Dinah Worman

http://www.dkworman.com & dkworman.blogspot.com

And, I have to remind myself that it is just a “story,” and as long as I keep telling myself the same plot over and over, that’s exactly where… I’m also telling my brain to stay focused.

Waverly’s, one of my presenters in 2008, offered all the artists who had registered for my 2nd annual art career conference, this bite-sized list approach can turn this story around. See what you think.

A Season For Marketing

by Waverly Fitzgerald

Throughout May of 2007 I kept putting off doing my marketing (I was in the throes of a creative project) and felt dissatisfied because I could not point to any publications at the end of the previous year.

Then I was talking to a fellow writer and writing teacher, Priscilla Long, and she told me that her goal was to send out a submission a day.

She’s a poet, as well as an essayist, and has built up quite a body of work. Sending a poem a day to a literary journal (there are hundreds of them) seemed easier to accomplish than my marketing efforts, for instance, querying a magazine editor about an article or sending out a book proposal. But Priscilla’s commitment inspired me to adopt a more regular approach to marketing.

Now my goal is to do a submission weekly. I began a list of possible marketing efforts, which includes everything from creating a Listmania on Amazon, featuring books on time, to sending a query to Real Simple for an article on organic time management, to writing a guest blog for Ariane (Ok, that wasn’t on my list but it counts).

The list has been helpful in many ways. Once a week, I look it over and choose the task that seems easiest to accomplish, given my current energy and other commitments.

Whenever I come up with a new idea, I add it to the list. There are more than 52 ideas on my list at present, enough to keep me busy all year.  I also use the list as a checklist, marking off the tasks I complete.

I’m not really strict about my weekly deadline but when I miss a week, I try to catch up. Counting up my checkmarks as I reviewed my list for this article, I see I completed 12 tasks by the end of March.

It amazes me that I was able to meet my goal so easily and with so little stress. I also notice that I’ve received three rejections, but these don’t seem as painful as they would have in the past, because I know I have other irons in the fire.

I can also look at my list and see that there are many more opportunities to explore.

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As an artist, what kind of lists have you used? Have these worked for you? Why? Why not?

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It’s not to late to get on my Early Notification List for the 4th annual smARTist Telesummit 2010–with 11 more art career experts working hard to bring you the best ways to move your career forward!

Candace Wilson – “Higher Heart Chakra”

http://www.ateliernorth.com

But like the About page on any website, people are drawn to an artist statement in the hope that they will get to connect with the artist.

That’s all any of us want anyway: connection, which is why the Information Highway has become a footpath and Social Media has us all in the fast lane.

But long before Twitter and Facebook, you had…artist statements.

Artist Statements & Social Media = Same Essence

Both play the same edge of personal mixed with professional, and like that infamous bowl of porridge, the tweet or post or statement has to be not too hot (personal), not too cold (professional), but just right.

To be effective, both have to be more invested in the audience they’re engaging than any narcissistic rush.

A artist statement, like social media, connects your audience to the “you” behind the art, or behind the tweet/post.

And both artist statements and social media do better when the “you” reveals authenticity and personality, someone you’d like to get to know.

What is it that happens to you as you are painting, or sculpting, or potting, or making tapestries or jewelry?

Try keeping a notebook by your side as you work and pay attention to those fleeting thoughts, jot them down – just key words, fragments, anything that can bring the whole thought back later on.

Practice this for 3 weeks and I guarantee that you will discover a whole you that’s just been waiting for the pressure cooker of the artist statement, or daily blog posts, or tweets, to come out!

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Want more ideas to Power Up your art career? For this week only, the smARTist Telesummit 2009 Audio Home Study version is on sale for $60 off the regular price!! But the sale, and the 2009 material, all disappear at the stroke of midnight on Halloween!

Georgianne Fastaia – Remains of New Orleans

http://georgiannefastaia.blogspot.com

Diana Berchan – Evolution

http://www.dianaberchan.com

It hides in the sites where you network, using tweets or updates, videos or photos to increase your followers/friends/hits.

These are great sites, and, if you work them, they will definitely work for you.

BUT they can easily consume a precious hour or more every day, cutting into the your studio time. That would be the beast part.

At the 2009 smARtist telesummit, networking visibility expert Nancy Marmolejo gave some fabulous tips for taming it.

Here’s one:

Feed your tweets into your Facebook page using the “Twitter” application within Facebook.

1. You’ll find Facebook applications on your home page, in the very bottom left corner.

2. Click on it and a menu pops up.

3. Pick “Browse more applications.”

4. On the next page, type “Twitter” into the search box.

5. On the results page, find the Twitter application. Make sure it’s the application by Twitter–there are some imposters.

6. Click on it. On the page that appears, click on “Go to application.”

7. Enter your Twitter username and password. [It's OK, you're giving these to Twitter. They own and run this application.]

8. Voila! All your tweets will also appear as Facebook updates.

Now that’s pretty neat. But there’s a drawback.

If you’re one of the people who tweet a lot, you’re going to have a lot of Facebook updates. Everything you tweet shows up on your Facebook page. Whether or not it makes sense. This can annoy some people so much they hide you on their Facebook page.

But there’s another nifty Facebook application that fixes this. It’s called “Selective Twitter Status.” If you use this application instead when you get to step #5 above, you can choose which tweets go to your Facebook page. When you tweet, just add #fb to the end of the ones you want to show up in Facebook.

Voila!

The beast, tamed two ways.

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When it comes to tips and tricks for your art career, nothing’s better than those 7 days of the smARTist Telesummit 2009!

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Signing up for the smARTist Telesummit was one of the most savvy art career decisions I have made in a long time.  Listening to a diverse group of speakers on a variety of timely topics when it was convenient to me, was especially helpful.  I feel more focused and armed with resources to carry me forward.

I started an artist marketing group that meets monthly based on ‘I’d Rather Be in the Studio’, which helps our members face those marketing tasks we might otherwise put off! I’ve designated 2 days/week for marketing apart from studio time which I think in the long run will help me accomplish my goals.  Prior to the Telesummit I felt rather ambivalent and overwhelmed. Now having spent time visioning, planning, organizing and implementing, I think of it as a fun and challenging exercise where I get to craft the course of my art career. – Christine Herman

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Christine Herman – “Veil”
Monotype – 22.5 x 21, 2008

http://www.christineherman.com

Here’s how to make Twitter both productive and fun:

Treat it like a cocktail party.

If you were going to a cocktail party, you wouldn’t walk in the door and start trying to sell your art to the first person you met. Unless your goals were to a) never get to know anyone interesting, b) never sell art, and c) never get invited to another cocktail party.

Instead, you’d find something you were both interested in and talk about THAT. You’d disclose something about yourself and respond to what the other person said.

That’s the way to Tweet, too.

Last time, I suggested that you look for potential buyers by using the Twitter search box to find shared interests. I used the example of searching for ‘dog owners’ if you paint pet portraits.

So the first things you’d tweet might be about what you love about your own pet. Or the best pet you ever painted. Or the funniest thing that happened to you while painting a pet.

Or what you think about painting pets. Or what you think pets think about while you’re painting them.

Then listen. Read other people’s tweets. Respond–but not with sales pitches. With cocktail party conversation.

Sales happen as a result of creating connections that are genuine and grounded in your interest in your potential collector. It’s all about the relationship first, the sale is the last sip in the glass.
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When it comes to moving your art career into the center of social media buzz, nothing’s better than those 7-days of the smARTist Telesummit 2009!

Twitter works like this for lots of people:

1. You sign up and start tweeting enthusiastically.

2. Your list of followers grows slllooooowwwly. You wonder how all those other people got to 3000–or 300–followers. Isn’t Twitter supposed to be social networking magic?

3. You tweet less and less frequently. Eventually, you stop altogether.

If this is you, don’t despair. At the 2009 Smartist telesummit, Joan Stewart, the social networking maven, had a great suggestion about how to find your tweeps.

Use the search box.

Let’s say you’re a painter–and you paint dog portraits. Dog owners would make great clients for you. So you type ‘dog owners’ or ‘dogs’ or even ‘I love my dog’ into the search box–and voila! You have a bunch of potential clients. Chances are, if you follow them, they’ll follow you back.

But–and here’s the key–don’t say hello with a sales pitch. Next time, we’ll talk about how to keep people reading your tweets.

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When it comes to tips and tricks for your art career, nothing’s better than those 7-days of the smARTist Telesummit 2009!

Sandra Bartholemew

http://glyphsglitches.blogspot.com/

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I recently sent Joan Stewart a message thanking her for speaking at smARTist 2009. Due to her encouragement, about the importance of video for visibility, I posted my first video. I uploaded it using TubeMogul, as Joan suggested, so it went to five sites. This activity would not have happened without smARTist. So thank you once again! –John Nordell, two year smARTist Alumni

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http://johnnordell.blogspot.com/