Marketing Fine Art photography Author: Alain Briot | Language: English | ISBN:
1933952555 | Format: PDF
Marketing Fine Art Photography Description
In recent years as the field of photography has exploded, many photographers consider selling their work to make a profit and to help defray the high costs of equipment. But, many photographers don't have the business and marketing knowledge required to successfully sell fine art photographs; and many of those who have tried have been met with disappointment. Until now, little information of value has been available.
In Marketing Fine Art Photography, Alain Briot offers practical, up-to-date and field-tested marketing techniques from the viewpoint of a fine art landscape photographer who earns a living from the sale of his fine art prints.
Briot teaches that by taking control of the selling process, you can increase your profits and, ultimately, direct your own destiny. Briot's approach is based on offering quality not quantity; and offering something unique, rather than something that is mass-produced. Though directed toward selling fine art, this method can be applied to other products.
After a series of trials and errors, Briot devised a marketing system that allowed him to get out of debt, pay for a state-of-the-art studio, and purchase his first home, all from the sale of his photography. Briot has taught fine art photography marketing to numerous students in seminars, through one-on-one consulting, and through his Marketing Mastery tutorial DVD.
Topics include:
- Defining fine art photography
- Wholesale, retail, and consignment
- Knowing your customer
- Where to sell and how to price fine art
- Fundamentals of marketing and salesmanship
- Profitability and honesty in business
- Packing and shipping fine art
- Common marketing mistakes
- The unique selling proposition (USP)
- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Rocky Nook; 1 edition (June 8, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1933952555
- ISBN-13: 978-1933952550
- Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.1 x 0.8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
"I know people in the ranks who are going to stay in the ranks. Why? I'll tell you why. Simply because they haven't the ability to get things done!" -- Dale Carnegie
Seemingly addressing the thousands of photographers who would like to make (or make more) money selling their photography comes this challenge from a professional who made enough money from the sales of one print to pay for his house in cash, "Put up or shut up." That's the message that lies between the lines in Alain Briot's third book, Marketing Fine Art Photography. Briot's point of view isn't intended to be harsh, but revelatory for the casual shooter.
His first two books helped readers learn how to master composition and creativity, develop their own personal style, and learn landscape photography. Now he reveals the results of years of hard work, trial and error, and experimentation to become a successful purveyor of fine art photography.
Briot says that the first key component of long term success (both artistically and financially) is, "Photography must be your career in order to succeed." He re-iterates this point in his three part definition of "fine art photography." The three parts are: artistic, technical, and marketing, each of which is further divided into as many as fourteen parts. He says, "The photographer must consider himself an artist." For Briot, a photographer doesn't "capture an image", he "creates art". Both the career choice and self image as an artist are quite simply attitudes -- attitudes not fully embraced by the photographic hobbyist.
As my personal sales mentor,Jim Winner
Often photographers believe that the images they capture are marketable to others, and have a yen to sell them. The way to do that is not always apparent, but Alain Briot offers one way.
The title makes clear what the book is about. It is not concerned with the creating of images. It is concerned with earning a living from the creation of fine art. Essentially he makes and repeats several points: if you don't market, you can't sell; go for small quantities and high prices; sell fine art photographs at art fairs. Everything else in the book supports these theses. The author convincingly repeats and amplifies these points over and over. If one buys into Briot's arguments, this book is quite thorough. He provides lots of details, ranging from the setting up of one's booth at an art fair to some of the most useful advice I've seen on preparing an artists statement.
Briot often sounds like a motivational speaker or a TV pitchman with his enthusiasm for his subject and I found that occasionally off-putting. Yet the content for his recommended type of marketing is certainly excellent. Although I might question whether the best way to make a living selling fine art photography is by peddling through art fairs, I must admit that his implementing recommendations make sense and agree with what artists who sell by this method tell me. On the other hand, many successful photographic artists make their living in other ways. For example, some photographers have supported themselves by selling through galleries which Briot notes is an entirely different road than he would recommend. Even so, some of the author's advice is applicable to other methods of selling fine art photographs.
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