Erotically Embossed Scribe

This is the post where the MUSE shows up to talk about pricing. Yell at her, not Sandy.

This is the policy that was in effect when SAQA started out years ago and was the subject of many articles in Lynn Lewis Young's old Art Quilter mag as well as SAQA newsletters- my system may be slightly distilled from the advice given but remains pretty much true to the letter. It's also the basic policy of painters and other artists who probably have more sales than we fiber artists do.

Here I go: You can lower a price, but not ethically raise a price on a work. Put a fair price on a piece and it stays there until it's sold or donated or whatever. And the price of a piece doesn't change accordiing to different commision scales from different galleries- this one is especially hard for people to get their brains around... BUT would you buy a piece hanging in a gallery that was priced 10 or 20% more than you saw it at a gallery last month? No, you would be a dope to do so. So, if you figure out a price of, say $1000, for a work, it is **that price** no matter where it goes- some galleries take 40%, some take 60% so your cut will vary depending on where it is sold- which leads me to cautioniing you to always know what that cut is going to be! Silly I know, but I have heard all sorts of grumblings about the 60% take of some galleries when people knew in advance that's what it was! Your attitude has to just be glad it sold and be more careful about the fine print next time. IMHO- 60% ain't fair! So check out galleries with a lower commission when you are starting out.

Note: Ever since I started exhibiting and selling work I have heard grumbling about having to part with a commission to a gallery or art-rep or agent. It still occasionally itches me too, BUT the way to think about it is that without that middle-man there probably wouldn't be a sale. They have overhead, taxes, electric bills just like we do- it is their business and you have essentially hired them to market your work for you because of their access to a wider audience, better publicity, and perhaps better art-speak.

Being in lots of books and hundreds of exhibits may raise your overall pricing schedule, but not on work that's already finished and archived. So basically, you price out at a certain amount per square foot- do it by the inch if you do generally smaller work. I do by the foot because all those teensy fractio numbers scare me- but say I do something which comes out to 12.5 sq feet at $150 per sq foot. That comes to $1875.00 so I would either tick it up or down to a rounder number, depending on if it were made of 4 big squares with minimal machine work or if it were 3000 little squares heavily beaded. So let's say it's sort of middle of the road as far as detail work goes, so I would price it at $1800.00. And that's where the price will be frozen in time. For one reason, I will assume my work will be getting better over time and the next series of pieces I make could command $175 a foot so everything from that point on will be higher. I would probably be darn glad at some point to get rid of the $1800 pup at any price so I would have a sale on it, say to $1500 if anyone ever were interested- doubtfully. And I am not Andy Warhol with my work getting resold continually with the price going up each time, but one can hope! Now, if you DO get to be a fiber-artist super-star, please know you can price anything anywhere you want and I won't quibble! But by then you will probably not have any old work lying about because it would have been snapped up. Remember these so-called rules are for the artist just getting established.

Reselling: This I don't know anything about but basically if someone owns a piece of yours and wants to 'divest his collection' (nicer than saying 'dump it'), he can ask any price he wants, the artist has no control on re-sale pricing...UNLESS there is a clause built into the original contract- maybe to share in the profits with the owner, maybe to have rights of first refusal, maybe to have the piece bought back from the owner. But that's all to worry about in the future or, of course, you can stick that into your contract now.

Discounting work: You can take a work that's priced at $1500, but has been sitting around for years and your sister-in-law sees it in your studio and falls in love with it- you can make up some 'discount' if that will help motivate her hand into her pocketbook. Say it's a 'family discount', make it 20% or whatever if appropriate depending on how much you actually LIKE her! Of course if you hate her the price can stay at $1500 and you can lie that it includes the discount... (but I am supposed to be talking about ethics here, I forgot.) You can title things 'January discount' or 'studio sale' or whatever, whenever you want. But you are in retailing, so once there is a mark-down, you can't do a mark-up!

So basically an expanding resume puffs up a *pricing system*, not the price of pieces already existing. And yes, I have pieces lying around from 1980 that I would use to start bonfires with! I have certainly had a great career at this all these years and my prices have climbed accordingly. Doesn't mean they sell , but they are priced higher.

Best advice when starting out is to check out other people's prices and stay within an acceptable competitive range. Find artists who are at the same career stage and who possibly do similar work. Estimate what their prices per square foot may be and keep yours in line with what is acceptable in your area and for your type of work.

If your prices are fair, you should see steady sales. If nothing is selling, maybe it's time to review your marketiing (first), your art (second), and your pricing (third), and take it back to the drawing board. And good luck.