Tag: <span>Artist Alley</span>

In the last installment, I ended with this postscript: “I expect a lower volume of art collectors at the cons I frequent, which begs the question of why I attend those conventions.  The reason is that while there is a lower overall volume of art collectors there, they are more likely to purchase my art specifically and I have less competition.”

This post elaborates on and explains this concept.  We use 4 basic questions to narrow down our target audience and where to find them.  This helps us determine which shows to attend, target our marketing efforts, and decide what sort of ancillary products to create.

1. Who seems the most interested in your work?

2. What events does each group attend?

3. Where are the biggest overlaps?

4. Who is your competition?

Some of the most important things to learn in order to be successful in the Artist’s Alley are proper pricing of your work and how to allocate and control costs for producing your items.  It’s necessary to set prices at a level where items will both sell and turn a reasonable profit. (If you think artists making profit on their work is somehow wrong or excessive –there’s the door. These posts are not for you.)

1. How much does it cost you?

Divide the total cost of production by the amount you produce.

You arrive at the total cost of production by adding the cost of making each unit, supplies used to make it, and the cost of the labor to produce it.  Divide that cost by the number of units you intend to make.