Selling at a fair... Advice needed

A friend of mine is organizing a home business fair. There is going to be about 30 participants of which two will be photographers. One is a portrait/wedding photographer and the other is obviously me. I'm going to be selling prints of the local landscape - mainly the Canadian Rockies so we won't be competing against each other.

The show will be at a hotel and will run about 6 hours. I will only have one 8 foot table and I wanted to ask for advise since I've never done anything like this before.

Right now I'm thinking about selling prints at about 3 or 4 sizes and price points and I'm considering the following options.

Low Cost:
5x7" Note Cards - about 8-10 different images
5x7" Print matted to 8x10"

Midrange:
8x11" print matted to 11x14"

High End:
11x14" print matted to 16x20"
20x30" gallery wrapped canvas print.

I would have only 1 or 2 big canvas prints, probably displayed on an easel and the rest of the prints would be somehow arranged on the table.

My question, for anyone with experience doing this is what are the sizes most people are interested in and what should I concentrate on?

I don't want to have too few options but I also don't want to have too many.

I would really appreciate any help or tips I can get!

Hey Tom,

It's been awhile since I have done shows, but I found a sincere winner: Bring all your proof and experimental prints (mine were 8x10's). Put them in a pile and invite people to thumb through them.

You'll be sincerely amazed at the response you get. It's so "interactive," while people are accustomed to the look-but-don't-touch approach to art.

I always drew crowds, who in turn went to retrieve their friends and family for a look. Yeah, some will get fingerprints and some might disappear. But so what? I didn't have anything else to do with them, anyway.

One word of advice: Bring an order book. I found that my impressions of what was "good" and what would sell were often different than the public. On two occasions I made more money on sales from my "paw file" than I did from my prepared works.

I agree with Hank's suggestion as to an order book. When I first started selling my work, I made a bunch of prints of what I liked and guess what - hardly any of those sold. I put out a "proof" book and have gotten more orders from that than anything. I don't even bother to make new prints now, I just bring the book and update with new stuff as I go along.

My biggest seller at these events is always photo notecards. I buy the ones from Photographer's Edge that use actual 4X6 prints. My target audience is usually a little different (99% women) so maybe that's why they like the notecards so much. Of course, some will buy the notecards and later mat them (they are a little smaller than my smallest print), so you might lose a few small print sales.

Good luck!

I don't (so far) sell at fairs, but I know Dan Elster does - I've been to his booth. You might try emailing him for suggestions.

Hi fellow Albertan, Some good ideas here for you so far. Take the advice on bringing stuff that is not necessarily your favorite.Don't give yourself to much work with to many options. Cards and one standard size [My best seller is the 11x14 matted to 16x20] and then 2 or 3 large framed or matted on easels.[ I get those floor easels at the Brick] They can be placed anywhere in the room or behind the table. Make sure you do a large contact sheet as well with a good variety.Take business cards too, a lot of people will buy later if they like your stuff or the show is between paydays. If you have a public site like smugmug,flickr,etc you should be able to see the views on there to see which photos the public likes.It is a great way to tell you which is liked by the general public. Don't go by a photographers site as they are looking and commenting with to much info in their heads and you will find the public likes totally different things than the pro's do.No offense to the pros but they know what I mean because they are surprised themselves from reading above.Also order clear bags to protect your work and save the fingerprint hassle,they are cheap and in Canada at clear bags.ca .Call toll-free at # 1-888-436-6197.Good luck and have fun it is always a good time if you are relaxed. Get there early and set up, have a coffee and be ready to talk your face off. Many want to like you before they buy from you so be honest and firm on your pricing cause if you sell to 1 at a different price than someone you gave a deal to it will spread like wildfire and give you a big headache.

Thank you for your tips everyone!
I have 6x9" prints (on 8.5x11" paper) of all of my "keeper" images so easily throw them in some plastic sleeves in to a binder so people can order them from me. I will also make some business cards to direct people to my website.
Debbie, thanks for the link to clearbags.ca. It's so good to have a source for bags in Canada to save on the crazy shipping costs from the USA.

Hi Tom,
I'll be doing my next fair this coming Saturday here in Italy so a few suggestion I would share:

1) I'll showcase about 30 10x8 and 30 16x12 all matted and in CrystalClear bags. They'll be in a case on a table to let people browse through
2) 3 gallery wrapped canvas print put on self made stands (basically a wood board with a pole) that will stand on the table as well
3) 1 70x12 matted/framed under glass with my one of my bestsellers
4) Bring a bowl filled with a lot of candies, this will make your customers happy...
5) Bring your promotional/business cards.

Enjoy !

Giovanni
www.allievi-photography.com

It will depend in large part on the venue. The fairs I do attract middle income crowds and X by 10s (X being whatever the aspect ratio turns out to be when the long side is 10") matted to 11x14 inches do best. I tried screen saver/slide shows but it was pretty much a bomb. Cards do okay. I don't sell many 5x7s matted to 8x10. I always have some but they aren't hot sellers. Big prints don't sell all that well at a fair in my experience. People prefer something small enough to conveniently carry as the explore the fair. A few large prints are good attention getters though and may attract orders. By all means have business cards with your website listed. In ritzier venues large prints may do better but they are scarce in my area and usually carry booth fees that are beyond my budget.

Hi Tom,

Sorry I can't offer advice here but good luck at the fair.

People will always buy the least expensive items as a general rule. Your bigger peices will have a higher profit ratio, so you can actually sell less of the bigger ones to make the same money. The smallest I sell is 11x14 now and my profits and time savings have gone up dramatically (remember your time and labor is a cost) from when I did smaller things. I am currently fading out the 11x14 and starting with 16x20.

Thank you all again for the help. I think I've decided to drop the note cards and the 5x7" prints. I think I will just have my prints in the 2 sizes 11x14" matted and 16x20" matted and one or two large canvas prints.