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Got this email today from someone I don't know, asking for information on starting out with shows. I spent more time than I intended answering his questions, and thought some of your other newbies might benefit as well. Here's his email:

My name is *** and I’m a photographer...  As a fellow photographer I would like to ask you a few questions regarding art fairs.  

I’m exploring the idea of participating in a few art fairs for the 2014 season; I anticipate my start up cost to be approximately $10,000, does that sound right to you?  This start up money would buy a tent, print enough material to have on hand at the show, and traveling/art fair cost?   I assume subsequent shows won’t cost as much; is it safe to conclude each art fair thereafter would cost approximately $6,000?

How do you determine the number of prints to display; do you sell the display pieces, and if you do, does the customer take the purchased product at the point of purchase or do you keep it until the show is finished?

How many smaller unframed prints do you carry to each show; for example, do you bring twenty 8x10”, ten 11x14”, and two 14x17” of each picture?

In taking with other photographers I am aware that I want to look for shows that are juried, is that your opinion also?

My last question is a bit sensitive and I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable, however, I appreciate any advice you can provide: Roughly, what kind of sales may a photographer expect to see at an average size art show?  I know there are a million factors that come into play but I’m looking for a rough idea on what to expect.

So here's what I wrote back:

That's a lot of questions. Fortunately there are a number of resources to help you get started, and to commune with your fellow artrepreneurs!

First off, let me suggest http://www.artfairinsiders.com

There is a lot of material there, much of it based on questions similar to yours. There are forums for just about every media, and many of the subjects come up time and again. There is also a photographer's forum.

On Facebook, there is a group for art show photographers. Started by Larry Berman as a Yahoo forum years ago, it's morphed into a group that sees some activity. Feel free to join, ask questions, lurk. If you're already on Facebook, here's the address: http://www.facebook.com/groups/artshowphoto/

There are several good books devoted to selling and setting up at art fairs. Among the best is Maria Arango's book:

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Festival-Guide-Artists-Festivals/dp/1430319763

and Bruce Baker's CD set on selling:

http://bbakerinc.com/store/

Check out the NAIA organizatoin: http://www.naia-artists.org
Some helpful information there, too, although you have to join to get most of the meat.

Show information is much easier to come by these days. Several pubs deal this out:

http://www.artfaircalendar.com/

http://www.zapplication.org is the main online art show application application. Most of the big national shows list on here. One thing to keep in mind: once the deadline is past, the show drops off the Apply to This Show list. You can find a list of all the shows that list though, under a separate navigation topic.

http://www.juriedartservices.com
This is the other major listing application. What isn't on ZAPP or JASV is on Entry Thingy

Greg Lawler's Art Fair Sourcebook used to be worth the subscription price, especially for those starting out. Now, maybe not so much, but take a look at it anyway. http://www.artfairsourcebook.com

Your cost estimate isn't too far off.  You will need display materials inside the canopy however, and those are not particularly cheap.

Flourish makes the most solid tent. Solid steel frame, heavy vinyl, heavy duty zippers. You can trick it out any number of ways, but a basic Trimline will run you about $1000.
http://www.flourish.com

You can start with an EZ-Up, a Caravan or any number of other cheap folding tents, but I wouldn't advise it if you can afford a stronger tent.

A set of Propanels (9 x 38" x 7') run another $1000 or so. Depending on if you buy braces and lights, you can spend more. Their site is instructional.
http://www.propanels.com

Armstrong Display products makes a similar set of panels for about the same cost.

Jury fees set me back about $1000-1500 per year, depending on how many shows I apply to. If I'm accepted, the booth fees run anywhere from $200 for a small local show to upwards of $1500 for the very top shows in Coconut Grove and Sausalito. Most good juried shows fall into the $400-600 range for a single 10x10 spot. I do about 20 shows a year, which run me on average $500 per booth. That come to about $11,000 just to play. Some shows are less, some shows charge you extra for electricity, if they have it, or a corner space, or a double.

You should have liability insurance. Some shows require it. That may cost you $350-650/year, or you can insure per show with a company called Artists, Crafters  & Tradesmen Insurance http://www.ACTInsPro.com

Miscellaneous show equipment:

• Weights for your booth: at least 50 pounds per leg
• Awnings
• A chair
• Some sort of write-up desk
• Bins or folding racks to display matted prints
• A credit card system. Most people use the Square now, or PayPal's swiper, or Intuit. You can still open a merchant account and use a wireless terminal. Square requires that you have an iPhone or iPad, and a cellular data plan or access to wireless. Same for the others. Lots of research on this.
• Office supplies: stapler, tape, duct tape, bags, all kinds of miscellaneous stuff.
• A flashlight, lantern, or headlamp
• Raingear
• Plastic tarps
• Bungie cords
• A-clamps
• A dolly to move stuff back and forth to your vehicle when you can't drive to your booth location
• Plastic tubs to carry matted prints in

Travel costs depend entirely on how far you plan to range for shows. The further you go, the more it will cost you. $6000 / show is way high, though. For a two day show, you might have three days' of hotel, two days on the road, meals, gas, etc. Priceline, Hotwire, Orbitz, other sites all help you reduce travel costs. If you stay within a 50 mile radius of home, you can probably sleep in your own bed and cut out travel costs entirely. But you can't make a season of shows too easily doing that. You can get a couple of practice shows in.

A transportation system. This stuff needs more than a Honda Element to cart it around in. Although I know a painter from Canada who can do shows in an Element. Most people drive big white vans or Sprinters. I haul a trailer with a pickup truck. If you are going to use Propanels, you'll need something more than an SUV, unless you go with the knockdown panels. (I had those for a season -- got rid of them at the same time I bought my first trailer).

There is way way more to this than the summary above.

You single biggest cost over time will be inventory. You absolutely must have framed work or canvas wraps, or metal mounted prints, or some other sort of work to hang on your walls. As far as the number of pieces to make? Only time and experience will help you here. As a rule of thumb, you need a couple different sizes of matted prints, and a couple different sizes to hang on your walls to draw people in. I hang about 20-25 pieces, maybe have another 40-50 choices in the flip bins, in multiple sizes. You can start smaller than that, but you will need 4-6 pieces on each of three walls as a minimum. You are better off making fewer larger pieces than a whole passle of little dinky ones.

Selling

When you sell a framed piece off the wall, people usually expect to take it with them. You wrap it up, either in a black garbage bag (tacky and cheap) or using premium materials that show the work off as it walks down the street. It helps to have a postcard with your logo on it that you can slip into a clear bag. Sometimes you will have to deliver a piece if it's too large for the customer to take home. Every once in a while, you can keep the piece till the end of the show and the customer will return and pick it up, but that's the exception not the rule. Mostly the framed work is there to sell matted prints or smaller version. If you have two pieces, one bigger and one smaller, people will mostly opt for the less expensive of the two. Not always, but mostly. It helps to have a few extra framed pieces to fill in the holes when you sell one. Near the end of a show, it sometimes helps to leave a blank spot or two to indicate that you're selling out.

Sales are wildly variable, based on the show, the attendance, the weather, the competition in your media, the competition in other media that compete for wall space (paintings, drawings, prints, 2-D mixed media), how good you are, how cheap you are, how exclusive you are... I have grossed $0 at more than one show; I have also made close to $10,000 for three days work. Keep in mind that $2000 gross at a show where you can sleep in your own bed and sold nothing but low cost items will make more profit that $2000 at a show that you had to drive two days each direction to get to, with hotels at $100/day and a booth fee of $500. Make yourself a business plan that gives you an idea of what you have to sell in order to be profitable. If you don't you will lose money steadily for several years before you figure it out. There are very few photographers making good money at shows these days. I know most of them, and even those guys are not making what they did ten years ago.

Keep your presentation cohesive. Don't show a little bit of wildlife you shot at the zoo, some pictures of barns in the snow and the shots you took on vacation. That stuff will NOT sell anymore. Trust me on this. Develop a point of view, and DO NOT steal other people's ideas. You will need an artist statement that says, in 100 characters or less, what it is you do, and what makes your work different. Start there, and develop a few key images around a concept. Otherwise you will be throwing your money down a rathlole. People can get cute kitty cats and lions sleeping at the zoo on the interwebz for much less than you can sell them at a show.

You will need a booth shot showing how your booth looks when setup for a show in order to jury for shows. If you don't have this, some shows will let you apply in the emerging artist category without one. Ann Arbor, the Original, for one. Main St. Fort Worth, for another. Do your research. Start with the local shows, closer to home. Call the show if you can't find the answer online. But look online first. Check the show websites.

You will need a website. Something simple at first, that can showcase your concepts, highlight your show schedule and maybe sell some work for you in the off season.

Be prepared to work very, very hard. Be prepared to get very, very discouraged. This is not a business for the faint of heart. It helps to have deep pockets, because you will lose money learning.

And lastly, you can check out my blog for some personal ideas. I haven't updated it in a while, but there are some useful posts there.

http://www.parkerparker.net/studio/blog

Okay, I'm sure you all have your own tips and tricks to add to this, so I'll leave it at that.