In the Art Marketing Minute Podcast, you’ll learn how to sell your art, how to market your paintings, and everything else you need to know in order to have a successful art career. Each episode answers questions from artists by host Eric Rhoads, author of “Make More Money Selling Your Art,” publisher of several art magazines and newsletters, and author of ArtMarketing.com.

In this Art Marketing Minute, Eric Rhoads explains what to do if your art is “taboo” for most galleries and collectors, and why galleries might not give you the names of buyers.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 26 >>>

Submit Your Art Marketing Question:

What questions do you have about selling your art? Email Eric today at [email protected] (include your name and where you’re from) to hear your question answered on an upcoming Art Marketing Minute Podcast.

FULL TRANSCRIPT of the Art Marketing Minute:
DISCLAIMER: The following is the output of a transcription from an audio recording of the Art Marketing Minute. Although the transcription is mostly correct, in some cases it is slightly inaccurate due to the recording and/or software transcription.

Announcer
This is the Art Marketing Minute with Eric Rhoads, author of the Amazon best selling book, “Make More Money Selling Your Art.” In the marketing minute we answer your questions to help your art career brought to you by artmarketing.com, the place to go to learn more about marketing. Now, here’s your host, arts magazine publisher, Eric Rhoads.

Eric Rhoads
Thank you Jim Kipping. And thank you for joining us today. My goal is to eliminate the idea of the starving artists. So let’s get right to today’s questions. Here’s one from Lisa See, and I’m not sure where Lisa is from but it says, Eric, I love listening to your podcast and your book is something I dig into every day. It’s full of great practical information. Thank you for that Lisa. As a pastel artists I strive not only to produce the best work possible, but to educate current and potential collectors about this fabulous medium but There’s always a button right? But pastels are still taboo for most galleries. My work is selling and for that I’m grateful. But I am wondering if I’m spinning my wheels and thinking that I can really make more money with this medium. I make it a goal to always talk about what pastels are when a prospective buyer enters my show booth. And I was flattered to have been the first pastel list in the collection of a recent avid collector. I really don’t want to migrate to oils because I’m so passionate about pastels, but I do want to make a living at it as well. I know it’s hard to give advice, but I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on this subject. Lisa? Well, first off, do what you love, paint what you love, follow the medium you love. If you switch to oils and you’re not into oils, then you’re making a career doing something you don’t love. You might as well get a job driving a bus and you wouldn’t love that either. Probably except I don’t want to offend bus drivers who might be doing that but you You need to be focusing on what you love. That answers the question first and foremost. Secondly, if you look at Richard McKinley, I mean, this is a guy who’s made tremendous success selling pastels through galleries. And so I would suggest maybe a phone call to Richard and say, Hey, Richard, how did you do it? And Richard probably face these issues too. But I think it’s an education issue, right? You need to educate people about pastels, whether it’s galleries, whether it’s collectors or otherwise, when you’re in your own, show your own environment, you have the opportunity to be able to educate when you have your life in the hands of somebody else who’s selling your work. And they don’t necessarily believe in pastels, well, you might have a problem there. So I always talk about mindset, right? So the mindset of the gallery has to do with pricing has to do with everything. So if the gallery that’s representing you isn’t into pastels, and they’re going to push oils first, then you need to work on educating them and helping them under And what’s happened with the pastels and how popular they are and how many galleries are selling them. And if they can’t get it, then maybe you need to find somebody who can get it because there are a lot of people out there who do it. This plenty of pastels selling very, very well and selling at great prices. And if you look historically, there’s great pastels in museums. There’s no reason to think pastel is an inferior medium medium at any stretch. I mean, look at Albert handbell. I mean he does oils and pastels like Richard does. But Albert has made a great living as a pastel s. And so I think those days of those old ideas are gone. And though there may be some people clinging to them, I think you can help them through it. I hope that helps, Lisa. All right.

Eric Rhoads
Now, the next question comes from Cindy in Sedona. She says, I want to know the names of the buyers when my gallery sells a painting, but they won’t give them to me. What should I do? Well, whatever Something like that happens. You want to put yourself in their shoes and you want to ask yourself, why are they being so obstinate? Well, there’s probably a reason. For instance, if you were to ask, they’d probably say, Well, I had somebody who I gave the names to, and then they contacted the collectors directly. And they sold them directly, and I didn’t get the commission. And I fired the artist. That’s probably what it sounds like. So they’re a little bit concerned about you stealing from them. So I think the first thing you do is deal with these things up front, when you sign on with a gallery, because you need a contract Anyway, you need an agreement that states things like you’re going to get your paintings back there on consignment, and if they go bankrupt, you have the right to pull them out of the gallery, which you’re going to need for a judge in the event somebody goes bankrupt. So you might as well put in some other things like this in it and deal with it upfront. And they may or may not do it. The other thing is if you’re not dealing with it upfront, you can have a little agreement that you can put together that just says I promise if I hear direct from people who have been in the gallery or have bought paintings from, from the gallery, I will not sell direct. Secondly, I think it’s important to show the gallery why it’s important for you. First off people buy from people they know and they like and if you can develop a relationship, let them see your newsletters, hear the stories of your adventures, see other paintings. And then you can also say in your newsletter, you know, here are the galleries that represent me, or maybe it’s just that one gallery, then you’re doing a good thing. And so you want to get newsletters and things like that in their hands because it’s going to help sell more stuff. And again, they have to feel confident you’re not going to be traded them. Third, I think you need a backup. Lots of galleries have gone out of business, and you’re never going to get the names after they go out of business. And so I think it’s a good idea to say I want the names that as long as they can trust you, it shouldn’t be a problem. But you also want the bond To feel like you care about them to help get connected to you, my gallery sends me the name and address of buyers and asked me to send them a nice note. Now they don’t send me the email phone number which is okay with me. And you can do something more than a note, you can send them a gift box of the note cards with their painting on it, and on the back can say from the collection of and put their name on it. And then you can put your name on it and the name and title of the painting and your website, which means they’re writing notes to their friends promoting you which isn’t a bad thing either. So and you could even say your website or you could say available from XYZ gallery you know, that might make the gallery happier.

Well, this has been the art marketing minute with me. Eric Rhoads. My goal in life is to eliminate the idea of the starving artists to help your dreams actually come true. So if you want to submit questions, simply email [email protected]. And to learn more about marketing ideas, you can visit Artmarketing.com. Thanks for listening.

Remember to Submit Your Question: What questions do you have about selling your art? Email Eric today at [email protected] (include your name and where you’re from) to hear your question answered on an upcoming Art Marketing Minute Podcast.