by Rebecca Sciullo | Feb 20, 2020 | Learning
If you have a website or blog for your visual art business, the great news is that anyone in the world can find your work and contact you to purchase it. The bad news is that you open yourself up to online scammers, who like to target artists. Back in February 2018, I posted on how to avoid getting scammed when selling artwork online. Since that time, we continue to receive these types of emails.
The reality of placing your artwork for sale online is that you will attract these characters. You need to know how to identify them to avoid getting scammed.
Even though I can always spot a fake, I typically respond to them. I like to see the response that I receive.
I’ve noticed that the people sending these emails are getting a little smarter, attempting to sound a bit more credible and are more persistent. So, I thought it was time for a friendly reminder to vet email requests to purchase your art carefully. Please read Can You Spot a Fake Buyer? if you haven’t already done so.
Below is the latest one that we received. Notice these “guys” are always looking for an anniversary gift. Also, they often don’t have a specific piece in mind, which is highly unusual compared to the legitimate requests that we receive.
In this case, I politely responded with a link to the full gallery and asked which specific piece would interest him. Below is his response.
It’s funny how his budget has increased suddenly to $3,000.
These “guys” are always moving and ask us to work with a “personal shipping agent”. They also never seem to have their own credit cards.
These scams may take other iterations, but this is the basic pattern that we see.
The good news is, yes, we do get legitimate requests to purchase artwork via email. You will too if you are diligent about building your web presence! You just need to make sure you are carefully vetting your buyers.
Here are our rules for transacting in cases where we do not have a prior relationship with the buyer.
- Insist on only accepting credit card payment via Paypal or Square.
- Insist that we ship the piece via one of our preferred methods.
I kindly explained this to Daniel in my response to him, so I have a feeling that will be the last I hear of him. He will move on to his next target, and I don’t want it to be you!
For more tips related to blogging for your visual art business and selling art online, please subscribe to my newsletter here.
by Rebecca Sciullo | Feb 19, 2020 | Artist Websites, Blogging, Events, Learning
I want to thank the Upper St. Clair League for the Arts for inviting me to present at their member meeting last night.
The topic was Building a Strategic Web Presence, where we talked about how visual artists can use blogging to strategically and systematically promote their work. This was the first talk where I was able to focus solely on the topic of blogging for an art business, which as you’ve probably figured out by now, is my passion.
They are a friendly, attentive group. If you are a visual artist in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, I encourage you to visit this art league.
Please visit my Events page, to find out where you can catch this talk. If you’d like to schedule this presentation for your group, please contact me at becky@artisan-advantage.com.
by Rebecca Sciullo | Feb 13, 2020 | Artisan Advantage Book Club, Learning, Resources
Next up for the Artisan Advantage Book Club is Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
Here is an overview of the book taken from Goodreads.
Many of us insist the main impediment to a full, successful life is the outside world. In fact, the most common enemy lies within: our ego. Early in our careers, it impedes learning and the cultivation of talent. With success, it can blind us to our faults and sow future problems. In failure, it magnifies each blow and makes recovery more difficult. At every stage, ego holds us back.
The Ego is the Enemy draws on a vast array of stories and examples, from literature to philosophy to history. We meet fascinating figures like Howard Hughes, Katharine Graham, Bill Belichick, and Eleanor Roosevelt, all of whom reached the highest levels of power and success by conquering their own egos. Their strategies and tactics can be ours as well.
Who is Ryan Holiday?
Ryan Holiday is a best-selling author and media strategist. I’ve read his book The Obstacle is the Way and follow his blog. I enjoy receiving his Reading List Email, where he encourages his followers to read and provides lists of a wide variety of recommended books. Read more about him here.
Win a Free Copy of the Book
I’ve made some changes to the Artists’ Book Club. Instead of randomly selecting a winner from my email list, I am going to offer a trivia contest. The last book selection will be the source of the question, giving you another reason to follow along with the Club!
The first person to email me at becky@artisan-advantage.com with the correct answer to the trivia question below wins a copy of the book.
What does Lisa Congdon encourage you to learn to navigate in Chapter Four of Find Your Artistic Voice?
Join the Club!
It’s easy. All you have to do is get your copy and start reading! Stay connected to the Artisan Advantage blog for posts about how you might apply principles from the book to your visual art business, as well as for opportunities to share your comments about the book with others.
Click here to read more about the Club.
Sign up for my email newsletter here.
Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.
by Rebecca Sciullo | Feb 12, 2020 | Learning
Recently I started to tell you how I got started with Artisan Advantage. If you missed Part One, you can read it here.
Below is Part Two of the story.
The Artist
Although it was not his primary career, my father has been an artist since he was a kid. Self-taught except for an occasional workshop over the years, he primarily works in watercolors. My recollection of his painting as a child was that his work would ebb and flow, with him practicing it in varying levels of intensity over the years.
His work has always reflected the subject matter that he was interested in at the time. His friends like to joke that he is a “renaissance man”. This is because he has had many interests and hobbies over the years. His work has included subject matter from New England Coastline to fly fishing, Ireland, sailing, and, most recently, golf. If you want to know what my father is spending his time doing, take a look at what he is painting.
In the early 2000s, he started playing bluegrass music. When not jamming with friends or practicing one of his many instruments, he was painting scenes of bluegrass musicians jamming. Since he really had no place to show or sell his art at that time, the work was piling up. My mother asked me if there wasn’t anything I could do with them. Her timing was good because it was the same time that I was thinking about the possible websites that I could build or sell online.
I decided to build a website for his work. Taking an online course purchased through the Community College of Allegheny College, taught me the basics of building a website. Then I bought the now obsolete Frontpage Software and got to work building his site.
Appalachian Studio
In addition to bluegrass musicians, he also was still painting subject matter, including fly fishing, outdoor scenes, and images of places around Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County, Maryland. Taking all of these subjects into account, I decided to call the site Appalachian Studio.
I wish I had a screenshot for you of that original website because I have to say I think it was pretty darn good. But I don’t.
I built the site and broke the work into subject matter – music, mountains, rivers, outdoors. I listed each painting for sale with a description of the work and set up PayPal buttons to sell both original and prints. Below are some of the paintings that were for sale on Appalachian Studio.
How do I Get Visitors to This Site?
The only problem with a website is that simply building it doesn’t guarantee you will get visitors. So, I set about my next task of trying to figure out how to get people to the site.
Next Up: An Experiment and a Trip to Music City.
by Rebecca Sciullo | Feb 3, 2020 | Artist Websites, Blogging, Learning
I had a consulting call recently with a client about building a blog for her creative business. While she was on board with the concept and how it could benefit her career, she said that she felt very overwhelmed. And I agreed.
It can be overwhelming to think about building your artist blog.
I did it from scratch, not knowing a thing about blogging. My client can do it. I know that you can do it too.
What popped into my head during that call was the adage, “How do you eat an elephant?”
You’ve heard the saying, and you know the answer – one bite at a time, of course.
The same is true for your artist blog.
There are tangible ways to control the overwhelm. I can teach you.
Over the coming weeks, I’m going to walk you step by step through some of the basics of this process. Let’s call it Artist Blogging 101.
So stay with me here, check back weekly, and I’ll guide you through the process.
