Fine Art Sales finally kick into gear

This would normally be part of my monthly summary, but it has been an exciting month in the world of “fine art” and selling online via Print on Demand Sites and so I decided to cover those separately. I have been mortified in the past 2 months with having published a book on selling fine art online and then getting nothing in sales on either Fine Art America or Pictorem in September and October.

Now I find that November has had a rash of sales (if that is the correct term for a group of things!) In this post, I’ll try to work out what might have driven the sales. I’ll also put links to where someone could buy the print – not because I think you might do so! It helps for Google to find alternative paths to them.

First up were three sales from the same person in Big Springs, West Virginia. This is a very small town about 100 miles south of me. They bought three different prints, one of Fairmont, WV:

Then one of an aerial panorama of Morgantown, WV:

And finally, one of the overlook in Coopers Rock State Forest just outside Morgantown.

I have a strong suspicion that this buyer found my work on the Growing Up in Morgantown Facebook group. I post there quite often when I have something new. What has bemused me for some time is why people end up purchasing from Fine Art America though. I don’t put any links in the Facebook group, but I do watermark them with my signature and SteveHeap.com. However, that URL links to Pictorem, not Fine Art America. I can only assume that people find my name and then search on Google and FAA comes higher in the search results.

Next up was the sale of a 1000 piece jigsaw of the Iwo Jima Memorial in Washington DC at dawn to a buyer from Colorado. In this case I have no idea how the buyer found it. I think I have publicized it, but probably only on Twitter, LinkedIn and Mastodon and certainly not recently. So probably a Google search.

A buyer in Fairview, WV bought a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of the moon rising over the WVU Coliseum sports arena here in Morgantown. Once again, it is likely that the buyer knows of me from the Growing Up in Morgantown group, which all goes to show that even in online sales, it is good to be known as an artist. Word of mouth may help here as well as some people do share my work to their friends. I’ve certainly publicized this image and have articles about the moon rising over Morgantown on my own Fine Art blog aimed at customers.

Then a print on wood of the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh, PA sold to a buyer in Pittsburgh. I have used this image on social media, but not recently. So, I suspect it was just a Google search once again.

Next up, we have three copies of my composite of the famous WVU Mountaineer statue in front of some West Virginia fall trees. These were bought by someone in Morgantown, so again, the local knowledge certainly would have helped. I also have an article about the different places that the Mountaineer statue could appear on my Backyard Image website and although the images link through to Pictorem, I mention in the article things can also be purchased from Fine Art America. So, once again, FAA gets chosen!

A fleece blanket of the Menehune Fishpond on the Hawaiian island of Kauai sold to a buyer from Illinois. How – not sure, although I was active in the Kauai Facebook groups a little earlier this year. But this might be a mystery!

And finally, on FAA, two T-shirts sold to a buyer in Texas. Another complete mystery!

Pictorem also had two sales this month! One was very clearly driven by a Facebook page about a photo I had taken in St Louis, Missouri and how difficult a jigsaw puzzle it would be. A friend from Northern Virginia saw it and decided to buy one for her friend. I think I had links to both FAA and Pictorem in that Facebook post, but I mentioned the free shipping with Pictorem.

And finally, a print from Pictorem as a 36inch (1m) square acrylic print purchased by someone in Canada of the interior mechanism of an old antique fob watch. I’ve always liked this one!

As if all that was enough, I sold a print on Photo4Me in the UK. There has been a lot of debate on their Facebook page about how much people will pay for prints and a recommendation from the owner of the site to choose lower pricing. He has organized the site search to show prints that have sold first and so about a month ago I reduced all my pricing to their recommended level in the hope of getting some sales to boost my search position and then raise the prices again! And here is a sale! I only received $6.5 in margin compared to the $25 or so I normally get there, so it is nothing to shout about, but it is better than nothing!