selling

When I started with this website, about two years ago, Steve Pavlina was just starting to earn real money. A few thousand dollars a month. There where several other big bloggers who where starting to make money and the web was buzzing with stories about how easy it would be to make a little extra money.

Although I didn’t start this blog to make money I did like the sound of those stories.
The purpose of this blog was and still is to learn how to draw. To learn how my photographic memory works. And to think about those things without having the feeling that I’m talking to myself.
But still I thought it would be nice to earn a little money with this website. So after about six months I took out an adsense account and started advertising on my blog.
And the first month I made 1 cent.

That might not sound as a big deal but it was.
It was the first time in my live that I earned money of which I actually felt it was mine.
I do have a job and of course earn money with that job, but it isn’t really mine.
Part of my salary belongs to the company that rents me my apartment, part to the gas company, part to the grocery store, part to my phone and ISP provider etc.
And even if I’m left with a little money that I can put in my savings account it still isn’t mine. Because without fail within a few months I will have some extra expenses and then my savings will disappear.

But no company had laid a claim on this first cent. It was really mine.

Of course you can’t do very much with 1 cent but I felt that if I could make one cent there would follow more.
And it did.
The second month I earned 7 cents and third something like 43.
In total I earned about $7 in the first six months.

But by then reality had set in.
Google only sends you a cheque when your total earnings reach $100. And at the rate I was going that would take me several years.
Even worse the ads that Google put on my site didn’t have anything to do with the subject of my site.
There is a little village in the Netherlands with my surname. Apparently they sell a lot of houses in that village. So I found a lot of realtor ads on my site. Not the kind I wanted to have.
So I gave up on the idea of earning money with advertising on my site and Google still owes me $7.

That would have been the end of it, if it wasn’t for my work to bring art to the masses First via this site later via StumbleUpon and nowadays via twitter.
While looking for interesting art sites to link to I come across a lot of daypainters who sell their work. And although I don’t have that much work yet, it got me of dreaming.
Wouldn’t it be nice to sell some of my drawings. Not only because it would earn my some money of my own but also because it would be something of an acknowledgment.
People telling me they like my drawings is one thing, but if they would actually buy them that would really mean something.

The only trouble is that at the moment I only have about 5 or 6 drawings of which I’m really satisfied. If I would sell them I would have none.

A few weeks ago I discovered something that isn’t actually new. Artists have been doing it for centuries but I never thought of it.
Via DeviantArt you can sell prints of your work.
But it’s a very complicated process. First people have to click on the link in the upper left corner of this page. Then they have to navigate the DeviantArt site and then I only get about 10% of the proceeds.

But it did get me thinking.
I draw on sheets of paper that are the same size as the paper that comes out of my printer. And with the quality of printers nowadays I could very easily make my own prints. Hardcover envelopes would cost a few euro and for a little more then one euro I could send it all over the world. And receiving money in a save way via Paypal isn’t that hard.
But still.
It might be a lot of fun, or not. It might only be a lot of work. I’m not sure.

I’ve been thinking about this for the last couple of weeks, but I couldn’t make up my mind.
The point is how much would I actually make. A few dozen euros would be nice but what could I actually do with that money?
I’m just a small town artist learning to draw. I have made a few drawings I’m really satisfied with, but I’m nowhere as famous as you would have to be to earn real money via the web. And chances are that I will never be.
I’ve never been someone who attaches great value to money, so why bother.

Last week I read something that changed everything. The theory of 1000 true fans.
It turns out that you don’t have to be famous to earn a living on the web. If you can find 1000 true fans who are willing to buy one print a year, you can make a living.
I’ve calculated it for myself. It works out to 900 true fans willing to pay me 20 euro a year to earn what I’m earning right now (including taxes). (I don’t earn very much. )

It probably will be a while before I start selling prints from my work on this website, but the theory of 1000 true fans finally gave me an answer something that has been bucking me ever since I started this weblog.

Common wisdom has it that readers of weblogs are an impatient crowd who never take the time to read through a whole article. Instead they like to scan the headlines. To counter that you should start an article with summary and use ample headlines.
Then there are the search engines who have there own rules concerning linking within your blog and the use of keywords. And of course you’re supposed to be constantly trying to grow the number of people that come and read your blog otherwise you wont succeed.

I’ve tried. Living up to all those rules. But I didn’t like it. It felt more like work then like play. With all those rules and regulation I had to follow I had no fun writing my weblog. And as a result I hardly wrote anything.

But going by the theory of 1000 true fans there is only one rule I have to follow. I have to be me. Writing my articles in a way that feels right to me.
The people who are interested in the things I have to say and the way I’m saying them will know to find me. The rest of the world doesn’t matter. If people stop by, read my blog and don’t like it. That just means that they are not one of the 1000 true fans.
This blog is not for them and I don’t want to adjust my blog to their taste!

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