Artist pay all calculated.

[ellenmillion]

I want to lie.

My intentions are good - I want to lie and tell people that their work sold like bubblegum monkeys, report huge sales to them and reassure them that their artwork has tangible value. When I get to the .02 pay reports, I find my fingers reluctant to hit post. Maybe I could tack on a dollar. I wouldn't miss a dollar. $1.02 is a helluva a lot better than just $0.02.

In the end, I don't. They might ask me, "what sold?" and I'd either have to extend the lie, or backpedal, and then they'd probably feel worse, knowing I felt sorry for them.

Of 189 artists, only 19 made $10 or more. A few of them significantly more.

Those artists who do the strongest are the most technically skilled (though there are some baffling exceptions of spectacular artists who were totally overlooked), who use brilliant colors, have a large selection at EMG, folks who work large enough and give permissions for large prints, those who have prominent links from their (often already popular) galleries and homepages, and those who have been around a year or more so that I'm more likely to have their work in stock for in-person sales.

Wholesale was up a lot this year, percentage-wise to total sales, which meant more work for less pay for all of us.

There are bright spots in artist pay. A few folks were 'found,' and got decent royalties. Not, you know, rent-paying royalties, but enough that I don't feel embarrassed handing over their totals.

The bulk of the task is done, now (the database and notification stuff), and I'm glad.

I'm ready to move on to final-proofing the anthology and working on the print services webpage.

Comments

[kittrel.livejournal.com]

Don't feel too bad. I do think a lot of the effort needs to come from the artist's themselves, they need to sell their work too. I know I did a crappy job of that. I know the artist I'm kinda fangirly of, who I'm sure was one of those 19, does a really good job of promoting her work and products. I intend to work harder this year!