Oh, I should clarify: when I refer to 11x14 I mean the finished size (mat size). I print full-frame, so the size of the image is roughly 7.25x11.
How populated is the area you’re in? I ask because when I used to tag along w/ my mom to art shows, craft bazaars, etc, we would not only see the same stuff for sale every time, but we would also see the same customers walking around. Could be the customer base is pretty small and you’ve sold to about as many as you’re going to. Law of diminishing returns and all.
Your photography is very good, and I do believe there’s a market for it. I agree with others who have talked about percieved value… You may want to rethink your entire business plan and raise the prices to reflect the high quality of what your’e selling.
It’s entirely possible. Right now, I’m doing the same venue each month, the flea market. It’s not exactly an art/craft show, but I did it at the suggestion of a friend and after talking with several of the other venders, they think I should give it through the end of the year (as they’ve all said the summers are usually pretty slow). I think the closer it gets to the holidays, the more people will start buying art as gifts. If not, then I will stop at this particular venue and only do craft shows. If it picks up through the holidays, then I may continue to do the flea market, as long as I can cover my costs and still make some sort of profit. Otherwise I might just want to do it during the fall when people are gift shopping.
The flea market is supposed to bring in something like 2-3 thousand people each month.
I’ll be doing an actual craft/art show in September and I’m going to use that show as my gauge on my prices. I don’t feel it’s justified at this point to raise my prices as I think that’s already what turns a lot of people away. A lot of that could be my venue, and a lot of it is just going to be the economy and what people are buying and what they’re willing to spend on something they don’t really ‘need’.
My plan was to get into more craft shows, continue with the flea market through the end of the year, and in January, take a look at my books, go over my taxes with my accountant, and see what’s working out and what’s not.
Well, I’m going to disagree with you here. I think the photos above are some of the most interesting in the portfolio, and it’s a bit odd that they strike fear into you. I don’t think she should organize her show around that oddness. And fear of birds? I dunno, you must walk around in a constant state of apprehension. I’m not mocking your phobias, really, but I don’t think this is a common enough problem to be taken into consideration, sorry.
As for the OP, I’m going to go a bit against the grain here and say I think your prices are fine for the venues you’re selling at. If you can get some higher-end venues (galleries, etc) then raise the prices (but you have to keep them consistent–you can’t lower them when you do a flea market.
I’m a painter (here is some of my work, for reference), and pricing is definitely something I struggle with. When I was selling at the sort of places you’re selling at now, I found that for my prints, the highest I could charge without putting people off was about what you’re charging (obviously, much more for originals). It’s about what people come into the place expecting to spend. People don’t seem to go to flea markets expecting to drop a lot of cash–they want bargains. If the guy next to you has his prints at $5 and you’re charging $50, it’s a problem. I did badly at that sort of place.
What ended up being very profitable for me was gift shops that would allow me to come in and set up my art for a few days as a “special event.” Something you might want to consider.
As for selling yourself, it just takes time to get comfortable with it. It’s hard.
Re: repeat customers–I was shocked how many people who bought my art came back for more. I personally don’t want multiple paintings from the same artist in my house (excepting my own, of course) but people do. My repeat customers were definitely where I made the most money. It’s worth it to offer a mailing list option to let people know where you’re going to be next.
(sorry for the disorganized post–just some random thoughts and I’ve got to run)
“I wanted all of my stuff to be archival quality”
Good for you. Selling a wall picture knowing that its going to look significantly faded inside a year or two isnt very nice.
Id agree with other people that the prices sound too low. Better to sell less for more given the labour involved.
Otara
The short answer is “whatever the market will bear”. Art is completely subjective and subject to fads and trends. Listen to comments by people looking at it. Ask their honest opinions as to why they do or don’t like it. A large print of boring subject matter is not going to sell any better than a small print.
Then I respectably suggest you do not understand the market. I know it’s hard, but price your work as if it has value because* you* did it. Lowering your prices devaluates your talent. I’m not arm-chairing this, I’ve done it.
Lots of luck!
Me, nothing, may be something strange with the firewalls here. They usually block things completely though, when they do. Let’s just assign it to “an internet hiccups”…
DING DING DING DING We have a winner.
Weather you are making penis widgets, doing brake jobs or scrubbing toilets you charge “what the market will bare(bear)”.
On the photography side, I would probably pay the prices you have. Though I doubt it. I liked a few of the typewriter ones.
In my business there is this thing called “the race to the bottom”. DO NOT participate in that race.
I frequent my local flea market, and its an absolute dump and yet a cornucopia of fantastic crap, everything from used underwear to flattened rusted mufflers, rusted bandsaws and it has seriously increased my collection of cast iron cook ware. We also have an exceptionally snooty farmers/craft market. Some of the higher end stuff that used to only be at the farmers market is now showing up at the flea market, and some of it is nice.
BUT I don’t buy any of it.
Take this for what its worth, and its only my opinion. I see a booth with some really cool stuff, some really nice prints or paintings or some metal work, and it excites me to a level of 7 or 8 or 9 out of 10, and #7 is buy time. So I look at it a bit more and see whats around it, and all the stuff around it is the same/similar, (typewriter). And that makes it feel not so special anymore and the excitement fades to a 5 and there is no sale.
I think you arteeeest type people should pool yourselves, keep your stuff unique by having a bit less of it each on display, but having a full basket of cool stuff. On the flip side a booth with only a few prints or pics is kind of sad and not very appealing.
As to price, the exterminator was here yesterday, and he got some AWESOME pics of a redtail hawk and her chicks in a nest. He literally got right up into the nest without the adult flying away, and even poked the adult and got the full wingspread pissed off redtail right in his face. 3 different pics, he had them printed I’d say 18x24, he sold one set for $200, just rolled. He was like a little kid in a candy store, always wanted to sell a picture he took, and he finally did, and they were nice.
Keep at it, if its what you want to do, everything is slow right now, but it will come back around.
This is actually one of the reasons I’ve thought sticking with the flea market might be a good idea. It’s somewhere where I am at every month, where people know they can find me.
I suppose it would help if I had a photo of my booth. I’ve got about 125-ish prints at any given time. I try to keep things stocked, and I also try to keep things interesting. Within the booth I categorize things, so I’ll have half a table with flower photos, another half with butterflies, another half with urban shots, another half with rural, etc. The typewriter set is one of my favorites, so I do actually have half a table devoted to those shots, and the cash register photos I took as well. On prints that I think will be popular, I will print a couple (no more than 3) of the same print, but always different sizes.
I pay attention whenever someone makes a comment or asks a question. My first event someone asked for a rose picture and I didn’t have any printed. After that event, I ordered prints of a few of the rose photos I had, and took some new photos as well, and I make sure to always have them on stock. Obviously I can’t listen to every request or suggestion, but I do listen to what people are saying/commenting on.
People have very differing tastes, though. Some will hate my urban work, but love the butterflies; some will think the flower photos are boring, but be drawn to the typewriter photos. I’ve gotten mixed feedback, and I figure it just sort of comes with the territory when you have photos of butterflies, but also have photos of decaying buildings and graffiti.
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I’m with the other people who think you need to find better company. People put things in categories based on the other things nearby. When you are sitting next to crap, you look like crap. I call this the “TJ Maxx effect.” When you are sitting next to something cool, you are part of the cool. This is the flipside, aka, the “Brooklyn Industries effect.” ($98, for reals?) Frame of reference is everything, or, stated another way, basically, people are idiots. You might want to read this: Priceless: the Myth of Fair Market Value (and How to Take Advantage of It)
“Better company” isn’t necessarily juried craft fairs. You can look out for artists’ co-ops which might get space together, especially around the holidays. Displaying your work in a bookstore or coffee shop on consignment is a great idea. It costs you nothing at all! Just call the manager and ask. As per the “Bookstore thread” lots of managers and customers think it cultures up the joint. 
Yesterday I walked by a bank displaying a local artist’s work and seriously considered buying a 5x7 pen-and-ink drawing of my local subway stop for $125. Every time I pass it by (which is every day, twice a day) I consider it a little more. For most people, art above a certain fairly low price point isn’t an impulse purchase.
BTW, for note card sets, if you have digital files you can do online printing, which is near offset quality, or actual offset for larger runs, at places like PSPrint.com. A run of 50, and scored/folded, is $47, envelopes included (yes, they’re on sale right now: hint: they’re ALWAYS on sale). Pack 'em in sets of 5 different cards, tied with a piece of riboon, for $10 – a tidy profit.
That reminds me–if you’re going to do cards (and I agree, they don’t have a big profit margin, but they can be worth it) stick with the 3.5x5 ones. If you go bigger, they compete with your prints, which is bad.
For a while, I was getting my small cards (just like the ones Hello Again posted) from shutterfly @ 12 for $10 (looks like they no longer have that deal) and selling them in packs of 4 for $9. I couldn’t keep them in stock, people loved them. It wasn’t a huge profit, but if you put your info on the backs of the cards (I recommend a sticker), it’s another way to get your name out there, and it is a few dollars profit.
Yes. You’re not selling a photo-printing service here, you’re selling your artworks. Taking that seriously, for yourself and your buyers, should mean seeing each one as uniquely valuable.
Also, disagreeing with some here, I’ll say that I also think pricing by event or by some formula based on your costs tends to run counter to the concept of uniquely valuable artwork. The value of art has nothing to do with how much the booth cost.