The Facebook Zazzle Gallery Directory is a very cool group that has been formed to showcase some of the incredible art that exists at Zazzle. Every week we all feature the work of 6 different artists. Each of us is showing others’ work as part of our dedication to highlight Facebook Zazzle artists. Thank you so very much!! ~ Diane

My New Pillow

Dance of the Spheres II – Cosmic Violet & Teal by DianeClancyFractals
Browse other pillow designs on Zazzle.

Maria G

Valentine, Anniversary,love by blessedme
Join one of the largest artist affiliate programs

3d-umbreallas by FantasyFractals
Create personalized canvas tote bags at zazzle.com

Kristina Conatser

Hearts of Promise Fractal by capturedbyKC
Make travel coffee mugs with zazzle

Songs of Heaven Mug by capturedbyKC
See more Merchbooth Mugs

win charles

we r the world lotusblossom by aspenrosearts
Join one of the largest artist affiliate programs

lazy day by aspenrosearts
See more Lazy Mugs

Cindy Boyd

Black and White Roses with Vines Coffee Mug by bloomingvinedesign
Browse other Roses Mugs

Celtic Earth and Water Grocery Bag by bloomingvinedesign
More Celtic Bags

Susan Moss

MUG -Pink Cymbidium Orchids by susanmossart
cheap coffee mug on zazzle

MUG – Soft and pretty pink Rhododendrons by susanmossart
Make customizable steins on zazzle

Elena Indolfi

Eiffel Tower In Sunshine Sky by elena_indolfi
Browse more Architecture Bags

Spring Light by elena_indolfi
Start selling my art online with zazzle.

Quality Merchandise from Artists/Artisans

Artisans of Western Mass: Quality Products from Western Mass
Design Style Guide: Best in Handmade Decor
Visual Arts Street Team: VAST Blog

How to Find Me

Facebook Artist Page: DianeClancyArt
Blog: dianeclancy.com/blog
Website: dianeclancy.com
Twitter: dianeclancy

Etsy Shop: dianeclancy
RedBubble: dianeclancy
Imagekind: dianeclancy
Bonanza: dianeclancy
Zibbet: dianeclancy
On Merchandise
CafePress: dianeclancy
Zazzle
Fractals: DianeClancyFractals*
Goddess: DianeClancyGoddess*
Animals: DianeClancyAnimals*
Holidays: DianeClancyHolidays*
Bubbles: DianeClancyBubbles*
Art: DianeClancyArt*

Technorati Tags: Facebook Zazzle Gallery Directory, Maria G, Kristina Conatser, win charles, Cindy Boyd, Susan Moss, Elena Indolfi

Zazzle has just released new water bottles, drinking bottles!!  I have some of my vibrant, colorful paintings on Liberty Bottle Works.  Hope you enjoy them!! Perhaps now is the time to replace that old leaking water bottle!!  Thank you! ~ Diane Clancy

Bright Burst of Color – Salmon & Indigo Deva by DianeClancyFractals
View other Colorful Liberty Bottle Works

Emerging Galaxies – Teal & Lime Currents by DianeClancyFractals
Browse more Colorful Liberty Bottle Works

Amber Goddess – Orange and Gold Passion by DianeClancyFractals
Shop for another reusable water bottle

Glowing Burst of Color – Teal & Violet Deva by DianeClancyFractals
See other Colorful Liberty Bottle Works

Streams of Joy – Cosmic Aqua & Lemon by DianeClancyFractals
Browse more Whimsical Liberty Bottle Works

They also come in a larger variety

Amber Goddess – Orange and Gold Passion by DianeClancyFractals
View other Colorful Liberty Bottle Works

Diane’s vibrant, colorful painting for Wordless Wednesday. You can see more Wordless Wednesday here #WW from all around the world! You can find lots of lovely items with In the Garden here.  Thank you! ~ Diane Clancy!

In the Garden, Digital © Diane Clancy

In the Garden – Quan Yin & Flowers by DianeClancyGoddess

Artisans of Western Mass: Quality Products from Western Mass
Design Style Guide: Best in Handmade Decor
Visual Arts Street Team: VAST Blog

Facebook Artist Page: DianeClancyArt
Blog: dianeclancy.com/blog
Website: dianeclancy.com
Twitter: dianeclancy

Etsy Shop: dianeclancy
RedBubble: dianeclancy
Imagekind: dianeclancy
Bonanza: dianeclancy
Zibbet: dianeclancy
On Merchandise
CafePress: dianeclancy
Zazzle
Fractals: DianeClancyFractals*
Goddess: DianeClancyGoddess*
Animals: DianeClancyAnimals*
Holidays: DianeClancyHolidays*
Bubbles: DianeClancyBubbles*
Art: DianeClancyArt*

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, Wordless Wednesday, In the Garden

Diane’s vibrant, colorful painting for Wordless Wednesday. You can see more Wordless Wednesday here #WW from all around the world! You can find lots of lovely items with Emerging Galaxies here.  At last I have gone and started working on CafePress again. I hope your holidays have been going well!! Sorry to have been so absent … but here I am!!  Thank you! ~ Diane Clancy!

Emerging Galaxies, Digital © Diane Clancy

Artisans of Western Mass: Quality Products from Western Mass
Design Style Guide: Best in Handmade Decor
Visual Arts Street Team: VAST Blog

Facebook Artist Page: DianeClancyArt
Blog: dianeclancy.com/blog
Website: dianeclancy.com
Twitter: dianeclancy

Etsy Shop: dianeclancy
RedBubble: dianeclancy
Imagekind: dianeclancy
Bonanza: dianeclancy
Zibbet: dianeclancy
On Merchandise
CafePress: dianeclancy
Zazzle
Fractals: DianeClancyFractals*
Goddess: DianeClancyGoddess*
Animals: DianeClancyAnimals*
Holidays: DianeClancyHolidays*
Bubbles: DianeClancyBubbles*
Art: DianeClancyArt*

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, Wordless Wednesday, Emerging Galaxies

My birthday is today and I want to post in a more personal way than I have had time to do for awhile.  In the meantime, here is my signature piece, Conundrum I, on a card at Zazzle – you can order many or just one – your choice.  Zazzle is great too in that is lets you customize much of the merchandise – like this comes in 2 different sizes.

It has been a rough couple of years for me – between caring for family members health and surgeries, my own health and my Dad’s death.  I have been on a roller coaster ride!!  Most of the time I have managed to at least keep up with the 3 challenges I participate in here on the blog to maintain some presence on a consistent basis so I don’t lose all my fans, collectors and lovers of my art – in other words YOU!! – by being gone too much!!

Conundrum I Card by dianeclancyart*

I used to write long posts with elaborate instructions and helpful information. I hope to be able to do more of that again. I have a whole series of conversations with artists (from Facebook) that I have permission to use on this blog. Also, I still need to make the final blog post overview of artists marketing. Those topics will stretch from my updated thinking on Zazzle (very positive) to the need for artists to truly decide what niche they want to be in and the purpose of their art. So you see those posts will take me hours to create!

I need to make some decisions myself on what my goals are about my life and my art. I used to be a master at goals, purpose and getting things done! I am still putting myself back together in some ways. I became more successful in local art organizing and now I have to figure out what to keep and what to let go. It is a success in some ways that I am busy with clients, busy networking and busy helping others know how to market in art. I now need to figure out what is most important to me. I have enough shops and work and networking and … and … and … that I don’t have time for it all. I know lots of other artists have closed shops and dropped out of groups, but I need to decide what is the correct way for me to clarify goals, while keeping my integrity. Even in terms of which mediums I should work in are important decisions.  I deeply trust that things will become clear to me and that I can and will make decisions.  Thank you for letting me share with you what is on my mind.  Thank you for reading and following my blog!! ~ Diane Clancy

ps I have my shops, Facebook page and such listed here so you can find me.  Many people read my posts on Facebook instead of the blog directly, so this makes all these link very easy to access! ~ Diane

Artisans of Western Mass: Quality Products from Western Mass
Design Style Guide: Best in Handmade Decor
Visual Arts Street Team: VAST Blog

Facebook Artist Page: DianeClancyArt
Blog: dianeclancy.com/blog
Website: dianeclancy.com
Twitter: dianeclancy

Etsy Shop: dianeclancy
RedBubble: dianeclancy
Bonanza: dianeclancy
ArtFire: dianeclancy
On Merchandise
CafePress: dianeclancy
Zazzle Shop: dianeclancyart*

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, Conundrum I, Zazzle

I have become the first artist to be featured at the Facebook Zazzle Gallery Directory. This is a very cool group that has been formed to showcase some of the incredible art that exists at Zazzle.  So today I was chosen and several people are creating blog posts to highlight my work – some of my vibrant colorful paintings on merchandise!! Woo hoo!!  So I need to do my share also and showcase some of my work.  I will be showing others’ work also as part of our dedication to highlight Facebook Zazzle artists.  Thank you so very much!! ~ Diane

Here are some of my products that I would like to share:

Glowing Burst of Color by dianeclancyart

Artisans of Western Mass: Quality Products from Western Mass
Design Style Guide: Best in Handmade Decor
Visual Arts Street Team: VAST Blog

Facebook Artist Page: DianeClancyArt
Blog: dianeclancy.com/blog
Website: dianeclancy.com
Twitter: dianeclancy

Etsy Shop: dianeclancy
RedBubble: dianeclancy
Bonanza: dianeclancy
ArtFire: dianeclancy
On Merchandise
CafePress: dianeclancy
Zazzle Shop: dianeclancyart*

Technorati Tags: Zazzle, Facebook, vibrant colorful painting, Diane Clancy

Susan Elkin and I participated at the lovely artisan fair Handmade With Love Fair last Saturday. We sold my vibrant, colorful paintings and Susan’s mysterious photographs.  We have some photos from the fair that I thought you would like to see.  I am very pleased with the improvements in our display – I think this time we did create a fairly enticing presentation of our work.  Please check out my giveaway of FREE business cards!!

Merchandise at Handmade With Love Fair © Susan Elkin

Karen Shaw Suriner of Stargazer Studios was a total miracle for us with all the help she gave Susan and me.  I hope you will check out her wonderful Etsy shop, Stargazer Studios. We went into the wrong end of a very large building and carried too much of our things the length of the building.  Karen helped us get the rest of the merchandise and tables from the car.  Then Karen gave us feedback on our setup. Besides the checking in with everyone during the fair (Karen was one of the organizers), she also helped us get the tables, mats and cards back into the car.  Given our exhaustion, I have no idea what we would have done without Karen that day – THANK YOU, Karen!!!   You might also want to check out Karen’s Facebook page.

Karen Shaw Suriner, Stargazer Studios © Susan Elkin

Here is a photograph of Susan at the fair (you can see her photos are better but she is the photographer!).  Susan has an Etsy shop where you can see some of her engaging photographs. I couldn’t do these artisan fairs without Susan – she has a lot of strength for handling the tables and such. We may have to reevaluate our ability to do this kind of show – this took a lot out of both of us.  We may need to limit ourselves to shows that are very, very local (this was 25 miles away) – that would also give us the advantage of probably knowing some of the people going to the fair – we knew no one who was attending the fair – although we knew most of the vendors. Susan also has a Facebook page.

Susan, Susan Elkin Photography © Diane Clancy

We worked hard to make our presentation better than it was last time.  Each time we work to make us look more professional and engaging.  I thought you would enjoy this photo that shows the whole presentation.  We wanted to draw customers and collectors in with Valentine’s Day vibes. For us this has been our best presentation yet.  We look around and learn each time. That card rack is part of our display.  Those cards were our best seller at this fair – unlike any other fair we have been to.

Handmade With Love Fair © Susan Elkin

I spent hours working with the pricing materials to make them festive for Valentine’s Day – it took some work to figure out how to best do that.  Now I will be able to do that better in the future.  We were able to borrow a white table cloth and then had some pink and reds plus lace to entice it all up!! I so admire all the artisans who have created elaborate displays!!

Facebook Artist Page: DianeClancyArt
Etsy: dianeclancy
Twitter: dianeclancy
Zazzle: dianeclancyart*
Blog : dianeclancy.com/blog
Website: dianeclancy.com

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, Karen Shaw Suriner, Stargazer Studios, Susan Elkin, Susan Elkin Photography, Handmade with Love Fair, artisan fair, fair presentations

Handmade with Love – Craft & Gift Market is going to be an incredible Craft & Gift Market this Saturday, February 12 in Easthampton.  I hope you will come (if you live near enough). There are going to be many fabulous items for sale, including my vibrant, colorful paintings in several forms.

The Facebook page for Handmade with Love is right here! FIRST 50 CUSTOMERS GET A FREE GIFT! Candles, jewelry, cards, art, collage art, handbags, glass, photography and much more!! Please come join us! Please check out my giveaway of FREE business cards!! Thank you! ~ Diane Clancy

Handmade with Love – Craft & Gift Market

Facebook Artist Page: DianeClancyArt
Etsy: dianeclancy
Twitter: dianeclancy
Zazzle: dianeclancyart*
Blog : dianeclancy.com/blog
Website: dianeclancy.com

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, Handmade with Love, Craft & Gift Market, Handmade with Love – Craft & Gift Market

And the winner of the One World One Heart Giveaway is Janice … Comment #62 out of 255!!  Janice has a blog Jan’s Jabber (http://jansjabber.blogspot.com). Congratulations to Janice!!  I am waiting to hear from her to send Jan her free card!!  Thank you to everyone who entered!!

There are over 1100 blogs participating in this giveaway – so there are a LOT of prizes being announced today worldwide! Hopefully this all builds friendship and understanding among all the peoples of the earth!

The prize is a Conundrum I card. It is a 4.25 x 6″ blank fine art card that is professionally printed. It comes with an envelope and is enclosed in a clear protective sleeve. This is my vibrant colorful painting that many of you say is your favorite – that is why this is the prize.

Conundrum I, Collage © Diane Clancy

If you would like a copy of the card, you can purchase it directly from me just go a little down the page on my site – or get it at my Zazzle Shop. The Zazzle cards are a full 5×7″ and there is a volume discount.

Conundrum I Card by dianeclancyart

At Zazzle you can also get it with a white border around it if you prefer that style.  You can also get either of these styles as notecards, mugs and more!

Conundrum I Card by dianeclancyart

Thank you to all those who entered the contest – I appreciate your many kind comments about Conundrum I !!  Thank YOU for stopping by and reading my blog.  I hope you will return and we can continue talking together as we create a new world!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, One World One Heart, giveaway, Zazzle

Fish Hawk of As the Crackerhead Crumbles has created a lovely list of Christmas Gift Sites to See.  It is a lovely set of items from several artists and artisans. Each image links to that item to purchase and with a link to contact the creator of the product.  I am delighted to be included in this list!  Here is this post with  Christmas Gift Sites to See. I am glad he is inspired by my work! Thank you!

Crackerhead Christmas Gift Sites to See

Here is this vibrant, colorful painting of Lady in Flowers gracing this Christmas Gift Sites to See – she can be found in several shops and items – from Art Cards, ACEOs to mugs to tiles to buttons to magnets … you are sure to find Lady in a gift that you will want to get for yourself or for someone special on your list.

My Painting on Crackerhead Christmas Gift Sites to See

Here is Lady in Flowers Button at My Zazzle!

Lady in Flowers Button – Brittany Spaniel by dianeclancyart
Buy a personalized buttons on zazzle

Thank you, Fish Hawk for including me!! Thank YOU for stopping by and reading my blog.  Hope your days are going well and you and your family are enjoying this season!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, Fish Hawk, Christmas Gifts, Etsy, As the Crackerhead Crumbles Blog, CafePress, Zazzle

This is the Freckles in Flowers II Mug from my Zazzle shop – I am thrilled that 2 people have bought it in the last month …  from my Zazzle shop (http://zazzle.com/dianeclancyart).  At the bottom of this post is another hint of selling and buying from CafePress vs Zazzle.

Freckles in Flowers II Mug at Zazzle © Diane Clancy

You can see that it is different from my Freckles in Flowers II Mug from my CafePress shop (http://cafepress.com/dianeclancy).

Freckles in Flowers II Mug at CafePress © Diane Clancy

It is so interesting to me to have such different looking mugs – yet both starting with the same image …  To make things even more fun, at Zazzle you can choose lots of other styles of mugs before you check out – all with the same image … go check it out.

At CafePress, you can also get the same vibrant colorful painting on different mugs – but I have to prepare those other mugs for you – you yourself can’t just chose the other variations for yourself … this is one of the things in favor of Zazzle.  Which of these 2 mugs do you prefer?  Thank you for being in my life!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful paintings, Zazzle, CafePress

Recently were Part I,  Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V and Part VI in this art marketing series – this is all in response to Sue O’Kieffe of Sacred Circle Mandalas (http://sacred-circle-mandalas.blogspot.com) who recently wrote me “i am curious to know out of all the ways you sell your art, which is the most profitable for you and which is the most enjoyable?” I have been getting some good feedback from various people that this is being helpful to them.

What a great question, Sue!!  I know some other artists sometimes read my blog – I hope everyone will chime in – this could be very helpful to us all!  I am really looking forward to hearing from others too!  We have already done an overview of offline selling (much more to be said about that!), online selling from a shop where you the seller ship directly to your customer, online selling from a shop where the site produces the merchandise and ships directly to the customer and an overviews of Etsy, 1000 Markets and CafePress.

Today we will focus on one online shop (Zazzle) where you the artist upload your images onto the shop site and then put those images onto merchandise that you choose. Then the shop itself (not you the artist) is the one who prints the item up and ships it directly to the customer.  Check back in Part III to refresh your memory of some of the pluses and minuses of this method of online selling if you like. I have 4 online shops currently where I put my paintings onto merchandise and then sell it right there from that site.  I will give you details about my 2 current favorites and tell you why I like them.  They are CafePress and Zazzle.  These are links directly to my shops – it is easy to go to the main pages from there. Some artists have other favorites and I hope you (they) will post about them in the comments!  Today we look at Zazzle.

This postage (YES, real actual US postage!!) from my Zazzle Shop showcases my vibrant, colorful painting of Evening Stroll.   You can see that they also have room for the description to capture interest, details of what one is selling, and also the various views of your item. (Refer to earlier posts if you want more on this.)

Evening Stroll Postage © Diane Clancy

I like Zazzle a whole lot!!  You can probably tell that I think their offering real US postage is amazing to me – I love it!! This process is similar to working in CafePress – but also different … so bear with me.  You can open a shop.   See Susan Elkin’s shop as an example of another shop. You can use one image on all items or a different one on each. A great thing about Zazzle is that it is free – you can have as many items as you like for free – unlike CafePress.  Also you get to set your own price markup.  As far as I know, Zazzle doesn’t mark down your items like CafePress does if you find an item through the main site instead of going directly to someone’s shop.

I started with CafePress – and have listed tons on items … just lots and lots – so the process is very familar to me.  It was what I started with.  Most people think Zazzle is easier to work with – in some ways it is.  There are fewer screens one needs to work through to get to finalizing one’s product. The last post focused on CafePress.  Since we have already talked about CafePress and since I know it better, I will sometimes use them as a reference point.

Zazzle works well and faster than CafePress – in some ways.  To be clear about the process (to prepare for writing this) I just listed 2 new products.  The first one took forever – it got locked into not being able to go to the next step – this happens to me quite frequently – which is why I am not fonder of Zazzle than I am.  The second item I was able to create quite quickly.  Another problem that I have with Zazzle is – the last time I checked, one also could not change the text on an item once it was created – I think this is a real mistake.

My problem is this – they seem to assume you know how to work with their templates … and they seem pretty obvious – but I am never sure if the process is just very buggy (that means things don’t work like they are supposed to) or if I am doing something wrong.  Whenever I have asked, and when it goes smoothly, it does seem like I am using the templates correctly.  But, for instance, I have been able to choose the font type maybe once out of every 5 items I make.  The rest of the time I end up using the default because I can’t get the font thing to work – even though I choose it and press close to show I accept it.  I do the same thing on the times it works and doesn’t work.  Remember I am a graphic designer used to using programs and I am sort of geeky – so it is not that I am computer-phobic!  I waste a lot of time trying to get from one step to another because it doesn’t seem to function correctly.

Zazzle also has templates for the items you want to put your images on – you can download them and work with the templates directly.  They also have the sizing info right there as are you are choosing an image for a new product.  This is fantastic – because it makes things potentially simpler – one can then bypass the templates.  One does still need to prep the image different ways for different items.  It can get a bit challenging – but doable.  Choose an item – put it in your shop – then upload the image you want to put on this item. Go ahead and put the image onto the merchandise …. after you put the image, you can write a description (as in Etsy, 1000 Markets and CafePress) and also put in tags.

Tags are important – tags are what allow someone to find your work out of all the 100,000′s of pieces that are there.  You can name this particular item – I use the name of the painting with the name of the type of merchandise.  They also have you choose which category your item goes into.  CafePress also has you do this – even though I didn’t mention it before.

Then you can set your price.  These kinds of PRINT ON DEMAND shops generally have a base price that you would pay if you bought your own work.  Then you set a price increase (by percentage) to add to the price so that you make something when someone buys your work.   This is where you make your money from this type of online selling.  Of course, you will want to strike a balance … more profit per item vs more affordable so PERHAPS more people will buy it.

You can add a banner to your shop and do some editing of how you present your online store.  My own way of marketing is that I strive to give some consistency and a similar feel to all my online marketing – it is not identical at all … but hopefully someone would recognize that it is me!

The variety of merchandise is great and they keep adding more.  I love seeing my work on all the various items!  I am not sure if there is a way to have sections to your shop or not.  But it is easy to choose to see all the mugs at once – but their links on the side.  It is also wonderful that there are fan clubs and you can join someone’s fan club. (I hope you will join mine – my Zazzle is here).  It is also a fantastic thing that people can leave comments for your shop and for individual items.  This makes it much more interactive with the collectors than at CafePress.  There is a community where you can interact with other people – I have not explored this at all.  I am sure (as everywhere else) that the more you connect with others, the more sales you make.

Sales – this brings us to a part some people don’t like.  When you sell your work at Etsy or 1000 Markets, you get paid directly, right away (usually), by the buyer.  Besides developing a relationship, you also get the money.  When selling from Zazzle (or other on demand shops) you get paid either once a year or when a certain amount of money accumulates.  So you don’t see the money quickly unless you are a very high volume seller.  This doesn’t bother me because I feel like it is money in the bank – but some people do not like this.  It is part of the package though.

Many people think Zazzle is the best online shop to put one’s images onto merchandise.  I have heard many people promote it over CafePress.  One still needs to pay attention to sizing images to some degree.  I like Zazzle and hopefully I can figure out how not to get so slowed down by the problems of setting up new merchandise – I do not know why that happens so consistenly for me.  But I love my shop and will continue with it.

As with ALL these different types of shops … one needs to market your own shop – and I need to do a lot more of that!

I have a shop at Imagekind – they sell prints of my paintings, framed and unframed, and also cards.  They are a very good, respected shop with an extensive selection of papers, canvas and frames.  I also have a shop at Redbubble – Redbubble sells paintings on paper, canvas and posters with different finishing for the prints.  They also sell t-shirts. Many people love both of there shops.

So I recommend both CafePress and Zazzle as the best for me so far.  I welcome hearing from others what your experiences and thoughts are!!  We may differ for sure!  I hope that we can help each other know the strengths of each shop.  Please feel free to ask questions to get more information – I am glad to share what I can and so are others! … thanks for coming by!!

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting,   Evening Stroll, Etsy, 1000 Markets, Sacred Circle Mandalas, Sue O’Kieffe, marketing, CafePress, Zazzle, Redbubble, Imagekind, merchandise, Susan Elkin

Recently were Part I,  Part II, Part III, Part IV and Part V in this art marketing series – this is all in response to Sue O’Kieffe of Sacred Circle Mandalas (http://sacred-circle-mandalas.blogspot.com) who recently wrote me “i am curious to know out of all the ways you sell your art, which is the most profitable for you and which is the most enjoyable?” I have been getting some good feedback from various people that this is being helpful to them.

What a great question, Sue!!  I know some other artists sometimes read my blog – I hope everyone will chime in – this could be very helpful to us all!  I am really looking forward to hearing from others too!  We have already done an overview of offline selling (much more to be said about that!), online selling from a shop where you the seller ship directly to your customer, online selling from a shop where the site produces the merchandise and ships directly to the customer and an overviews of Etsy and 1000 Markets.

Today we will focus on one online shop (CafePress) where you the artist upload your images onto the shop site and then put those images onto merchandise that you choose. Then the shop itself (not you the artist) is the one who prints the item up and ships it directly to the customer.  Check back in Part III to refresh your memory of some of the pluses and minuses of this method of online selling if you like. I have 4 online shops currently where I put my paintings onto merchandise and then sell it right there from that site.  I will give you details about my 2 current favorites and tell you why I like them.  They are CafePress and Zazzle.  These are links directly to my shops – it is easy to go to the main pages from there. Some artists have other favorites and I hope you (they) will post about them in the comments!  Today we look at CafePress and the next time at Zazzle.

This journal from my CafePress Shop showcases my vibrant, colorful painting of Underground.   You can see that they also have room for the description to capture interest, details of what one is selling, and also the various views of your item. (Refer to earlier posts if you want more on this.)

Underground Journal © Diane Clancy

I love CafePress – it is the first place that I put my paintings onto merchandise – and this has been a dream of mine for over a decade!  I can’t tell you how magical it was the first time I saw MY painting on a mug!! WOW!!  I was (and still am) thrilled!  So this idea really works for me.  I want to make my work accessible and affordable to a wide range of people – this has always been part of my plan to make this happen.

This is not a one step process though … so bear with me.  You can open a shop.  A free shop is where you can have one of each different item that CafePress has.  So that is quite a lot!  They have tons of different shirts and you can have one of each type.  Last I looked there were 3 different types of mugs and you can have one of each type.  See Susan Elkin’s shop as an example of a free (basic) shop. You can use one image on all items or a different one on each.  The limit of a free shop is only one item of each kind.

Given that I want you to be able to choose from lots of my mugs, I chose to do a premium (paid) shop.  You can easily start with a free shop and then upgrade if you like.  I did that myself. So get your shop and shop name and you are ready to start.  You can have unlimited basic (free) shops – but I like the idea of various paintings all together.

You need to download their templates for the items you want to put your images on.  This is one of the trickier parts of CafePress – one needs to prep the image different ways for different items.  It can get a bit challenging – but doable.  Choose an item – put it in your shop – then upload the image you want to put on this item. Go ahead and put the image onto the merchandise …. after you put the image, you can write a description (as in Etsy and 1000 Markets) and also put in tags.

Tags are important – tags are what allow someone to find your work out of all the 100,000′s of pieces that are there.  There is a limit on the amount of tags (as most shops have a limit) and a limit on the number of characters (including spaces) that you can put in your description.  You can name this particular item – I use the name of the painting with the name of the type of merchandise.

Then you can set your price.  These kinds of PRINT ON DEMAND shops generally have a base price that you would pay if you bought your own work.  Then you set a price increase (by percentage or dollar amount) to add to the price so that you make something when someone buys your work.   This is where you make your money from this type of online selling.  Of course, you will want to strike a balance … more profit per item vs more affordable so PERHAPS more people will buy it.  There is a new situation at CafePress that I do NOT like at all.  It is my understanding that they cap your price increase to 10% when people find your work by searching by tag.  I personally think this cheapens the work and makes it too cheap and is unfair to the artist.  I spend quite a lot of time preparing the work and then …. but as for now, those are the new rules.

When you have a premium (paid) shop, you can work on the shop template and make quite a few changes to make the shop look how you want.  My own way of marketing is that I strive to give some consistency and a similar feel to all my online marketing – it is not identical at all … but hopefully someone would recognize that it is me!

The variety of merchandise is fantastic and they keep adding more.  I love, love, love seeing my work on all the various items!  You can have sections of your (paid) shop so that I have one section with all mugs and another with tiles.  There is a community where you can interact with other people – I have not explored this at all.  I am sure (as everywhere else) that the more you connect with others, the more sales you make.

Sales – this brings us to a part some people don’t like.  When you sell your work at Etsy or 1000 Markets, you get paid directly, right away (usually), by the buyer.  Besides developing a relationship, you also get the money.  When selling from CafePress (or other on demand shops) you get paid either once a year or when a certain amount of money accumulates.  So you don’t see the money quickly unless you are a very high volume seller.  This doesn’t bother me because I feel like it is money in the bank – but some people do not like this.  It is part of the package though.

Needing to prepare the images so differently for the various items, is one reason many people are not thrilled with CafePress.  Given that I had a system set up before I know about other shops, means that it bothers me less than it bothers some people.  Also there are a lot of steps for uploading, putting the image on, adding a description, adding tags … there are some short cuts to make some changes … but some people find it a little complicated.  My main issue is that they have cut my profit arbitrarily if someone finds me through tags.  I think that is a bad decision and a wrong one.  But I love my shop and will continue with it.

As with ALL these different types of shops … one needs to market your own shop – and I need to do a lot more of that!

I have a shop at Imagekind – they sell prints of my paintings, framed and unframed, and also cards.  They are a very good, respected shop with an extensive selection of papers, canvas and frames.  I also have a shop at Redbubble – Redbubble sells paintings on paper, canvas and posters with different finishing for the prints.  They also sell t-shirts. Many people love both of there shops.

So I recommend both CafePress and Zazzle as the best for me so far.  I welcome hearing from others what your experiences and thoughts are!!  We may differ for sure!  I hope that we can help each other know the strengths of each shop.  Please feel free to ask questions to get more information – I am glad to share what I can and so are others! … thanks for coming by!!

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting,   Underground, Etsy, 1000 Markets, Sacred Circle Mandalas, Sue O’Kieffe, marketing, CafePress, Zazzle, Redbubble, Imagekind, merchandise, Susan Elkin

Yesterday was Part II in this series and the day before was Part I – this is all in response to Sue O’Kieffe of Sacred Circle Mandalas (http://sacred-circle-mandalas.blogspot.com) who recently wrote me “i am curious to know out of all the ways you sell your art, which is the most profitable for you and which is the most enjoyable?”

What a great question, Sue!!  I know some other artists sometimes read my blog – I hope everyone will chime in – this could be very helpful to us all!  I am really looking forward to hearing from others too!  We have already done an overview of offline selling and online selling from a shop where you the seller ship directly to your customer.  Today we will talk about the other kind of online shop.  After that I will talk about specifics. This is a framed tile from CafePress that showcases my vibrant, colorful painting of Inner Flow II.

Inner Flow II Framed Tile © Diane Clancy

Yesterday we covered selling online when the customer orders directly from you the seller – whether from your own website or blog or from one of the numerous online shops where you can list your work.  You ship directly from the buyer and they pay you directly.

After selling for awhile from these types of shops, I discovered another type of online selling.  There are shops where I can upload my own images from my paintings onto the site of the shop.   They then can print their merchandise with my image when someone wants to purchase it.

WOW!  What a concept!! They print, they ship, they bill, they deal with breakage and replacement, they deal with bounced payments, they deal with returns.  Sounds like a good deal to me!

There are ways that this does work incredibly well … I prepare the image of my painting (which depending on the shop can take quite some effort), then upload it (some shops upload more quickly than others), I put in descriptions and tags (depending on the shop), decide which types of items I will be selling this painting on … and list this painting in the shop.

Actually, it makes sense to decide what you want to place the image on first – because preparing the file depends on what item it is going on.  Also sometimes there are issues with color and such, depending on the type of object on which you have them print your painting,

Some shops sell only prints of an image – that is, they print on paper (or canvas, etc) – a print that you could frame.  That is something that I sell myself from my own home.  But they are able to sell the print with many choices of printing surfaces and lots of different choices in framing.  They are also able to print more inexpensively than I am able due to economies of scale.

Other shops sell lots of different merchandise.  So I can have my paintings on mugs, tiles, cards, shirts, postage (real US postage), journals, shoes, caps … the list keep getting longer as these stores offer more choices in merchandise.  So this is a great way to keep my images on THINGS – something I have wanted to do for over a decade.

They do the printing … and they PRINT ON DEMAND.  That is, they print my painting on a mug, only when some orders one.  I don’t have to buy 500 mugs with 1 image, pay the printer, store them at my house, ship them when someone buys one, absorb the cost when one breaks … you get the idea.  They have all that hassle.

The trade-off?  I don’t see the mug unless I buy one … so I am not sure of the quality printing and not sure how my color looks on their mug.  They get the bulk of the money for the sale.  They will have a “Base Price” – that is the price I would pay for buying my own work – then I can set an amount higher than that.  That way, when someone buys a framed tile, then I will get a certain amount of money credited to my account.

Ah, money credited to my account … that raises another issue.  Usually with these kind of shops, you don’t get paid that often.  Many times it will take awhile for the money to accumulate – and you don’t see that money until … well, each shop has a different agreement on how they handle the money.  Some artists find this very aggravating.  Also the amount I make on each sale is fairly small – especially when you look at the time I put in preparing the product.

I LOVE that my paintings are on merchandise that you can buy and use every day at home.  I so wanted that to happen.  Some of the other downsides?  I haven’t developed a relationship with you … you may not remember who the artist is unless I put my name or website intp the painting – in a readable way.   One woman has bought 50 cards of my Conundrum I painting (in 3 different orders) – all I know is her first name, town and state.  I cannot fillow up with her as a potential customer.  Clearly, she seems a satisfied customer – but she is not really MY customer. That is part of the trade-off.

Next I will cover the specific shops and move toward Sue’s original question. It helps me think to have written all this down and I sure hope it helps you!!

Tomorrow will be Illustration Friday and then I will return to the marketing (or maybe Sue O’kieffe’s giveway and then marketing).  Today is my birthday and it is decade changing.  Thanks for all your good wishes!! Thank you for stopping by!!

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, framed tile, bubblescapes, Zazzle, Inner Flow II, Sacred Circle Mandalas, Sue O’Kieffe, print on demand

Sue O’Kieffe of Sacred Circle Mandalas (http://sacred-circle-mandalas.blogspot.com) recently wrote me “i am curious to know out of all the ways you sell your art, which is the most profitable for you and which is the most enjoyable?”

What a great question, Sue!!  I know some other artists sometimes read my blog – I hope everyone will chime in – this could be very helpful to us all!  There is a handful of sites that I use regularly and really enjoy.  I am really looking forward to hearing from others too!  This is mug from CafePress showcases my vibrant, colorful bubblescape painting of Violet Mist.

Violet Mist Mug © Diane Clancy

Today I am going to give an overview of the ways I sell my work offline – and what works about these ways and what doesn’t.  Tomorrow I will give an overview of the online ways I sell my art. The next day I will talk about specific sites and venues and what I like. (This post was getting too long and I know I prefer to read shortish posts). But I will probably write them all today so they hang together.

There are 4 basic ways I sell – 2 offline and 2 online.  Locally I sell to stores or have items on consignment.  This is great because there is no running to the post office to send things off.  Consignment doesn’t work as well as an outright sale of course because there is no money paid to me upfront and I may get my merchandise back with stickers and such or other damage, which gives me more work to deal with.  I love selling my work locally and having people come up to me saying they have seen my work in a specific place and they like it.  I am a big supporter of the local economy.

Of course in a rural area, there are only so many appropriate stores to sell to … and the local market is smallish – our whole county is only 70,000 people.  I have gone to a bigger distance (I have sold in 3 states) but then the mileage eats up that much more profit.  So it is a wonderful piece of the mix – but not enough to sustain my business.

The other local, offline way I sell is at art or craft fairs.  I have not found my stride in this venue yet.  My work hasn’t sold all that well at the local, inexpensive craft fairs.  Art hasn’t tended to sell as well as functional items there.  People don’t seem to be too much in the market for art at these things.  The ones that are inexpensive represent low risk financially – yet they are also the ones that I am less likely to sell art at.

The expensive ones that cost a substantial amount (hundreds of dollars and up), I am leery of for me – I have never tried them.  Some people have made these kinds of fairs a cornerstone of their art or craft business.  I am concerned about such a big investment of time, energy and money. Also, many people say that market has changed substantially … yet I am sure that many artisans are still doing quite well.

For me personally, part of what doesn’t work well at art and craft fairs is the carrying things to the fair and the needing to be there to sell.  As many of you know, I have substantial health issues, and this type of event wipes me out for a good week.  That doesn’t seem like a good trade-off.

Yet last holiday season the Artists of Franklin County put on an Art Fair and it worked quite well for us.  There was no entrance fee and we were competing with other artists.  The networking was fabulous and we made more sales than we usually have.  Part of what I think needs to happen is figuring out how to get more repeat buyers … they love my work and buy something to support me – but sometimes I think then that is that.

So it is great to potentially know my customers locally and to support the local economy.  It is wonderful to meet the store owners and customers face to face and have that personal relationship potentially.  Delivery is local.  Those are big pluses.  Tomorrow I will give an overview on online selling. Thank you for stopping by!!

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, mug, bubblescape, CafePress, Artists of Franklin County, Sacred Circle Mandalas, Sue O’Kieffe