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gdanmitchell
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Re: Anyone ever sell prints at a street fair...


Not street fairs, but at art "fair" events, including one that I just did in San Francisco this past weekend. (I'm part of a group of night photographers known as 'Studio Nocturne SF" that has participated in the SF Artspan Open Studios event for many years.)

Your question is so open-ended that I/we can't really give you a comprehensive answer, especially since we don't know your background or starting point. So, lacking that, a few thoughts.

1. The odds are that you will make little or no money, especially at first, and that the costs of preparing work and creating your set-up, including tables, places to hang work, lighting, marketing stuff, and so on will be somewhat substantial. I won't go so far as to say it is impossible, but I don't know anyone who actually makes a substantial contribution to their income by doing this sort of thing. Honest answer? It is likely to cost you more than you'll make for some time, and even when you start to make more than it costs, the amount you'll make per hour of actual time is likely to be very, very low.

2. If you value the potential to be seen by people who may be interested in the sort of work you do, then that could have some value. For me — and your situation may be different — that means visibility to potential clients who are serious collectors of photographic art and who mostly come specifically with that in mind. General "street fair" traffic (or tourist traffic in one location where our group exhibited) rarely has this effect, since most of your traffic will be pretty casual.

3. Depending on where you show your work, you may be far more likely to sell small stuff — little prints, cards, etc. — than big prints. On the other hand, some big prints can make you more visible and might encourage those small item buyers to look at the less expensive stuff.

4. So, small stuff can make for easier sales... but the profit margins are tiny. You'd likely have to see hundreds of cards, or even thousands, to cover your start up costs.

I'll stop there for now...

Dan

(One more observation. These things are often very unpredictable. First time I did one, I made most of my sales on cards, which surprised me as I had priced them on the high side. So the second time I brought even more cards... and didn't sell any, but did sell large prints! This year, I did well. However, one of our group members who always gets good sales — and other productive leads — didn't sell a single piece!)



Oct 30, 2017 at 03:35 PM
gdanmitchell
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off
Re: Anyone ever sell prints at a street fair...


Not street fairs, but at art "fair" events, including one that I just did in San Francisco this past weekend. (I'm part of a group of night photographers known as 'Studio Nocturne SF" that has participated in the SF Artspan Open Studios event for many years.)

Your question is so open-ended that I/we can't really give you a comprehensive answer, especially since we don't know your background or starting point. So, lacking that, a few thoughts.

1. The odds are that you will make little or no money, especially at first, and that the costs of preparing work and creating your set-up, including tables, places to hang work, lighting, marketing stuff, and so on will be somewhat substantial. I won't go so far as to say it is impossible, but I don't know anyone who actually makes a substantial contribution to their income by doing this sort of thing.

2. If you value the potential to be seen by people who may be interested in the sort of work you do, then that could have some value. For me — and your situation may be different — that means visibility to potential clients who are serious collectors of photographic art and who mostly come specifically with that in mind. General "street fair" traffic (or tourist traffic in one location where our group exhibited) rarely has this effect, since most of your traffic will be pretty casual.

3. Depending on where you show your work, you may be far more likely to sell small stuff — little prints, cards, etc. — than big prints. On the other hand, some big prints can make you more visible and might encourage those small item buyers to look at the less expensive stuff.

4. So, small stuff can make for easier sales... but the profit margins are tiny. You'd likely have to see hundreds of cards, or even thousands, to cover your start up costs.

I'll stop there for now...

Dan

(One more observation. These things are often very unpredictable. First time I did one, I made most of my sales on cards, which surprised me as I had priced them on the high side. So the second time I brought even more cards... and didn't sell any, but did sell large prints! This year, I did well. However, one of our group members who always gets good sales — and other productive leads — didn't sell a single piece!)



Oct 30, 2017 at 01:22 PM





  Previous versions of gdanmitchell's message #14235708 « Anyone ever sell prints at a street fair... »

 




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