For those of you that sell your work what do you find is the most successful method for you?  Is it show sales, your website, a third party website, gallery or some other means?

Different methods seem to work for different people and different items/ styles.  It's always interesting to see what works for others.

I have my best sales from word of mouth.  I also do a few "presentations" at a senior community during the fall.  Mostly I am selling just pens, but about $3K a year worth.  About 1/4 of my sales are orders for a specific style and and blank type.

Word of mouth seems to be the best advertising for all businesses.  I haven't tried any shows yet.  I was actually looking into it for next year for my photography work.  The art festivals that I have attended this year seem to have several photographers, though most are different from me, but they have very few if any woodturners. 

The last show I went to had one turner who had several pieces in the 2,000 to $4,000 range.  I don't he had anything less than $300.  Across the street there was a guy that sold only pens, bottle stoppers and the other small kit items.  He was busy ringing up sales but his items were mostly in the $30 range.  I wish I could have see the sales comparisons between the two after the show.

Bob Wright wrote on Aug 27^th, 2009 at 11:27pm:


I'm in the same boat. It would make better economic sense for me to turn only small things, as I think I'd sell a higher volume at shows. Thing is, I like turning the bigger stuff much more. There are a couple guys that sell at many of the same shows I do, and they specialize in pens, bottle stoppers, and other small items. One guy in particular is a full time turner, doing 20+ shows per year. He sells mostly pens, and they are all at least as good as any I've made, if not better. He told me he turns 1200 or so pieces a year. I'd go nuts turning that many pens. 

Last year I did a show where there was a guy a few booths down selling hand-carved wooden bowl/basket things (from China). They were cedar, about 10" to 14" in diameter. He was selling them for $20, a bit more than 1/10 of my average price at that show. At the end of the weekend, we were comparing totals, and we both sold about the same dollar amounts. He just sold about 10 times more pieces than I did. Funny thing is, I don't think we stole business from each other. The people who were stopping by my booth to look were walking past his without much more than a glance. And the people who were checking out his merchandise generally didn't even come into my booth to look.

Vaughn McMillan wrote on Aug 28^th, 2009 at 3:14am:


That's way to many pens for me.

Vaughn McMillan wrote on Aug 28^th, 2009 at 3:14am:


I hear this a lot.  It seems the people that pay $20 for something are a different group than the ones that will pay $200 or more.  The trick seems to be figuring out which group will be at a particular show.  I've been told that the higher priced items will do better at the juried art shows. 

JimQuarles wrote on Aug 28^th, 2009 at 2:47pm:


I agree.  You'll never sell a large or high end item if you don't show it.  I also like the idea of showing some lower priced items.  I think it increases your odds of at least breaking even.

I might get a chance to test this out since I was invited to do a two day show in October.  I don't know enough about it yet to commit but the $25 booth fee has me interested.

Vaughn McMillan wrote on Aug 28^th, 2009 at 5:26pm:


The price is right but I'm not setup to do shows yet.  If it's indoors and all you need are a table or two I might do it.  I'm not sure if they liked my photography or turning more but it would have to be a mix for me to have enough inventory by October.  It would at the very least be a good opportunity to hand out business cards and maybe get a sale or two down the road.