Art Print Issues

Five Ways to Market Your Art Direct

We pause this blog for a little shameless self-promotion.

An artist friend who I met after he read my book, which resulted in a series of consulting sessions over the past two years, has decided to take up the offer from a publisher to join his ranks. He had long held the notion that with his considerable business expertise and decent financing he would self-publish his work. He had begun to do that and also to shop giclees of his work to galleries in his local area. Additionally, he also managed to get some of his giclees put in the gift shop of a prestigious venue in his area.

I'm being slightly cryptic here because the ink is not dry on the contract and he has what I consider a terrific idea for an approach to working a niche. If all goes well, he will have a coming out party at the upcoming 30th Annual ArtExpo New York show at the end of this month. When I can share more details,I will be happy to do so.

My friend has recently been re-reading my book, How to Profit from the Art Print Market. It was interesting for both of us to observe what he was going through with the development of his print career. In many ways, his circumstances were exactly as I described in the book. This was down to my mention of having a marketing maven full-time to help grow the business as a key component of self-publishing success for many, if not most artists. His wife is a gifted driven very successful designer in the home furnishings field. Their company has for more than a decade supplied household name brands with licensed designs of all sorts. While she would be perfect in this role, she does not have the time to put her career on hold to help his. Nor would it make financial sense for her to do so.

Left to his own devices, this artist began to realize the difficulties for an unknown artist to be both marketing maven and full-time artist. Plus, he still puts in time at the design business as needed. The bottom line is the uphill battle was starting to look overwhelming given the plausible vision he has for his art and career. As the luck most often found in the residue of hard work would have it, a contact in one of the galleries led him to perhaps the most ideal publisher for his genre and his circumstances. I'm quite happy for him things are going to work out.

What he found was in reading and re-reading my book was two years after his first reading, the basic advice from what to do, what might happen, what the commission structure offered would be and many other things were still spot on and valuable to him in his decisions and dealings with his new potential publisher. It was heartwarming validation for me the underlying advice continued to hold water even though the business continues to undergo substantial, if not monumental, upheaval and change.

More Signs of Change for the Art Print Market

The state and health of the trade magazines and tradeshows that serve the industry are as much a harbinger of how things are working out as any. In October 2006, I put 20 years of tradeshow experience on the line and predicted the Decor Expo Baltimore show would be a bust. That was harsh given the inaugural show was still six months away in April 2007. While I have no official word, I notice the February issue of Art Business News has omitted the 2008 Baltimore show from its Calendar. Not a good sign things are working out. Further, the Web site for the show has no exhibitor list. Since this is a primary tool for enlisting more exhibitors, one can only conclude the show is being quietly mothballed, or in serious trouble. I'm left wondering if another prediction of a sale for the Art and Framing Group by current owner, Summit Business Media LLC, can be far off.

ArtExpo Booth Sales Appear to Be Well Off Previous Year Figures

Meanwhile, the aforementioned 30th Annual ArtExpo New York show appears to also be struggling to bring in the same number of exhibitors as last year. A check today shows 374 companies listed as exhibitors. The list has been updated regularly over the past month with more than 100 exhibitors added to it. Nevertheless, it remains well behind the 600 exhibitors published by the show producer last month. The trade magazines that serve the business also are showing a decline in ad pages. These are pretty good indicators it's rough patch for the art print market these days. The cover story of the ABN issue was on the state of the art economy interviewing some veteran players in the market. While most found some ways to put a bit of positive spin on their outlook, none was overly optimistic.

Five Ways to Market Your Art Direct

It's a good time to review what you are trying to achieve from a business perspective for your career. I'm not talking about a year end review and goals for the coming months. I'm thinking more about what you want for your career financially and awareness. It could be like that of my friend who seeks to find an audience and appreciation for his work and to get the work to market in a way he could profit from the effort. Besides reaching a vastly larger audience, the appeal of the print market for most successful artists who embrace it is it provides them a way to generate repeat cash flow from the effort in creating an original.

I have said it before, but believe it bears repeating. Artists ought to be developing their own direct revenue streams with collectors. Easy to say, harder to do. But when you consider the traditional means are not nearly as robust as before, it provides extra impetus. Here are some ideas for how that might work:

1. Alternative spaces, such as coffee shops, restaurants, building lobbies and waiting rooms. There is a skin care salon located here in tony Paradise Valley that also offers art from local artists. The patrons are a perfect demographic for art. And, they are spending leisure time in the salon on a repeat basis. It works for the artists and the salon owner on multiple levels.

2. Create your own shows. You don't have to have a gallery to do this for you. Decide you are going to do it and follow though. You can create a show in a public space; perhaps a local community college, a church, a rented hotel room. Build some excitement around the uniqueness of the show with publicity or charitable components. Plan far enough in advance to get a good date not competitive with other activities. Enlist your family and friends to help you generate word-of-mouth.

3. Web sites and blogs. Are you selling direct from either? If not, why? Of course, you don't want to compete with any established galleries with an online site or physical location. Why not have exclusives for the galleries that are promoted on your Web site or blog along with exclusive images available only through you? eBay just announced it has new pricing. Apparently, the past year has been difficult with sellers abandoning the once juggernaut for other venues. It might be worth revisiting it for another shot in 2008.

4. Work with other artists. Get other visual artists, or musicians or poets to create a happening. Find ways to collaborate on art and promotion. The group dynamic could be very dynamic and stimulating. You can use something like Meetup that offers tremendous potential to the person with energy and a good idea and a dash of promotional verve.

5. Get in catalogs. The Guild, which is one of my most favorite for indie artists, offers a tremendous platform for sales and visibility for artists through its Artful Home catalog and Guild Sourcebook. It is by far not the only one, but if you are interested, you can act now to submit to its annual juried entry submission process. The competition runs through February 29 and is administered by Juried Art Services, which you should check out for all its offerings. A catalog or sourcebook such as this is one degree of separation, but you ship directly and you get promoted and create a relationship with your customers.

Bottom line is now more than ever, you have to think and act for yourself. The more you take your situation under your own control, the better off you will be. I'm sure there are plenty of other great ideas. If you have any and want to share, the comments section below beckons.

---

Enter your Email


Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

The Wisdom of the Wizard - 2008: Year of Transition

Last month, I introduced readers to Roy H. Williams, aka the Wizard of Ads, in announcing his illustration contest. Besides being an enormously talented and effective advertising professional, he is a best selling author, a deep thinker, a provocateur, a teacher, a romantic and a prognosticator. The Wizard Academy he spearheads is a place of learning like no other.

In a couple of recent posts here, you've read my thoughts on the economy with suggestions for adjusting your marketing plans. Katherine Tyrrell, who publishes the heavily trafficked Making a Mark blog. from across the pond in Britain picked up those posts and added her own insights and some other terrific links you will find informative and instructive. Her site is a veritable treasure trove of information for artists.

It seems lately there is a plethora of advice on the economy; then there is the Wizard with his unique, believable take on a 40-year trend shaping society right now. Here is a verbatim transcript of his January 20 Monday Morning Memo:

2008: Year of Transition

In January of 2004 I launched a public presentation: Society’s 40-year Pendulum. Audiences from Stockholm to Sydney to Vancouver to Myrtle Beach will recall my statement, “2003 was the first year in a 6-year transition from the Idealist perspective to the Civic.” 2008 will be the sixth and final year of that transition. Labels like Baby Boomer and Gen-X and Soccer Mom assume a person’s outlook is determined by when they were born. This is a very foolish assumption. Look around and you’ll see that Baby Boomers aren’t Boomers anymore. Most have adopted an entirely new outlook and are becoming part of what’s happening now. By the end of 2008 there won’t be a Baby Boomer left in America. The last, reluctant holdout will finally admit that Woodstock is over, Kennedy is dead, and the Idealism of the 60’s was a wistful dream. In their 1993 book, Generations, Strauss and Howe asserted that western society swings from an Idealist outlook to a Civic perspective and back again with the precision of pendulum. And at the bottom of each arc, the new views introduced by that generation's youth will be adopted by the adults within 6 years of the tipping point. 1963 introduced the Idealist outlook we associate with "Baby Boomers." 1968 was the final year of that transition. By 1969, everyone in America, regardless of their age, was seeing through rose colored lenses. 2003 was 1963 all over again, but this time we're headed in the opposite direction. 2008 will be the last year of our transition to a Civic perspective. Here’s what to remember when selling in 2008: 1. Efficiency is the new Service. Your customer is saying, “Quality and price and quick, please. I’ve got things to do. Thanks.” Service and selection still matter, but not nearly so much as they once did. Inefficient organizations built on high-touch “relationship” selling will decline.  Today’s customer is magnetically drawn to efficiency. This attraction will increase over the next few years. 2. Authenticity is essential. Listen to the street. “Being cool” has become “Keepin’ it real.” Naiveté is rare today. Your customer is equipped with a bullshit detector that is highly sensitive and amazingly accurate. And the younger the customer, the more accurate their bullshit detector. When selling, remember: If you don’t admit the downside, they won’t believe the upside. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Leonard Pitts gave us an example of “keepin’ it real" when he opened his syndicated column recently with the following lines: I’ve got nothing against fame. I’m famous myself. Sort of. OK, not Will Smith famous, or Ellen DeGeneres famous. All right, not even Marilu Henner famous. I’m the kind of famous where you fly into some town to give a speech before that shrinking subset of Americans who still read newspapers and, for that hour, they treat you like a rock star, applauding, crowding around, asking for autographs. Then it’s over. You walk through the airport the next day and no one gives a second glance. You are nobody again. Dave Barry told me this story about Mark Russell, the political satirist. It seems Russell gave this performance where he packed the hall, got a standing O. He was The Man. Later, at the hotel, The Man gets hungry, but the only place to eat is a McDonald’s across the road. The front door is locked, but the drive-through is still open. So he stands in it. A car pulls in behind him. The driver honks and yells, “Great show, Mark!” For the record, I consider Leonard Pitts to be one of the greatest living writers in the world today. Read his column and see if you don’t agree. 3. A Horizontal Connectedness is replacing yesterday’s vertical, social hierarchy. Labels like “white collar” and “blue collar” sound almost racist today. The new American dream isn’t about pulling ahead and leaving the others behind. It’s about becoming a productive member of the team. “Winning” has become less important than “belonging.” Listen to the streets. “I’m number one,” gets the response, “You ain’t all that, dog. You ain’t all that.” Labor unions were deader than a bag of hammers in 2004, a relic of the past, so when I predicted that collective bargaining would reawaken and gain momentum during the coming Civic outlook, audiences often laughed or folded their arms and curled a lip, thinking I was advocating organized labor. (I wasn’t.) Have you heard about the Hollywood writer’s strike?  Expect to see Wal-Mart unionized in the upcoming years. Hide and watch. See if I’m not right. 4. Word-of-Mouth is the new Mass Media. Video games and cable TV stripped our kids of their innocence at an early age, but the Technology that robbed them of idyllic childhood also empowered them with cell phones, blogs and blackberries. Viral marketing wasn’t created by the advertising community. It’s simply the result of a horizontally-connected generation (1.) sharing their happy discoveries with each other and (2.) trying to protect one another from mistakes.  WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS: It’s no longer enough just to have great advertising. When your customers carry cell phones and can email all their friends with a single click, you need to be exceptionally good at what you do. 5. Boasting is a waste of time. Your customer is saying, “Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words. Don’t tell me what you believe. Show me.” IN YOUR ADS, do you include “proofs of claim” your reader, listener or viewer can experience for themselves? 6. Everyone is broken a little. And the most broken are those who pretend they are not. It’s time to take the advice of Bill Bernbach, “I’ve got a great gimmick. Let’s tell the truth.” 7. Keep in mind that during the next 12 months, as we complete the transition from the Idealist outlook to the Civic perspective, these trends will be accelerated by the facts that: (1.) Access to information is going up and (2.) Access to money is going down. By the way, if I ever win a Pulitzer, I’ll immediately start wearing French shirts with 3-inch cuff links that spell out PULITZER PRIZE WINNER in diamonds. But if what I said earlier about “the last, reluctant holdout” is true, I expect my attitude will change approximately one second before midnight on December 31, 2008. Have a great week. Roy H. Williams PS  I'll be making that 90-minute presentation Society's 40-year Pendulum as part of the New Client Orientation on Feb 5. and again during the  Free Public Seminar on Feb. 12. My friend in Afghanistan, Wizard Acadgrad (and MBA) Susan Ryan sent me a fascinating email, “Christmas on the Road to Kandahar.” Cashews, Almonds or Pecans? No, my favorite nut is Leeroy Jenkins. And he’s got an interesting perspective on 2008. Finally! That new book from Michele Miller and Holly Buchanan!

Visual Art Marketing Tool, the Vlog

Unless you are a first time blog reader, or a new reader of this blog, you know the idea of blogging as an effective marketing tool for artists has been pounded, expounded and nearly ground to death. That's not to say give up on the idea, au contraire, if you haven't yet started blogging get with it post haste.

For those of you who want something more, who can visualize that YouTube is a force to be reckoned with and harnessed, there is video blogging, or vlogging, as it is known. I like the idea myself quite a bit, but haven't conjured how to make it work for this blog. Perhaps that day will come later this year.

Here are a couple of contemporary artists who are effectively vlogging. One is Natasha Wescoat. She is a natural in that there is not much she hasn't done or touched in the electronic media world to help further her career. If you have followed her career and realize she has achieved her success by dint of talent and perseverance on a budget and with other constraints that would have stymied most, it's that much more impressive. An early pioneer in selling art in volume on eBay, she's gone on to continue to develop an avid fan base via the Internet and the tools that come with it, including using vlogging. She has a wide range of video offerings. Here is a sample from her Natasha Wescoat's ArtCandy Web site:

Another artist effectively vlogging is Valentina on her Val's Art Diary site. She sells prints on eBay and DeviantArt as well as her prints. She also has a weekly drawing for a free prize using a clever dart throw selection. Watch the whole video to see how she does it. She uses the videos to give her viewers insight into her as a person and her thoughts about the paintings she creates. Viewer comments for her and Natasha substantiate it's working for both of them. Here is one of Val's weekly vlogs:

These are just two artists exploring how using vlogs can make their art much more accessible and real to their collectors. It's a brave new world out there. Whatever you do, don't forget Val's weekly admonition to eat your cookie. Explore her site and she'll generously show you in another video the tricks she used to make her trademark silhouette "Eat Your Cookie" video.

With the advent of blog and now vlogs, collectors can get to know the artists whose work they admire. Instead of reading the bio sheet and a couple of press clippings, they can get to see the artist, watch work created in time lapse videos and hear in the artist's own words what the the motivation is and what the meaning is behind their imagery. More and more people are spending time on sites like YouTube in lieu of watching reality TV shows. With the interminable Writers Guild strike, who knows how many more devotees the likes of Natasha and Val will be developed.

Business Advice for Artists in Today's Economy

A few months ago, I introduced readers of this blog to Richard Harrison. We met and became fast friends after reading each other's posts on Wet Canvas threads. Dick has generously created a series of lively podcasts on his Sales Tips for Artists Web site wherein he offers invaluable insights from a lifetime of business endeavors in graphic arts, advertising, and as a visual artist and professional artist's rep. I've said before he could have easily set these up as CDs or downloads and charged for them. And, if he had chosen that route, the advice would be well worth whatever any artist eager to learn how to advance his or her career would have paid. Fortunately, the price is free and despite the cliche, the information is priceless.

Dick has gone on to create a blog where he continues to provide more valuable information for artists. I'm humbled to know my recent blog post, Ten Points to Ponder for Your Art Marketing Plans inspired his most recent blog post. It's actually a series of posts that come under the title, When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going, I heartily recommend reading them:

• A Primer For Hard Times
• Think Like a Salesman
• Offer an Additional Service
• Sharpen Your Focus
• Be Open to New Opportunities
• Explore Niche Markets
• Barter Your Art for Fun and Profit
• Use Technology to Reach Buyers
• Use POD Print-on-demand

Yuroz Weighs In on Prosperity versus Posterity

For the past several years, I have had the honor of contributing as a blogger for Absolute Arts, which is perhaps the Internet's most heavily trafficked fine art site. My October 14, 2005 post, titled, Posterity versus Prosperity -- Can Artists Have It Both Ways, has generated more response than any other.

The post talked about a lengthy Los Angeles Times Magazine cover story that featured the artist Yuroz. Essentially, it posited because he had conquered the "commercial art" scene so successfully he was blocked from achieving success with museums. I argued, then as now, artists can have it all and should be allowed to without suffering negativity from those who should know and act better. Recently, Yuroz emailed me with his thoughts on the article and my blog post. His comments are heartfelt, sincere and are on the side of the artists. Here is a quote from his email that sums it up for me:

An artist's obligation is to create and support his loved ones. To me, the person is considered to be successful if he can afford to wake up in the morning and do what he loves to do. Successful or not, I wish there were more artists in the world. I don't remember any time in the history that world suffered because there were too many artists. - Yuroz

My current January 17 post on Absolute Arts titled Yuroz Weighs in on Prosperity versus Posterity provides his response and some thoughts from me on the subject. Perhaps the best bit of news is his UN mural art is traveling to four museums around the globe in 2008. Well done Yuroz! While you are on the site, check out Absolute Art's Online Portfolio Service. You can get started with your own free portfolio as a way to test the service. Here's a blurb from the site about it:

World Wide Arts Resources and absolutearts.com offer three levels of online portfolios for all artists to actively promote their work. Our goal is to provide artists with real international exposure and valuable marketing tools. World Wide Arts Resources and absolutearts.com websites receive millions of page views every month, making the sites the most heavily trafficked contemporary arts portal on the Internet. Superb placement with the major search engines place absolutearts.com and wwar.com in front of millions of potential customers. Read some testimonials from artists around the world who have Portfolios. Three levels of portfolios offered are the Free Portfolio, the Artist Portfolio which is open to all artists, and the Premiere Portfolio, where artists are selected by jury.

David Byrne's Business Strategies for Artists

David Byrne is perhaps best known as the front man and driving force for one of the most influential bands of the 1980s, The Talking Heads. A quick look at his Web site reveals a multi-talented artist with interests and success in music, art, books, theater, performance and film. In his erudite manner, Byrne penned a concise article for the December issue of Wired magazine. 

The article is titled, David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars. Whether you have a passing interest in how the music business is changing, or an abiding interest in how the models he discusses might affect you as a visual artist, I commend it to you. As a bonus, you can hear a track from a recent recording and other recordings of conversations and thoughts from him on this topic.

The #7 point on my recent post, Ten Points to Ponder for Your Art Marketing Plans is:

If you haven't already, start making plans to set up your own distribution. This could be online sales, alternative spaces or other inventive ways you can conceive to get directly to new collectors. The future success for many artists depends on their ability to deliver directly to their customers. The sooner you comprehend and act on this concept, the better off you'll be later on.

I hope you took that thought seriously. There are opportunities opening up with more on the way, But you have to have your head up to see and figure out how to capitalize on them. There are direct correlations between what is happening in the music business and with the distribution of art in the print business. The distribution breakdown has not come as far and galleries are still more important to visual artists than record stores have become to musicians. Nevertheless, the changes wrought by the intertwined evolution of the Internet and print-on-demand technology are significant. Galleries are abandoning the print market because of the commoditizaion of the giclee process and the proliferation of prints available online. Despite monumental changes, we are still in a nascent state of evolution in how visual art is sold as reproductions. And, regardless of change, reproductions, or prints if you will, are still the best way for most artists to gain financially from their creativity.

Over the past decade, we have seen the rise of the giclee as an important exciting development that overcame initial resistance because of its techno-component and colorfast issues, to go on and become the dominant form of printing for artists in the limited edition print market. It's now gone so far that I posed the question in a post last year titled, Is Giclee Passe? It is a legitimate question to raise now that we have seen the arrival of faster and less expensive equipment with the market evolving around the development.

Giclees are made by the boatload in Asian countries just like cheap oils are these days and with very good quality to boot. What was once a pricey commodity because it was rare and expensive to make has become something that is easy and inexpensive to make. Basically, digital printing capabilities are within the grasp of just about any artist interested in producing his or her own prints. As the printing prices go down and printing speeds have gone up, the artist's ability to price garden variety giclees at premium prices is evaporating.

The rise of open edition online one-stop marketing and fulfillment operations such as Image Kind, Red Bubble and Art.com's Artist Rising, and even Cafe Press to name a few, have made it very easy for any visual artist to sell their work online. Sites such as these are wonderful and freeing for many artists. But, their development further commoditizes the giclee process. it means those visual artists with a following and a vision or desire to grow a collector base are looking for new ways, or should be, to separate themselves from the masses. It's why, in part, I have lobbied for stopping limited editions of giclees for most artists. If you have some ideas on where this is going, I invite you to share them with this audience. I will over the coming weeks weigh in with my thoughts and research on how the market is evolving and where the pitfalls and opportunities might be.

Creative Publicity Pays

Here is a great question from a loyal reader (And a pretty good answer if I do toot my horn myself):

Dear Barney, You mentioned publicity. Can you give us a few ideas on creative publicity and how to and where to? What magazines do you suggest and what about free publicity, as well? Thank you, Janet Vanderhoof

Thanks for the excellent question, Janet. The best most effective publicity doesn't just happen. It comes about from a pre-planned coordinated effort to raise awareness for an artist. Too often marketers underestimate the power of publicity because it is not bought as a commodity like advertising. Just because it is complementary doesn't mean it should be taken lightly.

Before beginning a PR campaign, one needs to determine what the goal is. Getting publicity is a good thing alone. Getting publicity in the right media for the right reasons is a wonderful thing. Wasting time chasing the wrong media with the wrong goals is disheartening. The goal could be to become better known within the industry or some segment of it. Or it could be to become better known locally, regionally or nationally. It might be any combination of these segments. Or, it could be something completely different. It must suit you and your needs. The more ambitious the goal, the more planning and brainstorming it will take to pull it off.

Do You Need to Target Consumer Media, Specialty Media or Trade Media?

There is consumer media, specialty consumer media and there is trade media. One can target all if you are ambitious, organized and energetic enough to manage it. If you have read my book and this blog, you know I believe becoming a student of the business you want to conquer is imperative. That is, know what the trade publications are doing. Read current and back issues thoroughly making a concerted effort to understand what is going on with them, especially with their PR columns and features. Take the time get to know the editorial staff. They are always busy, but the right approach will win some time for you.

My recent blog post about Joy Butler and Nicole Kidd on stealth marketing is a perfect example of how an author and fine jewelry maker seeking publicity got the attention of people who can help them. Both targeted media influences who stood a chance to help them ratchet up their profile with the right audience.

The trade publications serving retailers, art dealers and picture framers are Art World News, Art Business News, Decor and Picture Framing Magazine. You should have them on your radar screen, especially the first two mentioned. There are numerous artists "how to" pubs such as The Artist's Magazine, but I don't think targeting them will help you grow your business. It would more of a vanity bragging rights move to go after them.

There is a host of specialty consumer magazines targeting the art market, you need to spend some time at the library or a good magazine store or a Borders to study which of these might be appropriate for you. Frankly, I think top shelf glossy consumer art magazines are out of range of the most artists, including the typical reader of this blog. But, don't be shy and never be afraid to dream or to tackle the impossible. It's always free to ask and as Wayne Gretzky says, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Sometimes the neophyte blindly charging in where others fear to dare is the one who gains access to things considered out of reach by those who study and think too hard before acting. Carrying the hockey analogy further, the highest percentage shots are the ones with the best angle to the goal.

The trade pubs don't have the pull they once did. The audience they serve is much smaller and more finicky, but they are still important and worth studying to learn what publicity opportunities they offer to artists. You will be surprised at what is possible with a diligent respectful campaign to get your items published in these books. If you can swing some advertising in them, do it. It's good for the magazines that serve the industry and the added visibility will give your publicity more credibility and punch and vice-versa.

If you want to target consumer media, whether print, radio or television, you have to have to stand out from the crowd. There are so many media outlets today that it is a constant chore for them to find suitable content. But, what they are looking for is something unique, something different, often with a human interest perspective. A charitable component is always a booster.

How about making a goal to get x number of national trade media placements, x number of local media placements and x number of regional media placements in 2008? It just takes planning and persistence. Make a reasonable achievable plan and break down the steps necessary to turn the plan into action. Don't take on more than you can reasonably handle. That is a prescription for losing patience before you succeed.

Some mags, like the trade pubs are easier to deal with and have shorter deadlines. Others, like national consumer mags are months in advance on publicity. Newspapers work on shorter deadlines. Local broadcast media often is only working a couple of weeks in advance for many stories. Decorating shows on cable are targets. Any and all of these are great targets, especially if you weave a cohesive plan to work as many as make sense together to create synergy and momentum. To find ideas, you have to train yourself to read and review the newspaper and magazines and other media not for entertainment or information, but as sources. When you see an item of interest, even those things not art related, ask yourself what you would need to do to emulate it, or do it better.

Analyze Who You Are, What You Do or What You Might Be Interested In Doing?

Do you paint fast? Do you paint subject matter out of the ordinary? Are you a charming character? Are you an outlandish larger than life character? Do you paint unusual subject matter. Do you have compelling personal interest story? Are you doing something worthwhile that will benefit a charity? Do you paint pets or kids in unusual settings? Do you do performance art with your visual art? Can you hook up with a performing artist to present your visual art in concert with music or performance? Have you created a thematic body of work that would grab the interest of local or regional media? These are just examples, you'll need to plumb your own situation to find what works for you.

Online Media Is Growing in Importance

I urge you to not overlook the burgeoning influence of Web sites and blogs to be creative media outlets. If you have the right art, Boing Boing could be perfect. Or it could be a business blog that appeals to the right segment as the aforementioned Nicole Kidd successfully targeted. Get Heather on her Dooce blog to notice you and suddenly hundreds of thousands of the Baby Boomer parent readers of her blog know about you. Research a list as on Technorati of the blogs with the greatest amount of page views for ones you can target. If you choose to forgo traditional media altogether and concentrate on online media, you can make a real dent. Natasha Wescoat continues to impress me with her tireless effective ongoing cutting edge efforts in the online world. If you do golf art, then getting some golf bloggers to mention you would be excellent. You just have to go where the interest and content fit your plans and product. The possibilities are endless. The research might lead you to subject matter you hadn't previously considered.

Broadcast PR to Traditional PR Outlets Is Always a Winner.

Take advantage of PR outlets such as PRWEB to broadcast a press release to thousands of media. My advice is to fund your press release at least at the $80 level at PRWEB. By comparison to any other media spending, this could be the biggest bang for your buck. You can also try Now Public if you are on a budget, but you won't see the reach of a funded PRWEB press release.

To get your arms around an idea that can be utilized in media in an ongoing way might require you to think about it for sometime before you get clear on what your UAP (Unique Art/Artist Proposition) is. But, if you cogitate on it long enough, you will figure it out. Your first thought may only be a step in the right direction. You may need to alter your course to adjust to changes in plans or because the opportunity is not what you thought, but is still something worth pursuing. There is no quick fix to working publicity effectively.

None of this happens because you wish it so. It requires the 3 Ds...Desire, Discipline and Details. That is, you have to truly want it to happen, you have to apply yourself with dedication and you have to study to know how to work as smart as hard to get the payoff you want. Putting it all together is not an easy task. But when you consider what other efforts have the potential to do so much for you, you'll likely agree a job worth doing is worth doing well, especially in the area of public relations.

As with anything else, the more quality time you put into it, the better your results are certain to be. But to make it happen, you have to plan and then you have to act. Once you do, good things will happen you couldn't imagine beforehand. My all-time favorite quote is from Goethe who eloquently and passionately brings this notion to light:

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832) )

Ten Points to Ponder for Your Art Marketing Plans

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'. - Bob Dylan 1963

It takes an admitted bit of hubris to include lyrics from one of the most enduring and powerful protest songs from Bob Dylan's oeuvre for a mere blog post. But, hey in the spirit of the holidays just passed, I hope dear readers you and Bob Dylan will forgive the trespass.

Dylan's epic words were written in tumultuous times. The Civil Rights movement was fulminating while the Vietnam War was beginning to rage full on over there. Here at home young people, angry Baby Boomers, were being politicized as never before as a result of being drafted to serve in arguably the most unpopular war America has ever fought. I have little doubt if involuntary conscription were a feature the current Iraq War, it too would have galvanized the populace, especially young people into action to make it equally as unpopular with the same divisive consequences as Vietnam caused. And, Dylan's lyrics would be apropos now as then.

The reality now is we are engaged in an unpopular war that has lasted longer than both World War II or the Vietnam war with a cost so high, the debt will still be being paid by the children of generations yet unborn. But our volunteer army and relatively stable economy have kept most of us on the sidelines praying for a reasonable end to an interminable situation. That said, the focus of this post is the state of the economy and how it affects visual artists in the print market.