There are 6 principles that guide my book, I’d Rather be in the Studio!
- You are in charge. You have control over words, prices, artwork, and your image. People will take as much power from you as you give them. Guard your power carefully. Accept 100% responsibility for your actions and make no excuses.
- Connections are critical to your success. Ignore meeting new people and maintaining relationships at your peril.
- Life isn’t fair. The artworld isn’t fair. No one owes you anything. Building a successful career and reputation is hard work. There are no shortcuts, no easy ways out.
- If you ignore the latest technology, you’ll quickly fall behind.
- Your artwork doesn’t speak for itself. The right language can help you sell your art. Sure, some art sells by itself, but have you ever heard of marketing anything without words?
- No one can promote your work better than you. No one believes in it more than you do. No one wants you to succeed more than you do. The motivation and ambition must start within you. Unless you are working with a coach or business mentor, no one is going to ask you to set goals. No one is going to tell you that you have to make a certain amount of money or achieve a certain level of success in order to be satisfied. You absolutely have to do this for yourself.
9 thoughts on “6 Principles of No-Excuse Art Marketing”
Thanks for the timely reminders as I get back to work after a glorious realtime vacation in Italy. I would add: work hard and play hard, take time now and again to replenish the stocks, rewind the clock, re-vision the future, refresh the spirit. Then get back into the swim.
Susie: Oh, goodness! I could have a whole book of Principles. Maybe like Jack Canfield’s book . . . “Success Principles for Artists.” !!
I read your blog with interest but this is the first time I’ve felt moved enough to post a comment. Great list! Many of us need to be reminded to keep (or start) doing the right things. I wonder if the principles could be even more effective if they were all stated in the positive, to serve as encouraging directives, not admonitions. In other words, tell us what you think we should do, not what we shouldn’t. Number two, for example, could read: “Connections are critical to your success, so continue meeting new people and maintaining relationships.” It feels better, at least to me. Thank you for all the great info. I’ve learned a lot.
John: EXCELLENT point. Let me kick it around for a bit. I promise to post updates here.
Great list. You are a brave woman for trying to coach artists. We can often be a self defeating group. As an artist and business woman in my 40’s I get so frustrated with my grown up artist pals that still have the soft sensitive egos of artists in their early 20’s. #3 says it all for me “Life isn’t fair. The artworld isn’t fair. No one owes you anything.” Keep up the great writing!
Here’s a tangential thought that might put all the marketing issues in perspective for soem artists… I have a lot of friends who stopped making art when they got out of art school because their careers got in the way. They often lament not having assignments to push them to create. I was thinking one day about why that doesn’t happen to me (aside from having skipped art school and not having that excuse). What I came up with was the realization that I have to keep producing (and marketing) whether I like it or not because art *is* my day job… it was my sole source of income for years until just recently. So now when I hear artists wishing they had more time to pursue making or marketing their work, I tell them to quit their job and go full time without letting the bills pile up. If your art is the way you pay the bills, you WILL find a way to make and promote your work. You have to. Not for everyone, but it worked rather well for me once I took that first big scary step.
There seems to be a little disconnect between the title and content. If I pick up the book because of the title, I might want the content to be structured to advise me how I’m going to get more time in the studio. Just IMHO, one time I had a technical writing class, where the teacher showed me how to restructure a few words to create a tone in a slightly different manner to change the tone but not the contect.
Thank you for reminding me that I need to get off my butt and sell my work – not sit around and wait for someone to buy it.
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