BOMONSTER's Secret to Sell Your Art: Go Outside
If anyone tells you selling art is fun and easy, they are lying. If they say selling art is a lot of fun and a lot of work, it's true. I started selling my art after posting to online art forums. Fans gave me a lot of thumbs-up emojis and it got me wondering how I could go about selling my hot rod scratchboard art
The easiest way to work hard at selling your art is through a website. And every artist needs one. But no one beats a path to your online store without knowing it's out there in the first place. So you promote it on social media and try to find clever ways to get links to your site (like this link) or decide to invest in buying likes or views on everyone's two or three favorite social media sites. The challenge is, those sites make sure they make more money than you do - that's why they exist.
A website is important but there's another way too. Aside from enjoying creating my hot rod art I used to attend car shows with my dad who has since passed. He was in his 80's and we both liked hot rods, custom cars and going to the drag races. I noticed some artist vendors and asked about their experience selling at shows. They all said it was fun and invited me to jump in.
They were lying. It is fun, but it's also hard work setting up a booth to display your work, figuring out how to take the money and every vendors favorite part - tearing down your booth and getting off the premises before dark - or in the dark.
But here's the kicker - enthusiast shows are exactly where any artist should sell their work. The hard work is worth it because your customers are fans of your subject matter and since all art is an emotional purchase, your art is a great way for any fan to take home a piece of whatever it is they love about the show they're enjoying.
My advice to any artist wanting to break out and get sales is to spend the money and become a vendor at the best shows that reflects your art style and subject matter. Your chances of a sale increase and the people you meet along the way are supportive, inspirational and are always the first customers to say "hi, what's new?" at the next show.