During the year after leaving art school, I realised I needed to figure out a way to make money from my art. This was especially important when I began thinking about applying to university in the UK, because oh my sweet lord is that one expensive endeavor! Now I know many other current and indeed former art students, illustrators, graphic designers and various other artsy types are struggling to figure out a way to monetise their work so they can carry on doing what they love. I may not have a solve-all answer, but I can tell you what I've done so far...
I started a Redbubble and indeed a Society6 shop back in 2013, and although I’ve still got the former, I’ve not pursued it actively for a while now. The reason for this is simple; although outsourcing the printing and raking up royalties for the use of the artwork seems like an enticing offer, it doesn’t quite work like that. Redbubble allows you to set your own profit margins on top of their base prices for the products, while Society6 has the same (low!) profits for everything apart from art prints. However setting these margins high (mine were 80%) will not attract buyers, as the prices will be ridiculously high after factoring in the product prices. So I closed the other account, and have emptied the other of all but phone cases. They weren’t worth the bother.
Next I thought I’d open my book for commissions. This works for a lot of artists, particularly in the pet portrait area, which I enjoy. Generally the formula for pricing commissions is simple: time taken + material costs + skill level. Many artists underprice their work by miles, which can potentially lead to more buyers after a bargain, but will ultimately lead to one VERY stressed out artist with barely any profit to show for all their hard work! You’ve got to remember that people WILL pay for quality, and low prices can even reflect poorly on the standard of your work (a price tag can be more convincing that what people see with their own eyes!!). I’m still open to commissions, but they roll in rather erratically, so unless you’ve got a hefty following to begin with, they won’t pay your rent.
I was initially doubtful about Etsy. I had a shop set up several years ago, which never really kicked off, and I’d ended up binning it after a couple of months. There are heaps of horror stories online of sellers dealing with all manner of disaster, from iffy buyers to broken parcels and legal trouble. After a lot of uhming and aahing, I decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it anyway. This time round I went in with heaps of quality postcards of my work, a beautiful professional printer for making art prints, bookmarks, notebooks, and whatever else I could think of on demand, so I was thoroughly prepared. With the support of my friends locally and online, I bagged my first few sales within a couple weeks of opening. I was determined to make my shop work this time round, and within the space of three months I’d managed to sell a massive 70 items online!
Now I know that the profits aren’t even enough to cover one month’s rent in most places, and I’ve a long way to go. However, it’s earned me more than any other venture I’ve attempted, and I’m making steady sales each week. That’s already a win in my book. :)
To finish off this post, here’s a list of things to help make the most out of your Etsy shop:
- Work out the best possible tags for your items. It’s no good using solely professional terms like “archival print”, because buyers won’t necessarily be familiar with those terms. “Cute dog art” is much more likely a term for my customers to be searching with!
- Put effort into your descriptions. Lots of people on the Etsy forums say one of their biggest pet peeves is sellers who list items without explaining WHAT it is people are looking at! Somebody perusing my shop might not know whether the item they’re looking at is a greeting card, and art print, or an original, so I make sure I spell it out for them thoroughly!
- Opinions vary on what works best in regards to shop photography. Some like items on a plain white background, while others enjoy seeing the item in use, or as part of a set scene. However, one major thing is to make sure your photos are light enough for buyers to see the item properly, good quality (no pixelly mess, thank you very much!), and above all do justice to your product. If it doesn’t look it’s absolute true-to-life best, people won’t want to buy it, after all they can’t pick it up and see it for themselves like they would in a brick and mortar shop!
- Write up your about page. I know it’s icky to write about yourself, but think of this more as building a trustworthy image of you and your products that gives the buyers confidence in spending their hard earned cash on what you’re selling.
- NETWORK! Network till your hands fall off. Head over to the Etsy forums and chat with other sellers, join teams related to your products, make use of your pinterest, twitter and facebook accounts to really spread your shop out there. If people can’t stumble upon your shop elsewhere, you’re relying solely on people searching Etsy for your exact product – that’s pretty limiting!
- Most of all create products you really LOVE! Take some time each week to forget about promoting and running your shop to just sit down and do what you do best; make something beautiful. That’s why you started your shop in the first place, so focus on creating some wonderful things that you and your buyers WANT!
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