So often artists underprice their work. It can be hard not to feel a need to keep your prices low in order to make a sale. However, often it can be detrimental not just in terms of your profit margins, but pricing your art too low can also lead to customers not valuing your art. This article will outline methods for how to price your art at various stages of your art business.

Initially it can be a good thing to keep your prices low, before you have an established brand. It is important to ensure that you are making a healthy profit and being rewarded for your artistic excellence.

In this article I am going to break it down into stages as I truly believe pricing is relative to the strength of your brand.

How to price your art for beginners

For those that have sold little or even no art yet, how to price your art will be very different for those that are already well established. However, this doesn’t mean you should be giving away your pieces.

When you are first starting it, it can be great to share your art pieces to your existing network of friends and family and perhaps at local markets. I would suggest at this stage, you should be pricing your art so that you are close to cost price, but making a very small profit.

To do this, you simply need to add up the total costs of creating each piece. For example with a painting, add up the total costs of the canvas, paints and any other materials you have used. I would suggest marking up at least 10-20% on your costs even at this stage. This won’t drastically increase your sale price, but it will allow for other costs such as your artistic tools and space. Basically you just want to make sure you aren’t giving anything away even at this early stage.

To give an example, a painting that costs you about $100-120 to make might sell for $150-200 at this very early stage of your business.

You can certainly price higher from the start and there have been some very successful brands and artists that do so. Of course there are many other factors at play here as well. If you have been an artist right through school and university and are already known as an absolute expert in your field before you have started to sell, then your prices could justifiably be higher from the start. Alternatively, you might just be learning and playing with your craft so your prices could be much closer to cost.

The customer decides the value

An important point to remember at this and all stages is it is not really you that determines the value, it is the customer. There are many things that you can do to impact the customers perception of the value of your art, which I talk more about in this post. But in the early stages, when you might be relatively unknown, it is more difficult to price your art very high.

There may also be different prices for different settings. For example, displaying your art in a gallery may attract higher prices than at a local market. However, remember that galleries take their big cut of commission and you have much more control of your income when establishing your own sales channels. Again I have also written more on how to sell online here.

The value of feedback

There is a more powerful exchange that can take place, particularly at the early stages of your business in lieu of a higher price. That is asking for feedback on your pieces and what people might want different or instead. 

Using feedback to develop your business and products is another subject that I will soon write in depth about. For now I will say it has been immeasurably powerful in growing my own businesses. It isn’t about changing your products completely through feedback (though you can), but letting it guide you with new ideas of what potential customers want and what they may be prepared to pay. Knowing what your customers and potential customers want and how much they are willing to pay is incredible insight to generating income from your art. Simply ask. It doesn’t mean you have to always listen, but it’s amazing what ideas and creations can come from customer feedback.

How to price your art higher

Once you have started to get a few sales and have some early feedback on your products, now is the time to raise your prices. The first way to do this is to start to incorporate the value of your time. Basically you need to measure how long it takes you to make a piece from start to finish. You may like to use a stopwatch or make notes on when and how long you work on each piece. 

Now you can attach a specific value to your time. A suggested starting point is roughly minimum adult casual wage in your country. For Australia, rounding up that is roughly $30 per hour.

Using the example above of the painting that cost $100 in materials, it may have taken you 10 hours to complete. Therefore the cost to you is now $300 for your time, plus $100 for material. So a total cost of $400. I would suggest still marking up at least 10-20% on your costs at this stage to cover running costs and incidentals. So this example art should now be selling for around $500.

It’s important to move to this level of pricing at the earliest possible time. Whilst getting those first sales through family and friends at near cost price are great, if you get stuck at those price points there can be huge issues to you developing your business. The first issue is you obviously won’t be making any money. You will never be able to quit your job and pursue art as your career if you aren’t at least valuing your time. Secondly, is the perception of pricing by customers.

Perception of cheap

There is a general perception in the world that the most expensive items are generally the best. For example, there are handbags that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Those that can afford them and are so inclined will hand over fistfuls of cash, or more rather melted credit cards because they are perceived as and often are the best (and prettiest). 

It is not always the case however that the most expensive equals the best. I’m not someone that frequents expensive restaurants. However, in my experience I have occasionally enjoyed some pretty incredible food at such places. I have also sometimes been left disappointed, wishing that instead I had gone to my local cheap Indian restaurant that I know is delicious and filling. 

The point remains though that higher expense perceives higher quality. On the flip side, less expensive perceives lower quality. It doesn’t matter how good your art is, if you are pricing it too low, then people will perceive it to be of lower quality.

That is why it is important to put your prices up as soon as possible. Effectively as soon as you are selling online, your prices need to give a perception of higher quality. So somewhat paradoxically, pricing your piece higher may well mean that you make the sale. 

How to price your art even higher

Once you are established with solid online sales, pricing becomes a bit more fluid and subjective. Many other factors can drive and guide how to price your art.

The first consideration is your experience and quality of work. This requires a bit of feeling and awareness, but do you feel like your products are becoming really polished, or are you still developing your skills? Note that it is absolutely fine to still raise your prices when your art is still developing. I definitely understand that art is a lifelong growth process.

The next is customer demand. Do you have a product that is selling out so fast that you can’t keep up? Or are sales just drifting along calmly. Note that if you aren’t making enough sales then please read my post about how to sell art online here. But what you might see in your sales is that some products are more in demand than others and there could be an opportunity to increase prices for those products. Again this is a fluid and subjective process. 

Another guiding factor that you can use is competitors pricing. If your competitor is charging triple for a piece that you think would take around the same amount of time and materials to make, then you should seriously reconsider your pricing. Note that if they have 100k followers and you have 500, it probably shows that their brand is stronger and can therefore charge more. Again please read my post about how to sell art online here that will show you how to grow your brand so you are able to charge more in line with those competitors’ pricing.

You may also have some customer feedback around pricing. Don’t ignore those comments when customers say that your products are so cheap!

How to price your art with an extra zero (or two!)

This is the really fun part. It is a different game of how to price your art when you have masses of fans and repeat customers, begging to buy from you before you have even released your next piece. To highlight this, I will use the example of three qualified but different health care professionals;

1. Any anonymous online counsellor;
2. Local psychologist; and
3. Dr Phil.

It is fantastic that in Australia at least there are mental health support lines available for free. The staff that work these phones are doing an incredible service to the community in an area that is desperately in need in our stressful modern way of living. Even more amazing is that these staff are often volunteers, or at most on low government wages. The point for this article though is that because such workers are anonymous and without reputation, the price point needs to be kept very low or free. This is particularly as each time you call, you may well be speaking to a different support person. Again, these are fantastic services, particularly at the acute stages of care. But there is arguably not much room to charge high prices with such anonymity.

The second option is a local reputable psychologist. This person will be more known in the community. Perhaps you were once referred to them and you may have referred them to others. It might be harder to get an appointment with them. But you are prepared to wait and probably spend a little more money, particularly when you have particular challenges that you want to discuss with someone you can get to know and trust more.

Now I can’t say that I have watched much of Dr Phil, but he is obviously a globally known psychologist. Appearing on television to discuss and give guidance on different mental health issues has positioned him as arguably the pinnacle of his profession, or at least the most famous. He may well not be any better than your local psychologist or even an anonymous online counsellor. But by being on TV helping so many people, it creates a perception that he is one of the best psychologists in the world. 

It is this positioning as a globally known expert that allows him to charge huge prices. A quick google search found that to book him for a speaking event would cost up to $300,000USD!

Similarly positioning yourself as a globally known expert is the same principle for your charging high prices with your art business. If you want to be able to charge extremely high prices, of course the quality needs to be there, but you also need to be perceived as a global expert. The way to do that is to authentically show your process as I discussed in more detail here. Then as you grow your brand you can concurrently increase your prices.

If you want a free chat with me to discuss your pricing or how to grow your art business, book in for a free no obligation initial consultation with me now.

How to sell art online can at first seem a mysterious and frustrating struggle. But in this article I will show you how to sell art online for free using techniques that engage and attract your customers.

Way back in the day, on nights out when I probably should’ve been already home hours before, we often used to end up at a club in Adelaide (South Australia) called Sugar. What happened in there isn’t anything that needs to be recounted, nor do I need to describe in any detail the seemingly delicious kebabs that were inhaled afterwards to close out the night. Rather, the relevance of this story is the “secret” passcode that could be said to the doorman to skip the queue at the nightclub on arrival;

“I’m with the band…and I’m ready to rock.”

To be fair, it was barely a secret as Adelaide is a small town and word spreads fast. I’m not sure if it ever even actually worked or made any difference, but it sure felt cool to say at the time.

The point being that it is cool to be with the band. To know or somehow be part of the band is what people so often really aspire to. Of course listening to great music is an experience in itself. But actually knowing the band creates next level depth in an experience.

How does knowing the band help me sell art online?

The point is that people who love certain music will turn into super fans when they meet the band. Or existing super fans will do nearly anything to meet the band. Just think about your favourite musician, how amazing it would be to meet them in person, to get to know them on a deeper or at least more real level.

It’s why people arrive at concerts to get to the front row, why they hang out in front of hotels where famous artists are staying, and also why people do crazy things on TV and radio contests for a chance to get backstage access to meet their idols, even if just for a few moments.

I’m an aspiring artist though trying to sell art online, not a rockstar…

Ok so I hear you thinking that this applies to rock stars, but how can it apply to your art business and help learn how to sell art online? The point is that as with rock stars, audiences also want to know the artist. The more you can engage with your potential customers in an authentic way, the easier it will be selling art online.

Furthermore, music is of course also art, and art transgresses many mediums. Lessons that work in one artistic medium can be applied to others.

Food and cooking is another art form that has exploded in popularity and a medium from which many lessons can be learned. Think of great restaurants and how they are set out these days. Lots now have a viewing window or open kitchen so that you can see the chef at work. I personally love it, perhaps you do too, being able to see a master at work. 

It’s no surprise that this is becoming more and more popular. Of course having a delicious meal placed in front of you is ideal, but what an even more amazing experience to see the chef in the process of preparing your food.

The importance of showing the process to sell art online

I know that I have only used offline examples so far, but the principles outlined apply equally online. 

An example is the rise in popularity of cooking posts on social media. The ones that do well are never just a photo of the finished product, they are a series of steps showing the process of how to make the dish. 

Now these are obviously also educational in their nature, to show how to make certain dishes. Teaching is actually a great way to elevate yourself to the level of master, at least in how people and potential customers perceive you.

Become the person that wrote the book on your subject

Jamie Oliver is a brilliant example of someone that elevated himself from a great local chef to a great world famous chef.

Because of his fame, he now has restaurants all over the world that are successful not because he is there, but simply because his name is on the door. He has multiple successful recipe books and could literally charge as he pleased if he decided to work in a commercial kitchen again.

Think about your art business now. Imagine being able to charge whatever you wanted and people being prepared to pay it, without hesitation. The way to do it is to be like Jamie.

(Note if you are struggling with how to price your art, then read this post.)

But what Jamie does and has done so well over the years is authentically educate people on the process of how to cook. He has positioned himself as a master teacher, so that others can learn from him.

How and why to be authentic to sell art online

Continuing with the Jamie Oliver example, I would encourage you to watch some of his earlier videos when he was the naked chef. They are a far cry from his more polished TV programs these days, and really show him authentically, having a laugh with his mate whilst cooking some good food. The camerawork is shaky and there is even interaction with people behind the cameras. This may all be somewhat intentional, but it works because it gives the sense that you are in the kitchen with Jamie, just listening to them have a chat about cooking great food together. It’s real.

Whether you are a fan of Jamie or not, he has an ability to be authentically himself on camera. It feels natural. It’s why so many people find it engaging. So don’t worry about trying to make social media posts perfect, instead focus on them being authentic.

But people will copy me

A common fear is not wanting to give away all your secrets on how you create your pieces. However, to this I will firstly reference Oscar Wilde;

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”

If anyone does try and copy you, it also arguably only elevates your product to be the original and the best. Of course you need to ensure that your marketing is on point so people know that you are the original and the best, which is achieved by following the steps in this article.

Secondly, think of your ideal customers. Are they professional artists in the same field as you? I would argue that they are not. There may be a few who will borrow or copy your ideas, but they will never buy from you anyway as they are producing their own pieces in the same or a related field.

As with home cooks compared to chefs, your customers may dabble in your art medium, but they won’t be at the same standard as you. Your customers may well also simply appreciate your art medium, without actually knowing how to create it themselves at all. Positioning yourself as the person that is so good that you can teach others how to do it elevates you to a level of master. It depicts you as a true professional and most importantly, attaches great value to you and your work. It makes it easier to sell your art online.

But I’m nervous to be on camera

“It’s supposed to be hard. If it were easy, everyone would do it.” 

Tom Hanks – A league of their own

Hopefully you’re starting to see the formula and importance of authentically showing the process of making your art to help you sell art online. I understand that it can be hard, particularly at first to expose yourself in any way on camera. But here I would ask you to think of your customers. Think of them as real, vulnerable, perfectly imperfect people too. They will be drawn to your authenticity and true self. Sure it might not be the first video or the 10th that takes off, particularly as it may take some time for you to find your authenticity. But momentum will grow as you post your process regularly and authentically.

Furthermore, there are ways to show your art process without having to completely expose yourself from the start. For example, most people are using their hands to create their art. I would suggest a perfect starting point would be to get a small tripod or phone holder of some sort and position it so that you can film your hands creating your art. 

But how do I do this in practice?

The key is to just get started. Choose a social media platform and create a plan of how often to post, then Nike it (just do it).

I understand that this is often where artists get stuck, or at least find it difficult to maintain actions. I am a huge believer in coaching to both guide the process and keep ourselves accountable. It’s why I have a coach and I also offer coaching. It has helped me to escape the corporate world and if you feel like you need some help to grow your art business and gain freedom, I would love to help. Please click this link to book in for a free no obligation initial consultation to see if we would be a good fit working together.

I’ve often been asked by clients whether they should save up a big fund of money before quitting their job, or just quit straight away and back themselves to make money in their new venture. It can sometimes be difficult to know when to quit your job. This article will help you decide.

There are benefits to each. Obviously there is a lot more security in saving up a bunch of money and in an ideal world I would suggest having at least 3 months of funds to cover your daily expenses would be great.

On the flipside, needing to earn income from your new venture in order to pay your bills can actually be a great motivator to make it successful. Whether that stress will lift you up or drag you down though ultimately comes back to you and whether you are a person that thrives under that pressure, or would do better without having that extra stress.

Then there are the other external factors such as;

• Is your current workplace toxic for example with a bully?
• Do you have a family and/or mortgage who rely on your income?
• Is your job the kind of work that you want to be doing?

Cut back on expenses

When starting out a new business, I would also always suggest to cut back on expenses – hard. Starting a new venture is not the time to be going on holidays or even out for brunches. It’s both a sink on your time and of course financially. If you want to really escape from your job, then you have to make these sacrifices initially.

Whether or not you quit your job straightaway or not, you should always try to start making money as quickly as possible from your passion, hobby or interest. How to do this is covered in my free pdf on how to monetize your passion which you can sign up for below.

Alternatively have a look at my post here about how to sell art online.

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Ultimately it is up to you to decide what is right for you. If you would like a free 30 minute consultation to decide what your first step to making money from your passion and my thoughts on whether you should quit your job or not, then click below.