Life's curve ball....Any tips on how to get started selling....I need to focus on online selling now

Just seen Roberts comments.....at this moment in time I feel like a soggy lettuce even though I am ten years older than him.  I don't wish shingles on anyone , even Mr Big Red Face and you have to buy Sams Tale to learn about him.  We had a similar conversation to this some time ago  . sorry Gerry you have been hi jacked .    A suggestion was made re asking to use an empty shops in our high street. Another contributor  was well versed in doing this.   BUT what a great position.... ask a local art society if you could borrow some of their display stands.   Plus you have at least three walls.  Yes you have to have insurance in this world it's an essential. Shop around.   But a brilliant sales centre.   Also here in Wales we have a thing called Hefa  Gelf  or  art trail.    Open your home to interested people just be prepared to provide tea and biscuits.   No commissions. No big overheads...Hopefully great sales.

I am that "Another contributor" but don't profess to be well versed in using empty shops. It was a suggestion though. What I thought I had said was that an approach via a town council might prove fruitful. Perhaps I'm in the fortunate position of living in a small town in which the local council take an interest. The idea of a sort of in home showing is appealing though and, whilst I'm not especially interested in selling, it might at least help to offset the cost of materials. 

My art club negotiated the use of empty shops for exhibitions in our local town centre for several years, and although very successful, it wasn’t an easy process. We had to take the shop for six weeks at a time as then the owner/leaseholder got relief on their business rates.  During the first couple of weeks we held our club exhibition, and for the rest of the period groups of club members got together and held their own ‘follow on exhibitions’ which was great fun and resulted in quite a few sales.  We didn’t pay for the space, only for the electricity we used.  We did, though, have to pay a fairly hefty amount upfront (returnable at the end of the six weeks) and sign an agreement, which included a clause that if a tenant was found at any time running up to the six week period, the agreement would be cancelled.  Third party insurance was also required.

I've got some experience of exhibiting in closed shops. This time last year I approached our council about putting art in the closed shops in the Bell Centre here in Melton Mowbray, a shopping arcade which had around 20 out of 24 shops lying empty. It took an e-mail to my MP to get them moving but then I was put in touch with Melton BID....business improvement district. The lady who organises that was very keen and my local art group has been exhibiting since the first week on November (it took that long to organise). We were going to do a week, then we were asked to open until Christmas just on Tuesdays (market day) and Saturday, and then we were asked to carry on and we're still there. We will close at the end of April, it is getting harder to keep staffing it. However we have sold 85 pictures so far (four of mine!) and being greedy I'm aiming for 100 by the end. There is no way we could have done that in the normal run of things. The group is taking 10% and the artist gets the balance with an average price of £55 for those sold....the most expensive has been £145. We are not paying anything for the exhibition space or the shop windows, the view being that it is helping the town; we were supposed to be paying for electricity but as the meter has been disconnected we're keeping quiet about that. I don't think this would have been possible for an individual (apart from anything else you need an awful lot of pictures) but for an art group it's great and I'm sure most towns have a BID organiser who could be contacted through the Council. Melton isn't a big place and the BID is just run by one lady. She even organised free parking for us while we're staffing the exhibition. Two shops have been let since we began so we've vacated those and we didn't use all of them, some weren't suitable and others were being used as store rooms by other shops. The most we had was one large exhibition shop plus seven windows which was about all we could cope with. I run the group website which I think is essential to have, plus one of my own, and my contact details are in the windows so I can go and open up if someone wants a picture while we're closed. It's about making it as easy to buy the art as possible. My advice would be to join your local group, it's the best thing I've ever done in respect of my art, and then encourage the group to see what closed shops are available. The potential is huge - good luck!

Hi if you are after insurance for exhibitions then Artists Network is one of the cheapest and best Ive used. Up to £10,000,000 public liability for £38 a year and a very helpful forum/members area. Sorry if someone has already mentioned it. https://www.a-n.co.uk/about/insurance/