How to start an online shop for artists

Start your online art shop and website without coding - everything you need to know. In this guide I will be covering everything I learned about starting and maintaining an online e-commerce store and what you need to keep in mind regarding the costs involved, different software and hosting platforms. This is especially for artists and creative people who don’t have any prior business or tech background, breaking it down in simple forms, step by step, with links to further resources and software for your education.

In this guide:

• My ecommerce story (from no sales for years to sales daily)
• Branding
• Products (physical and digital) + list of 20+ ideas
• List of terminology
• Business models
• Capital and costs
• List of terminology
• Legal (Privacy policy, Ts and Cs, Refunds, Delivery)
• Payment Gateways
• SEO and traffic
• Other features (Blog, FAQ, Affiliate program)

How will this book help you?

I am a full-time writer and illustrator of fantasy short stories. I have been building my art business since 2018, and continued growing it while studying a BSC in Computer Science. I quickly realized I did not want to pursue a software developer career, and I had to make a plan to turn my passion into something income generating. I kept posting video content online and growing my online presence. In 2022 I won the Nedbank YouthX entrepreneurship competition, and received the first place award for the Arts and Culture Category. Since then I have undergone rigorous business training as part of the prize, and received 1-1 mentorship with an award winning consulting firm. My business has since been able to transform my family's circumstances and show me how possible it is to be financially free while doing something I love.

Why I wrote these books:

I wrote these books as a result of documenting everything I learnt from scratch, with no prior business experience. Having an art business is definitely unique. Being both an artist and an entrepreneur is often put against each other - that you can't be an artist and a business owner at the same time. We believe this because it solidifies our idea of "The Starving Artist" and that artists have to struggle with a miserable job to sustain their craft. My primary goal when writing these books was to show other artists that it is possible to achieve financial freedom as an artist, and eradicate "The Starving Artist" trope. I have compiled everything I learned so far from marketing my business, planning content, setting up multiple income streams, writing a strategic art business plan, exhibiting at 3 artist alleys, and building my own brand "Kiara in the Forest".