When COVID-19 hit, I was looking for ways to supplement my income. After all, months of events and other photography commitments have been postponed or canceled. After looking at some of my options, I decided to set up a small print shop online.
While I had an at-home Epson SureColor P900 printer, I didn’t have the capability to ship, frame and handle other tasks that a print lab would be able to. I’ve written about how Fine Art America helped me fill my office walls; now I was using it to generate sales and print everything from wall prints to pillows to shower curtains.
In essence, it provided me a way to get my work out there, without much work on my end to set it up.
Have a focus
For me, I didn’t just want to put up a ton of photographs and let people choose. I wanted to curate the images I made available to print.
I decided to go with a variety of landscape, cityscape and nature shots, that I knew would work well for the general public. Nothing too specific, nothing too abstract. By having this focus, it was easy for me to know what types of images I would include in my print shop, and on the other side of things, my audience would know what to expect, too.
Price it right
If there’s one thing that every photographer has struggled with at one point, it’s pricing. I’ve talked about my journey with pricing my photo services in the past, but I also stressed about how to price my photo sales on Fine Art America.
Fine Art America gives you guidance when it comes to printing, but I found it a bit too low. I ended up taking their base costs and increasing them by 33 percent for my audience. This would allow me to earn a profit, even if I just sold a few prints.
Promote it
Once I had uploaded about 10 photos, I started to promote them to friends and family. Then I posted on Facebook and Instagram.
Did I get rich overnight? No. But did it help me earn some extra cash when times were tough? Absolutely!
Now that things have returned somewhat to normal, and I’m booking gigs again, I’m still using that Fine Art America store to sell photographs. It’s a great passive income strategy and gets your work in front of people without having to do much on your end.
