photo show

[Face]

well I talked to this little coffeeshop place downtown today and they're willing to let me hang about 15 peices up for about 3 months. they're asking 10% of any sales i make.
my question is: should i sell my only copies of prints? i can easily make more, but what's the best way to go as far as copies, what you display and sell, etc?

 

[markc]

well I talked to this little coffeeshop place downtown today and they're willing to let me hang about 15 peices up for about 3 months. they're asking 10% of any sales i make.

Way cool! Congrats!

my question is: should i sell my only copies of prints? i can easily make more, but what's the best way to go as far as copies, what you display and sell, etc?

If you can't make any more, then yeah, you might want to consider holding on to the print if it's the only one you have and you like it. If you can make more, I'm not really sure what the issue is. Do you do your own printing or do you take it someplace? Personally, I would have them all done at the same time at the same place so that there is a consistancy in the printing. Just pick a place you trust if you don't do it yourself.

It can get expensive though, especially once you frame them. American Frame has some great pricing, but that still adds up. You might want to consider doing fewer images in a more professional manner than all 15 in a cheap way, like those clear plastic frames. It makes a huge difference, especially if you are going to have them out in public.

And make sure you only pick your best work. If there is something you aren't happy with, don't put it in just because they have given you room to work with. If you have enough images you'd like to show, I'd also consider going with a theme. If you have ten images that work well together and another five that you like but don't really fit the theme, I'd leave out the five, unless there are areas they can be hung that is separate from the rest.

Good luck!

Well, just some ideas. 10% is a great commission rate, BTW.

 

[Face]

the coffee shop is coming off of a "april showers bring may flowers" show, so they're asking me to do city scapes and scenes. I'm hoping to do only pictures from my city, but I do have some tempting ones from atlanta and nyc...
also, the shop doesn't require them to be framed, only matted. the current show has sold a record number of items, and he has window mats but no frames.
what's the best way to do window mats? should I get someone to do them for me perhaps?

 

[markc]

Well that would certainly be cheapest. It sucks to have a lot of money tied up in frames and have nothing sell.

You could buy a matte cutter and do them yourself, get them from AF, or try a local frame shop. Good matte cutters are expensive, but they pay you back over time. You can even cut mattes for people you know and make a little money that way. Just go to the frame shop and pick up the largest matteboard they have and cut it down to size.

If you want to limit your expenditure short-term, I'd go with AF. Even with shipping they would probably be cheaper, but it's certainly worth checking. If you go with a standard size, the frame shop might have some pre-cut that would be cost effective.

 

[GerryDavid]

well I talked to this little coffeeshop place downtown today and they're willing to let me hang about 15 peices up for about 3 months. they're asking 10% of any sales i make.
my question is: should i sell my only copies of prints? i can easily make more, but what's the best way to go as far as copies, what you display and sell, etc?

What are you going to ask for the prints? And what size? Im assuming 8X10's.

 

[Face]

i have mostly 8x10s and some 4x6s... i sadly don't have the time to reprint those bigger... I'm thinking about $35, maybe $40. The guy who has stuff up right now is asking $40.

 

[GerryDavid]

i have mostly 8x10s and some 4x6s... i sadly don't have the time to reprint those bigger... I'm thinking about $35, maybe $40. The guy who has stuff up right now is asking $40.

Not to bad, I think someone on thish forum or another said you shoudlnt ask for less than $50 for an 8X10, but if people there are use to $40, then maybe they wont pay the $50.

An idea is to have your website listed some place on the show prints so they can see the other stuff you have, so your not limited to 15, also if they buy it from the site, you keep the 10% that the store would havev gotten.