How Sarah Sold Out Her First Drawing Drop
How Sarah Sold Out Her First Drawing Drop
Selling your work as an artist can sometimes be hard, but then sometimes? We’re making it harder than it needs to be.
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How Sarah Sold Out Her First Drawing Drop
Selling your work as an artist can sometimes be hard, but then sometimes? We’re making it harder than it needs to be.
We throw up a “commissions open” post on Instagram, cross our fingers, and hope someone stumbles across it. Or we quietly add a new print to our shop and then feel crushed when no one buys it (because… we never actually told them it was there). Sometimes we just sit around waiting for DMs to magically appear, or for a reel to “go viral” and do the heavy lifting for us.
And if that’s you then… that’s okay for now, but things could be better. Way better.
Because that way of selling isn’t really a plan. It’s wishing, hoping, waiting and then having no idea why it’s not working.
What actually works is giving people a reason to pay attention. A moment. A clear offer they can remember and get excited about… which is exactly where The Drawing Drop comes in.
My student Sarah had never run one before. She didn’t have thousands of followers or a huge list. She wasn’t running ads. And she wasn’t relying on some algorithm hack or secret strategy you have to pay thousands to find out about.
What she did have was a simple framework..
One offer.
One date.
One link.
And she showed up A LOT more than once to talk about it.
And… it worked. Twenty drawings sold out in twenty four hours.
Here’s why it worked
She made the offer simple. Twenty drawings. One date. One link. When people know exactly what’s on the table, they don’t have to think too hard about it — and that’s what makes them buy.
She built a waitlist. Not fancy, just a place where people could put their hand up early. That waitlist turned into her warmest audience. By the time launch day came, half the selling was already done in people’s heads.
She counted it down. Ten days, five days, tomorrow, today. Was it repetitive? Yep. But most people need the reminder. Life’s busy. The countdown gave them time to decide and a reason to act now.
And when it went live, she showed up. She replied to comments, celebrated buyers, and kept the energy up. That connection is what made it feel like an event instead of just another “buy my art” post.
The magic of a drop isn’t just that it sells your work fast (though, yes, that part is very fun). It’s that you’re leading people on a little journey. First they see the teaser. Then they join the waitlist. Then they get the reminders. By the time launch day rolls around, they’re not being asked to make a snap decision because they’re already ready.
That’s the bit most artists miss. We put the “buy now” button out once, cross our fingers, and then feel crushed when no one sees it. A drop flips that on its head. You’re warming people, capturing them at different stages, and building trust as you go. So when the doors open, it feels natural for them to say yes.
So if you’re tired of winging it with “commissions open” posts that go nowhere, maybe it’s time to try a drop instead. One offer. One date. One link. And the consistency to show up and actually tell people about it.
That’s the method Sarah used to sell out in a day and it’s one you can use too.
Because selling your work doesn’t need to be complicated. It just needs a way to do it that works.
