What are the downsides of working with traditional art publishers and galleries?

The biggest downside is that you don’t retain contact information for your buyers. When you work through publishers and galleries, you have no way to reach the people who purchased your work—no email addresses, often not even names. This means you can’t build ongoing relationships with collectors or market to them in the future. Even if you sold to tens of thousands of people over the years, you have no way to contact them again. Additionally, the financial splits are heavily weighted toward the publisher or gallery, with artists receiving only small percentages of sales.

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Asked by an artist with past gallery and publisher experience · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2025-07-22