There’s a strange dynamic that occurs when setting prices on handcrafted items or freelance services. Considerations for setting prices include, but are not limited to:

• The cost of materials
• The hourly cost of time
• The level of effort involved
• The level of skill involved
• The level of clientele desired
• The level of clientele available
• Physical location.

Let’s use artwork as an example. My friend and I sell our original painings. In 2022 and unsure of the market, we priced our paintings as follows: $25 for large; $15 for medium; and $10 for small. We added a further incentive: $10 off the entire purchase if the customer buys two or more paintings. (I have to sell two to three times as many books as paintings to earn an amount similar to selling paintings.) Last year we did pretty well overall at various arts and crafts festivals in our local region with our best sales occuring at the Clifton Gorge Arts & Music Festival. We’ll be there again this year.

We sold quite a few paintings overall, although there were some events where we couldn’t sell paintings for those low prices. We joked that, despite the compliments on our artwork, we wouldn’t have been able to sell the paintings if we paid customers to take them, because sometimes it felt like that. We also received advice from several customers that the prices we charged were too low.

So we raised our prices to about half of the advised amount and kept the multi-item discount. Sales plummeted. Of course, we make the same amount of money with fewer paintings sold, but that just results in an overflowing inventory of paintings. We only have so much storage space, you know.

We still get lots of compliments on our work. Sales of small and medium paintings outstrip sales of large canvases.

Both of us are loath to reduce our prices. If we charged for our paintings based on an hourly wage, the prices would be even higher. I’m considering whether to raise the multi-item discount rather than reduce prices. Would that be sufficient incentive?

Perhaps the venues where we’ve been selling aren’t the right places to sell artwork. That’s certainly a possibility and an hypothesis that will be put to the test on July 8 at Art on the Hill in Mantua, Ohio. In neighborhoods where household income trends toward the lower end of the economic spectrum, people are less likely to have the disposable income to spend on artwork. More upscale communities have more more money to spend on luxuries like artwork. That’s not an indictment, just admission of certain realities.

I have noticed that at events where our artwork doesn’t sell well, my books do. That makes bringing and offering both books and paintings a smart decision for me. My friend may have an opposite opinion, as she only sells paintings and an event that proves unprofitable for her isn’t one she’s likely to want to return to, regardless of how well my books sold. Since we generally go together to events, it behooves the both of us to consider our combined commercial outcome when deciding whether to register.

Over the past several years, I’ve attended a lot of events as an author and more lately as an artist. I don’t attend the same events every year. Some I decide to attend because they sound interesting, others because I think the venue has potential, and still others because the registration is either so cheap or free as to justify cramming it into my schedule. Over the years I have begun to get a feel for what’s “reasonable” when it comes to vendor registration fees—or, at least, what’s reasonable for me.

This year, I’ve begun keeping a more formal record of event revenue and expenses to better track event results. They don’t always match my gut instincts. Thus far my profitable events (revenue minus expenses [not including mileage or time] have been:

• Apple City Book Fair
• Missing Falls Brewery Arts & Craft Show
• Springfield Antique Show & Flea Market Extravaganza
• Ohio Authors Book Fair
• Hocking Hills Book Fair

Of those five, I earned the most at the Springfield Antique Show & Flea Market Extravaganza, although the hours worked were brutal that weekend.

If I calculate mileage and the cost of my time, none of the events made any profit whatsoever.

The highest earnings came from Oddmall: Inside Out and the Springfield Antique Show & Flea Market Extravaganza. The registration fee, hotel expenses, and per diem food expenses eclipsed what I earned at Oddmall. With next year’s vendor registration fee rising, it’s not a sustainable commercial venture for me. The Springfield Antique Show & Flea Market Extravaganza brought in the most money, but working more than 30 hours over a 3-day weekend was really, really hard on me.

The Hocking Hills Book Fair, formerly the Monday Creek Publishing Book Fair, is a second-year event for me. This year it was held on the second floor of the Logan Theater in Logan, Ohio. Location not on the main pedestrian pathway often proves problematic, but organizer Gina McKnight did a great job of directing people to the event. The event piggybacked on the Washboard Festival, a public street fair still recovering from COVID-19 shutdown protocols. My best friend, Cindra (the artist who accompanies me and often sells her paintings alongside mine), suggested looking into registering as a vendor at the 2024 Washboard Festival. We’ll look into that.

The upshot? I did better than expected at the Hocking Hills Book Fair, if not as well as I’d hoped. You see, I always go into every event with sky-high hopes. I suppose I’m doomed to disappointment, because hope springs eternal.

I recently became aware of two more book-oriented events: The Columbus Book Expo hosted by the Columbus Public Library and Beyond the Read Author Event, also held in Columbus, Ohio. I’ll be checking into these events for next year.

So, what’s next in this year’s calendar?

Zinnia Days is coming up on June 24 and 25 in Xenia, Ohio. After that is Art on the Hill & Wine Tasting on July 8 in Mantua, Ohio. No overnight accommodations will be necessary for either event, so that eases the expense side. Then I’ve got some time off while my husband travels to Alaska to visit our son. (I’m staying home, because someone has to take care of the animals. When I’m away, my husband takes care of the animals. Since I’m away more often than he is, I don’t begrudge him this vacation.)

In other news: Champion of the Twin Moons is available for pre-order! This book is a bit of a departure from the others in the series in that it more closely follows the hero than it does the heroine. I hope you enjoy it.

I’ve worked pretty much nonstop for the past couple of weeks, and the busy-ness will continue through mid-July. After Oddmall, I participated at the Springfield Antique Show & Flea Market Extravaganza. Both were interesting experiences, as I’d not been to either before. (Read the May 23rd blog for  my report on Oddmall.)

Overall, sales of books at the Springfield event were good. Paintings not so much. However, the hours of operation were grueling. By Sunday afternoon, Cindra and I were utterly exhausted. We left early. Although I more than recouped the registration fee and per diem expenses, I’m not sure that I’ll return.

The following weekend we got a small respite with a one-day event: the Ohio Authors Book Fair at Destination Outlets in Jeffersonville, Ohio. The outlet mall is massive and the 40 or so authors present were scattered about the complex. We were almost invisible. Double or triple the number of participating vendors (i.e., authors) would have made for a stronger presence noticed by shoppers. The event was, unfortunately, plagued by a power outage. We’ll give it another try next year.

This past weekend Cindra and I went from one event on Friday evening to another event on Saturday. Friday evening’s event was the BGAC First Friday Art Walk. We attended three of the Art Walks last year and, overall, did pretty well at them. At one, we sold more paintings than books, another time more books than paintings. At the last one in October 2022, I sold no paintings and several books. This time … what a disappointment! I sold two books, one of an old friend who made the trip to Beech Grove from Carmel just to say hello. (Thank you, Sharon!) Neither Cindra nor I sold any paintings.

Last year, we were informed the prices we put on our paintings were far too low for original artwork, so we raised our prices to havel what was suggested and which was twice what we were charging. Regardless of the reason—high prices, inflation, tight budgets—we have both noticed that sales of paintings are lagging this year.

Although Cindra and I do travel to some interesting places, we don’t get to mix business with pleasure much. The pleasure part of that equation is expensive, and we’re trying to make a profit as well as build our creative reputations. When we can, we try out new restaurants. Finding a great new restaurant is truly a pleasure for both of us, especially since our dietary preferences differ. Once in a great while if we’re located in a downtown area, we’ll take a tour of the locale and maybe pop into a shop. We find some great jewelry that way. (Both of us are jewely junkies.) Mostly, though, we’re in and out of the event location, glad to escape to our hotel rooms or get back home to rest after a long day of trying to be saleswomen.

If you want to know where Cindra and I will be going, check out the EVENTS page. If you’ll be going to any of those events and want to reserve copies of the books I’ll be bringing, make sure to fill out the reservation form. No payment is required at the time of order.