How Photographs are Sold: Stories and Examples of How Fine Art Photographers Sell Their Work Author: Alain Briot | Language: English | ISBN:
1933952938 | Format: EPUB
How Photographs are Sold: Stories and Examples of How Fine Art Photographers Sell Their Work Description
In How Photographs Are Sold, author and fine art photographer Alain Briot has compiled stories and examples of how several successful photographers market and sell their work. The book features information from photographers who earn a living from their artwork, as well as from others who sell their artwork to further their passion rather than as their main source of income. It also includes examples from Alain's personal experience selling his fine art photographs.
The featured photographers come from a variety of backgrounds and use a broad range of techniques for selling their artwork. They share information about their personal styles, what has worked for them and what hasn't, where they have sold their work, and more. Also included are images of each photographer's selling environment and examples of the marketing materials they use.
Topics include:
- A description of the selling venues used by each artist: wholesale, retail, galleries, art shows, websites, etc.
- Various photographic genres: landscape, wildlife, flowers, portraiture, etc.
- A variety of business challenges and solutions
- A description of the business approach used by each artist
- A biography of each artist
- Skill enhancement exercises to help the reader develop their skills
This book is designed to meet the needs of both amateur and professional fine art photographers. Whether you're just getting started in the fine art photography business or have been working at it for years, this book will prove to be a valuable resource.
This book differs from Alain's previous marketing book,
Marketing Fine Art Photography, in that this is not a manual but a collection of stories and examples. While Alain's first marketing book
tells you how to sell your work, this second book
shows you how to sell your work.
- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Rocky Nook; 1 edition (February 13, 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1933952938
- ISBN-13: 978-1933952932
- Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.6 x 0.4 inches
- Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
This book is shorter than Alain's other books. It is also not as detailed as Marketing Fine Art Photography but it does not need to be. It complements it in my opinion.
There is enough new information in this book to make it worth the cost many times over. There are a few marketing and sales tips that if implemented will produce better results. However, to me, the most useful information in this book comes from the featured artists themselves. I was pleasantly surprised of how candid and open their testimonials are. There is no sugar coating here. Making money as an artist is not easy. Making a living entirely from art is extremely hard and many things have to be done right for a long period of time for that to happen. Some do it out of the love of the craft and live on a very thin income. Others generate a supplement to their current income. It is all a matter of who you want to be and how you want your life to look like.
It is doubtful any of the featured artists are as financially successful as Alain. One would be wise (from what I have gathered reading these stories, Alain's other books and listening to his podcasts) to build a fine art photography business based on multiple avenues to sell photographs so one does not have to always be present to sell his/her work. As sales are made and income comes in, use part of it to create passive income from a source entirely separate from photography, such as rental properties. The more passive income comes in, the more time for art and other things. Personally I do not think it is noble nor virtuous to suffer financially when one does not have to and for most, income from art makes the bank account look like a patient having a constant heart attack.
Buy this book and read between the lines, it will provide perspective and renewed focus. What's the point in having a business if it becomes just another job?
By Andrei C. Zamfir
For most people photography is a way of recording their lives, and is a satisfying activity as such. For some photographers, photography becomes a way to capture their vision of the world, and many of these photographers want to show the world the result. One of the ways to do that is to become a professional photographer and sell prints of one's images. (There are other ways to satisfy this urge to have people look at one's images but they are not the topic of this book.)
Briot has already written an excellent book on this topic, "
Marketing Fine Art Photography", and this book is a supplement to that book. The book tells a number of stories, both from Briot's own experience, and from that of other photographers, each of which illustrates a point about the marketing of photographic prints. The stories are quite simple, but the points made are spot on. They range from lessons from a photographer who markets to retailers to advice not to use Flash for a fine arts photography web site. The points are all made quickly and directly. Even taken all together, though, they do not constitute an adequate guide to marketing fine art photographs. For that, one should consult Briot's earlier book.
One should remember that the book is targeted to a specific market for photographs. There is nothing about making better photographs, or selling images for publication. Some of the advice is common sense and other advice can be garnered from "Marketing Fine Art Photography." Still if one is planning to make, or just making, a foray into this field, there probably will be at least one useful tip to make reading the book worthwhile.
By Conrad J. Obregon
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