Art & Creativity: When Something Doesn't Work... CHANGE It!

Sometimes, I just get tired of my empty mailbox.

Actually my mailbox isn't empty — far from it — it's usually filled with tweets and advertising from other artists and organizations trying to peddle their wares to me. And, of course, the inevitable dose of spam.

What I'm actually tired of is the fact that there is almost never any notifications from one of the online sales venues I use out there that announces ”you sold such-and-such an item on eBay/Etsy/Amazon” or wherever.

And that's part of the reason why 2023 is increasingly becoming the year in which I'm taking a long hard look at how I attempt to sell Alchemy Stones online.

This is all prompted by my recent endeavor of having to do income taxes from which I learned the following about my 2022 sales — which actually makes me pretty sad:

• Etsy sales: $77.00
• eBay sales: $0.00
• Amazon sales: $43.50
• Facebook sales: $0.00

Cost to achieve aforesaid rather pathetic results, listing fees, subscription fees, etc: $359.63.

No, That's Not a Joke...

Clearly the above is not a sustainable equation. In fact, it's just shelling out money to large corporations that have long since moved on from their "roots" in which they actually provided sellers with a substantial amount of traffic and sales.

For comparison's sake we sold about $2,250 worth of stones at the handful of face-to-face events we attended while incurring approximately the same amount of overhead as the online venues. I always like to throw that little factoid in there to remind myself that the "problem" isn't that I am offering something that nobody wants, the problem is that I have something that absolutely does not translate into selling through a digital venue.

Or so it would appear.

I say this all against the backdrop of getting ready to introduce Alchemy Stones on the Hivelist marketplace, here in our own community.

The good thing about that is at least there isn't going to be an ongoing expense associated with parking the images and descriptions there... and it's still a place where people can go and look at my work, and at least I might have the "fringe benefit" of earning a few cents as a result of talking about the stones in blog posts, as opposed to people actually buying them.

That's not to say that I've completely given up on the idea of being able to occasionally make a sale or two online. But clearly something has to be changed.

And so, that's what I'm working with. Now it's just a matter of finding the free time.

Thanks for visiting! Feel free to leave a comment, if you feel so inspired... engagement is part of what makes Hive such a cool venue!

If you enjoy painted rocks, do check out The Hive Rocks Project and help spread the word about Hive, while also being creative!

Because I am trying to make some semblance of income — a part time living, even — I now add this footer to all my posts, in the hope that someone, somewhere, might decide to take a further look at my work, and perhaps consider supporting independent art.

Thank you, in advance, for your consideration and support!

My Alchemy Stones Patreon appeal

Alchemy Stones web site and blog

Alchemy Stones on eBay

Alchemy Stones on Etsy

Alchemy Stones on Facebook

Regardless, your upvotes and comments are always appreciated!

Thank you for supporting independent art!

2023.04.23 AS-TXT-156/124