New Here - Hello

sales don't come right away. you'll need a lot more than 13 images, and the things you have are a bit common. you want to enter contests, join more groups, upload lots, get a variety, find a style and advertise. it takes time to be seen especially if you brand new to the net (and selling). it will take 3 months min before something of mine sells. some take years. the last thing i sold was over 5 years old.


---Mike Savad

Welcome to FAA , been here 4 months zip for me but its a lot of fun here.

Hello Patti, and welcome to FAA.

Of course, there are many variables that could affect the answer to your questions. Mike has already mentioned many of the primary variables. Some not mentioned may include quality of work and desirability of subject matter by potential buyers. Probably the most important thing would be your passion and talent for marketing your work. Another thing to think about is how your work is found. Usually this will be through someone's searches. How will they search? One way is through search words and phrases. That means you will want to include as many related search "tags" as you can.

No one can really say for sure when your first sale will be. It could be today, or 6 months from now. There are some who take longer and others who catch the eye of an admiring collector, but on average, it takes at least a few months to get something going. Of course, I would recommend to read all you can about the site, how it works, and what they suggest for you to do. You will get some tips from this thread and others already existing if you search for them.

Joining for premium advantages is a good deal when you compare everything and listen to others advice on that. Some of that decision may depend on your enthusiasm, passion for art, and trying to get them sold. If you have a niche', learn how to gear that toward your possible buyers. Build up clientele the best you can which may include linking your galleries of images to social media including Facebook and Twitter. (See info about this "behind the scenes").

Remember that you may have some of the most beautiful flowers, butterflies, and kittens in the world but the market is so saturated with those subjects that it reduces your chances of selling that kind of thing. I personally would focus on something you love, but something that is different than what is already saturated in the market.

All the best to you!

Like most things in life, you'll get out of it what you put into it.
Just like any business, you have to network. (Both online and offline.) I have only been on here for about 6 months. I've had a few sales, and the response to my work has been overwhelming. It truly gives me the inspiration to continue to do what I love.
Welcome to FAA, and best of luck! :-)

Hi Patti... Welcome.. Good luck!

Welcome Patti to FAA. I wish you much success.

Welcome, Patti. Be patient - these things take a while. I've been here a few months but just now getting active - I've been transitioning from an account at rival, ImageKind. They are having some serious problems and I feel it prudent to bail out. I have come to really like it here because of an active forum, and some comprehensive marketing tools. I do expect some sales (hopefully soon) but I know I've got to upload a LOT more pieces of inventory.

Funny thing is, though, I have sold a couple of pieces "over there" while I've been transitioning. I have been with them almost since the beginning but no longer trust them - broken marketing tools not being fixes, a deserted forum and very lame blog. They are part of the Cafe Press, Flickr group (and I also had two CafePress sales last week). :)

"Does one have better luck going premium?"

There's no luck involved. Selling here is hard work. You have to market your images aggressively in other venues. Several of your images have some technical or compositional issues, and a few are so small that they might not sell for that reason alone. Before you worry about sales, get some more images uploaded and work out the 'bugs.' If your images are good enough and you market them well, perhaps some sales will be in your future.

Welcome Patti"
cant wait to see more of your lovely work.
All the best Teresa

Thank you much everyone for your replies. It is nice to meet all of you. You've given me much encouragement and
I'm happy to be a part of this community.

Welcome aboard Patti! You will sell little or nothing unless you go premium unless you get extremely lucky.

You need to fix the problems with the images you have up already. I would spend 100% of my time doing that. You do not want one of them to sell and then not print.

Two of them for sure need technical help. One the border is not cropped properly and one has the horizon off kilter. Unless you intended it that way but I don't think you did.

Once you get the images you have uploaded you should spend 80% of you time crating new art and keep doing it until you have at least a couple of hundred images.

Forget the groups and contest and even the threads (unless you are looking for help in the threads). They are all a waste of time and will not create sales.

I would spend the other 20% of my time establishing a Faceboolk and Twitter account and maybe doing a bit of posting there with links back to your ArtistWebsite, which you will have to go premium to get.

Facebook and Twitter are the easy and free things you can do as little or as much as you want, but they will not get the job done on their own to any great extent. You will have to promote beyond Facebook and Twitter to reach the much larger art buying market. For the most part both Facebook and Twitter are crammed full of people trying to sell every product in the world with very few using them as shopping channels.

Other then that, it is easy as pie!