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

[amanda-now.livejournal.com]

I don't have a licensing thing with you but I wanted to comment anyway. Don't feel bad- I have one licensing thing with HAED and my last check was for $2 or something. If it were me, I think I wouldn't want a check for two cents, that is a little embarassing to cash at the bank, haha ;-). Do you have a rollover program like Zazzle that has a total you can set or something? That way, you can offer artists the option of cashing on their royalties after it hits $20 at the end of the quarter or however it works.

Anyway, you obviously care a lot about your artists, its wonderfully refreshing.

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

Yes to the rollover program, actually! They can't cash it out until it hits $10 (though I make exceptions if an artist asks personally), it just keeps a balance and every statement adds (hopefully) a little more to it. And no matter how low it is, they can cash it in for credit at any point if they want to shop the site. AND they can get wholesale pricing on their own work (including group projects like calendars and coloring books), no matter how small the order. It's a pretty nifty program, she says humbly. My webcoder did a bang up job on it.