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 the best practices for selling art prints, and if it’s a good idea to give away your art for auction fundraisers.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 20 >>>

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 0:02
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 a question from Sam in South Dakota actually has two questions. Sam says I’m considering selling my prints of my work. What are the best practices in selling my prints? Well, I think the print market is a great way to multiply yourself and get money out of something you’ve already painted. First, you want to make sure that you reserve all the rights in case the painting was sold. You want to make it legally known that you own the reproduction rights. This is a copyright discussion you have with your attorney. Secondly, the print market has a little bit of a stigma less so these days, but some galleries don’t want to carry artists who sell prints. others see the value and want to sell prints. So you’ve got to kind of work that out. If you have a gallery, you got to figure it out with them. You can have different kinds of prints. Of course, you can have a canvas print called a cheek play. You can have a print on paper, and there’s a lot of different variations you can offer framed, unframed, etc. But of course, if you don’t have a gallery, you don’t need to discuss that you sell it on your website, a lot of artists do it and a lot of them make a little bit of money. Some of them make a lot of money, and you probably want to do limited additions to make them a little bit more special signed, limited editions numbered. I think the old stigmas going away but you do want to make sure that you don’t flood the market. You want to make sure that if you do have a gallery that they’re on board, the other thing is you might license your painting sir companies who sell prints and give you a commission they do a lot of volume so your commission won’t be as high but they will sell Thousands and you’ll probably get a decent check and your work will be out there. That’s pretty cool too.

Eric Rhoads 2:04
Sam had another question. He says I’m giving away my artwork for art auction fundraisers. Is this a good idea? I think it’s a great idea, Sam. But I think you need to have strings. Now you may have a charity that you really, really love. You really want to help and you don’t want to have any strings. That’s okay. But I would do you know, six or eight charity auctions a year, maybe more in your local town because charity auctions tend to attract who affluent customers and who do you want affluent customers. So you can brand yourself very well with these things. So I’m all for helping a charity but you may want to consider what you can get in return for the investment you’re making. So I have an in depth piece about this on my blog at artmarketing.com. And I talked a lot about it in my art marketing in a box product. But here’s the essence of it. You can kind of say to them, Look, I’ll give you this $3,000 painting, but in order to do so I need something in return because typically it takes Training isn’t tax deductible for value, I can only deduct my materials that may have changed. Check that with your bookkeeper or accountant. But you say, Look, I’m willing to, to donate this painting for you. But in exchange, would you be willing to make a make the painting a featured item on your marketing for your mailers in your website using my image image of the painting my name, the name of the painting, but you mentioned my name on stage as a major donor or introduced me publicly, in front of everybody do something special? Will you share the names with me of all the people you marketed to so that I can follow up with them and maybe send them my newsletter or something, of course, I would get your approval on anything I sent. And I of course needed a ticket for to to the event and that special introduction on stage. And also, I’d like to get a list of all the people that bid on my piece. So I can of course, purchase them about other paintings on an ongoing basis. And again, I’ll be tasteful about it. But you’re first off a $3,000 gift is usually a pretty substantial gift or a painting is considered a premium. And most charity auctions don’t have a lot of premium. Sometimes they do. So look for a way to get premium recognition and maybe some signage, you know, maybe a big sign next year thing with your picture on it. So that’s the kind of thing you want to try and do. And I do this when I do charity auctions, whenever possible. Once in a while I’ll donate one to somebody I really like and don’t need all of that, but that’s just a good way to get a little more out of it. 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.