Johnston Original Art Dolls

Hi Renee, thank you for letting us know what you are doing to keep on keeping on in this slow market. I too am making some mini, mini,clay dolls and they dont take much clay at all. And ,I do hope it is a "Change we can believe in" :) Keep the thread going everyone, tell us what you are doing to surive the recession, almost depression:( chris

Thank you for this thread, I started to make small christmas ornaments, mini dolls and now Easter figurines, they seems to do pretty well! I will even try an Easter Tree with small Prosculpt animals on it and a Noah`s Ark. There are many thing`s a sculpter can do to sell! Maybe soon we will have "Change, we can believe in" LOL...Rene

Hi Jack thanks for the info. I am a member of the PDMAG and have photos on their site as well as the gallery at Art Dolls for a few years. Before the economy got so bad, I was getting customers who came to me from your web site. I do have to admit that I used to be very diligent about sending in my photos to the gallery sections of the magazines and was sucessful at getting them published. I am going to start sending them in again soon. All of these things do work. I just think that right now people dont have as much money to spend on dolls, so we have to make dolls or something else that doesn't cost as much in time or supplies got us to make. Or , just keep trying a doll on ebay until it sells at the price we want. Anyway we just have to keep working at it and hope things change soon. chris

The answer to your question "how do we market in a recession" is to do Macro Target Marketing. By that I mean market directly to the consumer who is looking for your kind of product. Trying to market to the masses is a waist of you time and money, even marketing to the general doll community is for the most part folly. I recommend marketing directly to those who love and want your doll or product. The only way to do that without spending a fortune is through the Internet. The Internet IS OUR SALVATION! You may advertise on EBAY and reach the world, of course in that audience are your customers. The other way is to advertise with Doll Groups, such as The Professional Doll Makers Art Guild and other consortiums just like them. For very few dollars you may show your dolls in their galleries. For example, the Guild receives around one million doll collecting visitors per year. You can show all of your dolls with the GUild for a one time charge of $29.00. If you are a member of the Guild you must put your dolls in the Gallery at www.artdollguild.net. IF you are not a member of the GUild you should call David Gust at 800-949-1334 and find out about joining. The cost to join is $55 and $29 for your critique. They only critique your work once so that cost isn't repeated again. Other ways of getting in front of the collectors in by sending you photos to all of the magazines for inclusion in their Gallery sections. There is no charge for that. Take advantage of the nearly free internet and the free magazines. Nothing will work any better and do it for as little money out of your pocket. I have a DVD on Marketing that will help you greatly. It is normally $49.95, but if you call me personally at 800-290-9998 and mention you read about it on our Forum I will sell it to you at cost ($12.95 plus shipping). I want to do everything I can to help you and our fellow artists in this recession. Good luck, Jack

Hi Lori, well , I feel more encouraged after reading your post . And I watched some auctions on ebay from some other sellers and they set the opening bid much higher than mine. But I kept watching them ,and after several days they did get the higher bid. It just took patience like you said. So, I am excited about giving it another try now. I do appreciate all your help, it feels good just to have someone to listen. chris

No problem, Chris. I, myself, have never thought of using Auctiva but have seen many sellers on Ebay use it. Perhaps I should give that outlet a closer look. I wish you a lot of luck, and remember to be patient and don't be discouraged if your art does not sell immediately. Remember, art is like love, there is someone special out there for everyone, just like a piece of art is meant for a particular buyer; beauty is in the eye of the beholder, thus the love affair begins. You just can't rush the courtship, it will happen on it's own. :-D

Hi Lori and Jack thanks for your imput on this subject. Lori , I will try the things you suggested for Ebay, I know that I see some people that are very successful on there still in this slow market. I never thought about the pay period view of it. I guess I am just too impatient, waiting is something I need to learn to do better. I would list something at a bid that was what I wanted for the item and then if I dont get bids, I would go in and lower the starting bid. And I also need to start sending photos in to the magazines again for the gallery pages. I did find out from experience that you can relist an item that didnt sell one week and it sometimes sells the next. I did that a few times. Ebay will refund the insert fee if you sell it the second time around. Another tip if some of you dont know, is to use a auction template like Auctiva to list your items. This last doll only cost me $1.10 to list and if I go straight tru Ebay , it cost about $2.60 or more for two categories. Auctivia lets you put your photos in for free and ebay charges .15 for each photo after the first free one. So, if you are listing in two categories if you put in several photos that can cost a lot. If anyone else has any ideas on this subject please post! thanks chris

I'm very impressed with these posts. This is the type of information that we all need. I definitely agree with your ideas, I will personally use them. I have had very good success selling ProSculpt, books and DVD's on Ebay, but I have never tried selling one of my sculptures. With this new information I think I will give it a try. By the way, another great idea is making small lapel pins from a Press Mold. I have a new DVD out showing the methods, you may wish to think about doins some press mold reproductions. They would sell very well on Ebay as they can be made and sold for a very low price. If they are of high quality, yet small they should sell for $29.00 each. The cost of making them will be around $2.00 each. I gave a seminar on how to make them some time ago and had over 350 students sign up to take the workshop. I learned from that, there is a need for a simple press mold product. Let me know if you need more information. Good luck in a tough market. jack

Hi Chris, As far as selling on ebay, I would suggest starting your auction off with a minimum bid that would reflect the price you are willing to let that piece of work go for. In other words, if you can not sell that piece for no less than $125.00, then start your bid at $125.00. If someone likes that piece enough, they will bid on it without even batting an eyelash about the price. Atleast this way, you have got the bare minimum you need to cover your cost and still walk away satisfied with the sell. If you are lucky, you might get more bids and sell for better than expected! And, if all else fails, and your piece did not sell this particular week, you can always try again and relist it at a later date. Just because your piece did not sell for one particular week, doesn't mean that it will not sell at a later date. Another thing I might add is to take into consideration the days you are listing your auction, and the times at which your auction ends. Ebay has a prime time just like television. Try listing your items that will start and end on Sundays and at the prime time hours. Also, certain times of the month are better than others. Think of selling to follow along people's pay periods. Some people get paid at the beginning of the month, some bimonthly, and some once a week. Just some food for thought. I hope this helps.

Jack it continues to be a very slow market for my dolls. But, I am not giving up, I am still working almost everyday sculpting, I can't seem to stop myself even though I am not getting much at all for the ones I sell on Ebay. But, I am hanging on to many , many of my dolls and have them on my website, or just storing them here in my house. I won't give them up for such low prices. Before this year, I always sold the dolls on my web site successfully, this year, I dont think I have sold one doll from the site, I can only sell on Ebay. And, tonight, I had one with a high bid of $21. This is so discouraging, but, what I am concerned about is will taking a chance and selling for low prices during this time hurt my reputation as a doll artist. I feel like I am selling quality dolls, however, I am finding ways to make some small dolls with cloth bodies, so they dont take as much clay. And often instead of using glass eyes , I paint the eyes to cut down on cost. Would I be better off just keeping my dolls? I do feel like Ebay is a good way to keep my work out there, but if I dont get very many bids or high ones does that hurt me in the long run? thanks for your help, chris

Thanks for your questions... it is a slow market for everyone, not just dolls. During slow markets there are several things you can do, all of them start with being pro-active. By that I mean: attend the shows and sell from the time you walk in until the time you leave, don't even have a chair in your booth (resting is not an option). Advertise in magazines with larger groups so you can share the cost of the ads, (the Professional Doll Makers Art Guild is doing one right now). If you are a member of the Guild you can put your doll in their two page ad going in Doll Crafter for $125. You should take advantage of free Gallery space on scores of websites, they are generally free and they will give you all of your own sales. I do that will www.artdolls.com as long as you are sculpting with ProSculpt and your dolls are professional quality. Ebay is one of the best methods for selling dolls at a very reasonable price. With an EBAY offering you can reach millions of collectors for very few dollars. Using our national magazines is a targeted market (that is wonderful), but you only reach a few thousand collectors. There are a few places you do not want to market; Do not purchase newspaper ads, do not advertise alone in magazines, do not use electronic media. The do not use sources are far too expensive. The cheapest and most effecting ways to sell in a slow market are; County fairs, local doll shows, put your work in you local museums, get your newspaper to write a story on you, send photos of your work and story to the newspaper, television and regional magazines. Be pro-active in everything you do. Write letters and e-mails to contact, send out post cards, make phone calls to possible collectors. Some of these ideas may sound overly simplistic to you, but they will help in this kind of market. It is simple to sell in a bull market, but a lot of work in a bear one. Just work harder and keep selling, the market will come back and when it does you will be on top. If you have specific questions you may ask them on this forum, I will do my best to answer your questions. Good luck, Jack

Hi Donna, I am so glad you asked this question! My sales are also way down. As far as marketing, this year I am sending some of my dolls to Expo in Washington. I am not able to go myself but had the opportunity to share booth space with some ladies in Ooak Guild and they are showing for me and the others who cant attend. I am very lucky to get in on this and am grateful to the ones who are doing the show. I have also submitted some photos of my work to doll magazines that do gallery pages. That is a good way of getting some attention. If anyone has anymore ideas for marketing , I hope they will share them with us. Chris

Good morning all..I'd just like to say that this truly is one of the most uplifting and helpful forums I've been on..thank you Jack..and thank you to everyone that has made it as such.. I have a question I would like to ask..I'm sure we are all aware of our economy being in a bit of a slump right now..my sales have been way down..have any of you been enduring the thing?..and how would you suggest the best way to market right now would be?..I have to continue creating dolls..its in my soul..but just a bit unsure right now..thanks so much...donna