THE INSPIRATION PLACE PODCAST
Miriam Schulman: Let me say something that might feel like a relief. You do not need social media to sell your art. Not more posts. Not more followers. Not more reals. Because if you ever felt like, why is this not working for me? Why am I posting constantly and still not selling? Or maybe I’m just not cut out for this. It’s not you. It’s the strategy. And today I’m going to show you what actually is working now and why artists who rely on social media alone are burning out, and why others are quietly building sustainable, profitable businesses without it.
Speaker 2: It’s the Inspiration Place podcast with artist Miriam Schulman. Welcome to the Inspiration Place podcast, an art World Insider podcast for artists by an artist, where each week we go behind the scenes to uncover the perspiration and An inspiration behind the art. And now your host, Miriam Schulman.
Miriam Schulman: Hey my friend, welcome to The Inspiration Place. I’m Miriam Schulman, your host and curator of inspiration. I’m the author of Artpreneur, The Step by Step Guide to Making a Sustainable Living from Your Creativity. A best selling book published by Harpercollins with over 480 Amazon reviews and more than 2000 copies sold worldwide. I founded the Artist Incubator program in 2019, which has helped hundreds of artists sell more art without the social media hustle. Now, let me tell you about something that my publishers really wanted in the book. When I was writing Artpreneur, and it was published in 23, but I was writing it in 2022, my developmental editor gave me feedback. She sent it to the team like Miriam’s in her 50s. She’s kind of old fashioned. Maybe that’s why she’s not focused on social media. And that kind of hurt for a minute. So I had a choice to make. I either could add more about social media or double down. I remember thinking, it’s not old fashioned, it’s just not trendy. Because at that time, everywhere you looked, the message was the same. Post more. Show up every day. Grow your following. Do TikTok. Do reels, do lies. And I knew something that the industry didn’t want to admit. It wasn’t working. Not sustainable, not for most artists, and definitely not without burnout. So I had a decision to make.
Miriam Schulman: Do I please my editors and add a little bit more about social media tactics to satisfy them or tell the truth, even if it went against the grain. I chose the truth. I didn’t add any more tactics. In fact, I doubled down, I doubled down, I wrote very clearly. Social media is not a reliable sales strategy for artists, and at the time that was a big risk. But here’s something very interesting. I wasn’t the only one seeing it. Since then, some of the biggest names in marketing Marie Forleo, Ryan Deiss, have both said in keynotes and in interviews, the era of relying on social media alone is over. So what matters now? Owned audiences, direct relationships, real connection. So what my editor called old fashioned was actually ahead of the curve. Now, once you start to see that, you’ll start to realize the problem isn’t that social media isn’t working for you. The problem is that you’re told that it should. The lie artists have been told. There’s this idea floating around that the path to selling art looks like this. Build a following, go viral and make sales. Now I’ve coached some artists who have gone viral. I have one artist. She had a real get 45000 views, but she didn’t get a single sale from that. Here’s what the data actually shows. The average engagement rate is now around 0.36%.
Miriam Schulman: In fact, when I was writing Artpreneur in 2022, the average engagement rate was 1%. And by the time I went to edit that chapter, it was 0.6%. And now in 2026, the average across all industries is 0.36%. However, in retail and home decor, where art most likely fits, it’s only 0.15%. That means out of 1000 followers, maybe, maybe 1 to 3 people will interact with your post and even fewer will buy it. So when someone tells you, oh, just post more. What they’re really telling you is work harder for worse odds. So social media isn’t the answer. What is? Well, let me tell you a story. Let’s talk about Dawn. Dawn was doing what most artists do. She was selling low priced art, $50 pieces and trying to make it up in volume. She thought her problem was, I need more traffic. But that wasn’t the problem. The real problem. She was selling low profit art and she was getting advice from her family. Oh, do a Bogo, buy one, get one free. So they were telling her not only, oh, is $50 art a good idea, but basically sell it for $25? So after working with me, she shifted her prices to $1,400. She shifted her focus to building her email list and she started selling directly to collectors. And one month she made $5,000, and then she made $8,300 shortly after from email.
Miriam Schulman: Not social media and not from advertising. Now, I know Dawn’s story is powerful, which is one of the reasons I included it in my book. But actually, she was one of my early clients. And as I’ve grown as an artist business coach, I’ve learned how to push my clients even more. And it’s paid off because here’s what I seen time and time again. Everything changes when artists start charging $5,000 for one piece of art. Not $500, not $1,000, $5,000. So be honest. You can share it in the comments. What’s the highest price you’ve ever charged for your art, and what’s the number that feels just a little scary even to say out loud? One thing I do talk about in my book is that your prices should kind of feel like a well fitting pair of jeans. Now, this is a little bit old fashioned in my book because I grew up in the Gloria Vanderbilt Jordache jeans area, where you laid down on your bed and you wiggled into that pair of jeans. Now I know what’s really popular is like those barrel jeans and those balloon jeans. But when I was growing up, the designer jeans fit you like a glove, so you wanted it to be tight enough that it was hard to squeeze into it, but not so tight that it made you want to throw up.
Miriam Schulman: That’s how high your prices should be. Uncomfortable, but not so high that when you quote it, there’s a little bit of vomit in your mouth. Okay, so let me tell you about another case study. This is Brett Netherly. Now he’s from Missouri. When I told him that he could charge more, he did not believe me at all. He thought, who would pay that? Not in my market. Not in my town. Not for my art. Sound familiar? But he decided to test it anyway. And he had brought some paintings to a framer, and people were asking him, how much is it? And he says, okay, why not $5,000? They bought it. That was his first proof. Then within a few months, he had made $30,000. Not by working more, and definitely not by posting more, just by raising his prices.
Miriam Schulman: And then I want you to hear about Cheryl Shanahan. So she was stuck in what she called bear jail. Her words, not mine. She was painting these adorable little bears. I mean, the bears weren’t little, but the paintings were selling them for $300 and then giving 50% to the gallery. So she’s doing all the work and keeping half, which is fine, but not for $300. Instead, she shifted to commissions. Higher value, direct to collector.
Cheryl Shanahan: I’m going to show you something. Okay. And this will be this will be a good case study. So this is a 24 by 36 $3,000 commission. I Wow. Finished.
Miriam Schulman: All right. So same artist, same skill, same audience potential. The offer changed. The strategy changed. So she got different results. So let me ask you, are you trying to sell your art or are you trying to make your art easier for people to buy it? In other words, because if the reason you’re not raising your prices is because those prices make you feel uncomfortable, that’s going to hold you back. So an artist tell me, I just need more people to see my work. What I hear is I haven’t raised my value yet because most artists don’t have a visibility problem. They have a strategy problem. Why email works? What social doesn’t? Let’s compare Instagram. You need about 6000 followers to get 24 people to engage with your work. That’s the math. But with email, you only need 100 subscribers to get 25 to 40 people to open your email and see it. That’s a big difference. Think about 6000 people. That’s a huge audience. That’s like filling the Beacon Theater in New York City versus 100 people is like a room, a party. And here’s the real power with email, you’re not fighting an algorithm. The person who receives your email decides if they’re going to open it. But on social media, the algorithm decides if they’re even going to see it. With email, you own the relationship. Hey, before I go on, I want to invite you to something special. If you’re an artist who’s serious about selling your art, especially at higher price points, I’m hosting a live VIP experience in May where I’ll show you exactly how to attract high end art collectors.
Miriam Schulman: This is not about posting more. It’s about positioning your artwork as premium. Understanding what collectors actually want, and knowing how to communicate value so your art business becomes reassuringly expensive. Inside, I’ll walk you through my passion and profit framework. Plus, you’ll get scripts, tools, and real world strategies you can use immediately. It’s happening live in May, and you can go check it out at SchulmanArt.com/VIP. All right, let’s get back into this. Going after your own opportunities. Let me tell you about Elizabeth Mordetzky. She didn’t grow her audience through Instagram. She went after a magazine, an opportunity she pursued. That single piece of publicity generated $9,500 in art sales. But here’s the part most people miss. It wasn’t the feature that made her business. It’s what she did next. She captured those collectors into her email list. She followed up. She built the relationships. And that one exposure turned into a collector who later spent $29,000 on her art. What would change in your art business? What would change in your life if just one collector spent 9000 or $29,000 with you? But here’s the thing. It’s not just about pitching to the press. There are so many opportunities artists overlook grants, exhibitions, partnerships, art Advisors are consultants, interior decorators. So have you actually applied for one of these opportunities, or have you been waiting to be invited or waiting to be discovered on social media? Because most artists dismiss these opportunities.
Miriam Schulman: Inside my artists incubator program, we do pitch challenges. Right now we’re doing the second one, and I’ll be honest, a lot of artists poo poo it. In fact, we do it with the accountability pods and they kind of compete against each other. And then I give prizes to the best group. And this round, one of the pods decided not to participate. And last time the same thing happened. But the artists who do participate, who actually take action, they get results they never, ever would have gotten otherwise. So let me tell you about two such artists. One of them is Megan Mabbott. Oh my God, she’s killing it. Megan landed a $12,000 grant for her headdresses. Or what about Sangeeta? Sangeeta secured a solo show in a local museum. Yeah. That’s incredible. Those are incredible results. Not because they waited to be discovered, not because they posted more. Because they went after the opportunities. They didn’t use Rapunzel style marketing. Waiting in the tower for someone to find them. They created their own success. Hey artists, if you’re listening to me and thinking, I want that level of opportunity, I want those kinds of collectors, then I created something just for you. It’s my VIP live experience and it’s happening this May where I teach you how to attract high end art collectors, the ones who buy at higher price points and come back again and again. You’ll get the exact frameworks, scripts, and positioning strategies I share with my clients.
Miriam Schulman: So you can grab your spot over at Schulman Art dot com slash vip dash live. So where in your art business are you still waiting to be discovered? Instead of making yourself visible because that’s what you’re doing when you’re posting to social media with a 0.15% engagement rate. Now let me put that low percentage into perspective for you, because did you know the odds of getting into Harvard is 3%, 3%? And right now we’re talking about an engagement rate, not a sales rate through social media, an engagement rate of 0.1 to maybe 0.31 to 3 people out of 1000. So if you want to put that in perspective, you’re more likely to get into Harvard, then get meaningful engagement on an Instagram post. And yet artists are told to rely on this. So this is the key shift I want you to make. Social media chases attention. But email builds relationships and relationships are what sells art. The real problem artists are facing. After working with hundreds of artists, I can tell you it’s not just social media. There are five core breakdowns I see over and over again, and we’ve hinted at some of them today. Number one, selling low ticket items. That’s actually a production problem. Like Cheryl making small paintings, you really can’t price a small painting for $5,000. So I consider that a production problem. Those are artists trying to make a living selling stickers, little things. Anything that’s little that you can’t price high number two. Underpricing that’s a pricing problem.
Miriam Schulman: So that’s like Brett not pricing high enough or Don not pricing high enough. Number three, we’re talking about this a lot today, relying on social media instead of building an audience. That’s a prospecting problem. Number four, avoiding selling. That’s a promotion problem. I talked about that on the and we’ll link to it. The real reason why your art isn’t selling or number five, trying to do everything all at once, which is a productivity problem. But underneath all five of these problems, what is the real core issue? Focusing on the wrong things. Okay. We’re going to talk about another one of my early clients. This is Kayla. She was charging $1,500 for her commissions, which definitely more Than Dawn was a lot, but already decent. But just like Brett, I knew her collectors would pay more. So she raised her prices to 3500. And a lot of artists think, oh, but people will complain if I raise my prices. But this is what happened to Kayla. And by the way, Kayla is from Arkansas and Brett is from Missouri. Remember? So these are Midwest clients. The collector came back who had previously gotten a $1,500 commission, and he paid $3,500, in other words, more than twice the amount. And that wasn’t all he bought. He ended up buying more stuff. No pushback, no resistance, which probably meant she could have charged $5,000, just as we’ve been talking about all along. So the key insight I want you to get from this is collectors don’t want cheap art. They want confident artists who are reassuringly Expensive.
Miriam Schulman: Next section. What actually works? All right, so let’s take everything we’ve talked about. Here’s what actually works today. Five things. Number one higher value work. Don’t rely on volume number two email marketing. That’s your most powerful asset. Number three direct relationships. Belly to belly. In real life, your business will thrive. Conversations. Collectors. Repeat. Buyers. Number four. Visibility outside social media press. Podcasts. Partnerships. Grants. And number five, focused execution. Not trying to do everything. Not trying to do it all at once. Just the right things in the right order. So now let’s talk about the mindset shift you’re going to have to make. This is the part no one really talks about because your brain is going to try to stop you. It’s probably coming up with all kinds of resistance even during this episode. Oh, well, this won’t work for me because I’m not ready yet. Or I should figure this out before I start. And that’s not logic. That’s fear. Your brain is wired for survival, not goal achievement. So it’s just trying to keep you safe. So it’s coming up with all kinds of stories. Why this is a bad idea and you shouldn’t do it. And the more creative you are, and I know you’re all creative and the smarter you are and you’re all smart, the better you are at creating these stories. Notice I didn’t say excuses because they do feel real to you. The stories that are keeping you stuck, keeping you from taking the right advice that you need to take because it makes you feel uncomfortable.
Miriam Schulman: Reframe. You do not need more followers. You do not need more posts. You do not need more hustle. You need a system, a strategy and the courage to do it differently. So if this is hitting home for you and you’re realizing I’ve been focusing on the wrong things, then the next step isn’t more information, it’s implementation. And that’s exactly why I created my Artpreneur boot camp. I do it live three times a year, and it’s coming up in May. It will help you take these ideas and actually apply them in a way that works for you and your life. And I invite you to join the VIP version because the VIP version, not only will you get the Luxury Attraction Collector kit as well as a few more things, but you’ll get to meet with me in a small group so you can get your questions answered. Go check it out at SchulmanArt.com/VIP. No overwhelm, no busy work. Just what actually moves the needle. I’ll drop the link below so you can go check it out. Finally, I want you to remember this. You don’t need to be insta famous to sell your art. You need to be connected to your collectors, to your message, and to a strategy that actually works. And when you have that, everything changes. All right, my friend. So I’ll see you the same time, same place next week. Until then, stay inspired. Bye for now.
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to the Inspiration Place podcast. Connect with us on facebook, facebook.com/SchulmanArt, on Instagram at @SchulmanArt, and of course on SchulmanArt.com.
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