How to Market and Sell Your Art, Music, Photographs, & Handmade Crafts Online: Turn Your Hobby into a Cash Machine (Paperback)

~ Lee Rowley (Author)
Key Phrases: sell your art, earth tone paintings, creative works online, Web Sii-e, Tke Tools, Web Sevv (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

You are creative, you are an artist or a photographer, you have a hobby or craft, something you absolutely love to do, and you are good at it. But you may be asking yourself, How do I market my work? How do I turn this into a real money making business? The answer lies between the covers of this new book. You will learn the steps you need to take to successfully sell your artwork or crafts even if you have no experience with marketing and even if you hate to sell. As with many other business segments, the Internet and technology have opened up the world and made it your marketplace. You and I, working from the comfort of home, are now on an even playing field with the largest retailers. This groundbreaking and exhaustively researched new book will provide everything you need to know to get your marketing message into the hands of your customers. You will learn about online galleries, designing your Web site cyber stores, arts and crafts search engines, publicity sources, online forums, auction sites, online marketing, e-mail marketing, and search engine marketing. You also will learn of over 300 Web sites on which you can sell your artwork, music, or crafts. This specialized book will demonstrate, step by step, how to inexpensively market and promote your artwork easily and, most important, profitably. You will learn how to quickly find new customers and keep existing ones buying more by using technology and low cost marketing devices that take little or no time on your part. You will learn to develop a marketing plan using hundreds of practical marketing ideas that will help you disseminate your artwork all over the world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Company (April 20, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1601381468
• ISBN-13: 978-1601381460
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #313,353 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can You Make Money as an Artist?, June 30, 2008

By	C. Santagate - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As much as I love Ramen Noodles I don't want to live on them. The idea that being a "starving artist" is romantic is for angst-ridden teens in the burbs. To a sane adult, the idea of doing what you love to do and making a living at it is, if not romantic, at least much more pleasant.
How to Market and Sell Your Art, Music, Photographs, and Handmade Crafts Online-Turn Your Hobby Into A Cash Machine is the book for any artist who would like to get their work in front of people and sell it. The internet is where to be if you want maximum exposure to potential buyers, but you need to know what you're doing before you jump in.
As promised in the intro, this book tells you step by step how to stand out in the now very crowded online marketplace and to successfully market and sell your work. Simply putting your photos or music downloads on a website won't cut it anymore. People need to find you first amid all the clutter and lesser talent! Then, as with any business, you need to earn a reputation and hopefully a following. Everything you need is covered here: Selecting the right computer and software, creating an impactful website, low and no-cost advertising and marketing, online auctions, etc. Along with providing incredibly useful tips and techniques on building a successful online business ("keywords" are one key!), there are tons of websites and sources listed that are invaluable- Many referrals to free software and online resources. (Note: I took so many notes I got writer's cramp, and then realized there was a handy-dandy appendix at the end of the book that listed online resources, websites, etc.)
Even with zero online experience you can be up and running very quickly by using this book as your guide. I'd never heard of "Squidoo" or "CGI Forms", but I now know what they are and how to use them. I found the information on marketing and "strategies infrequently used by creative people..." particularly helpful. The "Hows" and "Whys" are all explained in an organized and easy to understand way. It's a great book that I'll be referring back to often.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive guide with a lot of information, June 25, 2008

By	Ronald Flavin "Ron" (West Palm Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Whether you're just starting out or have years of experience, How to market and sell your art, music, photographs, and handmade crafts online: Turn your hobby into a cash machine, is the ideal "soup to nuts" book for the person who wants to sell online but doesn't know where to begin. It thoroughly covers all the basics, with a particular focus on the essentials of effective website design and strategies about how to best incorporate your art or music into your site.

I'm a photographer and consider myself to be fairly well experienced in website design and marketing so I thought that the "basics" sections would bore me but I was wrong. I learned a lot of things that I didn't know.
The book is detailed, well-written and interesting to read, unlike other "how to" books I've read. The sections about marketing online, the importance of content in attracting visitors, optimizing for search engines and using social marketing to build clientele are especially useful. Separate chapters for art, music, photography and crafts outline aspects unique to each medium.

This is the kind of book that I will refer to again and again and highly recommend it for any artist that wants to establish a web presence and market online and wants to really learn how to do it properly. I rate it 5 stars.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Become Internet Savvy, June 19, 2008

By	D. Iverson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In this day and age, anyone who produces products for sale needs to be aware of the possibilities of selling them online. This book is especially valuable for artists, musicians, craftsmen, and other creative people who could increase their volume of business by becoming Internet-savvy. The book's premise is that artistic people are very good at producing wonderfully creative items, but most likely do not have the knowledge needed to be good internet marketers. It provides a wealth of information without assuming that the reader has any understanding of how to sell on the World Wide Web. It begins by enumerating the reasons that an Internet business is a good choice for an artist or musician, and goes on to give a step-by-step guide for how to begin such an enterprise.

There is a complete chapter that describes the computer hardware, software and peripherals that will be necessary to get a web-based business up and running. I could see that this information would be of great value to anyone wondering how to get started marketing to a global customer base. Technical topics such as how to create a website are covered in a style that makes them accessible even to those with computer phobias. There are hints about how to present products in a clear and appealing manner, and describe them in a way that will encourage website visitors to make a purchase. There are many more chapters concerned with how to drive traffic to an online store, how to outsource certain aspects of your web business, and lots of other topics of interest.

This how-to book has a complete appendix, as well, so that the reader can easily find websites and other resources that will help him as he continues to develop his customer base. Any artist that would like to take advantage of technology to expand a business will find help for his enterprise in this guide.