What Price Your Soul?
How do you decide what price to sell your prints for?
Well, generally you look around at the prices charged by your peers, and you pick a figure not too dissimilar from theirs. If you decide on an aggressive pricing policy, you may decide to charge less than your competitors, so that potential collectors are more tempted to choose yours over theirs. Or you may decide to sell your prints incredibly cheap, on the Ebay-style philosophy that you can bump up the shipping costs and make your profit margin that way. Or…as I have been taught, you always, always price your product over and above your main competitors. A higher price tag means that your art is automatically worth more because it has that aura of upper-market exclusivity. If you make it expensive and glossy, and pimp it as such, then people will want it more because it’s perceived as a luxury item. If you can get someone to (positively) review your piece of art, even better, because that adds even more exclusivity to the piece.
Sounds easy doesn’t it? In fact, you all know this basic stuff already. End of post. Or maybe not, because artists are humans, not autonomous pimping machines. The problem comes when you bring personal feelings into the whole monetary marketing process.
For example, how do you choose which photographs to sell? Collectors generally only buy pieces that they love, so how do you decide which ones are the right ones? After all, you can guarantee that the images your potential client loves will be different from your choice. There are many of Rich’s photographs that I adore, and he won’t even finish because he sees flaws that I don’t. These gorgeous photographs will never see the light of day, and yet I’m sure they’d sell if he would only trust my instincts. But he’s a man of principle, and he won’t finish (let alone sell) anything that doesn’t speak to him, or that he considers less than perfect in his eyes. He is limited by his perfectionism, by his emotions for his art, and like many photographers, he has absolutely no clue as to what price to put on his work.
You make a photograph because you have seen something that is beyond price, a glimpse of something beautiful, true and perfect which can’t be put into words. So it becomes tremendously difficult put a real value on such a glimpse of the infinite, because how do you price truth? You are blinded by your subjective feelings for your art, and yet you nevertheless have to assign a cash value to it. How do you put your personal feelings aside and view your work commercially, objectively and dispassionately?
In my own personal opinion, there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of you being able to view your own work objectively, so don’t even try. You could ask the advice of a trusted and experienced photographic friend with commercial experience, who will help you choose the optimum images which are more likely to be commercially viable. However if you don’t have such a person close at hand, you’ll simply have to choose those images you love, and from that shortlist, guess which ones that will sell. Bearing in mind that a photographic artist puts a small piece of his soul into each and every image, you then have to literally put a price on your soul.
For Sale on Ebay: One Selenium Toned Soul on a 16"x20" Silver Gelatin Print, Printed by Artist, a bargain at $100 plus shipping.
Being both an artist and a businessman sucks, huh?!
Well, generally you look around at the prices charged by your peers, and you pick a figure not too dissimilar from theirs. If you decide on an aggressive pricing policy, you may decide to charge less than your competitors, so that potential collectors are more tempted to choose yours over theirs. Or you may decide to sell your prints incredibly cheap, on the Ebay-style philosophy that you can bump up the shipping costs and make your profit margin that way. Or…as I have been taught, you always, always price your product over and above your main competitors. A higher price tag means that your art is automatically worth more because it has that aura of upper-market exclusivity. If you make it expensive and glossy, and pimp it as such, then people will want it more because it’s perceived as a luxury item. If you can get someone to (positively) review your piece of art, even better, because that adds even more exclusivity to the piece.
Sounds easy doesn’t it? In fact, you all know this basic stuff already. End of post. Or maybe not, because artists are humans, not autonomous pimping machines. The problem comes when you bring personal feelings into the whole monetary marketing process.
For example, how do you choose which photographs to sell? Collectors generally only buy pieces that they love, so how do you decide which ones are the right ones? After all, you can guarantee that the images your potential client loves will be different from your choice. There are many of Rich’s photographs that I adore, and he won’t even finish because he sees flaws that I don’t. These gorgeous photographs will never see the light of day, and yet I’m sure they’d sell if he would only trust my instincts. But he’s a man of principle, and he won’t finish (let alone sell) anything that doesn’t speak to him, or that he considers less than perfect in his eyes. He is limited by his perfectionism, by his emotions for his art, and like many photographers, he has absolutely no clue as to what price to put on his work.
You make a photograph because you have seen something that is beyond price, a glimpse of something beautiful, true and perfect which can’t be put into words. So it becomes tremendously difficult put a real value on such a glimpse of the infinite, because how do you price truth? You are blinded by your subjective feelings for your art, and yet you nevertheless have to assign a cash value to it. How do you put your personal feelings aside and view your work commercially, objectively and dispassionately?
In my own personal opinion, there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of you being able to view your own work objectively, so don’t even try. You could ask the advice of a trusted and experienced photographic friend with commercial experience, who will help you choose the optimum images which are more likely to be commercially viable. However if you don’t have such a person close at hand, you’ll simply have to choose those images you love, and from that shortlist, guess which ones that will sell. Bearing in mind that a photographic artist puts a small piece of his soul into each and every image, you then have to literally put a price on your soul.
For Sale on Ebay: One Selenium Toned Soul on a 16"x20" Silver Gelatin Print, Printed by Artist, a bargain at $100 plus shipping.
Being both an artist and a businessman sucks, huh?!
HoneyB from this week's shoot. This shot has been described as "a bit too out-there" so I'm guessing it's unlikely to qualify as suitable for print sale status. But Rich loves it, so what the heck, I'm posting it anyway.
posted by Lin at 4:22 PM
5 Comments:
I've been wondering about the same thing. For me, the business side is easy since I've got that background. But its not a matter of simple economics in my case. The artists side of me doesn't want to sell anything. I'd rather keep it all to myself, maintain control over their use, but still make them available for exhibit. On the other hand, I'd like to see what I can get for some of my images and at the very least make my photos pay for themselves.
I had a friend ask me to submit some of my work for an art sale she was holding for exclusive clientele. I was all happy at first until I suddenly realized, the only thing I had on-hand are my hand-made fiber prints. I could not dare part with them since there's a chance I won't make darkroom prints of those negatives again. So, I declined her offer.
I've just recently priced my work on my website for mounted digital prints. So we'll see how that goes.
Good post!
By the way, I'm with Rich on HoneyB!
This whole pricing issue presents a conundrum I faced early and made a decision. I was more interested in achieving widespread ownership of my prints than command a high price.
I first did the eBay thing with some success, but haven't listed there in three years, both because of the harassment factor (by the eBay Morals Police) and the fact that eBay customers expect rock-bottom prices.
Now I sell virtually entirely via the Internet, and much of my sales go to repeat customers. As subscribers and friends, you already know many of my strategies. They succeed, but not well enough. So, were it not for my other assets and sources of income, I would truly be a starving artist.
Is mine the better approach? I'd not want to so suggest. It is merely one of many possible approaches. My friend Dave Swanson sells in editions of one or two to a selective but growing clientele. My friend Dave Levingston, I believe, sells in open editions. All of them I suspect wish that artistic nudes sold better; on the other hand, we should each be grateful that anyone buys them at all, given the social and sometimes legal constraints we face.
Another one worthy of a post in its own right -- I think I'll let the above suffice for now, however.
As Stephen mentioned, I limit most of my good work to editions of one. Sometimes two or three, but never more. Depends on where it will be shown. All of my sales come from gallery shows. If Chicago is going to be the first place the piece will be shown, it will be an edition of one because I have a few very good clients in Chicago that buy quite a lot of my work, and they only buy it if the edition is one.
I sell my image at what has been said to be an enormous amount of money. Usually $2,200 to $3,800. The reason for the high prices are three fold. Art collectors want to buy something they believe is worth a bit of money. They are not interested in a $150 print on their walls. Those are for the hobby collectors. Second, galleries want expensive things hanging on their walls because their commission from the sale pays the bills. Again, they do not want to take up wall space with a $150 print that if sells they get $75. They have rent, heat, lights, air conditioning, advertising, publishing costs, insurance, and employee salaries to come up with. $75 just does not cut it in terms of space. So one has a better chance getting into the high end galleries with higher priced pieces. And third, the galleries do take 50-60% of the selling price these days.
I don't sell as many prints as I would like, but I do alright. I run my art like a business, putting in about 60 hours a week. My camera gear, computers, lighting, insurance, and travel expenses all come out of the sales of those prints from galleries. And those who know me will tell you that I trash a camera and lens about once a year. Sometimes more often, sometimes I manage to go longer but it averages once a year.
As I'm writing this I am looking at my dead camera shelf. I see eleven of them from my chair, and I know there are a few more under the pile, plus a few that were never recovered.
So far I have had a banner year. I have spent a bit over six thousand in travel expenses, new camera and lens, and I am in the black.
Good post.
The first sentence from my economics teacher when I did my MBA: "Value is what a damn fool will pay for it".
Unfortunately, there aren't so many fools around that have deep pockets and a keen taste for fine art nudes. A shame, really. I know all of us put a lot of heart and soul into our work. Pricing prints for $20 feels a little bit like having to give it away, and it doesn't come near to representing how much heart and soul we put into our work.
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