Years ago I started selling my astrophotography at a successful little local market stall I used to hold to sell my landscape & macro photography. The market store ended due to my time constraints but I persisted selling photography online because the demand was still there:
astrophotography.com.au
That was the early 2000's, with the market stall ending in ~2006.
Since 2010 the demand for physical prints has dropped, and that rate of drop has exponentially increased in recent times, to the point that now I sell very few. I know it's not just me, it's an industry wide situation. Demand for digital rights still exists but not something to bank the house on when only doing astrophotography. As a result I can't encourage anyone to go down this route - it is a lot of effort and there simply is no longer the desire by individuals to buy photography and it is individuals who you get the most gratification from as opposed to corporate's wanting digital rights. [the situation is a little different if you intend to pursue photography in general as a major income source]
I do get involved in exhibitions now and then, which are good fun but can not be expected to ever profitable. If you have the time and money to get involved in exhibitions, and a local exhibition space, it is emotionally rewarding and good fun to do exhibitions, just not profitable:
http://astrophotography.com.au/photography-exhibitions/
Generally these days I am very much enjoying the realisation that I shouldn't push what won't sell, and so am enjoying places like IIS with renewed passion for simply sharing work with like minded individuals and concentrating on what astrophotography I enjoy as opposed to what might sell.
Also, the kind of comments in the original post of this thread is the kind of reason people such as myself often go down the research line after several years of "pretty image astrophotography". Research can be more rewarding than repetitive pretty pictures.
I enjoy putting prints that don't sell up in my observatory, and putting up prints of significant achievements (the ones that mean the most to me personally) as opposed to the "most pretty" results.
