You Have to Exist to Sell Art
With the ever increasing struggle to join the art industry, be it due to lack of jobs, or an individual’s lack of a network, many artists have turned towards self employment. On the surface, this sounds great! You are your own boss, you get to choose your own schedule, and so on, so forth. However, there is a bit of a misunderstanding. This route of being an artist is objectively more work than working what’s essentially a 9-5. Yes, you don’t have to report to anyone, but that’s because, for the most part, you’re the whole team. From the art production, to marketing, sales, and customer service, it’s generally all one person. Granted, some artists have employees, or agents, but realistically, the average self employed artist isn't going to have those.
I myself have been looking into marketing a whole lot recently! I am not sure if I’m going down the industry route anytime soon, but I would still like to make money off of my art. Reading up on marketing can only take someone so far though, what really matters, is actually putting knowledge into practice. I very much keep to myself, and I shy away from the spotlight and putting myself out there, so marketing is a huge obstacle for me. I’m trying to work past this, as no one is going to buy from someone they don’t know exists. I’m going to need that spotlight on me if I want to make continuous sales. Don’t take this as me garnering pity to get sales, I just think that it could possibly help other artists with the same struggles as me, to know someone is in the same boat. It's one of the reasons I created this blog actually! I figured it's somewhat of a low risk way of putting myself out there, and letting people know that there is a person behind what I create. Not in an AI vs Human kind of way, but in a way that I don’t seem like a soulless company that just wants your money.
I think the hardest part about marketing is figuring out what will work for me. I’m not particularly interested in making short form content, other than maybe making a slideshow on TikTok. Social Media in general has never been my strong suit, I always post art and disappear until next time. Even with that, having a large following on social media doesn’t necessarily mean you have more clients. A lot of people need a reason to purchase from an artist, more than just liking the art. Who knows, maybe this blog will end up being my way of marketing and it will evolve into a newsletter.
