NFT Showroom has been up and running for a few months now and over that period of time I have had the opportunity to speak with many artists both new and old to the cryptoart scene.
I have noted some of the most frequently asked questions on the unpoken rules and more subjective aspects of selling and tokenizing art so I will answer those in this post.
As mentioned above, many of these are subjective so these are just suggestions!
How much art should I post?
I notice some newer artists get approved to tokenize and have the instinct to catch up and tokenize as much work as they can quickly. Personally I would advise against this for two reasons.
I think it is better for the artist to spread out their art as that will help you get better long term visibility. When you list a new artwork for sale you show on the front page and the top of the gallery. If you tokenize 5 artworks in a row you get a blast of visibility but that will fade quickly! If you post one a day for 5 days you get a little visibility each day!
The second reason is to respect other artists and give space to everyone who is tokenizing new work a chance to be visible.
Recommendation: Tokenize a max of 1-2 pieces per day at most
How should I price my work?
This one is very difficult to answer as every artist has a distinct process and valuation of time. Some people are able to make art more quickly and that may reflect in their pricing.
There is also the aspect of # of editions, and rights (private vs. commercial}.
1/1 editions are very rare and should be priced the highest, if you are making multiple editions, the more you make, ideally the cheaper they should be as a basic rule of thumb.
Recommendation: Many of the artists have excellent talent and could probably raise their prices. I would especially advise you to price higher if it is listed as commercial. Someone can buy your commercial token and use that art to make profits for life!
How do I promote?
The majority of the cryptoart scene is happening on twitter. Sharing your work as much as possible and networking with other artists and collectors can go a long way in helping that special someone find your art! Posting about your art on Hive is also an excellent addition and the post can be tweeted as well :)
Thanking buyers
This one kind of ties in with the previous question a bit. There is no rule saying you have to thank your buyers, you may not even have a way to contact them. However, if you can contact them it's always a nice token of appreciation to say thank you :)
If you do so on twitter you can post your art again which doubles as both a thank you and another opportunity to show off your creations!
What type of art should I tokenize?
Again, this one is highly subjective and once you have been approved to tokenize you may feel overwhelmed if you have a big past portfolio to choose from.
Ultimately this is all about creating your own gallery that you are proud of!
You may have the instinct to post everything in the hope that you may snag an extra sale. That may work as a strategy, but consider that in order to gain a following and repeat buyers people will likely look at your entire portfolio and decide based on that.
Obvious recommendation: post your personal best work! I sometimes make art that I feel unsure of and decide that I would rather not have it in my portfolio and tokenized on the blockchain. Think quality over quantity.
Can I post variations of my art?
The big rule here is really transparency! If you make a blue skull, then a red skull and a yellow skull and they are quite similar I would recommend adding some indication in the title/description. That way the buyer will be fully informed that there is a variation out there and will not be surprised if they stumble on a similar piece. Remember when it comes to tokens rarity is important.
Private vs. commercial
I mentioned above that commercial rights should be priced higher as you are giving the buyer a license to reproduce your art for profit.
I have also had artists say they don't know how to choose between private and commercial. Personally I don't see my own art having much commercial appeal so I always choose private. It's worth thinking about how your work could be used if you are choosing commercial, would someone want to use this in a blog post/ on a website / on merch like t-shirts etc.?
Some designs may be very well suited to these uses and others not so much, in the end it is up to the artist to choose and price accordingly.
To follow on twitter, personal account, Alien Community account <3
