Selling my first few prints - How do I price them?

[dustin_m1]

<p>I'm a student, and have been shooting as a hobby for a couple years now. In the last 6-9 months I've been putting a lot more time into it, and as a result I have a few select photos that I'd like to frame and sell. There's a few coffee shops in the area that are looking for artists/photogs to put up their work for sale, and I'm going to hopefully get a few prints up soon. The problem is that I have absolutley no idea how to price my work. </p>

<p>I have mostly B&W images that I'm interested in selling, but also a few color ones. I think at first I'll put up the B&W ones, so they will be on fiber paper, probably toned, with archival mats, 2" border, and a basic frame from one of the online framing businesses like American Frame. I'm actually a little unsure whether to print 11x14 or 8x10 because I'm unsure which would be easier to sell, but I'm thinking probably 8x10. My frame cost should be around $30-35, plus cost of paper, but I don't really know how to price it overall. Should I take what it cost for all materials and mark it up by a certain %? With this being my first shot at this, I don't want to overprice them, but I also don't want them to be too low as to make it seem like I don't know what I'm doing.</p>

<p>Can anyone share how you went about pricing your first few prints you sold?</p>

[john_n._wall]

<p>In theory, the price to ask is the price that people are willing to pay for your work. The challenge is to determine what that number is. Obviously, you will have a better idea as you gain experience with sales.</p>

<p>Generally people recommend that you start low, then move your prices up as you sell work and get a feel for what the market is for your work.</p>

<p>It is harder to reduce prices than it is to raise them, in part because if you lower prices you will annoy your most precious assets -- those who have actually bought work from you -- because you reduce the value of their purchases.</p>

<p>There is a rule of thumb among some folks who sell at craft venues, which is that your asking price should be 5 or 6 times your materials cost.</p>

<p>Perhaps a better approach is to visit the places in your area where people show art and see what they are asking for their work. Identify work that is as close as possible to the work you want to sell.</p>

<p>Even better would be to see how much work actually SELLS at the price producers of work are asking. Just because someone offers work for sale at a certain price does not mean that people are actually paying that for it.</p>

<p>Making sales starts with having quality work to offer. Beyond that, its marketing. There are some good books out there about marketing art work that are worth at least a look, including, for example, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Prosper-Artist-5th/dp/0805068007/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245862671&sr=8-1">How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist, </a> by Caroll Michels.<br /> <br>

The guru of photo marketing is Mary Virginia Swanson, who also has a book on the subject. You might want to check out her website at<br /> <br>

http://marketingphotos.wordpress.com/</p>

[dustin_m1]

<p>Thanks for the info, John. I'm definitely going to look into that book.</p>

<p> So going by the 5-6x the material costs, framed work would probably be right around $200. Is that going to sound about right for someone who is just starting out?</p>

[daniel_sach]

<p>

<p >Dustin,</p>

<p > When it comes to pricing, the only thing that determines prices is the demand for the pieces. Peter lik sells his every day for 20k-30k. The guy makes a lot of money. His art is in high demand not because it is "so good" but rather the marketing that went into his company. When i set out to price my work, I decided that I wanted to be able to offer my work to everyday people that can afford it. I sell a 30x40 piece that is hand signed and numbered by me as well as a certificate of authenticity. The key is finding who you want to sell to and sell it to them. You cannot please everybody. In the end you will make more money by selling more prints, not more money by more expensive prints. I know a guy that goes to art shows and has since changed his philosophy on selling. He started out selling his pieces for 3k-5k. Yeah he sold a few here and there but he did not sell a lot. About the time he was going to stop going to shows he lowered his prices by 50% and sold out at that show. Rather than selling 3 prints for 4k he sold 30 prints for around 1500. You do the math. He know sells his prints for a much lower cost only selling limited or one of prints for higher. </p>

<p >You sell your art for what you feel it is worth to you.</p>

<p >Daniel

 

MODERATOR NOTE: Last name and link removed as per photo.net policy

[enlightened-images]

<p>I sold my very first print for $275.00 as a framed 16x20. I was on a trail at a local reservoir setting up a shot and a guy walked by and said, "I'll buy that." I hadn't even pressed the shutter yet.</p>

<p>My suggestion is just to spend a few days or weeks looking at everyone's web sites and price lists, and see where you feel your work would fall on the pricing ladder. You're welcome to check out the price list on my own site as a starting point. I find that the smaller prints sell more than the larger prints, especially in this economy; even though I just sold five 24x36 prints this week to a single client. Those types of sales are certainly a bit harder to come by these days.</p>

<p>Another real-world tidbit: The first budget item to ever get cut in tough times is the Art budget.</p>

<p>Best of luck, and do what feels right for you.</p>

<p>Cheers,</p>

<p>Gary.</p>

[dustin_m1]

<p>Thanks Gary. That info was exactly what I was hoping to get here, how much you sold you first print for. </p>

[gregory_c]

<p>Do you shoot film or digital ?</p>

[dustin_m1]

<p>I'm shooting both. For the first few, I'll probably stick to prints from film since it's wasier to do right now. I want to get a calibration tool for my monitors before I get into printing my digital photos, but I definitely have a few that I'd like to sell once that's all figured out.</p>

[jasminabalic]

<p>I am selling my first photograph this week as well....and still don't know what to charge, but man who wants to buy it doesn't care for price...he just wants to have it...printed and nicely framed...<br>

I don't have a clue what to charge....I have few people having my photographs on their walls, but that was a gift....<br>

This is going to be first one....</p>

[dustin_m1]

<p>Funny, just as I got the email that there was a response to this thread, I was writing a new one with some new questions related to this topic. From reading around it seems that 2-3 times the cost to make the finished product would be about right, and that's pretty much where I'm going to start. I'll probably go at about 2.5x cost. I checked out the place where I want to sell, and the only other person selling photos was selling a little cheaper than that, but the work wasn't that great IMO either.</p>