If You Would Like To Help Me, I Would Appreciate It (about My Prices)

Pricing is hard for those just starting out because they have no idea of the value of their work. Most newbies treat their work as if it were a commodity like selling bottled water - assuming that buyers buy art for their home based on price.

Can you imagine showing off your living room to a friend and saying "I got a good deal on this print, it was the cheapest one I could find".

The other consideration is your expected return. How many pieces are you expecting to sell? Will a return of $5 satisfy you for the work put into the piece? Or are you expecting to sell hundreds of copies?

Pricing also depends on how well you have built up your brand. Selling a print with a low profit margin won't help your brand except to establish that you are at the low end competing with mass produced art sold at Walmart or Pier One.

best thing you can do is sell some, and if you start selling, increase them little by little until your good. the question is - is the amount you ask for good for you? my prices started way too low when i first started. i've increased quite a bit since then. i would increase your prices, at least on the smalls, and the cards (they are small prints).


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Edward, thank you for taking the time to respond. I agree with you on all the points you made. I am an artist/photographer that does not wish to sell my work as if it were bottled water :) I'm trying to look ahead and I want there to be some value to the work I put out there. I would like for someone to buy one of my works and say, "Sandra Spalding created this piece." Not "I got this really cheap." As of now I am not sure what I am expecting to sell. Later down the road I am hoping at least 2 a month, to start off with. And $5 would be most unsettling. I am definitely trying my best to build up my brand. That has been my main goal lately, really getting out there and letting people know about me. Kind of hard at times when I don't speak the native tongue of the country I live in. But I am moving back to the USA soon. And maybe I will see a turn for the better.

Thanks again Edward for the good input.

Mike, definitely. When I do start to make sales I can use that as a margin and figure things out much easier. I will finally be able to see some of the value and what others expect of me. So, yes, I suppose for the time being... I feel comfortable with the amounts. Good point. I will take a look at my prices again on my smaller sizes and greeting cards. What is considered small here? Anything below 16 inches? I really don't know.

You can buy a car for $15,000 or $150,000 - both get you from point A to point B. The difference is in how they are sold.

There is stuff on this site that wouldn't sell if it were priced at 1 cent. You need a good amount of quality work and the marketing to get buyers to find it.

Also you just got started here. Think of this as a two year plan. It most likely will take two years or more of consistent marketing to get to the point of steady sales.

yeah i guess 16 and below is a small. 24 and up is a large, but it's really based off your own max sizes.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Sandra, if your not sure about pricing look up any of the artist here and see what their prices are. Some are higher and some are lower, to give you an idea as a starting point.

Edward, I am hoping that I am not disillusioned by my family and friends in thinking my stuff is good. Although I like my stuff a lot and can see it on walls. But that doesn't mean others will. And I am really hoping that I am worth more then .01 cent, haha. Yes, I foresee this as a long commitment, perhaps two years as you mentioned to see things progress. I need to build and don't have the numbers yet in images. I read somewhere 1000 would be ideal. And at the rate that I am going, that may take me more then two years :) Which is fine. I am in it for the long run either way, because I love doing what I do.

Mike, okay, thanks I will look into my smaller sizes and see what kind of adjustments I would like to make that would make me comfortable.

Randy, yep, I did that before I even made this post :) I just wanted some feedback. And I do appreciate it all!

always do your best. friends will always tell you to sell things, only you will know if its good enough. you can ask for a critique if you want, but that's up to you. i think i did some already, and i see some that may sell and others that could use work, most you should have more images. a 1000 is nice, aim for around 500. it's more about quality with variety. over general numbers. and if you put up enough variation your bound to get lucky with some theme and then build up on that.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

As Mike said, you need to continue building your number of pieces up. I only looked at a few and they appear to be digital art types of creations so this means that you're not creating traditional oils or water colors so you can produce more quickly. :-) (easy to say but not always easy to do)
You have some very nice concept pieces (bleeding heart comes to mind)

Keep working it and work on getting into a art group, although based on not being in the US, I don't know if you can do it till then... But that means you can create until then and then you can join an Art association and then get into art shows...
Best!

Mike, yes you did help me with a critique not too long ago actually. And I implemented about 80-90% of the advice you offered. If you would like to private message me again on the ones you see could use more needed work, that would be fine with me. But it is not necessary as it is a time consuming process to evaluate others. Although, I must say that the last few images that I have uploaded, I kept some of the advice in mind when I was out shooting. I think I am actually slowly, but surely improving.

Jeff, yes I do have a few digital art images. I mostly have photographs and original paintings at the moment. But I agree digital art is less time consuming. Although some pieces that I have worked on did take awhile. But not compared to live paint. Thank you for noticing my concept pieces. They are dear to me and I really appreciate that. That is a great idea about joining a group when I get through the art associated and getting into art shows and similar situations.

Thanks folks!