Well, several of you know that I was preparing for a major Art Festival here in Corning. It was my first juried show and I was pretty nervous about it. I am pleased to report that it was very successful. I made enough sales to cover all my up front expenses, like buying a tent, buying extra metal racks to hang prints from and small print stands, as well as the enterance fees, etc.
The following are some impressions I have from the learning curve. First take credit cards. 1/2 my sales were via credit card. On other threads I have discussed ProPay. - It works and works well. Cell phone access to charge cards without a computer or swipe machine is a dream come true and the fees are reasonable.
Second about 20% of my sales were note cards. It could be said that people might have bought larger prints in place of the cards, but I found that if they didn't buy the cards they would have left without buying anything. I also got 2 orders for 50 or more cards to be filled later and also a contract to photograph a local scene to be made into a custom card for a local business. So, note cards provide some cash flow and generate awareness of me and my style.
Third is that everything needs to be tied down. Do not trust that the metal print racks can withstand any breeze. Tie them to your tent top. While I didn't have a problem, I could have if it weren't tied down I would have.
Finally, interact with the browsers and lookers. Tell them about the images they are looking at. Answer questions re cameras and processing. If you act like a teacher the public will respect you and your sales will increase. If you teach about the location of the images and the story behind them it will make the image more valuable to the public. This is actually a fun part of the experience -talking about photography and nature with new people.
So, I hope anyone who is considering getting into this part of photography takes the plunge and has fun and success.
Ed well done first of all, and Im glad you covered your expenses ,its a problrm.
I am gratefull for the tips as I am going into something similar shortly.What interests me are the NOTE CARDS. What size are they is it possible to see an example
Thanks again
AVI
Posted by Nathan Lovas on July 28, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Congratulations Ed, and thank you so much for sharing your insights...especially about ProPay and your experience with note cards. If you have time would you mind sharing how you print your cards? I Have always printed my own but it costs be about a dollar/card using the paper I like. I would love to reduce the cost and am curious as to your solution. Thanks again and much luck as you go on....congrats!!
Congratulations on your jury and craft show success. Thanks for the advice too.
Could you supply more information on Pro Pay? I haven't lost many sales due to not taking credit cards at shows, but I am always looking for ways to expand my business. Thank you.
Posted by Jim Sabiston on July 28, 2008 at 1:47 PM
Excellent feedback and congratulations on your success. I've done three fairs over the last year and can vouch for pretty much everything said, especially the public interaction.
I found my sales tend towards small prints or special order large prints. I tried a small run of notecards that my wife sold to her workmates (at their request) and I did OK with these, but the cost to produce leaves little margin. I would be interested in you experience here as well.
It has the link to their page and some details. I have been very happy.
Re note cards, I use Red River glossy 53 pound paper. I just reordered 2 boxes of 50 (100sheets) of 6.25 X 9 caards for just under $45.00 shipping included. I use my older Canon i9900 dye ink printer. The directions for creating a card are on the Red River site. I also buy envelopes from them. I get the sleeves from Clear Bags. I believe my cost total is just under $1 each. I sell for $2.50 each.
To cut production time down I create the cards and save the entire card, picture (sharpened for print) and all in a file called "note cards". This way I can just load any card I wish into PS and print away. I do not have to recreate the card each time I want to print more.
The hardest part is ensuring the printer track is clean. I usually clean the bottom runners with alcohol and Q-Tips and run a few pieces of junk card stock through the machine until there are no track marks on the paper.
As a side line I also create custom holiday cards with my images. I can write any text with signatures on the writable side. Since this requires a set up and extra print run, I charge $0.50 more for this. I run the print side first then the image side.
FWIW, I received an order to find a local scene image and create a personal card for a local business man who wants to send them to his clients. I will charge a bit less for a run of 100 or more.
You will not get rich doing this, but it does give some positive cash flow to help offset some of my other expenses.
Posted by Dan Dietrich on July 28, 2008 at 9:07 PM
Ed,
I have a question on Propay mechanics. How long did it take to call and enter in all the information to get approval. I am doing a small show in a few weeks and I am concerned about how long the phone in approval might take.
Ed,
Congrats on the show and and thanks for passinf the show information along. My wife and I are going to be doing our first shows soon just a couple local shows but working on getting ready for those. Then hope to get the wife in some juried shows as she has more prints and only one can do the juried shows. Thanks again on the success and thanks for the information.
Let's here it for partnerships!!!!
Sure works for us.
Congratulations on the successful fair. I'm betting future ones will be even more successful.
You and others mentioned custom orders. It's been a while since I've bothered with fairs, but when I was active I found a stunt worth passing along. Bring along a selection of your 8x10 test prints. They aren't for sale, rather they are for folks to paw through and handle. What else are you going to do with those stacks laying around the house???? Just explain to the folks that they were tests that didn't meet your specs, but you thought folks would enjoy seeing the pics anyway, even if they weren't for sale.
The oppotunity to handle the photos really seems to turn people on. I usually gathered quite a crowd, and lots of repeats coming back to show something to friends and relatives.
Best of all, in most shows custom orders from that dog eared print pile often equaled or exceeded proceeds from display sales.
Posted by Nathan Lovas on July 31, 2008 at 11:11 AM
Discussion
11 repliesThe following are some impressions I have from the learning curve. First take credit cards. 1/2 my sales were via credit card. On other threads I have discussed ProPay. - It works and works well. Cell phone access to charge cards without a computer or swipe machine is a dream come true and the fees are reasonable.
Second about 20% of my sales were note cards. It could be said that people might have bought larger prints in place of the cards, but I found that if they didn't buy the cards they would have left without buying anything. I also got 2 orders for 50 or more cards to be filled later and also a contract to photograph a local scene to be made into a custom card for a local business. So, note cards provide some cash flow and generate awareness of me and my style.
Third is that everything needs to be tied down. Do not trust that the metal print racks can withstand any breeze. Tie them to your tent top. While I didn't have a problem, I could have if it weren't tied down I would have.
Finally, interact with the browsers and lookers. Tell them about the images they are looking at. Answer questions re cameras and processing. If you act like a teacher the public will respect you and your sales will increase. If you teach about the location of the images and the story behind them it will make the image more valuable to the public. This is actually a fun part of the experience -talking about photography and nature with new people.
So, I hope anyone who is considering getting into this part of photography takes the plunge and has fun and success.
I am gratefull for the tips as I am going into something similar shortly.What interests me are the NOTE CARDS. What size are they is it possible to see an example
Thanks again
AVI
Could you supply more information on Pro Pay? I haven't lost many sales due to not taking credit cards at shows, but I am always looking for ways to expand my business. Thank you.
I found my sales tend towards small prints or special order large prints. I tried a small run of notecards that my wife sold to her workmates (at their request) and I did OK with these, but the cost to produce leaves little margin. I would be interested in you experience here as well.
Thanks!
For info on ProPay check out the discussion on this thread http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=32113&CGISESSID=6ab62105ca26fd52276e997744d6af88&u=26428
It has the link to their page and some details. I have been very happy.
Re note cards, I use Red River glossy 53 pound paper. I just reordered 2 boxes of 50 (100sheets) of 6.25 X 9 caards for just under $45.00 shipping included. I use my older Canon i9900 dye ink printer. The directions for creating a card are on the Red River site. I also buy envelopes from them. I get the sleeves from Clear Bags. I believe my cost total is just under $1 each. I sell for $2.50 each.
To cut production time down I create the cards and save the entire card, picture (sharpened for print) and all in a file called "note cards". This way I can just load any card I wish into PS and print away. I do not have to recreate the card each time I want to print more.
The hardest part is ensuring the printer track is clean. I usually clean the bottom runners with alcohol and Q-Tips and run a few pieces of junk card stock through the machine until there are no track marks on the paper.
As a side line I also create custom holiday cards with my images. I can write any text with signatures on the writable side. Since this requires a set up and extra print run, I charge $0.50 more for this. I run the print side first then the image side.
FWIW, I received an order to find a local scene image and create a personal card for a local business man who wants to send them to his clients. I will charge a bit less for a run of 100 or more.
You will not get rich doing this, but it does give some positive cash flow to help offset some of my other expenses.
I have a question on Propay mechanics. How long did it take to call and enter in all the information to get approval. I am doing a small show in a few weeks and I am concerned about how long the phone in approval might take.
Thanks...
Dan.
Congrats on the show and and thanks for passinf the show information along. My wife and I are going to be doing our first shows soon just a couple local shows but working on getting ready for those. Then hope to get the wife in some juried shows as she has more prints and only one can do the juried shows. Thanks again on the success and thanks for the information.
Sure works for us.
Congratulations on the successful fair. I'm betting future ones will be even more successful.
You and others mentioned custom orders. It's been a while since I've bothered with fairs, but when I was active I found a stunt worth passing along. Bring along a selection of your 8x10 test prints. They aren't for sale, rather they are for folks to paw through and handle. What else are you going to do with those stacks laying around the house???? Just explain to the folks that they were tests that didn't meet your specs, but you thought folks would enjoy seeing the pics anyway, even if they weren't for sale.
The oppotunity to handle the photos really seems to turn people on. I usually gathered quite a crowd, and lots of repeats coming back to show something to friends and relatives.
Best of all, in most shows custom orders from that dog eared print pile often equaled or exceeded proceeds from display sales.