BREAKING NEWS: More online print sales!

I just made my first $200 in online print sales from my last big event! Last week, I blogged about being confused and discouraged because few people who attended the annual National Black Skiers mini-summit had purchased photos I took during the week-long event held in Breckenridge. But business is now booming! Here an image one client purchased featuring his unfortunate wipe-out during a ski race:

I've sold 22 of my images, and I should be getting my first pay check sent to me by SmugMug, which hosts my business website and prints and delivers my photos to clients. It's interesting to note that clients have purchased only 5x7's and 8x10s, and more than half of the sales were from digital downloads. Clients I contacted said they appreciated having immediate access to the downloads and were able to easily place the images on their own websites or MySpace pages. Many of my images were also purchased by vendors who were performing during the NBS event, so I will need to take them into account during future events. Several images I took of stilt walker and giant puppeteer Bill "Stretch" Coleman, who performed during the event's opening ceremonies, can be seen on his company website and in this image from my portfolio:

I think all of this information will be helpful when it comes to figuring out what to charge for my services and where I'm most likely to get the biggest return for my efforts. If I can snag this event again next year, one thing I may want to consider to help increase sales is hiring some assistants for these events so I have the manpower to edit photos on the scene and have prints ready to purchase the very next day. I was also able to convince the NBS's newsletter editor to include an ad in her upcoming issue giving members links to my photo galleries online. I traded the free advertising for some free prints she will use in her newsletter, but I'm convinced the added exposure will net me more sales to come.