SELLING YOUR ARTWORK ONLINE

These days, you can buy almost anything online, from furniture and wall paint to produce and baked goods. If you're an artist without a developed "real world" following, selling your artwork online is a great way to grow your customer base, reach a larger audience, build your portfolio, and do all that at no, or very little, cost to you. This article explores the various avenues artists can take to broaden dissemination of their art, and get on their way to making a living doing what they love.

SUMMARY PRINT-ON-DEMAND SITES YOU-SHIP SITES GETTING SEEN ONLINE PHOTOGRAPHERS KEENART MEDIA'S AGP You just upload your digital images of illustrations, photographs, or traditional artwork, and the website prints them on whatever surfaces the customer requests. You get a small percentage of the sale. You run an online storefront where you showcase your art. Buyers reach you, and you ship the artwork to them. The website takes a small commission for hosting. In addition to the selling sites, you will want to build a presence online. That includes social media, portfolios, and other, less common places to sell. Photographers have the options both to sell their prints on fine art papers, or to sell the digital images. Our Artist Gallery Program lets you upload your artwork and control the prices. We do all the printing and shipping to buyers.

THE "JUST UPLOAD" OPTION

One way to make your art available online is to post it on one of the sites listed below. On these websites, you simply upload a digital version of your artwork, and if someone sees it and wants to buy it, the website will print it in whatever style the buyer requested. The Pros Most of these sites are free to upload your art; the quantity may or may not be limited. Once your art is there, and you've added various tags or keywords, you just sit back and wait for someone to love it. It's not a bad idea to promote the work through your blog, website, or social media feed, but most of these sites are pretty well known, and bringing customers to the home page isn't an issue. If someone buys your image, you don't have to worry about printing or shipping costs, or dissatisfied customers. The Cons Within that final upside, however, lies the major downside. True, tons of people know about these sites and know how to find them, but that means tons of artists know about the site too. They know it's free, and relatively simple to use, so masses of them do use it. This means your artwork is tossed in among thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of other artists, some of whom are probably selling work quite similar to yours. This doesn't mean it's hopeless, but you definitely need to promote to be discovered on such a website. A minor negative to these sites is the amount of money you actually make off the sales - often not much more than 10%. But bear in mind the company is hosting the site, promoting the site (in general), printing your artwork, and shipping it to the customers. So really, they're doing most of the work. And you get to keep the rights to your images (in most cases - ALWAYS check), so you can sell that painting or design in multiple places. Fine Art America This art marketplace presents itself as both a point of sale and a place to build your portfolio. After you have set up an account, you upload your images - photographs, digital reproductions of paintings, graphic designs - thereby granting the site the non-exclusive right to sell, sublicense, print and distribute your artwork. You work may be transformed into prints on various surfaces, throw pillows and shower curtains, or phone cases. You set your own prices for each artwork you upload onto the site. You're specifying how much you want to make, which means FineArtAmerica will mark it up for their part of the profit. A regular account is free, and a premium account costs $30/year and, among other things, you get your own domain name. Society6 Like Fine Art America, this site is free to create a profile and upload your images. They offer a huge range of products onto which your creations can be printed, from canvas or framed prints to phone cases, to t-shirts and leggings. For each product, you must upload your image in a specific size. You set your own price for the artwork, and the site is useful in that it shows you the base price, your profit, and the retail price for each size your artwork can be suitably reproduced in. You receive monthly paychecks through PayPal if your work sells. You maintain all the rights to your artwork, and can add and remove products as you choose. As I have personally used this site, I can tell you it quite easy to use and maneuver. Zazzle Just like the two previous sites, Zazzle lets you show your artwork and offer a variety of products onto which it can be printed. This includes t-shirts, mugs, tank tops, and business cards. You set your own royalties (the amount you make) between 5 and 99%. This allows you to keep prices low and make less per piece (but possibly sell more overall). The site boasts an audience of 30 million shoppers, but just like the other sites in this article, the vast number of contributors still limits the visibility of your work. Other Similar Sites Cafe Press - apparel, glasses, waterbottles, pins, golf balls, etc. Redbubble - apparel, home decor, fine art prints, stationary Threadless - primarily apparel, with phone cases, pillows, etc. as well Imagekind - just prints on paper and canvas, with or without framing

Shoppers can order prints of your artwork Customers can order your art on a shirt

THE "DO IT ALL YOURSELF" OPTION

The other alternative for selling your artwork online is to set yourself up with a home business, where everything is shipped directly from your home or studio. These websites are essentially offering you a place to show your work, but they do nothing more than host your images - once a sale is made, you're on your own If you're selling your own prints, you'll want to make sure you have good digital copies and find a quality printer so your customers are happy. At KeenART Media, we can help by printing your fine art prints and canvas prints, or even taking care of the artwork scanning. The Pros The commissions charged by these websites are usually quite low; in reverse of the sites listed above, you are actually doing most of the work. Etsy, for instance, takes only a 3.5% commission. Memberships - at least basic ones - are often free on these sites as well. You can sell more than just prints. Original paintings, sculpture, textiles, woodwork pieces - whatever you make, you can offer without having to worry about how it can be represented on a coffee mug. You get to see and look over your work before it is shipped so you can personally vouch for the quality of the product your customer is receiving. On the other hand, this also means you deal with the complaints. The Cons You have to ship everything yourself. That means when you are figuring out prices, you should be sure to factor in not only the site's commission, but also the cost of shipping, packaging, and other necessary preparations. There are still tons of artists selling on these sites, and you're often competing with artisan, practical products as well, not just digital images. If you go away on vacation or are unable to ship for awhile, you have to hit pause on your store, or risk facing angry customers when you return. Etsy Probably the best known site of its kind, Etsy lets artists and artisans sell their work, and take home most of the profit. Your "shop" can be filled with as many different pieces as you choose, and can be broken up into various sections if you offer different styles of art. You are largely responsible for promoting yourself, though the site does send out regular newsletters which can draw attention to your work if you're lucky enough to be featured. You set the prices for all your pieces, the additional shipping cost, and the wait time between order placement and shipping. When someone buys an item, it is shipped directly from you - or a subcontractor you use such as a printer. Etsy charges 20 cents to post a listing for 4 months, and 3.5% of the sale price as commission. Zatista A slightly different take on online art sales, Zatista is a curated site that sells only original artwork, though this includes woodblock, photography, and lithograph signed, limited edition prints up to 100. The site is free to submit work, and free to sell your art if it is approved. Similar to a brick and mortar gallery, Zatista takes a 45% commission for each artwork sold. You, the artist, are responsible for packing and shipping the pieces you sell. Art Pal Another free site, Art Pal lets you showcase your prints or original artwork on their site. They offer both a "print-on-demand" option, and the choice to sell your work yourself. The site takes a 5% commission on anything that is shipped by you. For pieces they print and ship themselves, you set the price you want to make. You receive that full price, and they will mark it up for their profit. Other Similar Sites Art Fire - Looks almost identical to Etsy, a monthly membership instead of listing fees and commissions. Yessy - A yearly membership fee allows you to showcase and sell an unlimited amount of art including prints, textiles, jewelry, and original paintings. Handmade Artists - Meant for handmade items only (none of the vintage goods Etsy offers), a monthly membership fee negates listing fees and commissions, offers SEO services, and lets you communicate with buyers and other sellers.

Offer original drawings, or prints Sell original paintings, or prints of your originals.

MORE ONLINE PRESENCE

Social Media Whichever style of online sales you want to tackle (or even if you're going for a little of both), you'll need to put in some legwork beyond simply posting your art. Keeping up a regular social media presence is one way to get the word out that you have art and you're looking for buyers. Though just like the sites themselves, social media is inundated with people who want to be noticed for whatever their aspiration or career might be, a bit of research and the establishment of a "persona" can go a long way to building followers and translating those followers into customers. Figure out how you want to be known (preferably what you sign your work as), and set up Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts using this name! Check Out Portfolios Gone (or at least diminished) are the days of lugging a 2x3 foot folder around with you just so you can show people your art. Today you want to be able to pull our your tablet or flip open you laptop and let interested parties browse through large, full color reproductions of your work, right there on the screen. There are tons of online portfolio websites, many of which come complete with a community of like-minded individuals you can connect and network with, inspire and be inspired. DeviantArt: One of the longest-running artist communities on the web, this site lets you create portfolios, browse and discuss work, and even sell your art right there on the site. It's free to sign up, and it's not just for visual artists. Poets and novelists abound as well. Behance: Run by Adobe, this site lets you create a portfolio (free for subscribers to Adobe's other programs) and determine licensing regulations for each of your images. Keep them private or make them public domain. The site recommends a creative commons license which allows users to share your images as long as they attribute. That way your work can be spread around the web by others. Foliotwist: This site offers portfolio websites especially for artists trying to sell their work, so it does double duty. Depending on your membership, you can transfer over a domain name, or be provided with one. They offer easy payment options, email with your domain name, newsletter services, and more. The number of artworks allows is limited in the free and standard versions. Looking Beyond Artist-Specific Websites Don't underestimate the usefulness of regular old online classified sites. They're usually local-specific, so you might not get as much traffic, but you're also more likely to find people who are actually looking to buy, not just browse. Check out Craigslist, Kijiji, or whichever classifieds site is most frequented in your area. Get on Amazon and eBay too - why not? Even if you don't end up selling anything on some of these sites, search engines are seeing you pop up everywhere, which boosts your search ranking. Just make sure you don't bite off more than you can chew - having sixteen sites that lay dormant for months at a time won't do you any more good than having three sites you update regularly.

Make use of social media Post on classifieds sites

OPTIONS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

If your medium of choice is digital photography (or film, or vector design), don't forget to look into sites that let you sell your digital images. These sites charge per license, so your buyers have the choice of purchasing your image to use just online (a lower cost option), or in print advertising, on resale merchandise, and more (the expensive option). Always make sure you do your research on these sites, and figure out what cut the website takes, as well as how much each license sells for and what someone buying the license means for your own rights to the image. Flikr: More of a photo portfolio site, Flikr does give you the option to offer license purchases for your images. You set the license available, and when someone is interested, you will be contacted to make the sale. The licenses are sold through Getty Images, and they will make a percentage of the sale. Shutterstock: Most digital image licenses will be sold for stock photo usage, meaning a company or individual wants to use your image to illustrate their website, blog, or online store. Shutterstock is one of the best known stock photo sites and as a result has millions of images. When you make images available on Shutterstock, you can choose to hold onto your copyright, offer non-exclusive licenses (meaning multiple people can buy your image), or special enhanced licenses. Depending on the size and media, you can make anywhere from 25 cents to over $100 for each image.

Use stock photo and portfolio sites.

THE ARTIST GALLERY PROGRAM

At KeenART Media, we're proud to offer another option for your pursuit of online art sales. Anyone can sign up for our Artist Gallery Program. Simply send us an email request with some samples of your work or a link to your portfolio. Once you're approved, you can upload images to our website, where our customers can find them. You set your own prices as per our "base+" commission. You will always get 10% of the retail price, but you'll also get whatever +% you selected. For instance, if you specified "base + 20%" and your image sold on a canvas print for $100, you would receive $10 (your 10%), plus $20 (20%) for a total of $30. Though you still must do your own advertising and promotions, the Artist Gallery Program gives you access to our customer base, and your print can be reproduced on all our products, from canvas and framed fine art prints, to dry mounting on wood, to printing on satin cloth! The best part? We take care of all the production and shipping, so you can focus on creating more beautiful art!

Your artwork as a canvas print

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