Delia Stone's Studio

Sell Your Art or Crafts at Juried Shows to Increase Your Profits

copyright by Rena Klingenberg

If you sell your art or crafts at shows, fairs, and festivals, you can increase your profits by focusing on selling at juried shows.  Although juried shows are harder to be accepted into, and the booth fees and other expenses tend to be higher, they are often much more profitable for artists than the shows that are less expensive and easier to get into.

Some juried shows have strict requirements about how your booth is set up and what you can sell – which, although this can feel limiting, can also help "keep the riff-raff out" and maintain a high quality show.

The appeal of being in juried shows is that they are generally run well, with a good mix of higher caliber vendors, and they tend to attract a larger crowd – often bigger-spending shoppers who like to purchase quality handcrafted items.  (Our favorite kind of customers!)

Although a juried show's restrictions and higher fees may be more challenging for the vendors, many artists and crafters find that the more profitable returns make it worth jumping through all the hoops to get accepted and participate.

What Makes a Show "Juried"?

A juried show is one where your acceptance is based on the approval of a "jury" that screens the applications and slides, looking for quality vendors and products.

Some juries consist only of the show promoter and a staff member or two.  Others consist of an elaborately selected group of art educators, artists, art patrons, or gallery owners.
 
The jury usually accepts only a limited number of artists from each medium to the show, so your art or crafts (and application package) are competing against those of other artists in your medium.

That's why careful attention to your application and professional-quality slides are vital if you want to get into juried shows – particularly if you're in a relatively crowded medium like jewelry.

Applying for Juried Shows

To apply for a juried show, request an application package from the show promoter.  Read everything very carefully before filling anything out, and follow the application requirements to the letter.

Along with your application package, send in your jury fee and application fee (sometimes they're combined as one fee, and sometimes they're separate).

If you wind up not being accepted into a juried show, you rarely receive a refund for your jury fee; it's paid to the jury members to compensate them for their time and expertise.  You may or may not be refunded for your accompanying show application fee, depending on the show's refund policy.  It’s important to be aware of the particular show's refund policies before applying, to be sure you know what to expect if you're not accepted.

If you aren't accepted into a juried show the first time you apply, don't lose heart or give up.  Just keep working toward making your crafts more unique and well-made, your displays more professional, and your slides truly outstanding.

Apply again the next time the show puts out a call for artists.  As your work evolves and the board of jurors changes, you'll have plenty of opportunities to be accepted to future editions of the show.
 
If you want any of your application materials (such as your slides) returned to you after the jurying process, include a self-addressed, stamped envelope attached to a politely written request to have them sent back to you.

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Learn how to find good shows for selling your work, plus hundreds of other success secrets for selling your jewelry and other handcrafts at shows, in Rena Klingenberg's ebook, Ultimate Guide to Your Profitable Jewelry Booth

Click Here!

What is a Jewelry Shopping Service?

copyright by Rena Klingenberg

I first stumbled onto the "jewelry shopping service" approach to marketing my handcrafted jewelry a few years ago.

I couldn't believe I'd never heard anyone talk about this before - because it's a wide-open field with TONS of opportunities to sell your jewelry. It's the main way I sell my jewelry now. Personal shopping services are a growing trend in all kinds of market niches.

Typically a personal shopper helps clients determine what they should buy, locates the best deal on an intended purchase, or finds the perfect gifts for customers to give.  Personal shoppers tend to specialize in a particular area of expertise, where they know a certain market and its suppliers inside and out.

Above all, personal shopping is a service business, and as people get busier and shopping options get more overwhelming, there's an increasing demand for specialized personal shopping service businesses of various types.

What if you operated your handcrafted jewelry business like a personal shopping service?

There are absolutely immense opportunities for jewelry artists to sell their work this way, as you'll see in "Secrets of a Handcrafted Jewelry Shopping Service".

A jewelry shopping service could easily be your entire jewelry business, or just one income stream of it.

It's a very flexible way to sell your jewelry, and I've found that it's very easy to fit it in around all the other things going on in your life.

Why It's Such a Profitable Way to Sell Your Jewelry

By operating as a jewelry shopping service, you'll be selling directly to your clients at full retail prices, so you won't be paying any booth fees, shop commissions, party hostess incentives, wholesale discounts, etc.

In fact, one of the best things about it is that you have very few sales-related expenses, because there's no “middleman”. Nearly 100% of the proceeds go directly to your business.

And what's more, many of your clients will be fairly big spenders. They'll shop from you over and over again because they love your customized products, personal service, and the way you take their problems out of their hands – and they're willing to pay quite well for it.

The book also has a chapter describing a clever strategy that will increase your profits even more; I give an example of this strategy from my own business, and explain why it's so profitable.

Everything You Need to Know
to Start Your Own Jewelry Shopping Service

In this ebook I share my entire successful business model with you. It's easy to do, and it really works. I've tested and refined my jewelry shopping service strategies, and I describe them in detail in this step-by-step guide.

I also share dozens of real-life examples of successful products, services, marketing methods, and stories from my own jewelry shopping service, to help you get started.

You don't have to re-invent the wheel and go through the same learning curve I did to figure out what really works (and what doesn't!). It's all in the book. :o)

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Unlock the secrets of a new way to sell your jewelry to customers who are VERY willing to buy from you, again and again, in Rena Klingenberg's ebook "Secrets of a Handcrafted Jewelry Shopping Service" -

Click Here!