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I have been thinking about where we are heading as an industry. I do believe there will always be a market for our art, but as with many other industries, things are changing very quickly. Regarding my business my method of selling and reaching collectors has dramatically changed in only a few years. 2008 my primary sales method involved shows and magazines, and the internet was just starting to work for me. THe internet has changed how most of us approach our business. In some ways I believe it has cut out the middleman in selling. Getting accepted into a prestigious show in former times would almost guarantee you a decent profit. Nowadays, many of these shows are gone, and many of us go to shows just to show our face and we are VERY grateful if we make a profit. Now in the US we have just one very thin magazine and I believe the subscription works out to $5.00 an issue (digital past issues are $1.99). Plus, you can no longer find the magazine on newsstands. In a current discussion we have been trying to understand where TTalkers have gone? Some suggest that many artists have gone to Facebook and blogs with their own individual sites.
Here's the question ~ Where do you think this will go? How will we evolve? I'm not against change and business is always changing, and our art evolves. I'm trying to understand, if we branch out as our own individual entities with no centers how do we reach new collectors and communicate? Can a business be run in this manner with us running in our own little circle and that will be enough to sustain us? It may just be I don't really understand the dynamics of internet sales? I think these changes are affecting a lot of different businesses and I'm always wondering how it will be in the next couple of years?
(Meanwhile, in my own little world, I send out my Cat Gazette once a month to subscribing customers and I use a few online shows and sales sites. KJ Lyons Design is doing well. But I do wonder and worry at times about where we are all going with all the changes?)
Karen
KJ Lyons Design
Past Time BearsA very thought-provoking post, Karen. First of all, I'm really pleased that you are doing well since your talent and art provide the means by which you live. And there are more of you out there whose artistry sustains your way of life . . . so it's definitely important to take stock of where your business is now and try to plan for how inevitable change will affect it in the future. To me one of the most important characteristics of a business is flexibility - being able to adapt to progress that occurs over time. Karen, you are a good example of that. You are taking advantage of what is perhaps now the most profitable way to sell your work. Wish I had the knowledge to predict how technological advances, global economy, and environmental issues will influence businesses and industries of the near/far future. All I do know is that those who participate in the selling of their creative offerings will need to go with the flow . . . use what's readily available to market their products and maybe invent some innovative ways to reach the segment of the population that purchases art.
I participated in bear shows for 10 years (until I no longer made a profit and duties at home took precedence) and advertised in magazines, being moderately successful with sales, so thank goodness my bear business was not our only income. Unlike most of you out there, I was past middle age when I got totally involved in the teddy industry and now at age 71, have health issues that limit what I do. (I know a few of you members are in my approximate age group, so more power to us.) You who are younger will be the most affected by the changes that occur on a regular basis. Even in the art world there are now many more products available to help render different effects in the creation of artistic work. Create something so unique that it will stand out . . . get noticed! I know - easy for me to say when I'm in the autumn of my life, but I still like to dream of what things I could still make that would satisfy my never-ending need to create. So, no answers here - just some musings from an over-the-hill used-to-be.
desertmountainbearI have been thinking about this same thing for a long time. Like I said in another post on here, until very recently I never sold a bear at a bear show. I sold at juried high end craft shows. I know that they are disappearing now too probably, but I think the same thing applies to the internet. Bear, cats, whatever it is that is made by hand has to shown to a broad audience, as art. If you are only after the teddy bear market you are limiting yourself greatly. There are and always will be people who appreciate finely crafted hand made items. You have to show your works where they will be seen by them.
For one blogging, but not just posting a blog but actively seeking blogs on which to comment. I have a couple of hundred on my list, and they are not just bear blogs, but creative blogs, and I comment. By doing that people see me, they see my cute little bear icon, and they look, and then they find my blog.
Facebook, I am pretty much not liking it there, but again I am there making friends with not just bear people but all kinds of creative people, and I am commenting. I am finding all kinds of new friends from these comments. I know that is what it is, because when I get the friend request it is telling me who the mutual friends are.
Flickr, I use my account there to post pictures often, and to groups. I belong to a bunch of them. But I do not post a lot of bear pictures. I love dolls, bjds, and I post a lot of them. What I have done is take pictures of them with my bears, and then they are presented to the doll people. Bears and dolls go together very well, and I am showing them how to use bears with their dolls. Doll people spend a lot of money. I am now getting people from the doll world joining the mailing list.
So I almost think in the future that we will be out there on our own. We must find the collectors ourselves and go to them. We must present our work and show them how it will fit into their world. I almost think that this has to be done on our own. It seems to me that the teddy bear market is flooded. If we all move to the same markets then those markets will be flooded with teddy bears too.
Plum Cottage BearsI am in the process of opening an Etsy shop with my bears. I hesitated because I am not much of a photographer, but I bought a Kodak Easy Share camera on Ebay, and have been practicing with the camera. I thought Etsy would be a better marketplace than Ebay for handmade art, which is what, after all, handmade teddy bears are. I have the option of exhibiting at a one day bear and doll show in San Diego in August, but I have come to think that the internet has eclipsed shows, and I should go with the internet. Any comments are welcomed.
Carlyle Bear Co.
I'm a newby (only been making bears since 2007) and it makes me sad to think the best of the bear business days are over when so many of us have just fallen in love with it. Of course I do medical billing full time and know I would never be able to create bears full time for a living. One of the things that disappoints me most is the lack of shows in the US. I have never been to a bear show and even if I didn't sell at one I would love to attend one. On the upside most of my collector's are fairly young so that is hopeful?
