Beyond Etsy.com: Next Steps for Emerging Art Businesses

What came first in your growing handcrafts business?
You sold your work to friends and family, of course, but what came after that? Was it a one-of-a-kind or commission-only business in your studio or basement? Was it an online store and mail-order business? Did you launch your enterprise to place your artwork in galleries, museum stores and gift shops? Or are you juggling fast, trying to do them all?

For many craft artists, “What came first?” is an easy question: The art came first. Figuring out how to make a living making art came next, often without any business plan or training. So that’s our focus in this edition of Market Insider: Next Steps for Emerging Art Businesses.

You don’t have to be a beginner to benefit from some of the tips we’ll review. Perhaps you’ve been selling your crafts for a dozen years, and now you’re ready to expand and add a new market. Whether you are launching a wholesale “division,” a commissions-only “service,” or an online “store,” you’ve probably already discovered that each has its own playbook (except the rules aren’t always written down to make your life easier).

We called on Nancy Markoe for help. For 11 years, she was a professional potter who sold her work retail at juried art shows and wholesale to galleries. Today, she is the owner of Nancy Markoe Fine American Crafts Gallery in St. Pete Beach, Fla. She is a faculty lecturer with the Arts Business Institute, www.artsbusinessinstitute.org. There, she leads seminars that teach artists the skills necessary to run a successful business.

Ms. Markoe understands the game, but she also did some homework for us. This involved spending significant time browsing online stores, to study the ways that artists in that marketplace present themselves to electronic customers, and comparing what she found to the ways that artists typically approach retailers.

Guess what?

There is a bottom line, no matter what marketplace you’re heading for.

If you’re selling one piece of art at a time now on Etsy, and you want to build up to a business that sells 25 pieces at a time at a wholesale show, your strategies will change with the marketplace, Ms. Markoe says. Your standards, however, should not waver.

Here are her top tips offering next steps for emerging artists:

• Make honest work. Be consistent with your work. The “iffy” piece you let go to a customer will always “come back to haunt you!”

• Decide how much of a commitment you want to make to your art. This will help you determine the path you will take to market your work. Consider the investments of your time and labor. The relatively low overhead of online retailing is offset by the high maintenance of mail-order shipping. Wholesaling, meanwhile, can offer you the luxury of bigger orders and income, but you need to be ready and equipped to deliver. Retail art shows can bring cash flow, but your success can be affected by weather and attendance.

• Have you developed a “body of work” (art term) or a “line” (merchandising term)? Or do you have one piece you are producing for sale? Both are viable ways to earn a living, but they will have to be marketed differently. If you make only one item, but do it really well, you can start your career with only one piece. Meanwhile, there are good arguments for developing distinct lines for different markets: You might make a one-of-a-kind version of your art for your commission customers, and offer a production-line version to shops.

• How will you decide the appropriate venues to market your work? Determine whether you are doing “fine craft,” surface designs or assemblages. You are going to have to find the galleries or shops that carry those types of works (e.g., some shops may want only items “made from scratch” and may not carry surface design). It’s hard to be objective, but for a moment, try to see your art as the marketplace sees it. Each type of work has its own market niches. Understand that there is a difference between painting a piece of found, old furniture with great designs; taking a lot of pieces from other places and assembling them into a work of art; and starting with a ball of clay or molten glass to produce fine craft “from scratch.” A design stamped on a T-shirt occupies a different place in the market than a hand-painted, hand-sewn silk tunic. A sculpture assembled from recycled machine parts sells differently than a hand-built clay bust. Ask yourself: Where will my art sell best?

• Determine where your work is in the grand scheme of things! Is it beginning work, young work or advanced work? This will help you to determine which venues are best for your next move. For example, the online marketplace Etsy.com welcomes artists at every level of technical merit. Online, it’s up to shoppers to find you and decide whether your work is “ready” and worthy of purchase. On the other hand, many galleries of fine craft cater to a luxury market that seeks only advanced work. Those customers pay top price, expecting the gallery to screen the art and present a selection of “the best.” You’re growing as an artist, and as your skills advance, your target market today may not be your target market tomorrow. Advancing, by the way, is not something to leave to guess work or serendipity: Get critiques of your work from experts in your discipline, from retailers who sell similar work, from other artists, from customers. Seek out a mentor who is doing well in your field, and who is willing to help you grow.

• Learn how to realistically price your work. Both retail and wholesale pricing have to include a profit. The most accomplished artist can go broke if she or he doesn’t know pricing formulas. A major mistake many artists make is to underprice the work they sell at retail. If your retail price is too low, you may be undercutting competitors, but they’ll have the last laugh. You can get stuck in a “flea market” mentality, where you constantly allow the customers to talk your price down. If you were Macy’s would you do that? Handmade equals value: Believe in it and demand it. Do your prices really reflect the cost of the materials, utilities, packaging, studio time, shipping and more that go into the manufacture and sale of the piece? Add them up. The number you come up with, by the way, is NOT your wholesale price: It’s your manufacturing price. You want to make some profit above that number when you sell wholesale, too.

• Buy your supplies wholesale. Otherwise, your pricing will be unrealistic as you pass retail supply costs on to your customers. Try comparison shopping online. You can usually find suppliers online who will sell to you at wholesale prices.

• Continue to study your craft. The more techniques you learn, the further you will be able to progress with your work. Take workshops or classes.

• Learn the basics of Art – with a capital ‘A’! Good craftsmanship alone will not sell a piece. Works should have all the elements of a great painting: Composition, color, balance, texture, etc.

• Use the best applications and findings. Don’t be tempted to cheap out on quality on the small or unseen parts of your piece, such as jump rings, closures and hinges. The “weak link” in the chain can kill your product and ruin a sale. Remember, too, that your customers, especially collectors, are very savvy: To them, proper finishes, clasps and endings are marks of care and quality. Who would put a priceless diamond in a tin-foil setting?

• Don’t spend a lot of money on fancy brochures. It’s the work that sells! Produce a simple color sheet of your work, with a separate price/order sheet. If you are doing both retail and wholesale, use retail prices on your promotional materials. You can always advise interested shops of your wholesale prices.

• If you have a complete line of work, exhibiting at retail art shows, although difficult, is invaluable. It is a firsthand method of doing market research on your own work -- seeing how the public at large responds, and if and what they purchase. You will also be exposed to others in your medium. You will get a feel for where your work falls in the progression of apprentice to master. You will also have a market study of what pieces or colors sell in different locations.

• Define your business policies and put them in writing. “But there’s only me!” you say. Even if you are a one-person operation, you have to take your business seriously if you want anybody else to take you seriously. So put some policies in place for navigating the inevitable bumps in the road.

• Care cards are as important as your personal information cards. Care cards tell your customer how to preserve the life of the artwork, how to clean and store it, etc. They will appreciate knowing whether a wearable is washable, or how to handle tarnish on sterling jewelry, as just two examples. As you expand your sales to new markets, you won’t have one-on-one contact with every customer, but you can still make every customer feel special.

Nancy Markoe has been involved in American craft since 1974. Her gallery on St. Pete Beach, which represents 100 percent fine American crafts and more than 400 artists, is now in its 22nd year. The Arts Business Institute will have its next workshop in Fairfield, Iowa, April 11-13, and will be at Mansfield College in New York on May 11. For more information, go to the ABI website: www.artsbusinessinstitute.org.

Thank you, Ms. Markoe!

OPPORTUNITIES KNOCKING
EXHIBITS and CONTESTS
Peace & Politics: An Artists' Agenda for America: This juried exhibit of professional craft will include works addressing election-year issues and the concerns of all who depend on the creative arts for their livelihood. The exhibit will be presented by the American Made Alliance, a nonprofit trade association involved in advocacy that supports American craft artists. Call for entries: Original works of art, two-dimensional and three-dimensional, in all media and craft disciplines, are welcome. Functional or wearable art objects or products also are welcome. There is no entry fee. The Peace & Politics exhibit will take place August 2-4, 2008, during the Buyers Market of American Craft, in the Exhibitors’ Lounge, second-floor concourse, Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa. A public reception celebrating the exhibit will be held on Sat., August 2, 2008, 6-8 p.m., in the same location. The deadline for entries will be June 2, 2008. For the complete call for entries, submission guidelines and application, see www.americanmadealliance.org/events.htm.

2009 NICHE Awards Competition: NICHE magazine announces the opening of the 2009 NICHE Awards competition. Look for application forms, rules and guidelines for the 2009 program online at www.americancraft.com beginning May 1, 2008. The entry deadline for professionals will be August 30, 2008. The entry deadline for students will be September 30, 2008. The NICHE Awards celebrate excellence and innovation in American and Canadian craft. Categories include Ceramics, Fiber, Glass, Metal, Wood, Jewelry, Home Furnishings, Judaica, Mixed Media and Recycled.Two new categories added to the professional division this year are Art Quilts and Fashion Accessories. Judging is based on three main criteria:

• technical excellence, both in surface design and form
• market viability
• a distinct quality of unique, original and creative thought

Winners will be announced at a special ceremony held during the February 2009 Buyers Market, and will be featured in the Spring 2009 issue of NICHE magazine.

Studio Art Quilt Association presents “Transformations ’09: Reflections”:
This exhibit of art quilts will debut at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England, in August 2009. It will travel to the Grants Pass Museum in Grants Pass, Ore., in June-July, 2010, and continue on to other locations. Regarding the theme: A reflection can be something reflected, such as light, sound or an image. Reflection also refers to the act and the result of careful consideration or meditation. Artwork must meet the SAQA definition of an art quilt: a contemporary artwork exploring and expressing aesthetic concerns common to the whole range of visual arts: painting, printmaking, photography, graphic design, assemblage and sculpture, which retains, through materials or technique, a clear relationship to the folk art quilt from which it descends. Call for entries: You may submit up to 3 entries. Entry is by digital images only. Entries must be a minimum of 36 inches per side through a maximum 60 inches per side (plus or minus 2”). Application deadline: October 17, 2008. The exhibit is open to SAQA members. For complete call for entries, fees and details, see www.saqa.com.

CALLS for SUBMISSIONS (magazines, media):

In the March edition of Market Insider, we provided tips for responding to media and magazine “calls for product submissions.”(March 08 Market Insider)Every month, we’ll pass along new requests that come our way.

Giftware News:
Made in the U.S.A.: “In today’s heightened awareness of product attributes, ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ is important to many shoppers and retailers. Send us hi-resolution images and product information for consideration to be included in our “Made in the USA” feature in our June issue.” Send materials no later than April 20, 2008, to jsaxtan@talcott.com. Images must be 300 dpi, and 3 inches by 3 inches or larger. Product information should include contact information, give a brief description and identify the price (state if retail or wholesale). [Don’t forget to give a telephone number, and for this feature, say where you make your product!]

HomeFashion & Furniture Trends:
The Handcrafted Home: One-of-a-kind design finds are in high style. This feature introduces creative artisans and their works of décor. The editorial contact is Mary Gerlach, mgerlach@talcott.com. With your releases, news, etc., you can e-mail high-resolution (300dpi) digital images saved as an eps, jps or tiff. Images must be sized 3 inches by 5 inches, or larger. Be sure to identify your e-mail with your company name, especially if the images are coming from a designer or photographer. If you want to mail a CD, it should be MAC-formatted, with art saved as an eps, jpeg or tiff, and images sized 3 inches by 5 inches, or larger. To make an FTP site posting, call 312-849-2220, ext. 64, to get directions. The editorial deadline is May 5, 2008.

“Hollywood Confidential”: Mother’s Day Gifts
The syndicated radio program “Hollywood Confidential,” which is broadcast in more than 100 markets nationwide and in Canada each weekend, features gift-guide segments on “what’s hot” for various holidays and events throughout the year. A recent posting on ProfNet includes a call for interesting, new and intriguing gifts in all shapes, sizes and prices for every type of Mom for Mother’s Day 2008. Send press materials by April 14, 2008, to Jeff Katz at lagiftguide@yahoo.com.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone.”
-- Sir Winston Churchill