Is any of your artwork a candidate for display as a grouping? Photos/paintings of a similar size, theme or color scheme, sculptural pieces that complement one another (see my three "Personal Muses" displayed together at right), pottery that could make up a set, etc. If so, you've got an oppurtunity to sell multiple pieces.
When you setup your work for display and sale, arrange pieces so that items that work together are displayed together.
Take this a step further and consider your pricing structure. Price each piece separately and as a grouping (I like to give a small discount - something like $100 each or 3 for $275 ).
This tactic works several ways - many will buy the whole grouping; others may get idea of group display in their head and become return customers, building up their collection over time.
The previous post on shipping 2d artwork linked to an in depth tutorial. Shipping 3d and unusually shaped artwork often presents even more challenges than shipping 2d work.
the 2015 National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Conference has made a video available of a workshop on packing 3d artwork . Much of the video discusses various methods of packing in wooden crates. However, it also points out a number of tips for proper packing of artwork that can be applied to artwork packed in (less expensive) cardboard boxes as well.
It's a long video but well worth the listen. I found the last speaker who is a gallerist particularly helpful in regards to what galleries do and do not like in regards to receiving, unpackinng and re-packing artwork.
My first job out of college was working in the office of a small craft/jewelry gallery. One of my responsibilties was shipping and receiving all the artwork and jewelry pieces that came in and out of the gallery. It was there that I learned some of the in and outs of shipping artwork. And also where I witnessed some terrible packing/shipping mistakes made by some of the artists.
In this global economy, it is entirely likely that you will find it necessary at some point to ship some of your artwork to a customer or to a gallery. Shipping artwork requires a special skillset that many of us don't have and very few of us are lucky enough to have someone show us the ropes.
It's been a long time since I've shipped work for a gallery so I thought I'd point you to someone who is still in the gallery biz and has recently published his own very comprehensive tutorial outlining how he ships 2d artwork, Jason Horejs of Xanadu Gallery in Scottdale Arizona. He's got all sorts of tips and tricks for safely packing artwork and the experience to back it up.
Try to get back to people quickly - even if you don't know the answer to their questions. Simply a note to say I got your message - I'll need to check on that and I'll try to get back to you by such and such a time. That way you are not leaving them hanging wondering if you'll ever answer them.
I can't tell you how many times I've received an email from someone with a bunch of other completely irrelevant emails attached to it from someone else.
It seems to go like this. Person A is emailing back and forth with Person B about various things. In the course of the discussion something comes up that they need to ask me about (I guess that makes me Person C) and they forward the entire mess of emails on to me.
I end up feeling the need to scan all of the attached emails to make sure that they weren't all forwarded to me for a reason. And sometimes there are things in these correspondences that I really shouldn't be privy to (like personal details of someone's health).
Not only is this a waste of Person C's time, but it can a violation of privacy for the person who's private details were forwarded.
When you need to bring a third person into an email conversation, you really should do one of the two following things:
Start a whole new email thread about the subject and cc the other original party in the conversation
Forward the thread but delete out all the parts that are not relevant to the third party
Don't just grab an email that someone has sent you in the past and reply to it on a whole other topic. Create a new email, with a new subject line and grab their address out of your address book.
Or, if you can't find the address in your address book, open the email they sent you and copy their name from there. Then create a new email with a new (and relevant) subject line.
My first job out of college was working in the office of a small craft/jewelry gallery. One of my responsibilties was shipping and receiving all the artwork and jewelry pieces that came in and out of the gallery. It was there that I learned some of the in and outs of shipping artwork. And also where I witnessed some terrible packing/shipping mistakes made by some of the artists.