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08/15/2012 02:48:44 PM · #1 |
Hi All,
So I have on hand a mix of fifteen or so printed on aluminum or canvas prints in various sizes and would like to do some sort of public display and sale with them.
My initial thought was to do a coffeehouse show as I have done this successfully before with nice presentation and it was sweet to get 100% of the sales too. However, I am thinking a gallery showing might be a nicer thing to have on my resume rather than another coffeehouse show. So I plan to bring a few of the prints around to galleries for examples in addition to an iPad slideshow presentation and see what I can drum up.
I am guessing that the standard rate galleries charge as commission is 40-50% and it would be nice to know this for certain before I start contacting galleries. Maybe I could make just as much with a gallery vs a commission-free coffeehouse show with higher prices and increased exposure to serious customers a gallery could provide?
And profit aside, is a gallery showing really that much more prestigious than an upscale coffeehouse show if they are presented well? Coffeehouses are pretty easy to impress! :P
Thanks to anyone who can answer some of my questions :)
-Brent |
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08/15/2012 11:31:44 PM · #2 |
I've been doing the coffee house circuit for a couple of years now. I've not had a gallery show per se, but I had a gallery sell a number of my images and also they had some hanging for sale.
But it was hard to make the sales work. They wanted 40% of the SALE PRICE. For a canvas print, for example, you pay $100+ for the print, and they felt the best selling price was even a bit lower than what I was asking on my website, around $300. So now, take 40% of $300, that's $120. Add around $120 for printing and shipping. That leaves me with $60 for my art.
Not very good. Also, they don't want you undercutting the price online.
And some galleries will want limited edition prints only.
Perhaps if you can keep your costs of production down, it will be worth it. |
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08/16/2012 01:15:56 AM · #3 |
| The mark-ups can work against you as well. If you are not a "name", you cannot price them too high or people will simply not buy them. I think these are two different goals - you either want to make money or you want to get creds for your resume. If the former, do the coffee house; the latter, do the gallery, but don't expect to make money. You'd be lucky to break even. |
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08/16/2012 02:22:31 AM · #4 |
| Thanks Neil and Johanna :) I guess I need to think things over a little more and decide what I want to get out of things. It's very helpful to know that 40% is a standard rate from a gallery. A gallery would be a little more prestigious I guess, but I also think being able to sit back in a coffeehouse and observe people looking at your work can be very rewarding. Fortunately most of the prints I got a good deal on as I waited for specials to come up and kept costs down that way. So at least for this batch I might find it a little more doable to break even if not make a profit with a gallery. I hope that many would sell! :P |
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08/16/2012 11:40:41 AM · #5 |
| Brent, find out what the gallery will be doing for you for their 40-50%. What sort of publicity will the generate. Will they be having an opening, and if so, will it include eats/drinks? Will press be invited? Will they be producing the name plates. Who hangs/lights the show? |
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08/16/2012 04:44:08 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by tanguera:
Brent, find out what the gallery will be doing for you for their 40-50%. What sort of publicity will the generate. Will they be having an opening, and if so, will it include eats/drinks? Will press be invited? Will they be producing the name plates. Who hangs/lights the show? |
Thanks Johanna, all good things to consider as I evaluate whether the cut a gallery takes makes sense for me in the long run.
The more I think about it, a coffeehouse show seems the best fit for the pieces I have on hand right now. It's a rather eclectic mix that only fits together as a whole in the context that they were all captured in the Pacific Northwest. I'm thinking if I went for a gallery show I would like the theme to be more narrowly defined. And maybe in time I will decide what theme might be a good fit for me, but at this point in my photography career I am all over the place with the things I like to shoot and don't really think I have discovered "my niche"- maybe I never will...
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