Art Print Issues

It's Not the Economy Stupid

The title of this post is a paraphrase of the mantra from Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign. Then it was, "It's the Economy Stupid." The harsh point was used to focus his campaign on the single most important topic that helped get him elected.

It's Not the Economy Today Stupid

With the deteriorating housing market, rising cost of gas and food and other economic woes it would seem easy to say, (with apologies to Yogi Berra) we are having deja vu all over again. However, in my humble opinion, the economy is not the real problem for visual artists, authors or musicians. Not to discount the effects these things and a lingering war effort have on the situation. They admittedly are profound.

Changing Consumer Habits Are the Real Threat

The real threat is how the creative product of artists is being consumed and viewed. Print-on-demand, the Internet and other technologies are evolving at an incredible pace. All kinds of industries are reeling from dramatic changes in consumer habits. CDs for musicians are ancient history and the level of unpaid copied and downloaded product continues to rise despite efforts to abate them. Newspapers are suffering serious drops in readership. Their cash cow classified sections are being decimated by www.craigslist.org. Small retailers are plowed under by the voracious Wal-Mart juggernaut. Thinking about all this is enough to make a person throw up their hands and cry or maybe just throw up. But the former is not a solution and the latter is just messy.

Creating Self-determined and Managed Distribution Channels is Imperative

I have frequently commented artists need to find or create new alternative ways to get their product to market. Some will come from new products, or by utilizing existing technologies to create 2-D art or digital art to engage consumers in novel ways. As changes unfurl, challenges arise and some offer opportunity. It doesn't have to be high tech, it could be a new twist on old-fashioned high touch. My previous post here, Wired Art Marketing Idea, showed how Wired magazine and Xerox partnered to use technology to offer users a fun interactive way to personalize its iconic cover to anyone with a computer. It was a fun, effective bit of viral marketing for both companies (It worked well enough for you to read about it here a year later.) The post was an effort to say, "Think about doing things differently, much differently."

Christine Kane Is an Inspiring Real Deal

Christine Kane, is one artist who has embraced change and profited professionally and personally from it. I have, along with thousands of others, grown to greatly admire her on many levels. She is an accomplished successful recording and touring singer-songwriter. Long ago, she took control of her destiny. Through hard work and talent, she grew a profitable career as musician. She is also a successful blogger. Out of her blogging, she has grown a retreat workshop business. The success she is enjoying from her workshops is causing her to rethink her recording career and musical career.

Now, having her stop writing songs and recording would be a shame for her thousands of fans, but if it is where she wants to go or is driven to go, then more power to her for having the guts and ability to make such a monumental change. If you read her thoughts on her Web site or blog, it's easy to pick up how evolving market conditions out of control of musicians like her is forcing change. It is unwanted, as is most change, but is nevertheless inevitable. She has the courage, wisdom and wherewithal to envision it, do something about it and use it to enlighten and encourage others to make their own changes.

Her recent blog posts, Bake Sales or Blogging: What’s your Paradigm? and Creating vs. Getting are must reads. Give them some thought as they are certain to challenge some of your own thinking about your career, where it is headed and if you are on the right track. Will Rogers once remarked, "Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you don't keep moving." Christine Kane is an artist and business person on the move. Find whatever works from her model to employ in your own career and keep on moving yourself.

Drawing the Line on Reproductions

Technology for better and worse...sometimes a little of both

For as long as the ability to reproduce art has been available, there have been those who have sought to use it for legitimate purposes, and unfortunately also for ill-gotten gain. There were numerous reports last month about a ring of crooks busted for selling $7 million in fake Picasso, Miro, Dali and Chagall prints, including a post here. These details come nearly on the one-year anniversary of the announcement of the conviction of Kristine Eubanks and her husband, Gerald Sullivan. That pair had been charged with selling $20 million in bogus art prints, many of which were made in their own professional giclée printmaker studio.

(This content is republished from the April 3, 2008 Absolute Arts blog where I am a guest blogger and where you will find an interesting running commentary on it.)

Personally, I quite enjoy that visual artists can reproduce their work and thus create a secondary cash flow from it. It gives them another price point and allows them to introduce their work to many more collectors as well. Seeing cases of fraud, as mentioned above, concerns me visual artists creating legitimate reproductions can sometimes find themselves under unwanted unnecessary scrutiny. As if making a go of it for most artists was not already difficult enough.

What Is Art?

Part of the romantic allure of the art business – yes folks, it is a business – is it is kind of Wild West when it comes to what one wants to do and what one wants to call it. By golly, the debate over “What is art?” rages on and has never really been satisfied. Surely, the folks at the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) can attest from regularly coming under siege for funding controversial works can tell you there is a wide range of sentiment regarding the question of “What is art?”

So, if we can’t decide on what is art, is there any chance we can decide on what is a print? The short and correct answer is no. The mixed use of terms in the business creates confusion that leads to anxiety and distrust.

What Is Investment Art? Can Giclées Be Considered Investment Art?

For many, buying art is more intriguing because one can also hope it may appreciate in time. Ask any of those folks taking part in the $200 million dollar class action suit against the Park West Galleries for its cruise ship art auction tactics. You can bet all bought with the idea of getting a great deal. Unfortunately for them it was only after being shorn did they realize they overpaid for art. It is the same mentality and likely the same herd, only on terra firma, that were taken in by the aforementioned couple of Eubanks and Sullivan who foisted their fraudulent works on their “Fine Art Treasures” cable TV show. In fairness, savvy buyers through the centuries have capitalized on buying undervalued art...and still do today. Tennis great, John McEnroe, says he's made more money in the art market than on the court.

We Should Rethink Limiting Digital Prints

I have for years championed the idea of abandoning limited editions for giclées. In fact, I blogged nearly three years ago on Absolute Arts with a post titled “Limiting Success” about it as well as on my own Art Print Issues blog. It just doesn't’t make sense to me for a variety of reasons; including it begs the question of why limit that which can endlessly be reproduced perfectly or as improvements come along all the better.

Limited editions also nicely lend themselves to some of the schemes mentioned here. I contend if the art is good enough, people will pay a fair price for it knowing it is in unlimited supply, which might help thwart some phony print schemes. Do I care if a recording artist sells millions of copies? Why should I care how many a visual artist will sell? If I want truly intrinsic value from a limited supply, I will pony up for an original, which is why many galleries have left the print/giclée market. They are tired of romancing the artist to a prospective collector only to lose the sale via the Internet when the buyer shops it. Selling originals avoids this problem, but it puts a kink in an artist's ability to leverage his or her work in the print market, which creates just another problem.

Regardless of what I have had to say, the fine art digital reproduction limited edition business remains strong, if not as vibrant as in its glory days. But then, you can say that about all kinds of businesses these days struggling to figure out how to survive in challenging changing times. Today, you can find many artists raking in big bucks selling limited editions in all manner of limited edition configurations. And, their galleries and they are not about to abandon a successful situation. Who can blame them? I merely argue they are leaving money on the table in the long haul by limiting editions.

How much did Greenwich Workshop & Bev Doolittle leave on the table?

Bev Doolittle's first giclées sold out nearly 4,000 pieces in a short time. Could she have sold more and still be selling them if they were merely numbered, but not limited? I contend yes. The early low numbers would ultimately have collectible value if the art is truly appreciable and not being Ponzied up by a limited edition marketing scheme. In Doolittle's case, I think the art would stand up to being open and sell well for years making he and her publisher more money with more happy collectors in the program as well.

A great image might sell well for years just as the back catalog of recording artists do. These steady streams of income could make a striking financial difference for popular artists and their families. Some, like the gifted watercolor artist, Steve Hanks, have retired huge editions on paper and are now releasing the images on canvas. I think Hanks would have never had to quit selling his work if the editions were they open and sequentially numbered because the work is enormously popular, timeless, compelling, representational and surreal at once. Instead, he’s had to resort to putting his watercolor work on canvas, which hardly reproduces as faithfully as his editions on paper.

Someone commented on my blog recently that giclées cannot be considered limited editions unless they are all produced at one time. The contention is they are a limited series instead. Once again, an interesting arguable take that further muddies the waters and heightens the desire for a ruling body to take hold.

Dead Artist's Estates Are Still Cranking Out Editions - So Are the Crooks - Who is Gary Arseneau?

To further stir the pot, there are many dead artists whose estates continue to print reproductions of their work. This, of course has been going on for years with the big names like Dali, Picasso, Miro and Chagall. While long gone, these artists remain in the news for the sale of both legitimate and fake reproductions of their work. Now along comes Gary Arseneau, he is a self-styled independent scholar, an artist, printmaker of original lithographs and a blogger. He is also the self-published author of books such as The Monument to the Victor Hugo Deception.

We ought to be asking, “Who is Gary Arseneau?” Is he a gadfly, or a crusader tilting in the wind trying to stem the tide of fake reproductions? You can only decide by spending time on his blog where he outlines in great detail his argument that the works of Rodin, Degas, Matisse, Duchamp and even Dr. Seuss that are being reproduced by their estates and heirs are fakes. He makes a heck of an interesting argument. Certainly, if you care about reproductions, buy them, produce or market them, you owe it to yourself to study his findings, read his arguments and come up with your own conclusions.

Is Having a Set of Enforcable Understandable Standards Too Much to Hope For?

Regardless of your personal opinion, the can of worms opened by Mr. Arseneau hastens the idea that establishing and enforcing true standards in the art world would be helpful. It is a crazy notion, I agree, but until a line is drawn on reproductions, the visual arts community will carry the burden of proving itself beyond reproach each time art of any value goes to market.

Artists Who Establish Authenticity and Transparency in Their Business Practices Will Win

As the world shrinks due to instant information and communication, being authentic and transparent becomes imperative. For those artists who find a way to embrace authenticity and transparency in how they create multiples or reproductions of their popular work and manage and market their business, there is ample reward awaiting them and their rightful heirs.

Shift Happens - Slideshare is Way Cool, Use It Freely!

Recently, I republished a post from the fertile mind of futurist Watts Wacker wrting in his monthly newsletter, First Matter. In his Keep Your Eyes Open I'm Convinced It's About to Happen article, W2, as he playfully signs his emails, explains the enormous impact Peter Max had on the art market in the 20th Century, and how The Beatles played a part in it too.

Watts postulates THE NEXT BIG THING in the art market will come from China. Agreeing with him, I added a comment on his Web site. It notes how things are vastly different from 40 years ago when The Beatles and Peter Max changed the world. I suggest some musical muse might come from the Caribbean or Africa in a collaboration with a Chinese artist that could shake things up in ways we haven't seen since the 60s. It often seems to me the more unlikely a thing one can imagine today makes it more likely to occur. The slideshow below, courtesy of Slideshare, sheds light on Watt's basis for his prediction.

Futurism is not based on crystal ball gazing, but rather distills the future from what is obvious. You just need to know where to look and how to interpret your results. This, being more difficult than it sounds, is why W2 gets the big bucks. The above Shifthappens slideshow illustrates how in the new millennium we are on the precipice of a historic shift where by sheer numbers in our now close knit digital global age, China and India are poised to dominate the way Western Europe and the U.S. respectively did in the early and second half of the 20th Century.

I can't portend exactly what such a monumental shift will mean to your career as a visual artist. But, I can tell you changes you cannot foresee will impact it as the Shifthappens presentation implies. You can judge by your own experiences that technology has changed and shaped how you inform yourself, create, reproduce, market and sell your art today. I encourage you to be open to change, to embrace it, to productively use it however you can.

In 2005, how many thought artists would use blogging for significant learning and marketing experiences? I opened an account with my blogging software, Typepad, in 2005, but didn't quit my PDF style newsletter until a year ago, making me in some ways a poster child for the poignant Kelly Ruger quote below.

A way cool Web 2.0 program you can employ now is SlideShare. Both presentations embedded in this post are from its Web site. SlideShare is the world's largest community for sharing presentations & slideshows. You can upload your PowerPoint, OpenOffice, Keynote or PDF files, tag them, embed them into your blog or website, browse others' presentations, and comment on individual slides. What's more, the transcripts of your presentation will be indexed by Internet search engines and show up in search results. It's a great way to share your ideas with others, or to learn from other people. And it's completely free and you choose whether to make your presentations public or private.

To further stimulate your creativity, review the terrific presentation below, which is also found on Slideshare: Visual and Creative Thinking: What We Learned from Peter Pan and Willie Wonka. Here is just one quote from the presentation which I hope will encourage you to review it:

Sometimes an idea loses its meaning over time, but isn't abandoned because of the investment in the past. These ideals are often so immune to criticism that those who challenge them are ignored or marginalized.- Kelly Ruger

View the Visual and Creative Thinking Slideshare presentation

I've suggested here a couple of time to use The Personal Brain, which is a wonderful mind mapping brainstorming tool. If you are beginning to see a pattern here of encouraging creative thinking and tools, you'd be right. Enjoy!

Take Five - Art Marketing Ain't Brain Surgery

Don't get me wrong. I love reading the blogs, magazine articles and other punditry on how to grow a successful art business. It's been a passion with me for years to help artists and I am amazed at how much there is to learn about the process. Sometimes though, I think the information overload, and not just from art blogs, but all sources, is enough to make anyone throw up their hands and say fuggedaboutit. This post is your unofficial sanction to goof off, get lost, daydream, go fishing, knit a beanie or anything that will let you get away from the pressure of working to catch you art career on fire.

I mean the news on tainted meat, crazed college killers, endless war and terrorism talk, not to forget the incessant blather about Obama, Clinton, McCain and Britney tends to take a toll on one's psyche. Who has time to absorb that and all the great stuff freely flowing about what you need to do to make it in the art business? I don't think you can without some balance. That requires Takin' Five, or Fifty or Five Days. Whatever you need to get away from it. For some escape might come by retreating into creating art purely for the purpose of creative release and expression with no thinking about how to make so it will sell smartly sell in a business-like manner. Nothing wrong with that. For others, it might be reruns of Seinfeld, The Golden Girls, or I Love Lucy, or some other sort of mental escape from the drumbeat of information modern technology puts at our fingertips.

Music Provides Relief

For me, if I want to truly escape, it's with music. I have great fun making mixes to match my moods. I used to spend time reading mindless escapist fare, but perhaps because I read so much now in connection with this blog and other planned projects, it's not so much these days. That's a shame, because I know there is a treasure trove of great literature, biography and historical novels ready for me to devour sometime when I am in a different place on a different pace.

As a pleasant productive pastime, I've lately have been copying several hundred cassettes that I never replaced with CDs. It's an enjoyable hobby with a trip down memory lane attached as I relisten to music I haven't heard in years. The software I use is called Honestech VHS to DVD 3.0. With it, you can rip cassettes onto your hard drive. The only drawback is it doesn't rip by song. But it works great if you don't mind listening to a whole side of a cassette as we did back in the last century. As you can likely tell by the name it also works to allow you to copy VHS tapes to your hard drive.

Art Print Issues celebrates one-year anniversary as a blog with post # 100

You might say I'm taking my own advice here in not proffering art marketing information with this post. Today is the one-year anniversary of Art Print Issues in blog format. This is the 100th post I've put up in the past year. For those long time readers, you know I have an archive of 8-page newsletters dating back to 2005 when I first published my book as well. You can peruse an article index list to the API archives here where you will find nearly 50 other items of interest.

Tough and tense as we seem to be these days, I wouldn't trade living in this time for some other in the past. I love being part of a worldwide community of artists and others interested in art marketing and to be able to easily communicate, share thoughts, collaborate and learn from them on subjects where I am absolutely passionate. What's possible now is so vastly superior to just a few years back it is hard to believe it's all happened in such a short period of time. I think things are only going to get more interesting, fun and challenging all at the same time.

Thanks for reading my blog and for participating for those of you who have commented or sent me emails. It is very gratifying to know the effort makes a difference. I'm looking forward to many more years of producing this blog and some other projects I think you'll be excited to learn about as 2008 progresses.  All the best! 

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

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.

Something Old Something New Meet Myron Arndt & Sue C. Smith

SOMETHING NEW

A long time art print indutry veteran recently joined the ranks of art business bloggers. His name is Myron Arndt. With his list of accomplishments and breadth of knowledge, he is sure to add value to the conversation about how to help the art market, prints in particular, navigate the choppy waters surrounding it today.

An example of the valuable information Myron is publishing on his Art Business Thoughts blog is his recent post titled, Art Submission Tips. It provides insights for artists on how to properly present themselves to a publisher. One of his ventures is Island Art Publishers. From this vantage point he offers firsthand knowledge, wisdom and tips for artists considering working with a a publisher. Check him out, you'll be glad you did.

I would love to see more art print publishers join the ranks of bloggers. It would be good for them and great for the industry and artists to have them publishing their thoughts and sharing their treasure trove of experience as Myron has chosen to do. If you have contact with any publishers, let them know about Myron and suggest to them the notion of starting a blog for themselves. Tell them to contact me for ideas, guidance and resources to get started.

SOMETHING OLD

Sue C. Smith launched her Ancient Artist blog in May 2007. I love the concept; the subtitle is: On creating art in Oregon, starting a second career in art instead of retiring, developing an art marketing strategy, and philosophical discussions about art.

How many artists does that describe? A whole bunch is the answer. Boomers are shedding their past and searching for their futures in droves. The number turning 60 every day is astounding.

I think Sue is on to something with her approach. Her blog topics are wide ranging, but are all nonetheless interesting. Much of her Ten Things You Can Do Now dovetails perfectly with my own philosophy of developing an art career.

Best wishes to both these bloggers to keep adding to the art business and art marketing blogging conversation.

Blog Rush - Generate Targeted Traffic to Your Blog

There are numerous tools one can use to drive blog traffic and find new readers. Obviously, some will work better than others. The folks at Blog Rush have developed a program that looks like a winner to me. If you have a blog, take a look at how Blog Rush can help you find new readers for it. If you have a favorite blog, let its publisher know about Blog Rush. I am certain they will thank you.

You will find the Blog Rush widget on the left side of my blog. Click on the link on the bottom to learn how you can use Blog Rush to help you grow your traffic and awareness. Or click on the image below.

Bet on Facebook - It Could Be the One

Much is written about the potential of Web 2.0, which is a catch-all phrase for all the developments around using Web apps as opposed to those residing on your computer. In that world, your word processing, spreadsheets and other programs would be updated without you having to purchase the next Office 15.0 suite to stay current. You would have to have a subscription, no free ride there.

Other important components of Web 2.0 are social networking and social bookmarking platforms with  MySpace and Facebook typifying the former and Del.ico.us, Digg and Technorati the latter. Blogs are Web 2.0 and so are YouTube and Flickr to name but a few of the most popular 2.0 type sites proliferating on the Web. Some would say altenate universe sites like Second Life are in this group as well.

For some marketers, including artists, galleries and publishers, these and other sites like them have represented new ways to find new collectors. Clint Watson in his Fine Art Views blog recently passionately argued spending time trying to create your own community instead of using Facebook or other opportunities. Clint feels it is not the best use of one's time. It's hard to disagree with him.

My observations from talking with artists and reading and posting to artist discussion board threads is some are getting very good value from their time using the abovementioned links and others such as Squidoo and Stumbleupon. They report gaining blog traffic and finding new customers by spending time with any or all of the links listed here.

While I agree with Clint that a more traditional approach given a finite amount of time for marketing makes the most sense, I see evidence artists are making these new opportunities pay off. Those who are finding success are diligently working the programs...hey that's just exactly what it takes in traditional marketing. You have to do it, do it some more, get smarter about what you are doing and do it some more.

If you read my recent post, you know I suffered a hard drive failure. I am working to restore the data (fingers crossed). It had many links to stories about Facebook that I planned to use and present to my readers. Since I'm not sure when that will happen now, I'm plunging in with this information. Facebook has been bought in part by Microsoft. Other articles I've been reading and anecdotal information from various trusted resources leads me to believe Facebook is the one and first place among the Web 2.0 possibilites that I would put attention to marketing for myself and for artists I advise. Here is a link to a story from Henry Blodgett's Silicon Alley blog: Facebook Ads: The Devil's In The Details. Recent articles in Internet Retailer magazine also talk about how mass marketers are diligently working to learn how to put Facebook to work for them.

This post could be more thoughtful with more insight provided from the currently unavailable links on my dead hard drive and a little more time cogitating from me. But, I don't want to wait longer. i want to urge you to consider using Facebook as the place where I think you can get the greatest bang for your buck (and time) from among all the Web 2.0 opportunities out there. I'm sure there are those who will disagree and I welcome any comments.

If you have been following along with how our industry is changing and how the marketing efforts of companies in all industries are changing, you know you may need to pick a horse to bet on. I'm not saying the others won't deliver, but with limited time, I would go with Facebook as my primary source.

Mark Twain once said: "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

Twain's wisdom applies for marketers in the 21st Century. You can't wait until a clear winner evolves and play catch up. You have to get in somewhere, the sooner the better and going with Facebook looks to me about as a good a choice as you can make.

Links You'll Like

Here are some links you can use to help you and your art career. Please share them with your friends.

Gawker Artists - You may have noticed the rotating images with the Gawker Artist logo on the left column of this blog. (Hit your refresh button to see more images.) Artists are invited to submit their work to Gawker Artist for consideration. There is no charge to the artists when their work is added to the roster. The art is displayed on blogs and Web sites at no charge either. If you decide to add one of the three sizes of displays, your blog or Website will be listed on the Gawker Artist site. It's generated good traffic to my blog. Liz Dimmit is the curator for the site. Her Gumshoe business provides cultural tourism to New York city visitors and is tailored to their specific interests. Sounds like a great way to see the city to me!

The-Artists.Org - Artists can list for free with a reciprocal link to their Web site, or make a one-time $65 donation to get a more robust listing. The site has a Google Page Ranking of 6, which is excellent and claims 7 million annual visitors. Worth checking out!

Marketfusions - A blog on thoughts on strategy, business, marketing, content & creativity. The link here is to a very good article on Personal Branding. The business side of art is all about personal branding. This post offers clear advice on how to get your arms around it and incorporate it into your career.

Passionate for Life - Are You Pursuing Happiness and Joy? I'm not personally involved with any coaches or mentors, but I've seen enough positive results from those who are to pass this along. The site features writers and life coaches who address the key elements of living life with passion - exploring the power of passion; how to discover one's passion; how to live a life of purpose and authenticity; the law of attraction; the art of living passionately; finding your dream career; re-inventing oneself and more.

Outdoor Art - Trends come and go. I think this one has a long life. Consumers are spending more time and more money to accommodate a lifestyle of living as much as possible outdoors. They want to decorate these spaces much like their indoor counterparts. If you or your publisher haven't considered adding weatherproof prints to your lineup, you are missing some sales opportunities. You can find lots of information by Googling "weatherproof art" and "outdoor art." (Did you know when you put a phrase in quotation marks in a search engine it will only search for that exact term?)

Final note - those of you who get Art Print Issues by email subscription or RSS syndication received a notice for Links for 2007-09-26 (Digg). It points to a blog post titled Ten Timeless Persuasion Writing Techniques; It's very good information, but I didn't intend to send it to my subscribers, especially one day after sending a new post. This happened automatically when I Dugg (voted) for this post on Digg. It's something I'm not thrilled about because I can't figure out why it happened and until I do, I'll do no more Digging of any articles despite how much I like them. I admire the blogger and am glad you have the information, but I'm confounded by the technology that does such things. Too much of a good thing, I suppose. And, yet another reason to put a post together on social bookmarking, social networking, etc. If we all only had the time to investigate and tame these beasts...

When you hear from me again, I will be back from ArtExpo Las Vegas where I have great hopes for a good show for all involved. You'll get my report on it and Decor Expo Atlanta soon!