Last 3 Week

If it were me I would keep it. The big thing is that time is far more valuable than money. 30/year is pretty cheap as an investment goes and the more valuable commodity of time has already been spent, so I would let it ride.

Just my opinion of course.

Edit to add. Take a look at your pricing. 1 card, one cell phone print and a ten pack of cards would almost pay for two years of membership for me. No reason it shouldn't with your work.

I'd hang in there for at least another 2 years. Spend some time over the next two years uploading and keywording and see what that brings.

Who knows? It could be well worth the wait.

What I would do if I were in your shoes --

1.) Give it another year minimum. You've only been here a year. You make it sound like t's been a decade.
2.) Stop talking about not selling all the time for two reasons.
2a. You've only been here a year. You make it sound like a decade.
2b. It's contagious, but that negativity doesn't rub off on anyone else. It sticks to you like stink on sh*t.
3.) Dive back in and do all the marketing you've been doing plus marketing you haven't even thought about yet.

If nothing else, FAA makes a great online portfolio; two portfolios, if you have a premium account. You've already spent the time and effort uploading and organizing your work -- now, you have a clean, easy-to-navigate showcase to direct people toward, to put on your business cards, etc.

Even if you drastically reduce the amount of time you spend working this site, I'd suggest leaving your portfolio in place. With the amount of traffic passing through here, you never know who might wander by. :-)

I agree with Wendy 100%. I have made only one sale in over three years, but having this online portfolio for $30 a year cannot be beat. I can direct people to a professional online gallery of my work and if, by some stroke of luck someone wants to make a purchase, it is ALL taken care of from production to shipping. The time you have already invested in uploading and keywording makes it worth keeping. If you delete it all you will NEVER sell from here, guaranteed. You have already done the work, why not just let it stay? And don't forget the forum here...pretty cheap entertainment, and some educational value, too. ; )

Consider the fact that time is more precious than money. The return for almost everyone here is pennies on the hour.

it will renew automatically so you know and without warning.

selling takes time, and for all you know your sale is around the corner. i would upload work that is destined to be art only, and not stock. even if people didn't actually buy stock and print it themselves (i still think they do that), they will come up first in the search because they are bigger than you.

i would keep trying new things until stuff sticks. don't be afraid to experiment with color, black and white, themes, even odd titles.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

plus as you stay here, if people see your work here first - they may want to deal with you directly for a better stock deal. you won't get the 50 cents, you may get the $2000 depending what it is.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Martin,

The $30/year is not your real decision here.

What you want to do for sales is.

But I dont even think it is a lot of sales, just orientating your
work to living rooms. Not matching couches, but what
people will like as much as your fractals, but are
more likely to want hanging in their living rooms.

I dont think the 1960s concept of selling out applies, but
that is what it is on a very small level. The bigger level
is making different artistic decisions based on where the
audience and you might find a creative set of outcomes.

It is artistic to get your work hung in different places.

At the end of your process, hanging a piece of art matters.

Dave

Martin,

Most of what I have done so far is not hangable art.

Most people do not want fake altered Mona Lisa prints in their
living rooms.

I have developed my Photoshop skills in the last three weeks. I am
hoping I have a new piece on Monday ready for prime time that is truly
an aesthetic that I have created and not so much an aesthetic I have
borrowed as with all of my previous works.

This really is the issue are you willing to be critical of your work and then develop
your work in response to what its problems are. All artistic works are
problem solving. As you solve one set of problems you create another set.

Dave

Martin, You have sold a bit of your work and invested a lot of time. I haven't been here as long as you but I'd suggest keeping with it.

Personally I'd keep at it for at least one more year.

It's $30. Write a check.

I would keep it. I have two young boys and work a full time job. FAA is ideal since I don't have the time or energy to focus on building and maintaining my own website.

Thanks everyone, I was busy later, so I couldnīt response eariler.

JC: Ye you are selling, so you can have higher prices. Those two of single card and phone case, was only because my price was 1usd for it. I had this price for a week, no sales before or after when my prices were higher... . That set of 10 card was to another faa member, so no random stranger.

Everyone who is saying to stay here for year or 2 more - Well a year is not that much but probably enought to see, who will be succesful and who wonīt. When did you start selling for more than 20 USD a year? First year ?

Yes 30usd is not much, but it will force me to put more time in to this site. And that is not good for me.

Mike: It wonīt renew, My old card has expired.

Also no sales makes me feel really bad about my work so, its like psychological brake for me. Also I am probably the first one with 50k views and no print sales. And I really, really donīt want to achieve 100k/no print sale. :D

The thing is did you actually sell that piece because it was 1 USD orrrrrrr did the buyer just happen to buy it after you had set that price and it had nothing to do with the cost?

In all likelihood it the buyer was not just standing there thinking, I would buy this if only he would lower the price then bought when you did. More likely is they found it, liked it and bought it and the price didn't make that much difference.

(My prices have been pretty high on here from the start and I hadn't sold a thing when I started.)

I sold two my first year with basically no marketing. Glad I stuck around for my second year. I don't have the numbers that some of the folks have, but my sales jumped well into double digits since then. The folks here who sell dozens if not hundreds of things a year give me hope for my own sales future. To use an overused cliche, it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Really, I don't know why we are trying to build you up and give you advice and some cheer. But sales should not dictate how you feel about your work. My favorite pieces I have shot don't always sell here. There was one piece I was ready to delete because I hated it so bad, but something stopped me and then it sold less than a week later. Negativity festers. It stays with you. It eats at you. And if you don't think you will sell here, then when you don't sell yet, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The last thing I would do is get on a public forum complaining about lack of sales and saying things like, "My work isn't going enough to sell."

Martin, Oh my gosh, your fractals are amazing! I just recently saw someone's fractal on a postcard advertising something. Someone paid that artist to have the art on the card. Your work is sellable and licensable.

This one is striking in color, composition, and very interesting. Just beautiful. Who cares if it was someone here that bought your work. Sometimes that is how it starts the ball rolling.



Spend your time organizing your artworks, tagging, definitions, promoting pages, and finding buyers. Market, market, market yourself and sign up for the licensing that pixels.com offers (I only just noticed that offer myself).

There are people here that sell fractal art and do pretty well. Why not you too? It's up to you to make yourself seen.

Don't ever give up and always keep a positive attitude and don't ever stop creating. Your not selling because people aren't seeing it. Now get to marketing yourself, dude. :-)

Martin,

You have nice work. Time to venture into other avenues that you have not explored in order to get the return you are looking for. Invest the $30.00 because one sale will cover that easily. Make up your mind to put your "time" in the right place. Instead of lamenting constantly about the lack of return here perhaps you need to get some prints of your own and begin to hoof it down the block to the local art dealer and see if they are interested in displaying what you have to offer.

Once creating art gets into your veins, it's very hard to pull away from it. What usually takes a beating is the promotion of the art and the energy and attention it takes to get into the public. This is where most artists fail. Nobody sees their work because they are too busy creating instead of showing and talking about what they do.

Also, sites like this tend to make one feel as though they are getting something done when really it is another "social network" revolving around art. Working this network takes all day and all night for pittance to most. It is the outside, real life world that makes the work done here take off... unless you are a net guru or happen to get discovered by the right person. Still, even that means a greater dedication to exposing your work.

It somehow has to ooze from you wherever you are. And... make sure to turn off most of the critical voices in your head.

Good fortunes

If I were you I would keep the account and stay positive, negativity never helps and I think is rather counterproductive. Joseph already mentioned self - fulfilling prophecy - I would not expect the negative.

I have read few discusion, about sold images, newmembers selling and about views vs sales.
My last question is which 25 images will stay here, those numbered 0-24 ?