Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Are you an expert on some aspect of printmaking or a related subject? Write an article on it and get it published in the aforementioned publications, on the condition that they publish your site's URL at the bottom of the article. Find the Internet newsgroups related to printmaking and participate in them. If you work them patiently and discreetly they will give you not only publicity but valuable feedback on your site.

So far so good. By now the content on your site will be getting a little musty and could do with refreshing. This means new images and articles. When you get the new material online don't fail to send out a little newsletter to everyone. "This is starting to sound like a lot of work!" you say. Well yes, in fact it is a lot of work. You were expecting something else? A silver get-rich-quick bullet, perhaps? Forget it, that's not going to happen; the Lone Ranger and the Dot Com bubble are long gone. And things get worse before they get better. Read on, if you're not too demoralized already.

The "Secrets" of Success
It turns out, as you have correctly if reluctantly deduced, that the secrets of success in the virtual world are the same as those of the real world: professionalism, efficiency, perseverance, honesty, communications skills, good business practices and a pinch of creativity. So, follow this painstaking formula for a couple of years. Be unflaggingly cheerful and helpful to everyone who comes your way. You'll receive a lot of requests from art students. Attend them lovingly. They are your future colleagues and partners. Internet is a big world made up of many little worlds, neighborhoods if you will, and the printmaking community is one of them. Answer all e-mails on the same day they arrive and treat potential clients like the VIP's they are. Smother them with information and attention. Pack their prints securely and honor your guarantee scrupulously.

You've been working on your micro-mini dot-com print enterprise for a couple of years now. You've learned a lot about the Web, about site design, e-commerce, promotion and dealing with clients. Your site is approaching critical mass, that magical point where the various threads of communication, promotion, good business practices and a smidgen of serendipity have woven themselves into a solid fabric of credibility. (Remember credibility?) Though you're not exactly a household name, you are known and respected in printmaking circles, you have published articles and been interviewed a few times for your printmaking expertise. You have been seen at major printmaking fairs and events. Certainly now you can begin to think about leaving your day job and making your living from your prints, no?

Not a chance. Not yet. Regardless of how well you've done your homework thus far, you're not going to get enough orders over Internet to permit you to live from the sales you make from your website. (I warned you it would get worse before it got better!) It's not only about the number of orders you get, but the type of orders, which will be mainly for single prints. Just the time and expense involved in packaging and mailing prints one by one will eat up most of your profit.

The Best Part
Are you thoroughly demoralized? Don't give up now, because I've been saving the best till last. If you have conscientiously laid down a solid foundation of credibility over the past couple of years, there is a reliable formula for capitalizing on it. It's called "B2B" or "business to business e-commerce." Properly carried out, a B2B campaign will sell a sufficient volume of prints, not just single prints but whole editions, to enable a professional printmaker to devote him or herself exclusively to art.

How does one go about it? B2B, at its most basic, is little more than the virtual version of the time proven direct-mail business. You send out mailing pieces via email to companies offering your original, limited-edition fine-art prints as corporate gifts and office decoration. Keep these emailings brief and tasteful and direct them exclusively to businesses. There are lists available on the Web. Your mailing should be designed to lure prospective clients to your website, where they can browse your offerings and get to know you and your work. (Note: Your site must be designed with this in mind; make sure that the route to your "Order" or "More Information" button is a short, clear one.)

Most of of your email prospects won't answer at all, some will just say no. But a few will reply, often timidly, that, yes, they would like to know more. Once you've gotten a business client on the line, it's just a question of reeling him or her in with attentive, professional customer care techniques. This usually becomes an exercise in educating clients, while at the same time introducing them to the magical world of fine-art printmaking.

When companies buy prints for gifts or decor they don't buy just one. They buy dozens or hundreds, entire editions. (We are currently working with a client on an order for 4,500 prints.) The best news is that, if a client buys this year, next year he or she will, in all likelihood, be back for more! Our best client to date is a woman CEO of a big French real estate firm who knew nothing about fine-art prints in the beginning. But little by little she's been drawn into the Enchanting Realm of the Print. She commissions 400 prints for her company every Christmas. And soon after every New Year she's inquiring eagerly, "What can we do for next year?"

In Six Months You Can Learn Anything
In order to plan and carry out your B2B campaign you'll have to get up to speed on copywriting, layout, list management and the rest of the B2B techniques, not to mention the logistics of order fulfillment. But that's not beyond your reach. You're a creative person and in six months you can learn anything. I know what you're thinking: "Very well, suppose I manage to master this whole process and actually make it work. Where do I find the time to do any printmaking?!"

Excellent point. Ideally, printmakers should make prints and not have to worry about marketing them. Isn't there a professional service somewhere out there which will take care of all these bothersome details for printmakers: website design, site promotion and updating, public relations, B2B and client care?

There must be a few of them, but you'll forgive me if I confess that I only know one. It's called World Printmakers and it's at http://www.worldprintmakers.com.

World Printmakers hereby authorizes you to print this article up and post it on your bulletin board, publish it in your newsletter, pass it to your brother-in-law, or otherwise circulate it freely.