Feel like you’re charging too little for your art? And, even though you know you’d like to raise your prices, it makes you feel scared to think you’ll lose sales? Keep reading to learn how to charge more for your art and build your selling confidence at the same time.
Posts filed under Pricing
3 Things to Consider When Having an Art Sale
When it comes to selling your art at a discount, there are a few helpful things to think about to make it a successful sale. And so you don’t feel awful about underpricing your art.
Pricing Your Art: What You’ve Never Considered
You can use fancy formulas and a variety of methods when pricing your art but getting buyers to see the value of your art will help them decide how much they are willing to pay for it.
Getting Paid for Art Commissions
If someone hires you to do a custom piece of art like a mural, painting or any kind of art commission, do you ask for an amount to be paid up front, before the final piece is delivered? In this article you’ll learn more about what kind of deposit you can take for a custom artwork along with important questions to ask about your commission process.
Avoid This Big Art Sales Mistake
It can feel like a real nail-biter to set your prices. Especially with a new body of work or if you haven’t been focused on selling your art lately.
During the last workshop I presented on how to price your art, the huge room was so full, we nearly ran out of space for all the chairs we kept adding as artists rolled in. So I know that pricing is a task that we are all keenly interested in getting figured out.
I also know from firsthand experience and from the clients I work with that a lot of mind drama can come up around pricing our work. So much drama that many of us avoid pricing our work until we absolutely have to. And often, that moment when we price our art, is when another human asks us during an opening, “how much is it?”
Panic can set in at this moment. Looking away for divine inspiration is usually the artist’s response. And then a number comes out of our mouth that immediately feels cringe worthy.
Have you ever experienced something like this? I have. And it sucked.
The buyer experiences something totally different.
They have no idea that you have been avoiding putting a final price tag on your art for weeks. And may not be able to fathom that you’ve got a whole public event dedicated to showcase your art that’s seemingly for sale but have just procrastinated on creating prices.
Buyers can feel this moment in a totally different way. That pause of you reacting slowly to their question can be mistaken for something other than you looking for courage to spit out the price you were kind of considering.
They can feel like they’re being sized up for what they can spend. In that moment, they can start to feel like they’re being fleeced.
When you don’t have your prices ready, even if it’s from a place of fear of over- or under-pricing, or that you just ran out of time to get to it, know that you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.
Potential buyers don’t like to feel like they’re being sized up when they ask for the price. For some, even asking the price feels like a slightly scary thing to do. As consumers, we’re used to things having price tags on everything. This is naturally part of our buying process.
When your prices aren’t readily available, you’ve created friction for your sales and usually people will assume they can’t afford your art. Or they get distracted and fall out of the buying process entirely
No one likes to feel like they’re being sized up. Heck, I can feel that way at a yard sale or the farmers market where the stakes are pretty low. I just don’t like shopping that way. And your collectors don’t either.
So, can you make it easy for them to buy your work?
If you want to avoid this from happening, you can take action now. Here are a few simple steps to get the ball rolling:
Pick one piece that you’d love to sell.
In 3 minutes or less, write down an amount that would feel really good to get for it.
Sleep on it.
Come back to it and adjust that number based on if it feels too high or too low.
Rinse and repeat until you feel like you’re pretty close to the right amount.
This is a low pressure way to help you figure out what the right prices really are.
With this, you’ll be able to price your work in advance of that upcoming opening or open studio event. And your sales may increase because you’ve made it easier for your buyers to feel comfortable purchasing your work.
In the comments, let me know what questions you have around pricing. I’d love to help you feel confident with your art prices.
Cheers,
Kate
What Can Your Collector Afford?
Have you ever said, “They won’t pay that for my art”? I know I’ve thought it about a million times. And most artists I know circle back to that thought a lot. It feels really true, right? Like it’s for sure. But, here’s the thing.
We don’t know.
We have now way of truly knowing if someone can or can’t pay the prices we set for our art. This is because we have absolutely NO IDEA of a buyer’s personal finances. Or how important art is to them. It can feel really certain that we do, but in reality, we don’t know.
Usually when this thought is passing through our minds, filling it with doubt about our prices, it’s self-generated. There may not even be a person standing there in front of you saying they can’t afford a painting of yours. It’s like this statement springs to life and starts hopping around in our brains when we start thinking about selling our work.
It’s our job as artists and creatives to stay out of our collector’s wallet. We can’t manage their money. Only they can decide if they can afford and want your art.
Something that can be done to help quiet this nagging thought is to do your homework and make sure that you feel 100% confident in your prices. When you do, you can stand tall in the prices you ask for because you understand why your art is priced the way it is. This is a great tool to hush your brain when it starts to think about your buyer’s financial abilities and budget—which is something you have zero control over.
If you haven't validated your prices in a while, grab a copy of The Number One Way to Price Your Art here and work through the worksheet. It’s a free guide to know the number one way to confidently price your art to ensure you're making money.
Let me know your questions and thoughts about this in the comments. I’m curious if you’ve caught yourself thinking “they can’t afford it.”
Cheering you on to make selling your work easier,
Kate
You’re Not Your Best Collector - Stop Pricing Your Art This Way
This week I had a conversation with an immensely creative friend who was feeling a lot of resistance to asking for the amount her work is truly worth. Part of her could see that it was worth raising the price to be in alignment with the market, and part of her was like, no way!
After talking it through, she had an ah-ha moment. I realized that her ah-ha moment is also a concept that artists often miss when it comes to figuring out how to price their art. This thought keeps your prices below market value which isn’t good for anyone. It’s sneaky. And so subtle that I had to share it in case it’s helpful to you, too.
As an artist, you know how to make a piece of art, whether it’s a painting, a sculpture, a photo or art in some other medium. So when you put prices on your work, they can feel too high because you wouldn't pay that for it.
The reason you wouldn’t pay that price for it is because you have the skills, expertise and experience to make it yourself. You don’t value the painting, the photograph or the sculpture in the same way that someone else does. This is because you know how to make it yourself.
Others are willing to pay more for your work than you’re willing to pay because they don't have the skills and knowledge to make the piece of art you just made. They can appreciate your work but they can’t replicate it themselves. In other words...
YOU ARE NOT YOUR IDEAL BUYER.
When pricing art, it’s easy to think about what you’d pay for it but in real life, it’s not a helpful pricing method. This is because you wouldn’t buy your own work because you don’t have to. You have the skills to make it instead.
Here’s an example to help demonstrate this concept….
You love bread. The ingredients to make bread are simple and you probably have them on hand in your kitchen. You have the Tartine recipe book so you have directions to make an amazing loaf of bread. But every time you’ve tried it, it doesn’t taste or look nearly as good as the loaf you buy from the store. And it’s nowhere near the level of that artisan loaf from the farmers market that tastes amazing.
So, you’re happy to buy a loaf of bread for double or triple what it costs to make because you don't have the skills or expertise to make the same quality of bread yourself, even if you have all the ingredients.
The baker on the other hand is less willing to buy bread because the baker knows how to make a great loaf and is always making great loaves every day. The baker is not their own ideal customer.
Knowing that you are not your ideal buyer can expand your willingness to raise your prices. Especially if you’re an artist who’s always being told that “you should charge more for that.” It may be time to level up to what others, who see the value in your work, are willing to pay for it.
What do you think? Have you found yourself considering what you’d pay for your own work as a pricing strategy? Let me know in the comments. I’m curious if this thought has influenced your pricing.
Cheers,
Kate
How to Show Art Prices on Your Website Without Looking Cheesy
Are you thinking about selling your work? Want to sell it without looking cheesy or desperate? Afterall, you take your art seriously. You don’t want to feel icky when it comes to selling it.
Part of the process of selling your work is to clearly communicate the price of your work and in a way that feels good to you. In the Should You Show Prices On Your Art Website? article, I share reasons for putting your prices on your website and how helpful it can be to a buyer.
If you’re considering adding your prices to your website, figuring out how to do it in a way that looks good can lead to a lot of questions. Starting with, how do I show prices without looking cheesy?
To help with this, I’m sharing a few strategies you can use to help show your art prices on your website in a way that’s professional and looks good, too.
Emphasize the Art
Show a beautiful image of the work. Make the art take up more visual space on your website than the price or text describing it takes up.
De-emphasize the Price
The cost or purchase button doesn’t need to overpower the image. If you feel like the price looks too stark, large or loud, there are a few graphic design tricks that you can employ to help downplay the price.
Make the price an 80% gray color. This is an old graphic designer’s trick where you make a piece of text that's black and dial down the intensity of the color to be about 80% less black which is a dark-ish but still readable gray. Below is an example of how that looks. See how much lighter and de-emphasized the price looks?
Put prices in a smaller font size. Even two font sizes smaller will usually do the trick.
Link the text to purchase instead of using a button. This isn’t exactly about how to show the price but it is part of setting it up so it looks the way you want. If you don’t like the way buttons look, or you don’t want to set up an official shop, you can link text to direct people to contact you to purchase.
Direct people to your gallery. If you have an agreement or a current exhibition with a gallery, talk to the gallery to see if they’re okay with you showing the work on your website. If they are, let viewers know exactly how they can contact the gallery for purchase.
Click on the examples of these four strategies below to see them in better detail.
Change the text of the purchase button. Your template’s button may say, “BUY NOW!” but there are usually ways to edit what the buttons say. Google it and find out how to change it in your software to something softer like, “Add to Cart”, “Purchase” or “Take Me Home”. Bonus points if it’s not in all caps.
Change the color of the purchase button. If your website template requires a button, you may be able to change the color to downplay it. Going from a red button to a black, 80% gray or more neutral colored button will make it much less loud.
Show thumbnail images and purchase options after clicking on the image. Maybe you have a shop or gallery of your available works where your prices show only when someone clicks on a thumbnail to learn more. That way the price isn’t so up front.
In all of these appraoches, notice what is more clear and easy to read. Notice what is emphasized or de-emphasized. The goal is to make your art shine. And when it resonates with your viewer, they have what they need when they decide to purchase it.
As an artist, you’ve got opinions about how something should look. And these aesthetic opinions extend to how your prices are shown, too. Take a look at these examples and find other examples that you like. Then make adjustments to how you show prices for your art on your website.
Let me know if you find any of these strategies helpful when it comes to showing your prices on your website in the comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts about it!
Cheers,
Kate
Should You Show Prices On Your Art Website?
Have you wondered if you should show your art prices on your website? For some artists, they make their work and showing prices can feel out of alignment with the conversation they want their work to have. Or maybe showing prices doesn’t feel as relevant as getting the work seen.
For many of us, there’s a deep-seeded thought that showing our prices will cheapen the work. We’re afraid it might make us look like sell-outs or desperate. No one that I know wants to compromise their creative integrity just to sell some work. And almost everyone I know wants to sell their work to feel valued, recognized, seen and pay the rent along the way.
Have you decided what’s right for you when it comes to listing your prices on your website? If you’ve ever struggled with that decision, keep reading.
The first step to figure this out is to get clear on your goals. Do you want to sell your art to collectors, designers, shops, art consultants or agents? How much of it do you want to sell? Will you sell directly to patrons or only through galleries?
If you want to sell your art directly, a key piece in making that happen is making the price known and having a process for buying work. In other words, buyers must know what the price is because it’s part of the shopping process.
You can ask buyers or collectors to inquire about prices and availability or let them know in the description of a piece what it costs and if it’s for sale. Which is easier for the person shopping? Emailing or calling you to ask if a piece is available and how much it is? Or seeing that information right there so you can decide if buying is really right for you?
I think it’s easier to buy art when I know the price. I hate to bother people with asking if there’s a chance I may not buy it after all. The same feeling is true for shopping at a store. If a piece of clothing isn’t priced, I’m not as likely to buy it because I may not have time to hunt down the price or feel like talking to a store associate.
Listing your prices reduces the friction of the buying process. It makes it much easier for a potential buyer to know if your work fits into their budget. Asking someone to email or call you for a price is asking them to make an extra effort. And instead of getting them closer to buying your work, you slow down the process by not giving a buyer what they need, when they need it.
Showing prices on your website makes the most sense when...
You’re not only selling through a gallery
You’re selling directly to designers, buyers and collectors
You’re in the middle of a pandemic where collectors going to galleries and visiting exhibitions is difficult
You want to make the buying process as easy as possible for those that are serious about buying
“If you’ve got to ask the price, you can’t afford it” is a sentiment that’s been heard often. If a person can afford the art, not showing the price might make them think that it's out of their price range even though it is within their budget. That would be a missed sale.
There are some instances when showing prices online may not be an exact fit. For example, when it’s a really expensive piece of art, like over $10k. People don’t always want others to know how much they might have spent on a piece when it gets in that territory. So out of respect for your buyer’s privacy, you may not want to list those prices online.
If it makes you feel like your art is too product-y, showing your prices may not be a fit. Even if you know that it’s helpful to speed up the buying process, if in your gut it doesn’t feel right, don’t show prices. I hope you change your mind but I understand that you may not, or that you may want to sit with the idea of adding prices to your website. If you can bring yourself to show prices in a way that feels good to you, can you let collectors know that prices are readily available via email or something similar? Can you look for ways to make it as easy as possible for someone to purchase your art if they want to?
It also may be a wrench-fit to show prices on your website if you’re selling through a gallery. If this is the case for some or all of your work, have a conversation with your gallerist about what they're comfortable with and about what will support selling the work. You can always show the work on your website, include the price and direct buyers to go through your gallery. Provide contact information if you go this route.
The upshot here is that if you want to sell your art, even just a little bit, you can help your buyers and yourself by showing your prices on your website. Read the next article that talks about how to show your prices on your website without looking cheesy.
Do you show prices on your website? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.
Cheers,
Kate
Is Teaching Online Worth It? You May Be Surprised
As a creative person, you’ve been on my mind a lot lately. I know how much the pandemic is likely turning things upside down. Which may have you feeling not so great about your work, your happiness and how you’re going to make it through to more normal times. It makes total sense that things might feel a little uncertain right now.
As you may have guessed, I’m an eternal optimist. I know that if I believe in something enough, I can make it happen. What you may not know is that I’m also a survivor.
I’ve always found a way to support myself no matter what. I’ve taken jobs that weren’t ideal (hello cleaning toilets), lived in spaces that weren’t ideal (ahh, the under-the-stairs years) and had to make decisions that weren’t ideal (no restaurant sushi for a year). I’ve learned a ton. Including the fact that I always have options.
I know you have options, too. And as you work to sell what you do, whether it’s art or services, I know firsthand that selling a workshop or course can be another great way for you to make money. It can allow you to have more tools to help you survive this unprecedented time.
Not sure about it? I thought you might be skeptical so I’m sharing some numbers to answer the question:
How much can I make teaching online?
There are a lot of variables to pricing an online workshop. This is something that I work on a lot with my clients. So here, I’m sharing the numbers for a very basic, approachable 1-2 hour workshop that someone who is new to doing them might put together.
If you sell your workshop training for $40 per person, here’s what that brings in:
25 people purchase at $40 each = $1,000
50 people purchase at $40 each = $2,000
100 people purchase at $40 each = $4,000
You can see that the income from this starts to add up very quickly. I bet you know 25 people right now who would buy a $40 workshop from you. Yes there are costs to creating a workshop like your supplies and time so those amounts have to be covered before you start to break even. But with these numbers you can see that can happen pretty quickly.
And this is just the start. This example is for a starter workshop but you can charge more for this same kind of workshop once you learn the value it brings to your students and as your skills build. You can sell the same basic workshop for $100, more than double my example, as your belief and confidence in your offer grows, which it naturally will.
This is what it looks like when you sell it it at that price:
25 people purchase at $100 each = $2,500
50 people purchase at $100 each = $5,000
100 people purchase at $100 each = $10,000
This is because each time you run the online workshop or training, you improve it. Maybe you add something that’s especially helpful for your students or that gets them to their finish line faster or maybe you learn how to teach a technique in a new way that’s so much easier than how people have learned it in the past. Perhaps with all of the experience you have in your topic, you know how to help your students avoid common mistakes and pitfalls and you incorporate that.
Little improvements like these add up to a stellar class that will make your students loyal fans who happily share how awesome your class is with others. You can evolve your price and raise it over time as you validate it’s worth. And as you improve it over time, you’ll have students who are getting amazing results which is so energizing to a creative person. It makes it worth the effort.
So, what do you think? Would you love to be able to earn more money like this? Would teaching what you already know online in a workshop, course or masterclass feel like it might help to get you through to times that feel more like business as usual?
If so, post a note in the comments letting me know if $40 sounds like the perfect starting point for your online workshop offering. And if not, what sounds like a better fit?
Cheers,
Kate