Pricing Artwork

A list of resources that help artists make
decisions about pricing artwork. Includes
publications and articles that offer advice
on pricing artwork.

PUBLICATIONS ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
(As an Amazon Associate, the Artist Help Network  earns from qualifying purchases.)

Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing and Ethical Guidelines Revised. Contains essential information on business, pricing, and ethical standards for nearly every discipline in the visual communications industry. Publisher: Graphic Artists Guild Publication Date: revised 2018

How to Price Crafts and the Things You Make Author: by James Dillehay Suggests formulas for setting prices to achieve maximum profits. Includes examples and strategies to make craft prices more profitable, when selling retail or wholesale, online or to stores and at craft shows. Publisher: Warm Snow Publishers Publication date: 2012

How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist: Selling Yourself without Selling Your Soul, New edition Author: Caroll Michels See chapter “Pricing Your Work: How Much is it Worth?”. The author is the founder of the Artist Help Network and a career coach and artist-advocate. Publisher: Allworth Press Publication date: Revised 2018.

InformArt Magazine Provides information about market values of limited edition prints. Publisher: Westown Publishing Company URL: www.informartmag.com

Pricing Photography: The Complete Guide to Assignment & Stock Prices Author/Editor: Michal Heron and David MacTavish Revised edition. Although geared for commercial photographers, this book will be helpful to fine artists for establishing fees when photographs of artwork are used in newspapers, magazines, annual reports, books, etc. Publisher: Allworth Press Publication Date: 2012

Pricing Your Artwork with Confidence Author/Editor: Alexandria Levin A detailed guide to understanding and calculating the actual cost of creating artwork, while helping artists develop a solid pricing structure with easy step-by-step calculations spelled out in artist-friendly math. Topics include: becoming comfortable with money issues, how to separate business and creativity when necessary, the economy and the art market, consistency, sales commissions, raising prices, how to develop growth in your career and as an artist, how not to lose money, and how you already give back and contribute. Publisher: Painted Jay Publishing Publication Date: Revised 2014

Talking Prices: Symbolic Meanings of Prices on the Market for Contemporary Art Author/Editor: Olav Velthuis Provides an analysis of how prices are set in the contemporary art market and discusses the tension between art and commerce that characterizes the art world. Publisher: Princeton University Press Publication Date: 2007

WEBSITES

Artsy Shark. “What Artists Must Know about Pricing Consistency”
An interview with Caroll Michels, author of How to Survive & Prosper as an Artist.
www.artsyshark.com/2018/07/04/what-artist-must-know-about-pricing-consistency

CARFAC. Minimum Fee Exhibition Fee Schedules
 Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens.
Minimum wage guidelines for artists that sets minimum recommended rates
for exhibitions and the use of artwork and certain services that visual
artists provide.
www.carfac.ca/tools/fees 

Empty Easel. “Don’t Sell Yourself Short: Price Your Art for What It’s Worth”
http://emptyeasel.com/2006/12/11/dont-sell-yourself-short-price-your-art-for-what-its-worth