It is essential for any professional artist these days to have a computer with a database package and fast internet access. The best digital camera you can afford is also a good investment. Retaining good quality photographs of all your artwork is essential.  You should set some time aside each week for keeping records; if this is done efficiently and regularly it doesn’t take too long.

Record Keeping
It is important to keep good records. This minimises administration time and maximises the chances of doing repeat business.
There are four key areas in which records must be kept:

1. Client list
2. Index of artwork
3. Details of sales made and sales in progress
4. Records of all financial transactions

Client List
You will need to develop a mailing list and keep records of who bought what, when, where and for how much. A modern computer database with searchable fields is straightforward to set up and use. You can then contact clients who buy a particular subject or medium when suitable work become available. It should be possible, for example, to email JPEG’s (72dpi) to everyone who bought a figurative painting with a male and a female adult, at a push of a button, or to send an email with a web link to the relevant page on a website. You can also maintain records of interested possible buyers. At an exhibition always have an Enquiry Form, a Sales Form, and A Commission Form.  The interested party has to complete their details with at least an email or telephone contact.

Index of Artwork
You should code both photographs and JPEG’s and original works so that they can be easily identified and located. For example the abbreviation ‘L/1.04 ‘ meaning landscape number 1 produced in 2004, could be written on the stretcher frame of the painting, given as the title of the JPEG and noted on a colour laser copy in the artist’s filing system. A system of coding helps to keep track of sales and can form the basis of an efficient method of offering images for sale to publishers and other organisations. At Visionary-Art codes are created for all works. www.visionary-art.org otherwise confusion might arise over precisely which image is being discussed.

As a professional artist you can never have too many high-quality reproductions of your work. These can be useful for generating secondary income via agents, licensing agents and on-line galleries, exhibitions and so on. They may also be required for insurance purposes, catalogues, to settle legal disputes etc. The date that a work was created can be captured indisputably in a photograph.

Successful artists have been known to comment that one of the most important aspects of their careers has been the keeping of large numbers of high-quality reproductions and making sure that all these images are made to work for them. You should make sure that all sold works are photographed (high res digital) before passing out of your hands; remember that copyright remains the artist’s property regardless of who owns the original work, and that significant sums can be generated by the copyright in a work over a number of years but only if high res quality photographs are retained.

Details of Sales Made and Sales in Progress
Proper records help the development of an artist’s business. It should b possible to see easily which types of work are selling best, as well as which price ranges and media are going well. It is possible to see patterns in the kinds of art people buy and the kinds of people who buy at different times of the year.

Databases could include galleries, licensees, and other business contacts, and should be updated with notes about ongoing negotiations.

You will also need to record where your original works are held, which have been sold and to whom, which are rented out and so on. Make sure you have an agreement with anyone who sells your work. You should be informed what are selling, when and how much is due to you.

Records of all Financial Transactions
Keep records of all money coming in and going out. Once you become professional some outgoings may be tax deductible. Once you earn more than the tax threshold of a few thousand pounds (this figure changes annually) you become liable for tax, you may need to register for Vat when your turnover reaches the VAT threshold.

Keeping records of your overheads will help you to price your work; although pricing art is more complex than just a reflection of business overheads, these do represent a bottom line. Record also mean you can look back a the costs of a particular exhibition or marketing exercise cost you and so decide if it is worth doing again.

Marketing
We live in a market led era and it is important to adopt the appropriate skills. The artist who wanders onto stands at art fairs and says ‘’Hello. Do you buy pictures at all?’’ is unlikely to succeed. The well worn caricature of the undisciplined, capricious, bohemian artist who would prefer to drink absinthe in a café than tout work around galleries is even less likely to survive today than in nineteenth century Paris.

Have a marketing plan and know what you are trying to achieve and how you hope to do this. Have a time frame and realistic objectives, and decide what you will do yourself and what you need to get others to do for you. Communication is the key; whether this is by the artist or by the Licensed Agent (Visionary-Art) getting your work out by email, mail, html, Google Adwords Campaign, database mailings, exhibitions, well thought out email campaign or simply by word of mouth to potential buyers, keeping your name and work visible is key.

In using Visionary Art to market your images you have an excellent backdrop to promote yourself. Business cards, excellent website, sales reps, sales team backup, marketing backup and so on are all here to help you achieve the most from your art sales.