"Could anyone tell me the best way to go about getting prints made of my artwork? I have had several people interested in buying works I don't want to sell but I am interested in making them available..."

Artists the world over have this question. There are a great many art magazines and marketing books that address this issue. As an artist who has gone through this process, here are a few of my insights on the subject of reproducing your paintings (or drawings).

There a two primary vehicles for publishing prints from your paintings: self-publishing, or through a print publisher. Here I will address only the publishing lithographic prints. There are many other processes, but this is currently the least expensive method for creating medium-quality multiples. Let's start first with...

SELF-PUBLISHING

Publishing prints is costly. But even more than the actual price of having your art professionally photographed then printed, can be the investment in time and money to market the prints. Finding and securing placement in art galleries, frame shops, and other types of stores on a regular basis is enormous task (there is also the option of having your own storefront gallery). This alone can be a full-time job, and is for many. You have to track where the product is, deal with the legalities and logistics, bookkeeping, framing (possibly), and handle all the related details of running a print business. If you can afford the upfront expenses and cost of maintenance, self-publishing can be profitable. And you receive the entire wholesale price which covers a great deal of the cost.

But one key to successful print sales is: how many prints you publish*, times how much you paid per print to publish; plus how much in time and money spent in marketing, shipping/stocking/delivery/return of the prints; minus the amount stores selling your prints require (usually 40-50%%); divided by the number of prints that are printed.

Let's say your painting is reproduced as a limited edition lithograph (printed in as quality on high-rag, acid free paper), and the retail price to the public is $50. If you paid $5000 to photograph and print 1000 copies (this is sounding like a word problem in math which I always had trouble doing :) figuring in all your expenses which could come to say, $3000, you'd have to sell 350 prints to break even. The rest would be profit. Can you sell 350 prints either on your own or through other stores? If the answer is "yes", then this is a possibility for you.

But also consider this...which painting do you choose? Will the image be a popular seller? Whichever painting is selected, can you sell at least 350 of them?

Then another consideration. Will how many paintings will you publish, one, two, etc.? The rule of thumb is to have at least 2-3 on the market to begin making an impact.

Yet another consideration. What is your competition? There are virtually hundreds if not thousands of print publishers worldwide now vying for sales. Are you prepared to compete with them? (At this point let me say that I am not trying to discourage you. There is a big market out there and YOU could be the one who sells well or has the farthest reach. The market is big enough to receive many more, and you could be that ONE who is widely received. Publishers are always looking for new, fresh talent, or conventional themes done in a lovely way.)
 

And lastly, painting. How much time do you wish to spend painting rather than marketing prints? Some artists paint for the print market, other artist's strengths and desires lie in creating originals only. And some others do a bit of both. These are decisions you alone can make.

Now on to...

USING A PUBLISHER

As with self-publishing, all the above still has to be done; printing, marketing, marketing, marketing, bookkeeping, marketing, which have to be considered. But this time, most of these tasks, if not all, are handled by the publisher.

An experienced limited edition publisher has many galleries and stores already lined up who carry their artists' prints. Print publishers print (or outsource the printing of), distribute, handle billing of and the payments to the artist.

They are also experienced in what type of imagery is marketable and can sell in multiples**. Fortunately and unfortunately, sales rule, and what consumers want is what the publisher will commit to print. If a publisher spots a painting or genre that can sell across the country or around the world it <i>will</i> be published. If a painting has a limited audience, color scheme, or a subject, it usually will not be considered (except by specialty printers.)

You will not make as much money per print through a publisher in the short-run, but this is the tradeoff for electing not self-publish. For profitability, as with book publishing, long-term commitment is essential.

If a publisher is interested in your work, generally speaking, they will deal with you in one of a three ways (given variations):

1. Totally finance the print; you get a small royalty (5-15%%)
2. Partially/totally finance the print; you get up up to 50%% of the wholesale cost
3. The publisher pays you a flat fee for publishing your art.
 

You will not receive as much for option #3 as with option #1 or #2. However, if the print does not sell well, at least you are compensated for the use of your image. If you and the publisher are confident that your image will be a good seller, I recommend signing up for #1 or #2. If it is your first print, sign up for #3.

I hope this is helpful information to those curious about publishing their work. If there is enough interest in this subject, I will follow-up with an article on how to go about seeking a publisher. 

Happy Painting!

Diane

* A "limited edition" is just that, "limited". When printing multiples as with lithographs, the lower the number, the higher price each print will cost. If you are just starting out in prints publication, 950-1000 is a good number to begin with. Lower numbers, 100-500 are fine for those with several prints or a "name" in the market. More can be charged per print, but there's a reduced number of people who will purchase at higher prices. And they can afford low to high-end originals.

**Individual prints and posters are not addressed here, but are a whole other area.