Does anyone really make decent money with these? As... anything close to livable wages for a single person?
Forgive me if the question has already been covered, but it seems to me that very few would consistently make much with these. But perhaps my assumption is off.
Question II:
Provided you've got compelling images. . . is volume/lower price or low volume/high price usually a more favorable approach? Does anybody mix the two?
As a semi-professional I make around $2000 from print sales a year through my website, not a lot, but well worth doing. If you dont have a big name I think you are always going to struggle to convince customers that your prints are goig to look good on a wall. The best thing you can probably do is show lots of examples.
The answer to your second question will of course be dependant on your target market. For me I have found pricepoint to be very sensitive and (possibly through poor marketting) I have struggled to sell my highest priced prints at exhibition when I have created a limited edititon for example, but the standard prints sell no problem!
I have heard stories of people multiplying their print prices by 10 and finding that their sales reduced to 1/3rd, which is obviously good business.
I'm also interested selling prints online and have some questions. What size of prints customers are usually buying? Are bigger or smaller prints sold more often than other sizes? And where do you print your photos?
I would recommend doing some local art shows and see what customers think of your work. If you stand a chance of selling many on the net you will have no problem getting in to art shows. If you can`t get in the shows....well you probably won`t sell on the net ether. You can tell a lot from what your customers say or buy....they are the best feed back you can get. You will find out quickly if your work sells in large amounts cheaply or if your work is up to the high end buyer. You will also find out if your work sells in small sizes or large........if you can`t sell at art shows I think your chances are small of selling on the net. Juhku.......I print all my own work and it seems that is what the customer likes......I`m sure you could sell prints that were printed by other then you...but I can`t help you there.........Peter
About $1000 per month from portrait session, headshots and events. Maybe another $400 per month from weddings (print sales not extra albums) . We sell some books every month from newborn sessions and a lot of books every senior season. Very few canvas wraps are sold and few prints larger than 11x14.
In my experience the most popular sizes people buy are from A4 to A3. Given that a lot of my market is selling to people with small old houses though that is hardly suprising!
I think print sale results depends a lot on your market.
In my experience, galas for non-profits or corporations do not generate much print sales. People ask about the photos and I hand out cards, tell them there will be a link on the non-profit's website, etc, but still very few sales. I give the organization a CD or DVD with edited photos for their own promotional use and to give to media. They can get their own prints done for honoree's or special contributors, etc. For these reasons, I get paid up front and don't expect much in print sales.
I shoot running or cycling events on speculation of print sales, and sometimes pay the event to 'advertise' my photo website on the bib number or their website. The more effort for the participant or the further they traveled to participate, the more likely they are to buy a photo. Marathons or triathlons will get better sales than a 5K or 10K. There will be tons of people there with all kinds of cameras, but if they can get a sharp shot that captures a good action moment, more power to them.
I do not sell very many prints larger than 5x7, maybe 3% of dollar sales. I sell mostly 4x6, 5x7 and small digital files (100kb or less) for website posting or email. I also sell large edited full resolution files for $20 for the first one and give discounts for each additional photo down to $10 each. Large digital sales are a little more volume than large print sales.
