Saturday November 22nd, 2014

The exercise:

Write a four line poem about: the network.

I'd say things went fairly well at the market today. Didn't sell any prints, which was disappointing, but I did sell 34 cards. Not a bad number, considering my previous best was last summer when I moved 22 of them.

It was a learning experience, at any rate. One of the major things? The farmers market isn't really where I need to be with my cards and prints. The vast majority of people are just there to get their produce and that's it, which is something I've been starting to understand for a while now.

So I'm very curious to see how next Saturday goes, when I attend my first craft market. It's here in Osoyoos, which is a bonus, and it's a fairly small one. A good place to start, I think.

Today's market was good in a couple other ways too though. The vendor to my right was a distillery based between Penticton and Naramata and the woman running the table had (apparently) already bought a few of my cards this summer (I can be terrible with faces sometimes). She's interested in having my cards in their tasting room for next summer and promised to get in touch sometime after the holidays. So that's pretty cool.

The other one? A vendor selling bottles of oils asked me about doing some product shots for his website. I have never done anything like that but said I'd be interested in giving it a shot. I'm going to test it out with various objects at home and send him a few examples to see what he thinks. Also going to ask our friend who did our family pictures about it for tips... and to find out what in the world I would charge for doing it.

Exciting stuff.

I should go to bed.

Mine:

A warm smile,
A firm shake;
We all pretend
Nothing's at stake

3 comments:

Greg said...

That sounds like a very successful market, but in a slightly unexpected way! Well done on selling all those cards, and definitely well done on the networking. That sounds like a pretty good start to some new adventures for you :)
And I shall be very interested to hear how the craft market goes as well, since that does sound like a better outlet for this kind of thing.
Heh, nice poem. Immediate, to the point, and yet brings a smile to my face.

The network
Fourteen drainage ditches
Form a network in the land,
Pouring water to the beaches,
Where they undermine the sand....

morganna said...

You never know
Whom you might
Meet, or how
They can help.
------------------
You might consider selling on Etsy -- the photography market is fairly saturated, but your cards are pretty cool, and people obviously like them. It is a lot of work, though. If you decide to go that route, I run an Etsy team for new sellers and would be happy to help you get set up.

Also, check out this website: http://www.handmadeology.com/studio-quality-product-photography-with-a-12-set-up/ It has some really excellent advice on product photography at home.

Marc said...

Greg - thanks :)

Oh dear, those do not sound like beaches I would want to frequent!

Morganna - I think your poem sums things up pretty perfectly :)

And thanks very much for the extra info and link, both are greatly appreciated.