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 advises if you should ever pay to get into a gallery, and what to do if a hot lead seems to suddenly disappear.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 18 >>>

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 0:02
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 0:23
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. So here’s a question. This is from Kim cast in Cape Elizabeth main. As an artist, Eric, should I be paying to be in a gallery? Well, this is a loaded question. We hear from a lot of galleries that charge artists to be in them. Some of them are legitimate. Some maybe not so legitimate. You got to do your homework. You want to talk to the artists look on the website. Talk to the artists they feature too. They sell work, do they market their artists? What else are they doing for you? Is it worth doing? You know, what does it end up costing you ultimately, can they be trusted? It boils down if they work or not work, you know, are they selling or not selling. Now there are some legitimate pay for play galleries that people go into that work. But keep in mind if your work is ready, you really should be able to find a gallery to represent you who will take a commission and sell your work on consignment, usually that’s 50%, sometimes less depending on the stature of the artist. The goal here remember is to sell art and for selling art, nothing beats getting into a really good gallery with experienced salespeople a client base of collectors so they can help build you up. And a gallery who’s advertising and promoting themselves and their artists You know, that’s what you want to look for. You can also look for a local artist Co Op gallery might be a good place to start. So you pay by giving your time you know by working in the gallery part of the time But you’re not putting money out of your pocket. The question I always wonder is if I’m putting money out of my pocket, if I’m paying you, you know, what’s the likelihood that I’m going to have you sell my art? So I think that’s a good question. Thank you for asking it.

Eric Rhoads 2:13
Next question comes from David Terry, of Jacksonville, Oregon. I know David. David’s a fabulous painter and a fabulous commissioned painter, and he did my portrait. So David says, I have a prospective client call about commissioning a painting of his granddaughter and had great conversations about it, but all of a sudden, nothing. I followed up with an email saying I look forward to working with him, but I’ve had no response. What’s next? Well, you know, people tend to run in hide when they don’t want to deal with something. So there’s something in this discussion that went wrong. If somebody shows interest and then disappears, chances are he or she liked your work. They liked what they’d seen on your website. And so maybe the problem Was price. And so I think what I do is I’d phone him. And I’d say this Listen, you asked me about a commission for your granddaughter, and I’ve heard nothing from you. So I’m guessing maybe my price was too high. But I’d really like to find a way to do it. That’s a win win. Could we sit down and meet in person, no obligation. Let’s see if we can work something out. I won’t be offended if the price is too high, but maybe we can come up with an idea. All right, and then try to get him to meet with you. If you invest time in somebody. chances are they’re going to give you their money, right? So ask him to bring his five favorite photos of his granddaughter, and then also anybody else you might want to have painted, bring some photos of them, then you meet with them. And you say listen, show me the pictures before you even talk prices to them, show me the pictures. And you look at the pictures and then you say okay, I want to pull out some of my paintings, and you show them paintings. In your portfolio of full body paintings, you know, head to toe you show three quarter you show portrait you show You know, just neck above and so on. And then you show different styles and you say, okay, which of these do you like? Which of the ones do you not like, which are the ones you know, are have the feel that you’d like to see hanging in your house, and so on, get him engaged, get him to start talking about it. Well, I like this, I don’t like that and start writing that stuff down. Now that he’s engaged, he’s more likely to do it. Now. After that. You can just say, Hey, listen, we’ve kind of talked about this, but the elephant in the room is probably the price. I you know, you disappeared on me, which I’m thinking is probably my price was too high. What What do you really want to pay? And just be quiet, don’t say anything and say what he wants to pay. And he’s gonna say, Well, I really didn’t want to embarrass you and I didn’t want to make you feel like your stuff wasn’t worth it. But I couldn’t possibly pay that much money to say, Oh, that’s okay. I understand that this happens all the time. What do you want to pay? And he’ll say, Well, I’d like to pay this or somewhere in this range. And you could say, well, that’s great. More than I, you know, this less than I normally would get, and but maybe we can figure out a way to get there. So, you know, you might say like, what if I did this one and did one other at the same price? You know, if I got two Commission’s I’d be willing to lower the price for that or, could we compromise and not do such a big portrait? Could we do a smaller one and we can come in at your price? Look for something like that. And chances are you’re going to get it and chances are they’re going to be happy and you’re going to be happy because you have it now. You have to make the decision. Do you want to violate your pricing and sometimes we all have to do it and sometimes, you just can’t have to make that call. So I hope that helps.

Eric Rhoads 5:40
Well, this has been the art marketing minute with me, Eric Rhoads. My goal in life is to eliminate the idea of the starving artist and 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.