Friday, January 08, 2010

Making Prints for Sale on Etsy: Sellers Assisting Sellers Q&A with Becky Kazana

To welcome the new year, I thought it might be fun to share some of the questions I receive as a member of Sellers Assisting Sellers. I'll include my answers and hope that all of you will share your advice and experiences as well. Whaddya say we start today?

(A beautiful photographic print from Ninainvrom)

Q)Do you have advice about making prints of my work? I am super confused about what type of paper, ink, printing method, printer, archival quality, etc I need to have for my prints. Can you offer some suggestions?



A) There are lots of ways to go about making prints of your work. I have invested in a very nice Epson printer and scanner so that I can print images and cards as needed. After my watercolors are complete, I scan them, color correct them in Photoshop and then format them to fit on an 8.5 x 11 piece of acid free 100 lb paper.

(An Epson Printed Greeting Card by yours truly, BeckyKazana)

If you are just beginning, I would suggest having some prints made at your local print shop. They will be very knowledgeable about paper types and printing techniques and you can see the difference in quality and make the value judgment about what you want to offer on Etsy.

(Frida print on polycanvas by AFancifulTwist)

Another fun way to answer these questions is to go shopping! Poke around on Etsy and look carefully at the work of an artist you admire. Pay special attention to how they describe their prints. Look at artists that are selling lots and lots of prints- that's the goal after all! Also, look at sellers who are making the same kind of work as you are and how they are printing it.

(Gocco printed greeting card from TwoGuitars)

Try searching for key words that you use frequently in your own listings and see what other shops come up. If you like what they are doing, poke around their shop. In the right hand corner of their shop you can see how many sales they have. Read through their listings, see how they are describing things and what their store policies are. Strike up a conversation with them and ask if they have any suggestions or advice for newbies! The best thing about Etsy is the community.

Check out the forums and the pounce tool for more fun ways to meet and learn from successful sellers.

Good Luck and Happy Etsying!

Becky



2 comments:

AgelessThings said...

Thank you for advice. It is helpful, even for someone like me who doesn't want to sell, but just would like some of my photos to put out around the house.

Artsnark said...

which epson are you using? Do the ink cartriges clog (Epsons used to have this problem years ago).I've managed to kill another printer & am searching for a new one

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