I want to discuss how to price your art. Specifically, pricing your wood burned art. However, you can apply this formula to pretty much any medium you are selling!
Pricing, oh pricing. The bane of any artist’s existence. Why is it so hard to price your art? Could it be because you feel like you are putting a price tag on a little bit of your soul? Probably. Could it be because you are having to do the humbling task of assigning value to your time, thoughts and passion? How are you even supposed to be neutral and non-biased in that situation? You know all the hard work, years of training and mistake making, time, emotion and thought that went into it. It seems like an impossible task to put a price on it, but in order to make money as an artist, pricing is a must. There are things you can do, and systems you can put in place to make it easier on yourself.
Will pricing still not be very fun? Yes, but I am hoping this helps to at least make it a bit easier and more systematic to calculate.
Formula for Pricing:
Overhead
+
Hourly Rate
+/-
Content
=
Price
Overhead Costs:
These are costs that need to be recovered.
Materials: Let’s start with the easy stuff, materials. This is where you calculate the price of your materials. These are items where they were used entirely for this piece. The variation in size, type of wood, and price of the materials used goes here.
Supplies: You have many items that you purchase for your business that you will utilize to make the particular piece you are pricing. You may not use the whole item or you may just put a little more wear and tear on it. Think paint, colored pencils, shipping supplies, finishes, glue, tape, printer paper, graphite paper, your wood burning tool, your computer, etc. Take note of ALL the supplies you use. It may surprise you how many items it actually involves. You are putting wear on those supplies to create this piece, and you need to keep that in mind when you are coming up with your pricing.
You are obviously not going to be tacking on the price of a ream of paper, the whole wood burning tool, or the price of a whole tube of paint (unless you used a whole tube, then it goes in the materials category), you just want to think about what the cost to your business creating that particular piece actually had. A lot of people forget this part.
I think it is easier to just tack on a set amount (example: $2-$5) to any piece to cover some of those overhead supplies used and costs for materials used.
Time:
Hourly Rate: I personally think the easiest way to take yourself out of the pricing process is to make it a calculation. If you just have a set hourly rate, based on your experience, skill, and what you want to pay yourself, then it takes the guesswork out of it. Do include your time communicating, designing, burning, and packaging. If it is for that piece, and it is taking up your time, it should be added.
Keep in mind your speed in which you burn and operate(if you are slow, then lower your rate and work on speeding up your process), your skill level and years of training, and what value you put on your time when coming up with your hourly rate. I can not suggest a number here. This is highly individual.
Once you have your hourly rate number, then it becomes easy to just plug it into your formula.
Start by keeping track of how long you actually spend on a piece. Set a stopwatch. Write it down on a piece of paper, and attach it to the piece of wood. Add to that number as you add to the piece. People tend to underestimate how much time they actually spend working on a piece, so this is a good piece of information to have. It will also help make it easier to price custom work, because you will have a much better idea as to how long it actually takes for you to complete a piece.
Content:
Content: Content matter matters. A simple lettered piece will not be priced at the same spot as a detailed artistic piece, even if it took the same amount of time to make it. This is where adjustments need to be made. Once you have put in your formula, then you can look at the price and either add or take away from your total. Content also includes how how good the finished product is and it’s subject matter. All things to keep in mind when adjusting pricing.
Make Adjustments:
Doing this exercise will be incredibly valuable to making adjustments to how your business functions. If you are spending too much time on your pieces, and are having to adjust your price down every time at the content stage, then it is time to look at streamlining your process to find ways to cut time. If you are finding that you are constantly undervaluing yourself (maybe people have even said you need to raise your prices), then you probably need to give yourself a raise and up your hourly rate. Now, if you have figured out how to get faster, and still produce the same level of content or maybe even higher quality, I am not saying you should adjust your prices lower. Content really does help determine value.
Knowledge is power. That’s why knowing how much time you are spending, how much money you are spending, and where will help you and your business to run smoothly, pricing will be less of a headache, and you will be able to make positive informed adjustments to your business.
6 Things to consider when coming up with your pricing formula:
Where are you selling? What is the cost of living where you are selling? Selling in person in San Francisco is not the same as selling in a small town
Who is your target audience? If you are selling high end, you better have those high end prices
What is the subject matter?
How big/detailed is the piece?
What is it worth to you? Some pieces mean more to ourselves than they do to other people, and it just will never feel right to sell it at the price people would buy it, and that is ok. Just hold onto that piece
How much would you pay for it? always a good idea to step into the shoes of your buyer.
Other Pricing Tips:
Still don’t want to price your pieces, consider having a trusted friend suggest prices for your work. Make sure they fully understand what goes into it, the market, your target audience, and material costs.
Watch the market. Go and look at what other artists of your skill level are charging. This will give you many points of reference. Keep in mind that most wood burning artists out there are not charging enough for their work. As a community we need to work together to get paid what we deserve for our work.
Keep documentation of what pieces sold and for what amounts. Take note of what is working, and what isn’t. What sells quickly, and what doesn’t. Then make adjustments.
Lowering the price, does not necessarily mean that something will sell better. Sometimes, raising the price, to match the value of it will actually help it sell better. People don’t want to buy something that isn’t quality. If you lower your prices too much, then people will assume that they are getting a lower quality item, will pass and spend their money elsewhere.
Don’t compromise on pieces with sentimental value. Make sure you aren’t selling it for less than what you are actually willing to part with it for.
Be sure to leave a little wiggle room for sales, and unexpected costs.
Add shipping into your price for ease of shopping whenever possible.
Going one dollar less than a rounded up number works. People look at $49 as significantly less than $50. Use that.
Pricing your art is just one piece of the puzzle
Choosing the right platform, location to sell, the right description, taking the right photo, and making it easy to find are also really important. If you don’t get your piece in front of the right audience, it won’t matter what value you place on it.
Learn how to boost your business and take the right steps to getting paid for creating artwork with the The Complete Wood Burning and Business Toolkit.
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