Yes, it's August. Yes, we're talking about Christmas. Stick with me, because the artists who do holiday well aren't the ones scrambling in November, they're the ones who planned in the summer.
Today I'm walking through the framework I use with my coaching clients to think about holiday sales: seeds versus money makers. Money makers are your originals, commissions, and bigger bespoke pieces. Seeds are the giftable stuff, ornaments, calendars, small prints, cards, and their real return isn't the sale price, it's the marketing. A seed sits in a stranger's home for years, doing the kind of word-of-mouth work no ad campaign can touch.
I share the story of the ornaments my grandmother gave my sister and me every year growing up, why I still think of her every time I decorate my tree, and what that kind of loyalty could mean for an artist's business. We also dig into pricing psychology (the holiday-party-wine-bottle test), why underpricing gift items can actually lose you sales, and how to reverse-engineer your whole season from your ship dates.
Want the deeper breakdown, with case studies? Subscribe to my Substack, Paper Trail, for Thursday's issue.
And if you want to build out your own holiday plan with me directly, the waitlist for the Art Coaching Club is here: https://www.theartcoachingclub.com/about-1
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