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An insignificant milestone for the pros but exciting for me, looking at my sales figures this morning I see I have just broken the £1000 barrier.
(This is not for a single sale mind you but is the cumulative total since my first sale in July 2005.)
As I say, peanuts for a pro but for someone who had no intention (or expectation) of ever selling his work - Yippee! 
Mind you, by the time I've taken out my costs and given the tax man his cut there is little of this left 
Thanks Ken, if I wasn't retired I couldn't afford to do this.
I've said it before - I have the utmost respect for anyone who can make a living out of any form of art (in which I include photography) - I know I couldn't!
The one thing someone of my level can't do is to cost their time so I need my pension to live on and just hope to recover some of my costs from the sales. (I charge commercial rates for my work as I don't want to undercut the "Pros" but my sales volumes are just too low to make any sort of living)
As for my mind and body - the first went some years ago and the latter is following fast
Well done Brian, a good milestone to have reached!
Quote: As for my mind and body - the first went some years ago and the latter is following fast
You're lucky, when the body goes first, the mind still remembers what the body should be able to do and still wants it to try!! 
)
Ian
I have occasionally thought about craft markets. A couple of weeks ago I spoke to someone who makes a living from selling his prints, mainly at craft fairs. I was struck by the amount of stock he needed to carry. Also, sitting there for three days or so doesn't appeal to me. Anyway, he commented that sales from his website went up significantly after he had been at a craft market, then tailed off.
I would have thought that integration with PayPal would be a big help to you, making it easier for people to purchase and removing a potential obstacle. Having coded my own website I found linking to PayPal surprisingly easy. However, I don't have the advantage of attendance at craft fairs to drive customers to my website.
John
It's normally quite expensive to take a stall, so you have to sell quite a bit just to recoup that outlay.
Then there's your time/petrol costs to factor in.
I just couldn't see how it could be worth while.
I tend to only do one or two day craft fairs John and even then there is a load of stock to cart about.
One thing I find a tremendous help is to carry a small (8" screen) DVD player with a collection of DVD "shows" . I find that this attracts a lot of attention (as its that little bit different), gets people talking to me and also lets me show many more images than I could possibly carry around. I've had several people enquire whether I would sell my DVDs and/or give (paid) talks to various groups.
So far I have resisted going this route as I do like to have control over my time and, talking to others who do the "Show and Tell Circuit", I get the impression it can get to be a bit of a treadmill.
I enjoy the contact with the public at the fairs and gallery and even when people don't buy I find that I get useful feedback and sometimes ideas for different presentation of images etc from them.
Thanks for the encouragement on the Paypal aspect - I'll have a go in the New Year.
Ian, I know what you mean, I'm sure getting up from the ground never used to be so difficult!
Merl, by keeping it local and being selective I am able to keep my costs down.
Typically I wouldn't pay more than £30/day for a stall and normally I will only travel within a 20 mile radius. Same with Gallery hire, through our local Arts group we have access to a small gallery for around £150/week. These costs are allowable against tax as well.
I would normally expect to make £70 - £100 from a one day market so it covers my costs + a bit (but as I said - it doesn't cover my time)
I have spoken to Brian a few times, and think we have similar experiences, but I have only ever tried the craft fair route once, and despite going through a good spell at the time, it was a complete disaster! Brian always seems better organised than me, I have to say!
I have not got a Paypal setup on my webpage, but as I have an account I have used it several times for people to send me money, it works well. I did think about setting it up on the webpage, but it seems to work ok without it, so haven't bothered. I received money yesterday this way, some nice girl bought nine photos off me. Orderwise, the last ten days have been good, the problem is some people have come with their orders late,(like Friday) and it'll be a rush when they come back from the printers. Hopefully, they'll arrive tomorrow!
Agree with some of the previous comments, you'll never get rich doing craft fairs, (unless you do a lot)it's more of a social event, everyone seems to know everyone else, look after my stall while I get something to eat etc. If you priced your time, you'd never do it. I'd think long and hard before doing it again. Although the price of a table is half what Brian is paying, it's presumably a much smaller venue, with a lot less punters.
thanks for the input Frank. Just so's I understand properly, you invite people to purchase via your site and pay via Paypal, but without the hassle of setting it up on the website?
Glad you are still making sales - I guess your "Star Sales Manager" is still working her magic?
I'm still printing at home which enables a very quick turn around time - I had an e-mail order in the morning and the customer picked it later the same day, which made us both very happy! With the new HP 9180 I can now print on the Fine Art Papers and canvases that I wanted and if I'm honest, I think seeing the prints appear is still my greatest pleasure, selling them is the means of feeding my "habit"
Hi Guys
I sell at a craft fair every Sunday in Newcastle and take between £200 - £400 every week and make a profit, if your not making a profit your either not charging what your images are worth or your costs are to high.
I also sell through my web site but not a lot for some reason, I think people like to see the finished item in front of them before they buy.
The craft fair is also a good sales tool as I do not carry a large stock I simply hand out business cards which refer to my web site, there they can view all my images and e mail me with orders which I take to the craft fair the following week to be collected.
I find this works for me !
Regards Ken
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