NSPART - Making a Living As An Artist/Photographer today... (Monetizing Your Art - All Artists and Photographers should read this)

Notice: This is very stream of consciousness, much like if I was just consulting with you directly and then of course an Example that is also a Shameless Plug for my new Tshirts. BTW if you're a grammar NAZI, feel free to leave now...lol

Being a Photographer and/or Artist today is much different than it was in the past especially in the genre I love to shoot most...

These days if you're a photographer or Artist you have to find new ways to monetize your Art/Photography. I wish I had gotten into photography full force back around 2000, but it was more complicated and expensive having to shoot film, scan it and digital cameras were $10K just for a 6mp camera not including the lens and I had a successful business that was talking up most of my time.

However, there were many more buyers back then for the kinds of photography I shoot. With digital cameras and computers came a flood of new photographers, many very good due to the decreased learning curve with Digital. Then next came the camera phones that made everyone a photographer (at least in their own mind), and social media with access to millions and millions of pictures from all over the world. to the point that people have become somewhat desensitized.

So not only do you have all of that competition from all over the world, massive stock photo websites and people stealing other peoples work using on Instagram to make money as well as I see the same going on here as well and honestly it bothers me to see someone posting other peoples work (adult or not) and not crediting the photographer or model and yet profiting from the photographers work, it's blatant copyright violation and I believe since they are making money would fall under commercial use. People don't know there is for Photographers and Artists who can show willful infringement may be entitled to damages up to $150,000 per work for photography that is registered with the U.S. copyright office.

In addition to that at least in my niche there are always people willing to shoot for free almost anything, these people also are willing to let magazines publish their work for free also. So imagine a business where you are constantly competing with people willing to work for free. And for many people FREE is more important than good, sadly.

So now that I have given you a state of the current situation. What's the answer for a Photographer or Artist today, that wants to do what they love and still make a living?

First off, you need good marketing and you might need to branch out into other genres or niches, but I don't suggest shooting things you don't like or it will ruin the art for you. This why I refuse to shoot certain things. My goal is to do what I love and get paid well to do it. So I can be passionate and prosperous and look forward to everyday.

The answer is you have to think outside of the box on how to Monetize your work beyond being hired for commissioned work and some of the ways (there are others, this is not an exhaustive list) to do that are...

• Steemit - Get paid to post your work. But it's not really going to pay your bills until you build a large following. But hopefully that will change in the future as more people come on board and the price of Steem goes up.

• Starting your own blog where you post and serve ads and also link to products with your work on it (see P.O.D. below). This can make you money but it's not as easy as it used to be.

• P.O.D. (Print On Demand) Sites: You can upload your work and have it sold on various products and you receive a royalty for every item sold. I think all artist should be on a few P.O.D. sites. For example one of mine that actually makes me money is: http://www.redbubble.com/people/nsparts (the problem is they basically sell to you at retail and if you mark your prices up to much it will kill your sales.

• You could print up your own products and get a much bigger cut of of each sale. But it take thousands of dollars and quite a bit of work. So this is an option best done when you already have a large following and plenty of money coming in.

• Building a large social media following: These people will then hire you, buy your work, and buy products with art on it, you can also sell ads to other companies or do affiliate offers were you get a commission if someone buys a product from your link.

• Teaching others to do what you know how to do: Unless you're a top selling artist, this is a great way to make a living as it's more reliable creating info products, courses and selling them to people that want to learn how to do what you do.

• Asking For Support: You do this by adding a Tip/Donation Button to your post where ever you post, FB, IG, your Blog, etc... I have started just asking and just giving out a bitcoin address and I could not believe it when someone had anonymously sent me $20 or $30 (Can't remember the exact amount) in Bitcoin. But there are people and have always been people that like to support Artists of all kinds.

So now when I post on FB I add in this...

If you'd like my work and want to support my Photography/Art:
https://donorbox.org/nspart
Or for Bitcoin to support my art...
BTC: 1EVqgb37LjmVDYQcjvNXTqy2yTCb11X3pB

So that being said, I have started a new monetization project myself...

This time I'm using Amazon.com's new POD Tshirt program. What's cool about this is they pay better than Redbubble.com on Tshirts and Amazon has a massive audience of people looking to buy stuff. But don't think this is just easy money... Because it's not. It took me months just to get approved, because so many people have signed up and there is massive competition. But over-time it adds up and if get enough products into their catalog you can make some good money. So it's worth a try... It very slow starting from what I have heard and I would have to say from my experience as I have only sold one shirt a week, but I have heard from others that never made a sale or took them 2 months to get their first sale.

Here are a few of the shirts I'm selling on there... So I'll see how they do. Also you can only upload 10 until the ALL sell then you will move up to the next Tier of 25 and so on.

Tshirts Available at http://www.NSPTShirts.com

Each one is available in multiple colors, sizes and both men and women's cut and is printed and shipped by Amazon.com, I set up a domain name that redirects people to a page of my shirts... http://www.NspTshirts.com so now I can give that out, link to it from other places, without using long URLS. I plan on building a site but right now this is just a test to see if the Tshirts sell, with the lowest expense possible.

So I hope has given you some useful info and Ideas if you are an Artist and/or Photographer this was of some value to the Artist and Photographers out and if you like my work you can always buy a shirt or send me some Bitcoin or Steem :)

Some of my other Recent and Still Active Posts...

NSPART - Time Travel Tuesday - A couple from my first shoot I did with models on my own - Part 1
https://steemit.com/photography/@nspart/nspart-time-travel-tuesday-a-couple-from-my-first-shoot-i-did-with-models-on-my-own-part-1

Some Improvements Steemit Needs to Improve the Viewer and Content Creator Experience.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@nspart/some-improvments-steemit-needs-to-improve-the-viewer-and-creator-experience

NSPART - Been scanning in my Instax & Polaroids Again After a Bad Hard Drive Crash. (NSFW - Artistic Full Nudity)
https://steemit.com/photography/@nspart/nspart-been-scanning-in-my-instax-and-polaroids-again-after-a-bad-hard-drive-crash-nsfw

NSPART - Fine Art - Implied Nude Bodyscapes (3 Images: Color + Black & White)
https://steemit.com/art/@nspart/nspart-fine-art-implied-nude-bodyscapes