Yes, it is a tough problem and you do need to consider who is saying what. In my case, I make the majority of my income from the sale of fine art prints. In fact, now that Natalie (my wife) works with me full time, we have "split" our business in two parts and Natalie takes care of the majority of the shows as well as of the preparation that goes with them, while I do the photography and the printing plus my writing and my workshops. I'll be detailing all this in my upcoming essay "Being an artist in business" but I thought I'd touch upon it here because it is relevant.
I would be interested in knowing what percentage of their income lenswork is making from the sale of fine art prints? The article in Lenswork mentions that 1000 prints at $20 each where sold so far. This is $20,000. Now that may or may not be a lot depending on where you are at. For me, it can be the income from a single show, a relatively low percentage overall.
Another question is who is your audience? At shows our audience are fine art collectors who have no problem whatsoever spending $300 or more for a print. On the web, it is a different matter. As a matter of fact, we now have two entirely different collections, one that we sell on the web and one that we sell exclusively at shows. I have my entire price list on my website, because sales do happen for all sizes occasionally on the web, but the reality is that my best selling item on the web is the Print of the Month.
At shows, we don't feature the print of the month at all. We also have a different collection which is only sold and featured at shows. I don't have photographs of this collection on my website because it has to be seen in person to be truly appreciated as an item one wants to purchase. I also do not advertise shows on my site, because there is such a difference in buyer's habits. Show collectors rarely surf the web, while web surfers rarely buy at art shows. We do however invite previous print customers to shows personally, usually by email to our "show buyers" email list.
I am preparing a new photography marketing course which will feature what I just touched upon and much more, so these thoughts are on my mind right now.
Best regards,
Alain