Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking with Vicki Topaz, a photographer out of San Francisco. I had been introduced to Vicki’s work a while back and have heard her name mentioned by a number of people I have consulted with on my own work recently, mostly because she produced an artist book in 2007 titled Silent Nests which I had heard was very similar to Displaced in mood and construction. Not knowing many people that were actually doing this all by themselves, and repeatedly deliberating about pricing, marketing and costs, I thought I should try to talk with her directly about her experiences. We spoke at length about some of the issues she faced, including some unexpected hardships like Hahnemuhle discontinuing the paper she was using for the book midway through her print run. We talked about pricing as well. She struggled with her pricing like I am, and eventually decided on $750 for her first 20 books and $900 for the last twenty. She’s done very well in terms of sales, and it has inspired me to reevaluate how I was going to price mine as well as why I was thinking about putting such a low price on it to begin with.
Originally, I had wanted to keep the price as low as possible to attract as many buyers as I could. But, after talking with Vicki, and really evaluating what the cost will be for each book, I realize that I had been significantly devaluing my own work. There seem to be undefined levels that an artist reaches where the price of their work goes up. This has been extremely difficult for me to navigate. What would I charge a buyer for 50 original prints? Don’t even think about it, right? So how do I discount the book? The total costs at this point would be around $175 per book. So if I sold it for $500 wouldn’t that still be a significant bargain if you consider the fact that the piece is filled completely with original prints? Being a fan of Mary Virginia Swanson, who has helped me immensely, I have converted to the practice of raising the price after a certain number of pieces in an edition have sold. So… my loyal readers… here is what I believe will be the pricing structure for the book:
#s 1-15 $350
#s 16-30 $475
#s 31-45 $650
#s 46-60 $900
Of course this might change once again! But for now, I feel comfortable.
On another front… my grant proposal is nearly complete. If I get it, it will cover a significant amount of the cost which would be wonderful because sales could then cover production for the other three books I want to publish. I received a very nice call from ProPhoto Supply here in Portland offering a 25% discount on paper and possibly more. They have also generously offered to help try to get more from Moab as well as some of my ink costs covered by Epson. We’ll see what happens, but for now, go pick up some paper or film from ProPhoto!
More to come…