting offers to do the job at a price more than 30% lower than his current contract with Drew. He gave them an ultimatum to lower prices or he would pull the deal. Read Maria’s post and the comments for more details.

These events punctuated a moment of clarity I received after contemplating for some time about what is best for visual artists in the art business today. The clarity came in the form of three words:

Defensive
Opportunistic
Optimism

Defensive – now, more than ever, artists need to realize they are mostly on their own. That is, they cannot count on publishers, galleries, or dealers to be there for them as in the past. The news about Boundless Gallery and the blog post by Maria proves the point.

I am not saying you should not trust galleries, online art marketers or art dealers. I am saying you cannot afford to rely 100% on their ability to look out for your best interest, especially if it conflicts with their own best interest. To some extent, this has been the norm, but the situation is worse now.

Opportunistic – it follows if you cannot put as much trust in others to carry your water as before, then you have to be opportunistic to create your own direct sales opportunities. Fortunately, in these times, visual artists can benefit from the confluence of growing Internet and e-commerce usage, changing consumer habits and Social Media trends to forge their own distribution models.

Having a Website used to be a personal decision. I believe it is now a “must have” item in your marketing arsenal. Further, I believe virtually every artist should have a blog. The SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Google Page Rank benefits alone should make blogging paramount to artists.

Additionally, I believe the divide between those artists who do and don’t blog will grow larger with the former category taking market share from artists without a blog. Those who add a Facebook page, build a real Twitter following and utilize other social marketing tools will pull further away.

Optimism – unarguably, you need optimism to fuel your attitude, desire and ability to generate your best results. While you may temper enthusiasm with an honest realistic view and even pessimistic view of how times are tough, to be positioned for success you must prepare for and visualize the best possible outcome for your career.

You may not always be able to control your circumstances, but you can always control your reaction to them. If talent, hard work and luck are equal; optimism will win out every time. When you confidently convey you expect good things to happen, you take your collectors and other constituents with you.

I have a sister who has dealt with much adversity in her life, much of it coming from things over which she had little or no control. She reminded me of the great opera singer, Beverly Sills, who, despite a fabulous professional career, had painful personal hardships in her life.

Sills succinctly summed up what I mean about being optimistic in tough times when she said, “I'm not happy, I'm cheerful. There's a difference. A happy woman has no cares at all. A cheerful woman has cares but has learned how to deal with them.”

If you watch your back, look out for yourself, and stay as cheerful, optimistic and as open to opportunity as possible, you give yourself the best chance to enjoy success in your fine art career

* A shout out of thanks is due to both Fine Art Studio Online and Empty Easel for their generous offers to help artists who were on Boundless Gallery. If you are one, check them out.

What is the "Hot Color" Trend for 2010

2010-02-21T10:45:00-07:00

Mardi Grape: Former Fashion Star Is Year's Hottest Color

According to Color Marketing Group (CMG), the leading international organization of color design professionals, GRAPE is the hottest color for 2010.

CMG, which has been successfully predicting color trends for 47 years, says this grape –officially called Mardi Grape – is a sophisticated crossover between purple, brown and gray. It’s a transfer from fashion with European roots.

Photo: Anna Beaudry 2009/Maria Killam Colour & Design

Chosen by hundreds of color professionals as CMG’s 2010 Next Color, Mardi Grape used to be a fashion color. Now, it’s all set to be the year’s biggest star for everything else.

Purple is a neutral for first time - expect it to be around for a long time

Said CMG president James Martin: “Purple has been with us for a while now, but the big story today is that we’re seeing purple as a neutral for the very first time. This purple is browner and grayer, a neutral we can love long-term.

These days everyone is seeking versatile colors with staying power. Colors used to be the focus while neutrals were the understudies. Today, neutrals are the lead performers, chameleon colors that shift and change.”

According to CMG, look for these additional color trends in 2010:

Red – Reds are strong with pink intuition; bright and clean with energy and excitement -- a clean pop to go with neutrals.
Orange – A rich, sophisticated color that moves away from earth-based colors to an optimistic orange, seasoned with a touch of gray.
Yellow – A greener, more natural yellow, softened with gray.
Green – Optimistic and uplifting, a clear and bright accent green with a slight shift toward blue.
Blue – A saturated blue with gray influences; rich without being too luxe.
Beige-Brown – A true chameleon to complement darker hues, it can be either matte or metallic.
Neutral-Gray – Gray with a touch of purple, drawing inspiration from mineral, concrete and steel.

Color Marketing Group, founded in 1962 and based in Alexandria, Virginia, USA, is an international association of color design professionals. CMG’s major focus is to forecast the direction in which color is developing across multiple industries. For further information, please visit www.colormarketing.org

What Is the Secondary Art Market?

2010-02-18T01:53:24-07:00

In order to address the question of what constitutes the secondary fine art market, you must first know what makes the primary art market. The answer, as with many things in the broad art market, is complicated. Since the broad secondary art market includes very expensive work by contemporary masters to relatively inexpensive four-color offset lithographs, you will find the terminology is used differently depending on circumstances.

The essence of a primary sale is the first transaction where art is sold, in most cases. However, complexities arise when you study the distribution chain.

It is simple when a deal is made between artist and collector. The situation is less clear when an artist makes a wholesale sale to a gallery that then offers the work at full retail. In this instance, the retail transaction made by the gallery is considered the primary market transaction. Of course, there are other methods of first sale to consider.

Defining a secondary market sale

A secondary market sale occurs when the original buyer decides to put the work for sale a second time. Whereas this sale is most often initiated by a collector seeking to sell the work, there are cases when a gallery will put pieces directly into the secondary market. This usually not good because it means the gallery has too much inventory and too little demand for the work. No gallery is going to sell through the secondary market when it has buyers for pieces in the primary market.

The venues for the secondary art market range from the toniest auction houses and private dealers to established brokers and galleries all the way down to eBay. In November 2009, The Economist ran a piece titled “New or Secondhand?” that accurately depicted the upper end of the market. The information and concepts the article discusses do not apply to most readers here. Alan Bamberger has an useful illustrative article, "Retail Gallery Prices May be More Than Art is Worth," on his ArtBusiness.com Website.

The art print market is divided

For our purposes, we are here to discuss the secondary art market as it pertains to the art print market that includes selling reproductions as prints. In the art business, there is a bifurcation in the print market. That is, there are those fine art prints made in time-honored fashion which, by the nature of their creation, are limited. These would include etchings, woodcuts, aquatints, engravings, serigraphs, stone lithographs and so forth. See Wikipedia for more details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printmaking.

The other component of the print market primarily is made up of reproductions of original art. Some would call this the decorative art market, while others reserve that term for the open edition and poster market. How you describe it has as much to do with what end of the market you derive your income as anything.

If you are an artist, dealer or collector involved with etchings, your view of a giclée is likely to be a decorative reproduction. On the other hand, if you make your living selling giclees, or some other form or fine art reproductions, you may take issue with your work being called decorative art. Unfortunately, you can only control how you market your work.

Different processes create different perspectives

If you study the work and promotional information offered over the years by artists and galleries at the New York ArtExpo, I doubt you would find one exhibitor characterizing their work as decorative art – especially those who sell limited editions. It completely natural they would use descriptions designed to help sell their work.

The International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) also holds an annual show in Manhattan. You will find this small, but important, group of dealers generally eschews representing much of the work found at shows such as ArtExpo New York. Most will contend, as Kathryn Markel does on her Website, that the work found there is “wall decor."

While not stating wall decor is necessarily a bad thing, dealers, such as Kathryn Markel, would not encourage buyers to participate in paying the set prices for much of the higher priced work at ArtExpo. Their reasons are the works primarily are reproductions and that much of it these days is digital art. And, there you have the bifurcation in the art print market.

The diminishing secondary art market

When it comes to the secondary market, there is an active market for many artists whose work is found at shows such as ArtExpo New York. You will also find many other artists whose work has transcended the "wall decor" mentality. In other words, it is a mixed bag. Arguably, the best example of a secondary market player is Art Brokerage. It carries a huge selection of work from a wide range of artists, including many who have exhibited at ArtExpo over the years and many others who have never set foot inside it.

There is an implication that art reaching the secondary market will have appreciated in value having become more collectible along the way. For some artists, this is accurate, but for the few who enjoy seeing their art selling well above initial prices, finding an active secondary market for most is not a reality, especially in their lifetime. It is one of the reasons I have argued for not having limited editions of fine art digital reproductions.

There is a bit of a conundrum here

In today’s market, if an artist is productive and continues to put new editions in the market place, it tends to lower the resale of earlier pieces. Although in the boom years of limited editions prints, this dynamic was not always the case, and is not now for select artists. If artists combats the problem of lowered prices on the secondary market with small editions, of say 200 or less, they cap their income for that work and need to either generate higher and higher prices for their new work or put more editions in the pipeline to maintain a steady income, both actions have consequences.

Should artists be paid a resale royalty?

When it comes to the secondary market, artists do not participate in the inflated prices. Only California has droit de suite laws where artists are legally ensured a cut of the proceeds when it is resold in the state. The legislation is known as the California Resale Royalty Act. This type of law is more common in European Union countries. I doubt they will ever move beyond the borders of California.

Until the past few years, you could go to the back of Art Business News or Art World News and find several pages of small ads from dealers in the secondary art market. In a very telling sign of the times, those publications are today much smaller in overall ad pages and secondary market ads have nearly vanished. Coincidentally, in another telling sign, if you research art prints, particularly giclée prints on the sites of secondary market art brokers, you will find many pieces being offered well below their original price.

In the art business, more than secondary market is hurting

Another factor in the market that has diminished with trade magazine ad pages are secondary art market Websites offering works while having very little inventory. Attorney, Joshua Kaufman, a long time columnist for Art Business News, wrote, “The Online Secondary Market: Resource or Parasite?” It is an informative piece detailing how some rouges operators business methods were having a negative effect on the market place. It also warned that much of the way they were operating was illegal.

While we like to think it was the industry policing itself that drove many of them out of the market, it was eroding market and economic conditions that took away their incentive. What remains to be seen for the industry is whether the market will return to a point where artists using the giclée medium will see an active market with rising prices for their work on the secondary market.

Where is the print market headed?

My estimation is it will be very difficult for the market to bring us back to the old days of a booming profitable secondary art market for several reasons. First, most artists working in multiple these days are using the giclée or digital printing format. I do not believe the public clamors for limited edition giclées. I think it would rather pay a little less and get to enjoy the art. This notion is supported by evidence some longtime publishers in the giclée market are moving away from creating limited editions in this market. Lastly, once there is a widespread established pattern of digital prints not increasing in value, it will be very difficult to reverse such a trend.

This may be a market with a beautiful creative product, but it also a business that follows trends. If the trend grows stronger to open editions, it will depress the secondary market for fine art print reproductions. That is not all bad. I think it will force the art to be sold for its enjoyment rather than the implied notion it will increase in value. Buyers of giclees found before the current economic crunch they could not recover close to the sale price of prints they bought when they tried to take them back to galleries, sell them on eBay, or through an art broker. Things surely have not improved in recent years.

How should an artist thinking about getting into the print market proceed?

I think giclees are a wonderful medium to help sell more work. Rather than looking to maximize the sale of a limited edition, I suggest keeping the edition open. There is no reason the pieces cannot still be numbered using your own open numbering convention. If the artist’s work does become collectible, then the lower numbers will likely have some higher than retail secondary market value.

For those who feel a need for limited editions, I would consider producing a small edition of 200 or less that is hand-embellished by the artist. I believe if it is clearly stated the edition will be accompanied by lower-priced open edition pieces, there would not be conflict with buyers. Certainly, recently retired artist, Terry Redlin, was able for decades to sell both open and limited editions of the same images without creating a problem for his self-publishing company or the dealers who carried his work. I am guessing and would suggest that in such a situation the limited edition have exclusive dimensions.

Barney Davey's Top Ten Art Marketing Tweets for January 2010

2010-02-10T19:39:30-07:00

Although last month was busy with both the SmARTist Telesummit presentations and a trip to the West Coast Art & Frame Show, I still managed to publish quite a few tweets.

From looking at the results, there appears to be about an even interest in learning about social media and the art business. Here is a list of my Top Ten Art Marketing Tweets from January. They are ranked by click order with the most popular listed first:

1. Top 26 Marketing Checklist for Fine Artists

2. 7 Tips for Successful Art Marketing in 2010

3. 10 Twitter tools to effectively manage your followers effectively ~ great link resources here!

4. 10 Ways to Get Serious About Social Media

5. 10 Steps for Creating a FANtastic Facebook Fan Page

6. 5 Ways to Promote Your Facebook Fan Page ~ some great suggestions here!

7. Art Print Issues is listed in 100 Great Blogs for Art Students & Enthusiasts

8. The Best from Ancient Artist: Developing an Art Career after 50

9. Five Tips for Marketing During a Recession

10. North Miami vintage store supports young artists ~ Local, alternative distro channel, gotta love it!

Using SlideShare to Promote Your Fine Art

2010-02-05T21:23:31-07:00

These days, actually any days in the art business, you need as much promotion and exposure as you can muster. Fortunately, you have many unique opportunities to promote your fine art to galleries and collectors.

In a recent post, I told you about printing your own four-color magazine from MagCloud. Long time readers may recall I posted about the power of SlideShare by linking to a most impressive presentation titled Shift Happens. Today, I want to reacquaint you with SlideShare by introducing you to a wonderful presentation of fantasy art by Rebeka Rodosek.She is a talented visual artist from Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Fantasy Art By Rebeka Rodosek

I found Rebeka the same way I am sure many other have, which was by searching the Internet. An email from SlideShare about new features prompted me to revisit the site. I had not been there in quite a while, but my good intentions to do so needed a reminder.

When I searched the site for "art," I found Rebeka's palette and subject matter jumping out at me. She is in the print market, as a Google search shows her with work on Imagekind, among other online art sites. I am certain I would have also found her Facebook fan page sooner or later as well.

Email marketing works to promote art

By keeping in touch with me, SlideShare has managed to maintain my interest to the point that I am touting it to you once again. Repeated exposure has worked for it. If you are not using email marketing, you are letting an important and powerful tool go to waste. There will be more on email marketing in a future post. For now, let your imagination run wild and brainstorm on how many ways you can use SlideShare.

Blending marketing elements enhances how you sell art

If you sense there is a thread running through this post, you are right. We talked about how with MagCloud you can create your own four-color magazine. Then we moved onto SlideShare and also mentioned email marketing. Finally, we mentioned Imagekind, an online fine art print gallery site that will sell your art, print it and fulfill it for you.

Your art marketing plan should be to combine powerful elements, such as these, into a cohesive plan to reach and influence your best art collector prospects, dealers and customers. In doing so, you will leverage each component to lift the other and thereby greatly raise awareness for you and your art.

In my humble opinion, this is how to sell art using affordable tools that are readily available and easy to use. Weave them with your Website, blog and social media presence to generate buzz and increase your income.