What Book Should I Write? (Curious Monday)
Not too long ago, I sat down to figure out what I was going to do with my book, I’d Rather Be in the Studio. The first edition was published in 2008 and the last e-book-only edition in 2015.
While most if it is still relevant, it could probably use an update.
How could I freshen it up and get it back into print? It has been a valuable resource to artists and students all over the world.
Then I got a big knot in my stomach. I realized that I don’t want to freshen it up.
I am not the same person who wrote this 10 years ago. It would be completely different if I wrote it now.
It doesn’t make sense to freshen up something I no longer feel connected to.
So … I’m exploring new book topics.
I realize that it could be a very bad idea indeed to ask this, but I’m doing it anyway.
What book should I write?
What book do you need that has yet to be written? Do you have an inkling?
What book would delight you to hold in your hands?
Life Is Beautiful and I Have Proof
All is right with the world. I have proof.
I’m at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to see the Matisse/Diebenkorn exhibition. I arrive early with Rob, my trooper of a husband. He’s agreed to be my companion through the permanent collection galleries before our afternoon ticket time.
What I witness restores my faith in humanity.
Here’s how it goes down.
Is It Art?
As a former museum educator, I know that it’s wise to avoid school tours in the galleries. If I had thought about that, I might have visited later in the day. But then I wouldn’t have been fortunate enough to have had this experience.
There is at least one group in each of the galleries. Most students have assignments and a docent.
One docent teaches native Spanish speakers how to say Marcel Duchamp.
Mahr-sel’ Du’-shahn
They giggle.
She stands in front of Duchamp’s Fountain and asks: Is it art? They are pretty certain it isn’t. It’s a urinal, for Pete’s sake.
I don’t stick around to hear more of their reasoning. I already feel like I’m an intruder.
I’m less interested in the art history lecture than in the way these kids are fully engaged with the art. They are hanging on every word she says.
My husband finds me and asks what I’m up to. “This docent is awesome,” I say.
Then I catch a glimpse of another heartwarming scene.
42 Ways to Improve Marketing Results
If marketing is everything you do to build your reputation and sell your art, there are a lot of areas in which you could improve. In which we could all improve.
I share this list with some hesitation. It’s intended as a checklist to work through, not to tackle at once.
Remember, our businesses and careers are works in progress.
Your Name
1. Decide on a single professional artist name and use it consistently for your art business – if you want to be remembered. I don’t care what it is and it doesn’t have to be the same name you sign to your art.
It’s critical that people can easily find you by your name and associate your name with your art.
Networking
2. Meet more people! The more people you know, the more opportunities you will create.
3. Show other people you care about them. Focus on building trust and relationships rather than selling to everyone who crosses your path. Along similar lines …
4. Keep notes on people on their business cards and add to your database so you can personalize your relationships.
5. Send “It was nice to meet you” cards or emails after connecting with someone (unless it wasn’t nice to meet them and you don’t care if you ever see them again).
Branding & Image
6. Use the same font and colors for all of your marketing material. And please! Stay away from
Organize Your Busy Art Career with Evernote
I am writing this draft in Evernote on my iPad while taking the light rail train into Denver to see a few art shows.
When I want a document that I will reuse and share with students, clients, or my team, I create it in Word, Pages, or Google Docs.
When I want to save drafts of documents or to store something to remember, it goes straight to Evernote where I can access it across devices.
Evernote is an app that organizes information into digital notes and notebooks. It would be impossible for me to keep track of all the information I need to without it.
Here’s a peek at how I use Evernote in my life and business along with suggestions for how you might use it in your art career.
Keep Your Travel Information in One Place
This might be my favorite use of Evernote. In your Travel notebook you might store:
- Hotel arrangements
- Flight details
- Car rentals
- Contact names and information
- Directions
- Things you want to do and see when you arrive
- Local restaurants
You might also store travel information for your family or for friends who are visiting.
Capture Content Ideas
One of the problems I hear most often from artists is that they don’t have anything to say. And this is a problem when so much of your marketing is based on the written word.
No more worries! The minute you have a bright idea, you can start a note in Evernote. Save drafts for:
How to Make a Dynamite First Impression
You only get one chance to make a first impression. True? True!
Competition is fierce in today’s art market, and you must distinguish yourself.
How will people come to know you? More importantly, how will they remember you?
Consider this advice when you want to be memorable in the right way.
Be prepared.
There is no excuse to go into a meeting or situation blindly when you have the virtual world readily available. A simple check with search engines or a social media account might lead you to a treasure of information.
Conduct your research in advance to show people that you’ve heard of them – this always impresses.
You might also discover facts in your research that will help you skillfully navigate any conversation.
Be on time.
The little computer we all carry around in our purses and pockets has made it far too easy for us to be tardy to appointments. All we have to do is text someone to tell her we’re running late.
This is usually fine when you know the other person well. It’s not fine if it’s your first meeting or if you make it a habit.
Be interested.
People will think
Processing Loss Through Your Art
A gentle warning before you read this. This was supposed to be a celebration article, but things happened that led me in a different direction. You might find it sad.
Stick with me because there is a message here that you might need. Maybe not now, but someday. And I promise that there is a happy ending.
Thank you in advance for allowing me to share this story with you.
Let’s start with the celebration. This week I celebrate 15 years of writing a weekly email to artists, which I mark as the anniversary of Art Biz Success. The newsletter is now posted here on the blog where you’re reading it.
It was on March 25, 2002 that I sent my first private email as a sample to artists I found on the Internet.
I can’t promise this newsletter and corresponding blog post will go on forever. I can’t even promise they will happen next week. But I’m pretty proud that I have never missed a weekly issue. That’s 780 newsletters if you’re counting.
This week’s newsletter – the very one you’re reading now on the blog – was a close call. Here’s what happened.
