5 Ways to Monetize Your Art
Hello, my friend, and welcome to this week's blog. We have been having so much fun in my From Doodles to Dollars® Coaching Week program. Students are creating their very first repeating patterns using Adobe Illustrator. What they are able to accomplish in just a week is truly outstanding. I’m so proud of each and every one of them. If you want to take Doodles the next time it’s offered, make sure to stay on my email list for notifications.
But about this week’s blog… One of the questions that comes up all the time about surface pattern design is: “How can I monetize my art? What are the best ways to get my artwork, including my repeating patterns, into the hands of eager customers?”
Today, I’m going to cover the top five ways to monetize your art. There are many more than five but let’s start there.
Let’s start by reviewing the top five ways and then we’ll keep the conversation going next week.
Category #1 – Licensing:
As a professional surface pattern designer, you determine the industry where you feel your designs will be most marketable. By contacting art directors at various companies, you “rent” your artwork to them for a period of time, for a particular industry and for a specific country. In exchange, you’ll receive a licensing payment based on sales. On average, payments run between 5% - 10% of either retail or wholesale sales.
For example, you may become licensed by a company producing kitchenware, with your contract stipulating they can only use those designs on kitchenware, for two years, and they can only sell your designs in the U.S. The power of licensing comes from marketing those same designs to a company that produces completely different products, say paper products. You negotiate a separate contract with them with similar or different terms. You can see how licensing allows you to leverage the same art across multiple categories which can become very lucrative. Be aware that with licensing it usually takes a while to get up and running, but it is well worth the effort.
Category #2 - Direct Selling:
With direct selling you purchase your own inventory, and then sell those items directly to the public, either through your website, or at craft fairs, local art shows and even in local retail stores. This is a great way for you to engage directly with consumers, ask them about their preferences or what they’d like to see you create next. In addition to gathering feedback, you also curate the customer experience when someone buys directly from you.
What I mean is that you’ll package each item very carefully. For example, you might choose to put the item in a beautiful box with your logo on it. Or how about branded bags and protect the item with beautiful tissue paper. Tissue paper and ribbons with your own designs on them of course. You should consider including a beautiful greeting card or personalized note with each purchase along with your business card or a fun branded sticker with your logo on it.
Category #3 - Indirect Selling:
Indirect selling, also known as passive income, is where you upload your designs to a third-party provider, generally described as Print-on-Demand (POD) companies. This has become a huge industry.
With companies like Society6, RedBubble, Spoonflower and others, designers open an online shop, upload their designs, choose the products to feature their designs, and publish them. The POD company does everything else, except marketing. They manufacture your products in very small quantities, which is great for inventory management. They also handle shipping, customer returns and the maintenance of your online shop. You earn a commission of around 10% on every sale. Terms change frequently so you need to always check for the latest information on payment terms.
You need to upload new designs fairly frequently to keep your shop fresh. And you’re responsible for marketing your shop. This is critical because the items in your shop won’t sell themselves. LOL. You need to market and even potentially advertise what’s available in your shop in your blog or newsletter, on your website and on social media. Tell your friends, family, and creative community and ask them to share the news that you have a new shop, or new designs for sale. Make it easy for them to find you.
Category #4 – Workshops:
This category includes in-person or online workshops, as well as digital courses. When an in-person workshop is not feasible, you can record what you teach and then offer this as a workshop online. The world is your oyster these days with a growing community of people interested in learning online. Everyone has become familiar with zoom as well as Facebook groups. It’s an amazing way to grow your audience and monetize your knowledge.
With an online workshop, anyone in the world can take advantage of what you are teaching. This allows you to reach customers well beyond your geographic area, and to make a bigger impact doing what you love. You can add physical products to your workshop offerings which is a great way to gain additional income.
Category #5 - Memberships:
Memberships have always been popular and are a growing category for creative entrepreneurs. You may not realize how many memberships you’re already in! Think about it for a minute… Any bill that you pay every single month is essentially a membership: your electric bill, your newspaper bill, your Netflix subscription, your Adobe Illustrator subscription, your pet food subscription…
Creative memberships are fantastic. Think monthly or quarterly subscription boxes. You curate a box of products with your own designs on them and your subscribers receive it every month. The box can be supplemented with an online workshop or zoom session where members talk about how they plan to use the products they received. Here’s another idea: how about a knitting, quilting or needlepoint membership? Members receive a packet of materials and one project to complete each month. You could develop an entire social media campaign around this with members sharing their “unboxing” experience and then sharing again when they have completed the project.
So many opportunities! Which idea resonates with you the most? Drop me a line at anne@annelafollette.com and let me know.
As always, please join me LIVE this Wednesday, March 20 at noon pacific / 3pm eastern for my weekly Wednesday broadcast about art, creativity and surface design. Let’s talk about these five ways to monetize your art and more!
We’ll be live on my Facebook business page and on my YouTube channel.
See you then!
Anne
Remember,
It’s Never Too Late to Create®
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MEET ANNE
Hi…I’m Anne!
My creative inspiration comes from a lifetime of observation. I grew up in Paris on the Place St. Sulpice and walked to school through the Luxembourg gardens. And that was only the beginning… Learn more by watching the video on my About page.
