I've been creating art and marketing consistently but my originals aren't selling—does this mean I've failed?

Absolutely not. If you’ve created a body of work, put it out there, and gained fans, followers, likes, comments, and shares but haven’t made sales yet, you haven’t failed—you’ve successfully gotten people’s attention. That’s a huge accomplishment. You just haven’t found the right revenue avenue yet. Stay open to discovering what your audience actually wants to buy, which might be different from what you initially created. This is where listening to commission requests, paying attention to what people ask for, and being willing to experiment with different products and price points becomes crucial. You’ve done the hardest part—getting attention. Now it’s about translating that attention into the right offerings.

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Asked by an artist with engagement but no sales · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2025-08-29