fine art america?

I've heard several people say they haven't sold anything. On this forum or another, a sale was turned down because it was a film shot with grain. It didn't meet the "quality" requirements of FAA.

On MPIX forums, there is a photographer stating that he had been doing about $5K/month with FAA by utilizing proper SEO and concentrating on local and/or small city stuff. I think he calls it the "Abilene TX theory". Evidently, there are hundreds of photos of the Washington Monument or the Brooklyn Bridge, but hardly anything of small towns.
 
FAA looks and feels like ImageKind.com where I sold a couple of prints (without active marketing, which is not how you'd want to do it if you want significant sales).

I am giving FAA a try because they provide metal prints which ImageKind does not.
 
Joe-

I've looked into offers like that a few times and each time it seems they were making the artist bear the costs and get very little of the profit.

Better off uploading to one of the micro stock sites or legitimate online license sites (iStock, Dreamstime, BigStock or for full license, Alamy)
 
back alley said:
that makes sense to me, that we would have to do the marketing. i'm sure others might be better at that than i but i would be more motivated...i think.
Click to expand...

Marketing today involves spreading the word through social media outlets (facebook, twitter, google+). Yes, I am not a big fan of those either. But I cannot deny the fact that they are the most effective means today for reaching far more than my circle of influence would ever be able to.

If you are not prepared to tackle this (I wasn't for a long time), then you're in for a very long wait until someone stumble upon your photographs, and then they have to like those enough to click "Buy."

Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound so discouraging. I just want us to have a somewhat realistic expectation on what's our part to promote our own work.
 
SausalitoDog said:
Joe-

I've looked into offers like that a few times and each time it seems they were making the artist bear the costs and get very little of the profit.

Better off uploading to one of the micro stock sites or legitimate online license sites (iStock, Dreamstime, BigStock or for full license, Alamy)
Click to expand...

Not really.
As I mentioned above, I did sell a couple of prints and the promised profit did get delivered to me. I didn't have to print, measure, cut, mount, frame, pack, and ship any of my photographs. And most importantly, I get to shoot what I like and I can process it the way I envisioned it.

Stock photo agencies are more ruthless (in my view). Years ago I tried to enter istockphoto and one more (the name escaped me at the moment).

I wasn't able to get anything that I like past their stringent scrutiny. The ones that did got in ended up looking like what *they* like, really no different than thousands other stock photos out there. I don't blame them, those are the types that sells. Unfortunately for me (not speaking for anyone else), that's not what I want to shoot.
 
shadowfox said:
Marketing today involves spreading the word through social media outlets (facebook, twitter, google+). Yes, I am not a big fan of those either. But I cannot deny the fact that they are the most effective means today for reaching far more than my circle of influence would ever be able to.

If you are not prepared to tackle this (I wasn't for a long time), then you're in for a very long wait until someone stumble upon your photographs, and then they have to like those enough to click "Buy."

Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound so discouraging. I just want us to have a somewhat realistic expectation on what's our part to promote our own work.
Click to expand...

completely understood and expected by me.
i have a few folks that ask me about buying prints but the idea of doing the actual work is a turn off to me. i know...sick! but i don't want to be the clerk dealing with the lab, the printer, the framer etc.
i would rather be the salesman who directs people to my site where they can buy the print of their choice.
 
shadowfox said:
Not really.
As I mentioned above, I did sell a couple of prints and the promised profit did get delivered to me. I didn't have to print, measure, cut, mount, frame, pack, and ship any of my photographs. And most importantly, I get to shoot what I like and I can process it the way I envisioned it.

Stock photo agencies are more ruthless (in my view). Years ago I tried to enter istockphoto and one more (the name escaped me at the moment).

I wasn't able to get anything that I like past their stringent scrutiny. The ones that did got in ended up looking like what *they* like, really no different than thousands other stock photos out there. I don't blame them, those are the types that sells. Unfortunately for me (not speaking for anyone else), that's not what I want to shoot.
Click to expand...

this is what i'm talking about!
i'd rather direct folks to a site where they can deal with the details.
 
back alley said:
completely understood and expected by me.
i have a few folks that ask me about buying prints but the idea of doing the actual work is a turn off to me. i know...sick! but i don't want to be the clerk dealing with the lab, the printer, the framer etc.
i would rather be the salesman who directs people to my site where they can buy the print of their choice.
Click to expand...

That work is the bulk of what a professional artist does with his time. Its a business, and more than a full time one. What separates successful artists from those who rarely sell anything is the willingness to work. Not just shooting, but marketing, customer service, printing, framing, shipping, dealing with galleries, etc. That is the REAL WORK of a professional artist. Yeah, its boring, but its still a hell of a lot better than just about any other job out there.
 
back alley said:
this is what i'm talking about!
i'd rather direct folks to a site where they can deal with the details.
Click to expand...

You may want to check out fotomoto. It is kind of a neat concept. You add their code snippet to your own website, and they will scan it for image files and add a buy button. If someone buys an image, a popup will show all the options and price etc. They handle all the printing, and shipping and payments (and then take a cut).
What is nice is that you do not divert your client away to another website, where you are competing with images from other photographers.
 
shadowfox said:
Marketing today involves spreading the word through social media outlets (facebook, twitter, google+). Yes, I am not a big fan of those either. But I cannot deny the fact that they are the most effective means today for reaching far more than my circle of influence would ever be able to.

If you are not prepared to tackle this (I wasn't for a long time), then you're in for a very long wait until someone stumble upon your photographs, and then they have to like those enough to click "Buy."

Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound so discouraging. I just want us to have a somewhat realistic expectation on what's our part to promote our own work.
Click to expand...

Will-

You make a very good point about the stock sites. I keep trying new ones and more or less run into the same things you have mentioned, particularly their insistence that almost nothing can be identifiable as a real item (brand). But that is their right and probably saves them a lot of headache.

Maybe I should give AAF a try.

thanks for inspiring me to do it...and thanks, Joe, for bringing it up.

Tom
 
I sold another print this morning. I usually move a couple a month. The returns aren't much, but the site I use is free, does all the other work, and enables free recovery (downloading) of files added. File size can be up to 60 megabytes, pixels up to 10,000 x 10,000. Perfect for medium format jpeg scans as I don't have to turn down the jpeg compression quality to upload. You get to decide your own margins, the default is 20%. However they seem to be more interested in t shirts and non-photographic artwork lately. Because I don't believe their own promotions help me at all I care less about that than I do about the platform. The site is called Red Bubble, and started in Victoria.

Some of the other options discussed sound interesting. Fotomoto in particular sounds appealing if I get around to setting up my own website. I've bookmarked it. FAA I will have to take a proper look at, too.

I think, Joe, that if you want to simply make it easy and convenient for you, and people you know, to buy some images from you there are some workable options available including FAA and Red Bubble. I also think Chris makes some good points, Ie. the more you do yourself, the more work it is, but the greater the rewards also (both the financial and the non-financial, I should think). Only having been really interested in photography for just a few short years (unlike many members of this forum) at the moment, I'm simply pleased viewers like some of my images enough to part with cash for them. In the future, perhaps I may want to take control of more of the printing process and reap more of the rewards, but this is of course a personal choice for any of us...
Cheers,
Brett
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
That work is the bulk of what a professional artist does with his time. Its a business, and more than a full time one. What separates successful artists from those who rarely sell anything is the willingness to work. Not just shooting, but marketing, customer service, printing, framing, shipping, dealing with galleries, etc. That is the REAL WORK of a professional artist. Yeah, its boring, but its still a hell of a lot better than just about any other job out there.
Click to expand...

Chris, I did think about you as I learn more about FAA. You do both photography and paintings, right? And you already have a lot of followers on your own website. Maybe you can use them as a leverage to reach a bigger market.

For me, it's not a matter of being lazy, but I have another business that I run. My time is limited to shoot and process (sometimes not even).
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
That work is the bulk of what a professional artist does with his time. Its a business, and more than a full time one. What separates successful artists from those who rarely sell anything is the willingness to work. Not just shooting, but marketing, customer service, printing, framing, shipping, dealing with galleries, etc. That is the REAL WORK of a professional artist. Yeah, its boring, but its still a hell of a lot better than just about any other job out there.
Click to expand...

i get that...i am not a professional artist though...just a lazy old man looking to sell a few prints in the most convenient manner possible.
 
CNNY said:
You may want to check out fotomoto. It is kind of a neat concept. You add their code snippet to your own website, and they will scan it for image files and add a buy button. If someone buys an image, a popup will show all the options and price etc. They handle all the printing, and shipping and payments (and then take a cut).
What is nice is that you do not divert your client away to another website, where you are competing with images from other photographers.
Click to expand...

that looks promising...
 
SausalitoDog said:
Will-

You make a very good point about the stock sites. I keep trying new ones and more or less run into the same things you have mentioned, particularly their insistence that almost nothing can be identifiable as a real item (brand). But that is their right and probably saves them a lot of headache.

Maybe I should give AAF a try.

thanks for inspiring me to do it...and thanks, Joe, for bringing it up.

Tom
Click to expand...

Tom,
I admire those who do make it in the stockphoto world.
I'm a sloppy photographer by comparison 🙂

+1 on thanks to Joe. Good and informative thread.
 
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