Yesterday we tried to make sense of the value proposition that both we and our partner bring to the table when selling our art. Today I would like to focus on how we can structure our agreements, so that both sides are fairly compensated for their work.

I’ve mentioned risk a bit already, but feel that this part of the equation is not only seldom talked about, but rarely understood. And I feel like we need to talk about it a bit more, for the second part of today’s blog to make sense to my proud, creative side (that might struggle with the notion of someone getting a big cut of the profits just because they sold it, while I had to reach into oblivion with my bare, paint splattered hands, rip a thread of the sublime and pull it into existence — a bit much, but that’s how I feel the creator inside of me thinks about it).

As for anyone, who might still feel like this and be overly protective of their creative dream and as such averse to the idea of sharing the fruits of their labour with a salesperson; your art is a story, a message, and in the end isn’t that different from an alien parasite (hear me out), the more people come into contact with it, the more it can spread, survive and thrive amongst them and the stronger it becomes.

If only five people knew of Shakespeare’s poetry, his work could never have had such an impact on our society — for so many throughout history to cite his verses to their loved one, he first had to disseminate his work to the masses. His story needed to become part of our culture and that’s exactly what a sales person can do for you. They will share your story.

Ok, risk… We saw yesterday that Jane does not have the same security at her part of the job and we will have to compensate her for it accordingly. The problem is though, there really are only two ways to do it as far as I know: pay by result or agree on a flat rate.

Pay by result is tricky, because Jane now has to deliver to receive anything for her efforts and such a deal can potentially save us a lot of time and money if we end up asking the wrong person to partner up with us — as we are all more or less connoisseurs of the retail business model, we probably know it’s quite easy to act busy and get paid for it.

But a flat rate can mean a lot more security for her as she will be doing the unpredictable work of sales and as such surely wants to know that if she tries hard and gives it her best, even on the bad months she will get something out of it.

To be honest though, the more likely decision is going to be to set a fair percentage (around 50%) for each sale she produces, as it’s more or less impossible for us to pay her a flat rate without ending up broke if it doesn’t work out (and it may not work out). This is imperative and both me and Jane must understand that there is no way for us to structure our deal in such a way that the risk she faces will suddenly disappear.

But 50% does sound a lot. The problem though; even galleries take about the same, but you can imagine they have a much smaller risk factor — one hopes no sane gallerist will open shop without a bunch of contacts or some other solid business model that will secure enough sales to sustain their gallery in the long run.

Jane doesn’t have to pay rent and her expenses are fairly low compared to a gallery, but she probably doesn’t have as great of a network either, so 50% of the profits not only compensates her for all the potential failed attempts, but also makes us equal partners — as your Jane will probably be a friend or acquaintance, by far the most important factor to keep in mind is that both sides feel (and are) fairly compensated for their work.

It’s also a great idea to take care to set-up a long-term plan with our Jane, because what may work for us now (where we have no real idea of how successful she will be and how much she can actually sell), may not work in the future.

If we decide what to do in such situations beforehand, both sides will feel much better about any possible failed attempts and we can diminish a lot of the potential grudges and most importantly prevent the accumulation of shame and anger if things go astray.