The Psychology of Selling
When artists try to improve their sales, the advice usually revolves around understanding the psychology of the buyer—what they want, what drives them, how to price your work just right, how to create urgency. And yes, that’s all very strategic and smart and fine.
But today we’re not going to talk about what your buyer is thinking—we’re going to talk about what’s going on inside your brain. Because let’s be honest, no fancy pricing tactic will save you if you’re melting down every time you try to post your art on Instagram.
Instead of obsessing over whether your color palette is too risky for the market, we’re going to look at the real emotional gymnastics that come with putting your work out there in the first place... And asking for that sale. No amount of psychological selling hacks will help you if YOU are not relaxed, confident and prepared.
Attempting to sell your own art is one of the most confronting and emotionally complex things you can do. Being an artrapreneur takes an incredible amount of grit and resilience, and trying to sell is incredibly vulnerable and intense. One of the keys to success in selling art is understanding psychology, and not just the customer’s psychology. Today we're going to discuss YOUR psychology.
In this article, I'm going to talk about some things that are REALLY important for artists, and I promise, this stuff will help you to sell more art! We'll cover:
Why attempting to sell your art can feel like an emotional gut punch—and how to manage that vulnerability
The sneaky ways artists self-sabotage (and how to catch yourself before you quit)
The truth about art crawls, online sales, and what they really teach you
How to stop blaming the algorithm and take back your power
Why your mindset might be a bigger obstacle than your marketing strategy
What I Learned From a Decade of Art Crawls
My own journey as a professional artist has taught me A LOT about selling art, but also, A LOT about myself.
I live in Minneapolis, and it is a great art town. There is an arts district that does a huge art crawl twice a year, and many smaller events. For about a decade, I participated in every one. There was a season where I would do various types of art crawls and open studios up to 10 times a year. The events are grueling.
You need to have your work ready for display, you need to clean your studio, you need to create a cohesive pricing structure, you need to have a payment system and packaging on hand, and then from Friday afternoon until Sunday night the studio you need to be your best and brightest self! It's A LOT.
In Minneapolis, hundreds of thousands of people attended some of these events, and sometimes it felt like I talked to every single person, and sometimes didn't sell a thing.
The results of the hundreds of art events I've done have varied wildly. Sometimes I would sell a few pieces. Sometimes I would get contacts that would later follow up with commission opportunities. Sometimes I would sell nothing. Occasionally I’d be sharing a space with someone who would sell thousands of dollars of work, and I’d sell none.
At one particular event I had very light traffic and I ended the weekend frustrated and annoyed. I would have chalked it up to a failure, but two months later, I got a call from a designer who saw my work at that event, kept my postcard, and hired me for a $50,000 project.
Sometimes the whole weekend would go by with no sales and little traffic only to sell $5000 worth of art in the last hour.
And of course, sometimes I would sell absolutely NOTHING.
Friend, there were emotions. There were tears. There was frustration. There were moments of success, but also moments of disappointment and exhaustion. It was a roller coaster.
Pivoting to Online Sales and What It Taught Me
Ultimately, my methods have changed, and I don't do as many demanding live events anymore. I switched over to using social media, my email list, and my website as my key sales tools. I would do live events again if the right opportunity arose, but I'm currently doing what works best, and it's a good fit for me. And working from my home studio (aka never leaving the house LOL) is kind of nice, it has different kinds of pressure…. Believe me.
And I never, never would change that time of endless art crawls, because I learned that the power of plugging away is invaluable.
I learned how to manage my emotions in the vulnerable endeavor of art sales. That season built my confidence and resilience. I learned is that anything can and does happen, and it's in my best interest to know how to manage and process my reactions so I can move forward.
Why Selling Art Is So Emotionally Vulnerable
Trying to sell art is one of the most emotionally vulnerable things you can do. You’re taking your heart, putting a price tag on it, and asking people if they want it. A lot of times, THEY DON’T.
I’ve seen it time and time again: artists who hit a wall with sales often retreat instead of push forward. Not because they don’t care, but because they care so much. The emotional risk of putting your art out into the world and hearing crickets—or worse, criticism—is huge. Instead of confronting this vulnerability, many artists start to build subtle defense systems to protect themselves.
They might tell themselves they’re just “not ready,” or they need to do more research, or they’ll post again once their website is perfect. But underneath those logical-sounding delays is often a fear of rejection. So the protective instincts kick in, and they hold back. Their art doesn’t get shared, or it gets shared just once and quickly abandoned if there’s no immediate response.
This is self-sabotage. And it’s sneaky. You might not even recognize it at first. But staying hidden feels safer than risking disappointment, and it will keep you stuck. Identifying these patterns is essential if you want to grow—not just as a business, but as an artist.
How Blame Masks Fear and Stops Progress
One way self sabotage manifests is by blame. Brene Brown says “Blame is a way to avoid grief.” You may be asking, how can that quote help me to sell art? I've got a story for you.
I had a friend whose art was rejected from a gallery in his town. He kept on making art, but he spent a lot of time resenting that gallery. He didn’t attempt to find a different gallery in another town. He blamed and resented the employees of that gallery for not wanting his art. He refused to ask for further feedback, or adapt his work to meet the needs of the gallery.
He avoided simply feeling the grief of rejection by blame and anger. Instead of recovering and trying something else, he avoided other avenues as his work piled up without exposure and of course, without sales.
If he had faced his disappointment, felt his feelings, and put on his big boy paints, he could have moved on and found success somewhere else. But the blame kept him stuck.
Common Blame Statements That Signal Avoidance
Here are some blame statements you might have heard someone (AHEM) saying,
“The market is too saturated, I can’t sell.”
“I’ve been shadow-banned by Instagram and now no one sees my posts.”
“No one buys ‘fill in the blank art style’ portraits, landscapes, sculptures, etc anymore.”
“People just buy cheap crap at Walmart and don’t value art.”
“I’ve made 3 Facebook posts saying that something is for sale, but no one is interested. Social media doesn’t work.”
"I made a website but no one visits it."
“The only artists that can sell are already famous.”
Taking Responsibility and Taking Action
Sound familiar? One of the big problems with blame is that it takes away our power. We put the reason for our disappointment in someone else’s hands, and now we’re left without agency or options. Better to face a difficulty head on and immediately consider alternatives that ARE within our power.
At different times in history, there were very few options for artists, but that is not true now. Facebook isn’t working? Try TikTok. Your website isn’t getting traffic? Try SEO. Your Instagram isn’t growing? Take a class to learn what you can do to change that.
Look at your options and determine the next course of action. Turn your grit up to 11 and PUSH THROUGH.
Tips to Stay Resilient While Selling Your Art
I’ve got a few tips to navigate selling art or trying to sell art without a broken heart:
Whether your art sells or not, you are a valuable and beloved person. Selling is giving you information about a lot of things, but not about your core value. Of course failure or rejection can sting, but let those emotions process through, and move into potential responses you can take, and ways you can move forward.
Don’t let career disappointments keep you from taking future risks. I know it’s easier said than done. I did and do need a lot of therapy. I need a lot of support from my close friends because it never really gets easier as your business grows. The failures just become bigger and more public.
However, the faster you can recover from “failure” or disappointments, the faster you will be able to try again.
Treat Sales Like Data—Not Judgment
Regard all selling adventures, wins and losses, as information. You, my friend, are Sherlock. You are a scientist. Acknowledge your emotions about the thing and then metabolize them so you can examine the bare facts. Know that trying a technique or method just one time is not statistically significant. Don’t quit after trying something just ONCE.
Without question, there will be losses, frustration, failures and disappointments on the path of any creative business owner. It's just part of it. A successful artist will not attempt to avoid or deny failure, they will acknowledge it and move past it FASTER. Learn the lessons and KEEP GOING.
Selling your art is hard—emotionally, strategically, and often logistically. It challenges not only your skills as a creator but your ability to stay open, vulnerable, and motivated in the face of inevitable setbacks. If you’ve struggled to keep going or felt overwhelmed by doubt, you are not alone.
Here are the key takeaways from everything we've covered:
Selling art is deeply personal, but the emotions involved can be understood and managed
Avoiding blame and embracing responsibility helps artists stay in motion
Common setbacks often trigger fear responses disguised as logic—recognize and challenge them
Each failure is data, not a final judgment—stay curious, flexible, and persistent
If you’re willing to stay curious, keep experimenting, and build your emotional stamina along the way, selling your art will get easier—and more rewarding. You’ve got this.
