Which artworks should you monitor first? A practical guide for selling artists

Start with work that has a clear reason to be watched: an artwork with a previous copying problem, a commercially important bestseller, or a piece you are actively promoting. Then expand your list as you build a routine.

This is a practical way to allocate your attention, not a prediction of which image will be copied. You do not need a perfect ranking to make a useful start.

If you have already found an unauthorised use of an artwork, you have a concrete reason to keep checking that piece. Keep the original and your record of the earlier incident together, so you can distinguish a familiar result from a newly discovered page.

A previous incident does not prove that another will happen. It does mean this is a work you have already spent time investigating, and may want to keep in view.

Choose: one design with a documented copying or reposting problem, if you have one. If you do not, move on to the work that matters most to your business.

Look at your own sales or licensing history. Which artwork supports a product you sell regularly? Which illustration appears in a collection you intend to keep offering?

A bestseller is worth considering because of its importance to you. Sales alone do not tell you whether anyone has copied it. Use a specific piece rather than a whole category. “The botanical print that sells every month” is a more actionable choice than “all my botanical work”.

Choose: one consistently selling or otherwise commercially important artwork.

A launch gives you a natural moment to begin monitoring. You already know which pieces you are publishing, where your official listings are, and which partners are authorised to share them.

Choose a lead illustration from the collection or the work featured in your campaign. Keep a note of your own shop pages and approved uses so they are easier to recognise when reviewing results. This does not mean a new release is automatically at greater risk. It makes monitoring part of an existing publishing routine, rather than a task you have to remember later.

Choose: one current release you want to keep watching after launch week.

If you license your art, a match may be completely expected. An authorised partner might use the image on a product page, in a catalogue, or in promotional material.

Before adding that work to your shortlist, keep a simple reference of the partners and uses you have authorised. Monitoring can give you pages to review; your records provide the context for deciding whether anything needs attention. A visual match cannot interpret a licence agreement for you. If you are unsure about a particular use, check the relevant agreement before drawing a conclusion.

Choose distinct artworks with clear reasons to monitor them. You do not have to fill every category, and a piece that fits two categories only needs to appear once.

Illustrative example, not a customer case study. Imagine an artist with 60 illustrations: a bird print that sells regularly, a floral design previously found in an unauthorised listing, and a new landscape collection. A manageable starting list would be the floral design, the bird print and the lead landscape illustration. The other 57 pieces are not being judged safe or unimportant. The artist is simply starting with three clear priorities.

If you have no sales history or previous copying incidents, choose the work you are currently showing to potential customers. The aim is a useful first step, not a complicated scoring system.

Once you have chosen your pieces, add them to TraceMyAssets and select an available automatic scan schedule. When a scheduled scan finds something new, TraceMyAssets emails you a count and a link to review the results. For each work, keep a short note of:

• Why you selected it.
• Where you publish or sell it yourself.
• Any partners or uses you have authorised.

Those notes help you review findings without starting from scratch each time. You can compare possible matches with your original and decide which ones need a closer look.

TraceMyAssets searches public, indexed pages through its search sources. It cannot see every page or guarantee that every copy will be found. A match is a lead to review, not proof of unauthorised use. See where we look for the scope of the searches.

A new collection, a licensing deal or a newly discovered copying problem can change your priorities. Use those moments to review what you monitor and decide whether to add more work. Older pieces can still matter. Avoid dropping a long-running seller simply because it is no longer your newest release.

When a result needs attention, our guide to what to do when you find a copy of your artwork can help you organise the next steps. If you need to organise your creation records, see how to document that you made your artwork.