Welcome to My New Venue

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

I’m still a couple days away from completing my next piece of colored pencil art (or one day if I get really motivated), but I still have something art-related I’ve been eager to share with you: my new art shop on Fine Art America.

Cue round of fanfare and fireworks….

About Fine Art America

Fine Art America is an online print-on-demand retailer for artists who want to sell prints of their work but who don’t want the hassle of stocking prints and processing orders. You simply upload your art and they do the rest, including offering loads of products featuring your art such as…

• unframed prints
• framed prints
• metal, canvas, and acrylic prints
• greeting cards
• phone cases
• t-shirts
• tote bags
• pencil pouches
• and household items (pillows, duvet covers, towels, shower curtains)

Artists can also offer for sale the original version of their work, but this type of transaction is handled solely between the artist and the buyer, not through the FAA system.

Why This and Why Now?

Many of you know that I’ve done the rounds on Etsy and while I think Etsy is a great venue for people with super unique and cute stuff, it doesn’t seem to be a good fit for me.

One, I’m simply not good at keeping up with Etsy’s expectations for their artists’ shops. Two, maintaining a stock of prints and greeting cards that aren’t selling wears into the old budget and eats into storage space. Three, I like the idea of not having to play the Etsy game of renewing items every few weeks to stay relevant in their search terms.

I’d heard about Fine Art America a while ago, but was hesitant to try them out because I’d read negative things about people getting their art pirated from the site since FAA didn’t allow watermarks. On the other hand, numerous people have said they’re a great site to work with. So, I kept toying with the FAA idea.

When I looked into Fine Art America again recently, they were finally offering an option to include a watermark. Not that this will deter most pirates, but I’ve long since gotten used to my books being pirated so I’m willing to take the chance that my art will be thrown into the pirate ship as well.

FAA also offers artists plenty of marketing options such as press releases, email campaigns, and coupon codes, as well as forums to interact with other artists. I figured with all this and my main issue (watermarking) answered, I’d give the venue a chance.

The Shop is Open!

I’ve loaded about ten images onto my FAA shop and will continue to add more as time allows (and once I get some quality scans done of my most recent pieces). Although FAA offers tons of different products, I’ve opted to stick with prints and greeting cards for all my pieces and phone cases for some pieces.

A few of my pieces worked well as throw pillows and tote bags, so I’ve added that as an option for them, but I’ve decided to stay away from the product overload and am not offering t-shirts, duvet covers, phone chargers, etc. (besides, I don’t know if I want my art turned into a towel that people will wipe their butt with – ew!).

And a little note on the pricing…as with my books on sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, the prices you see on Fine Art America are NOT what I receive. I get a teensy tiny portion of the sale price. Just don’t want you to think I’m price-gouging anyone. (I do however, get to keep 100% of sales of any original pieces, hint hint).

Eventually, I plan to add my work to other sites similar to Fine Art America. Of course, I’ll keep you updated with the new venues as I do so.

Finally, A Special Promotion

As I’m still building the shop, I wasn’t planning on doing any special promotions yet, but FAA is offering their own site-wide super duper deal for any purchase (ANY purchase, no matter how small) made before the end of October.

With any Fine Art America purchase – even single greeting card will do – you get a $100 gift card for Naked Wines. I’m not making this up! One hundred dollars worth of free wine!

Of course there are restrictions (details here), as in you have to be 21 years old, it has to be your first purchase from NakedWines.com, and you have to spend $160 at the Naked Wines site, but still…$100 of free wine! And just remember, the holidays are coming up which means you’re going to need plenty of extra wine on hand to deal with your family.

So, why not take a minute to check out my new shop…and if you take advantage of that wine deal, just remember to share. With me.

By the way, the best way to get notices regarding the special promotions I’ll be creating soon is to sign up for my mailing list.