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.

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!

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) )

A Year of Blog Topics for Artists - No Reason to Hold Back Now

Having read Why Every Artist Needs a Blog on Art Print Issues, you are ready to take the plunge into the blogoshpere. But, you are concerned you won't know what to write. If you think people don't want to know what you had for lunch, you're correct and win a gold star. Here then are 52 suggested blog topics designed to get you through your first year without ever mentioning peanut butter and jelly. Several topics could easily be multi-part posts:

52 blog topics for artists - Courtesy of Art Print Issues

1. Why I support xyz charity
2. The most inspiring art teacher I have known
3. How I came to know being a professional artist was my career path
4. Why I love working with xyz medium
5. What you can learn from the traveling exhibit at the abc museum
6. Four galleries I would love to carry my work and why
7. Five contemporary artists whose works inspire and inform me
8. Clues to the subtle messages in my art
9. My color palette is (nature/technology/environment) driven and why
10. Ten things they don't teach you in art school
11. How being in the business of art affects my art
12. When I paint, I like to listen to Guns n' Roses/London Philharmonic/Enya/Toby Keith
13. How the other arts influence my work, e.g., how I attempt to interpret the fluidity of a ballerina in my brush stokes
14. Here are blogs by other artists whose work I like, or whose blogs I like
15. Art retreats; although you may not get rich and famous, you can still travel and stay at wonderful places. Here are my favorites or fantasies
16. How other jobs I've had have added perspective to my art
17. Spirituality is personal, but growth in it has made me a better artist
18. Nine things I want to paint before I stop
19. Why painting en plen air is exhilirating
20. Art by other artists I bought in unusual places
21. Visually inspiring day trips around where I live
22. Museums I've visited in other cities and around home
23. Art books on my bookshelf
24. If I could only recommend one book, art or otherwise, for someone, it would be...
25. How living the creative life has uplifted my spirits and made me a better person
26. Advice for young artists
27. Why I love my local galleries and/or the local art scene
28. How blogging has stretched me as an artist
29. You can find my art online at these sites, here's why I chose to use them
30. Art magazines I like to read
31. The greatest influence on my life was...
32. Why and how parents should encourage artistic development in their children
33. Some funny experiences either colleagues or I've had at art shows
34. I still can't believe people have asked me these things
35. The five best quotes on art I've ever read
36. How the courage and creativity of some disabled artists have inspired me
37. Here are blogs I enjoy that are not about art
38. Seven ways technology has changed how I make and sell art (Some examples are: Photoshop/digital camera/digital painting/digital printing/Painter/online art sites)
39. I'm grateful because this person came in my life, or because this happened to me
40. Eight reasons I get out of bed to paint everyday are (Suggestions: Let's be honest, I need the money. I'm OCD and can't help it. It's the best job a person could have. A day without painting is like a day without sunshine. I can't stand the thought of going back to the 7-11)
41. And you heard writer's block was difficult
42. How overcoming creative obstacles has made me a better artist
43. So I went to a tradeshow/convention/workshop and the best/funniest/saddest thing happened
44. It's really hard to part with my originals; here's why
45. Five reasons you will like the giclee prints I offer
46. Flowers in my garden make me smile and make me paint
47. If I wasn't an artist, I'd be a...
48. Why faces are so difficult to paint, and hands are tough too
49. The most inspiring movie I've ever seen is...
50. How the arts organizations in my area are helping children/charities/??
51. Why you should always use a docent when you go to a museum. Here are some special things I learned at...
52. How reading the Art Print Issues blog has made me smarter, better looking, more creative and much richer

The GapingVoid Comes from the Creative Mind of Hugh McLeod

If you haven't yet availed yourself of the wit and wisdom of Hugh McLeod, please do so forthwith. His blog post, HOW TO BE CREATIVE, from nearly three years back remains his most popular. With good reason, it's brilliant, pointed, poignant and downright hilarious. Read his 31 tips on how to be creative and you are sure to laugh, be informed, be reminded and be resembled. The full title of his blog is, gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"  Enjoy!