How the Baltimore artist prepares for local art fairs
Baltimore-based artist Nguyên Khôi Nguyễn, 38, has been part of the Washington region’s art scene for 10 years. He’s tabled at the DC Art Book Fair every year it’s been held, selling comics, prints and more. He spoke on the phone about his experience.
What essentials do you always bring that first-timers forget or don’t realize they need?
I always bring excessive amounts of scissors and sticky tack because there’s always some sort of craft we need to make in terms of exhibiting the table. An email sign-in sheet is always good.
How should first timers think about printing and pricing?
My wife says I charge too much! I have large prints I put so much time and effort into and the ink is so expensive. I have prints that are $80 and she says I should bring it to $60. They don’t sell as well, but when they do sell, it feels worth it. When I come up with little deals, those have sold well. I have these little gift bags. A tote bag with a book and an album. It’s a $15 bundle and you can save a couple bucks. This time around, I had three books to sell. They were $5 each but three for $12.
I bought a laser printer to save money. Any way you can cut costs, you want to do that. You’re gonna go to these fairs where no one might be into your stuff, so you have to save money wherever you can.
Do you have any advice regarding marketing, putting yourself out there or getting over imposter syndrome?
That’s the most annoying part of this. You do all the work, wrack your brain to make a good book. And then you have to sell yourself. It’s so exhausting. I try to do the minimal. A couple weeks before an event, I’ll post a photo of the event graphic. I’ll post photos of me assembling the books at home and the day of the event, I share photos of me putting together the table. I keep a blog about the process. On Instagram, I show drawings as they’re being made. I also have a newsletter so the week before, I send out an email blast. I’ve had a newsletter for five years. I figured it was a good idea. I have a jazz trio too, so there are other events I can promote. Mail Chimp was free.
How do you learn about upcoming opportunities to table? And, how do you figure out which events are the best fit for you if you’ve never attended?
I heard about the DC Art Book Fair from a friend in D.C. I’ve also done Small Press Expo. I was a fan, so I decided to try my luck with the lottery. I only won that once. I’ve had an Etsy store for five years. You can integrate it completely with Square, which I use for these fairs. I can see the inventory immediately.
Now, Etsy makes it mandatory for shipping to be free because they’re competing with things like J Crew and a culture of free shipping. What we have to do as sellers is include the average cost of shipping into the price of the products to say it’s ‘free.’
Any other advice?
This is impossible to do, but I wish I had no expectations. If you can work on having no expectations, you can be a lot happier. If your first time is really rough, it’s like being a stand-up comedian and bombing the first time. So, don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re doing it because you want to make art. In the long run, it’s not about selling your stuff. It would be nice to make a living, but…come on!
This interview has been edited and condensed for length & clarity.
