Shop millions of independent artists.   Independent.   Together.

Return to Main Discussion Page
Discussion Quote Icon

Discussion

Main Menu | Search Discussions

Search Discussions
 
 

Akos Horvath

5 Years Ago

Are 1000 Quality Artworks Enough With Marketing For Good Income?

Dear FAA Members!

Please help me, Are 1000 quality artworks enough with marketing for good income?
Veteran FAA members can you give me an advice about this?
I have approximately 1000 good artworks...

Many thanks,

King Regard,

Akos Horvath Fine Art Photographer & Visual Artist

http://akos-horvath.pixels.com

Reply Order

Post Reply
 

David Bridburg

5 Years Ago

To a greater degree yes. But as a general rule we do not actually know what will sell.

It is also possible to have 1000 images you never market that do not sell.

Also it depends on what you mean by a livable income. You might need more things to do in other venues, ie licensing etc....

Dave

 

MM Anderson

5 Years Ago

I'm up to 672 now and rarely have a sale. I market but apparently I'm not doing it correctly. Still hoping though.

 

David King

5 Years Ago

It's much more about the quality and quantity of your marketing than the quantity of your images. I have over 900 images now and have only had one sale on FAA this year. There are some artists with less than 200 images that show up on the recently sold page regularly. Both their images and their marketing efforts stand out.

 

Jessica Jenney

5 Years Ago

For good income?? I think that has more to do with how you market your work!

 

Cynthia Decker

5 Years Ago

I have 10% of that and I sell regularly.

As David King said, it's about quality and reach, not quantity.

 

Akos Horvath

5 Years Ago

Many tahanks for all your answers,

King Regard,

Akos Horvath Fine Art Photographer & Visual Artist

http://akos-horvath.pixels.com

 

Diana Angstadt

5 Years Ago

Akos, your photos are wonderful! Your cats are amazing! But keep in mind, people may not wish to purchase other people's pets. just an FYI.

 

Bonfire Photography

5 Years Ago

Not always about quality though. Images can have technical flaws obtained in them and be received better than a tack sharp technically perfect image. Content, subject matter will sell over the pixel peeped flawless ones time and time again.

So I would add content demand if you can figure out what that is for any length of time.

 

David King

5 Years Ago

"So I would add content demand if you can figure out what that is for any length of time."

That's the hard part, finding your niche. Something you can stand out in for which there is demand.

If you look at Cynthia's portfolio she's carved out a niche for herself. Unique, high quality imagery that has a wide appeal, her art has an unique style and stands out.

For straight up photographer however that is difficult to achieve, you'll need to find subjects that there's demand for and haven't been covered too much by other photographers.

 

JC Findley

5 Years Ago

1000 different images of different subjects that have markets that are not already saturated?

Yes.

43 ever so slightly different images of the same boat during the same sunset is not a good way to get your image count up though. (Not that you are doing that but I have seen it done with the images titled XYZ-1 through XYZ-43.)

 

David Smith

5 Years Ago

.

 

Alice Heart

5 Years Ago

IMO i imagine few on FAA actually make 'good' 'livable' income from selling photos on FAA. I mean enough to afford a place to live, food, etc necessities. I have seen a few that have said that their sales in one month has paid their rent..but to completely live off of.. you'd most likely have to have amazing one of a kind photos.
There's more of a chance of you making at least some side money.

 

Edward Fielding

5 Years Ago

What do you consider a good income? Depends on where you live and what you expect.

A regular job is more reliable.

 

Akos Horvath

5 Years Ago

Dear Edward Fielding!

I'am live in Hungary, so it is not USA....I would like to reach 1000 $ per month, this is my goal, is it possible? I hope so.
In my country for this money, I can live very well.
My works only available here, nowhere else.
So I am an exclusive selling visual artist here.
So buyers will know, that they aren't get my works nowhere cheaper.

Many tahanks for all your answers,

King Regard,

Akos Horvath Fine Art Photographer & Visual Artist

http://akos-horvath.pixels.com

 

Alice Heart

5 Years Ago

A thousand dollars per month.. i imagine would take years.. you'd need to have a either a large social media presence... or go to many art shows.

 

Edward Fielding

5 Years Ago

Sure, anything is possible if you have the right images and the right marketing/pricing.

Give yourself a goal of reaching $1,000 a month in three years and work every day towards it.

Keep in mind there is no direct line between number of images and income. A well known, well marketed artist with great images can sell thousands of times a month while an artist with 100,000 poor quality images might never sell.

Or the artist with fantastic images and no marketing might be outsold by someone with medium quality images and a good following.


Here in the US a salary of $12,000 would be considered well below the poverty line.

On another site the stats are about 20% of the artists sell and of those who sell the average take home is $150.

If it was easy to make a living taking photos, just about everyone around the world would drop the shovel, spatula, mop, broom, steering wheel, pencil or whatever and start living high on the hog taking pictures.

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

you could have 1 single image that sells really well.

it comes down to marketing, if the people are buying or even on the computer. you want as many images, covering as many topics as you can. each should be described well, keyworded well, and dropped off at many websites. it can take years to do this btw. your building a reputation.

it all depends if people want your work, if the market is over saturated or not. you always want to send you best.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

Joy McKenzie

5 Years Ago

Your "White French Bulldog" is actually a Boston Terrier.

I was also wondering why many of your titles are lists of keywords? I suppose you can call your images anything you want, but to me it looks weird.

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

the other thing to note, the images should all be different. one or two views of something is fine, but if there are like 20 of the same thing or look the same, the viewer may decided they saw it and move on.

spelling makes a difference as well

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/yorkshire-terrier-photography-brwon-color-lap-dog-akos-horvath.html this one brown is spelled wrong.

descriptions should be in your own words. if you take it right from wiki, google will ping that against you and you may fall back in the search. there are a lot of little things like that which can work against you.

generally i will fill up on a theme if it does well, but in the meantime i'll create only a few of each topic.

---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

Akos Horvath

5 Years Ago

Many tahanks for all your answers,

King Regard,

Akos Horvath Fine Art Photographer & Visual Artist

http://akos-horvath.pixels.com

 

Joy McKenzie

5 Years Ago

As long as you credit Wikipedia properly, it's ok AND it doesn't move you back in the search:

Licensing notice

Each copy or modified version that you distribute must include a licensing notice stating that the work is released under CC-BY-SA and either a) a hyperlink or URL to the text of the license or b) a copy of the license. For this purpose, a suitable URL is: ***http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/*** (remove asterisks)

I posted my pop art version of a public domain Burt Lancaster studio promo image on June 1st, and got my description from Wikipedia. I did the proper crediting, and it's on page 3 (of more than 26 pages...I got tired of looking) on GOOGLE. I don't think they ding you Mike... maybe they did at one time?

 

JC Findley

5 Years Ago

Akos.

$1000 US/month is obtainable. Though a lot of work, it can be done. Will having a thousand marketable images help. Maybe. The maybe comes in that is it a thousand different subjects that all have an actual market that is not already saturated? Then yes, a thousand images will help a LOT in your goal. Is it a thousand images of things there are already tens of thousands of images of, a thousand won’t help. Are you posting multiple images of the same scene that are only slightly different from each other? A thousand images won’t really help.

I am going to use your cats as an example. They are high quality images and well done but there are 152 THOUSAND returns on FAA for cat. It is a market that is covered by literally everyone that owns a camera and has a cat. Cat images sell on FAA but in order for any one image to sell well it had better be something different. See the image below, it is a regular seller. Now, I posted a couple of yours next to it and you will note they are almost the same image with the only difference being one is looking at you and one away. You can really bore people perusing your site putting a lot of basically the same image and even if you do all the images of the cat really count as one image as it is the same buyer that would have to pick one and you are forcing them to choose the best. If they can’t, they may delay the purchase and just move on.

Sell Art OnlineArt PrintsSell Art Online

Anyway, my goal many years ago was to make at least a grand a month on here. It took me eight months and fewer than a thousand images to do it the first time. It took another couple years where I could guarantee I made at least that much a month but I can count on at least that much every month now and usually a lot more than that. So, don’t let the naysayers convince you it cannot be done but know it is a lot of work and there is no secret formula to it.

 

Akos Horvath

5 Years Ago

Many thanks for all your answers,

I don't use Wikipedia 's content, only the http://www.dictionary.com/ 's content and then I credit back like this :

Source : http://www.dictionary.com/

King Regard,

Akos Horvath Fine Art Photographer & Visual Artist

http://akos-horvath.pixels.com

 

Akos Horvath

5 Years Ago

I used it but now I will delete and only use http://www.dictionary.com/.

King Regard,

Akos Horvath Fine Art Photographer & Visual Artist

http://akos-horvath.pixels.com

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

i took one of the descriptions into google, it took me to wiki, so i can only guess the dictionary does the same thing. in any case, its usually best to put your own words in it because rarely does a text book description match that particular image. talk about the dog, the cat etc. one of them you mentioned both show dog and rat dog in the same box. which while by definition is correct, its not the image i would want if i'm buying a gift that looks just like my precious fluffy-kins.

the right description can turn something that might have been stock, and turns it into something that's art.

make sure pictures are straight as well.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

Akos Horvath

5 Years Ago

Many thanks Mike, I think you are right, what you said, but I am not a good story teller(that is why I haven't got a blog), I much better like taking photos or making digital artworks, so that is why I don't do this, but many, thanks, again :

I only use the http://www.dictionary.com/ 's content and then I credit back like this :

Source : http://www.dictionary.com/ , and it is legal, so it is OK for me.

King Regard,

Akos Horvath Fine Art Photographer & Visual Artist

http://akos-horvath.pixels.com

 

Akos Horvath

5 Years Ago

Anyway, I think the best marketing strategy is to get a lot of Twitter & Instagram real followers, who aren't artists, they will be your buyers,
and sometimes you must make Instagram & Twitter paid ads with your best works.

King Regard,

Akos Horvath Fine Art Photographer & Visual Artist

http://akos-horvath.pixels.com

 

Akos Horvath

5 Years Ago

Many thanks JC Findley, I will try selecting, choosing only my best works.

King Regard,

Akos Horvath Fine Art Photographer & Visual Artist

http://akos-horvath.pixels.com

 

Brian Wallace

5 Years Ago

I think there are any number of "possibilities" as well as variables and intangibles that could affect the answer to this question. How good is the Marketing for instance... How good is the "quality artwork"... etc. Is the "quality art" a subject that falls into a saturated market? I could have a quality artwork of a cat or flower but there may be much more competition "out there" with all the other cats and flowers saturating the market.

Would "Good Marketing" compete well enough with others who have any number of "collectors" for their work?

Hypothetically, I could have one art work worth a million dollars which could sell only one time. The average dollar per month that would come out to... well, you do the math. But who knows when that major artwork will sell. Maybe right away... maybe near the end of my life?

On the other hand, I could have 1000 pieces of quality art of which 100 sell per year. An average of $50 per sale works out to only $5000 a year. Well less than the "good income" average per month we're looking for. Even at an average of $100 per sale is only $10,000 per year. Still a poor annual income and that's before taxes.

Say your work is extremely good and your worth every penny of $1000 per sale. You have very good marketing to go with it. But, for whatever reason, you do not get known and you don't have any "collectors" to depend on. There's no guarantee that your art will fly off the shelves.

Until I've built up a great reputation, am well known, and have dependable resources I wouldn't count on numbers of artwork, or good marketing to predict a sustainable lifestyle. Artists are notorious for good work but starving for their efforts.

There's a lot... (worth repeating)... A LOT, of competition in the art world, and it's not always how good you are or good marketing. I think there's also who you know, and a great deal of luck too.

That's just my opinion... We all know some make it and some do not. We often look at those successful and wonder how they made it yet we still struggle. Did he sell his soul? His art that just sold for 7.5 million dollars looks like a monkey could have done it! You know what I'm saying. It's not always how deserving, but the chosen few.

 

Diana Angstadt

5 Years Ago

JC nailed it with his "cat" response.... You need to be very creative with your carts.. and learn a little about creative photoshop to make your cat images stand out amongst the rest... HOWEVER, with that being said, your photographs of them ARE AMAZING!!!! They have perfect lighting and detail.. They are so beautiful.. But.. NEED to stand out from the crowd for them to sell. I am trying the same thing... I am taking animals that I have photographed and putting them into scenes that were not part of the photograph to begin with, but trying to do something unique with editing. Good luck! You have great potential, Akos!

 

Lisa Kaiser

5 Years Ago

Yes, even twenty is good enough...from what successful artists tell me.

 

Akos Horvath

5 Years Ago

Many thanks for all your answers,

King Regard,

Akos Horvath Fine Art Photographer & Visual Artist

http://akos-horvath.pixels.com

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

basically you have to see this as a brick and mortar store.

if you want car wax and go into that quickie mart you might find it or you might not. they don't have a large selection.
if you go into a mega store, you will have a better chance at finding what your looking for because they have a better selection.

but if the small store just happens to have what you want, then it doesn't matter how many other versions they have or other products they have. they may only go to your store for the slushy it serves and that's it.

you may advertise with one piece, but never sell it. you might sell other items instead because they saw that first image. and you may have a 1000 pieces but only 5 ever sell.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

Paul Velgos

5 Years Ago

There are two parts to this question.

Is it possible to earn $1,000 per month here? Yes

Could you earn $1,000 per month? Maybe. Everyone here gets different results for different reasons. Some people earn more than $1,000 per month. Some have no sales. You will only find the answer if you upload some or all of your work and see what results you get.

 

Maria Karlosak

5 Years Ago

Hello Akon’s,
Orulok hogy itt latlak , az egy jo kezdet , hogy csinalsz e Penzt az artodat ? Az a szerencseden Mulik. Sok artist kell hogy varjon egy evet is az Elsa eladasig :(
Sok skiers a tovabbiakban :)
Http:/maria-karlosak,pixels.com

 

Akos Horvath

5 Years Ago

Interesting, many thanks for your aswers,

Theme Quality & Good Marketing Plan & Theme Diversity is the key for to be a successful visual artist I think.

King Regard,

Akos Horvath Fine Art Photographer & Visual Artist

http://akoshorvath.net/

 

This discussion is closed.