Business

What to Do With the Pieces That Don't Sell After a Launch

An art launch always leaves a few pieces unsold. Here's what to actually do with them instead of panic-discounting or hiding them in a closet.

What "The Art Market" Actually Means for an Independent Artist

"The art market" sounds like Christie's and billionaires. For an independent artist, it actually means something much smaller and much more useful.

How to Run an Art Print Sale (Without It Feeling Wrong)

Somewhere along the way, someone convinced artists that running a sale means you've lowered your standards... not out loud, and not with a direct argument, but the idea got in there anyway, and now there's this whole category of artists who feel vaguely guilty every time they type "20% off" into an email subject line, like it conflicts with having a serious practice. Let me sort this out. Prints and originals are different products with different pricing rules. Running a sale on a print editio

Why I Built Art Price Lab (And What It Taught Me About Pricing With Confidence)

I built Art Price Lab because I was tired of watching artists... including myself... hand their pricing decisions to strangers in forums, online communities, cafes. And then lose conviction or flounder on the price the moment a collector asked a question. Collectors aren't always pushing back. They will ask a question though. And if you don't have a foundation, that question is enough to make the number feel shaky. That's the short version. The longer one starts years ago with spreadsheets and

Is It a Pricing Problem or a Selling Problem?

When your art is not selling, two explanations are going to come for you almost immediately and with tremendous conviction: the price is too high, or the work is not good enough. And you know what these two diagnoses have in common besides being wrong most of the time? They are both things that require you to change something fundamental about yourself or your practice, instead of spending twenty minutes figuring out which of the two actual challenges you have. Not problems, by the way. Challen

When Your Art Isn't Selling in 2026: Pricing Problem or Market Problem?

You ran the formula. You did the math honestly, with your actual materials costs and your actual time and a fair hourly rate and a real look at where your work sits in the market, and the number you landed on is the number you need. And still... the piece sits. Sits and sits and you are in the corner of your studio having a conversation with yourself about whether the price is why, and then whether you should lower it, and then whether lowering it would mean you were doing it for the right reaso

How to Find Your Ideal Art Collector (and Who Really Buys Your Work)

If you can make the work but can't seem to sell it, the thing people will tell you is that your pricing is off or your posting schedule is inconsistent or you need to try a different platform, and some of that might even be true, but underneath all of it is usually a different question that nobody wants to sit with because it's harder than adjusting a caption... you don't know who your work is actually for. Pricing is solvable with structure. Finding the specific human whose quiet question your

How to Track Time and Costs for Your Art Without Letting It Kill Creativity

The idea of tracking time while you paint is exactly as unpleasant as it sounds. Glancing at a timer between brushstrokes, logging hours, writing down every tube of paint before you start... for most artists, this version of time tracking sounds like the fastest way to drain the thing that makes the work possible. The good news is that you don't have to do it that way. You don't need to time every brushstroke. Track a representative average of hours and materials per piece, and let the formula

How to Figure Out Which Art Market You're Actually In (So Pricing Stops Feeling So Confusing)

Once you start thinking about pricing as a market relationship instead of a personal judgment, a new question usually comes up: “Okay… but what market am I even in?” This is where a lot of artists get stuck. Not because they’re unaware of different art worlds existing, but because we’re rarely taught how to locate ourselves honestly inside them. Most pricing advice jumps straight to formulas without helping you identify the environment those formulas are meant to operate in. So let’s slow th

How Art Income Is Taxed (And Why Artists Overpay When They Don't Track) in 2026

Most artists who sell their work know they're supposed to report art income. Fewer know exactly how it's taxed, which expenses offset it, or how much to set aside. And a meaningful number are quietly overpaying because they're reporting revenue without tracking the expenses that reduce it. Artists are taxed on profit after expenses, not on gross sales. If you don't track materials, overhead, platform fees, and other costs, you'll be taxed on income you never actually kept. That one distinction