Cory Huff's Blog: The Abundant Artist Goodreads blog, page 31

Marianne Goodell: Fine Art Business Case Study

From Cory: I recently sat down with Marianne Goodell, via Skype, to talk about how her art business has changed since she took the How to Sell Your Art Online course here at TAA.

Where were you before you started in the course?

Making jewelry since 2001. Most of Marianne’s sales had been mostly by luck, without a repeatable process. She was also making jewelry pieces based on what everyone else wanted instead of according to her own vision.

What were you hoping to get out of the course?

The steps to find out how to sell. Her anticipation was that Cory was going to tell her, “click here, post here, and sell.”

Did what you get match your expectations of the course?

The ultimate outcome did, because I got sales, but the process was nothing like what she thought it would be. On a call, Cory ripped apart Marianne’s website and told her it wasn’t good enough.

Cory encouraged Marianne to dig down into why she was making the art that she was making. He made her build up the mental and business infrastructure necessary to be able to sell on a regular basis.

This, and the idea that not everyone is going to like Marianne’s work, was mind-blowing.

Marianna was also surprised at how personal the class became. She wanted to stay hidden and private. But through the class she realized that she had to put herself out there in order to sell.

Marianne didn’t realize how much she had avoided being in the spotlight. She’s an outgoing person, but she didn’t realize that she needed to be a little more vulnerable than she initially was willing to be.

Marianne now allows herself to be present as herself. Sometimes goofy, expressing herself not only through her art but also through her messaging.

What has happened to your business in the last 9 months?

Facebook: 240 Likes to 1536. This has been very organic growth.

She has true collectors who are asking for new work. They’re proactively reaching out to her about her art.

She stopped selling herself short. Her art is priced according to the value she thinks its worth. She now stands her ground on pricing and people are buying the art.

Marianne’s jewelry is in a local gallery, and has more gallery shows coming up.

Marianne posted a picture of a piece of jewelry and told people she would make more for them if they wanted it. She sold 4 pieces in one day, and continues to receive sales from that one Facebook post. See the story that she posted here:

Advice for others?

Its hard work. Even if you have a system, its hard work. But now I have a direction.

Want what Marianne has? Check out our course: How to Sell Your Art Online.

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Why You Should Buy How to Sell Your Art Online, the book

Yesterday I received an email from an artist named Deb, asking me why she should buy my book. What’s in it, and how is it different from TAA’s courses & blog posts.

Fair question! So, yesterday I did a short chat on Facebook on why you should buy my book How to Sell Your Art Online. Here’s the video, and below the video, I’ve outlined some of the highlights on why you should buy the book. If you want to see the table of contents, skip ahead to 14:00.

Why You Should Buy How to Sell Your Art Online

A successful, creative life on your own terms. < That sentence is the subtitle to the book. Most of the time, when people talk about fine art careers, they are talking about relying on someone else to sell your work for you, and often doing that in a way that undermines the artist’s long term prospects. This book is about building art careers that will last long-term, rather than depending on a flash in the pan of promotional success from galleries that aren’t invested in your long term growth as an artist.

Stories from artists in the trenches. If you’ve been following TAA for more than a few months, you know that we’ve highlighted hundreds of artists from around the world. This book is built around those stories. We went deeper with a handful of those artists like Gwenn Seemel, Kelly Rae Roberts and Matt Leblanc. The book contains an in-depth look at what they’re doing and what lessons you can take away from their business activities.

Learn to tell your story to the right people at the right time. In 7 years of helping other artists sell their art, I have discovered that every piece of art has a story. Artists who think their work doesn’t have a story are usually wrong. 9 months ago, an artist told me that her work didn’t have a story. When I told her she was wrong, she got offended. Just last week, she emailed me to tell me that I was right, and that she had embraced telling her story and that she was now on a roll, selling 1 – 2 new pieces every day for two weeks. This book focuses on helping you understand your own story and tell it in an effective way.

Its Illustrated! I’m looking forward to sharing the story of how I ended up picking Cynthia Morris to illustrate my book. She did an amazing job, and I’m so excited that she did it. We had to fight to find a publisher that would pay for a full color book. I’m glad that we did it. Harper Design, an imprint of the big publisher Harper Collins, is our publisher. Yes, this book is legit.

Its not just a rehash of the blog & courses. A lot of bloggers will take their blog and just repurpose them as content in the book. I did that a little bit. But the book is mostly original thought and in-depth research. The fine art market is in a huge state of flux right now. While researching the book, I interviewed some of the folks at the big online players like Artsy, FineArtAmerica, and others. There’s some good stuff in there about the future of the industry and how software is going to change the way that art is made and sold.

Now, you should also know that our flagship course, How to Sell Your Art Online, is much bigger than this book. But it’s $300+. The course contains videos, worksheets, and more. The book is a simple 194 page book that you can use as a reference, and it’s only $10.99 (as of this writing).

Some other FAQs

How big is the book? 

194 pages, paperback.

If I buy the paperback, can I get an electronic copy? 

Yes! Amazon has a bonus program that lets you get the electronic copy for only $2.99.

If I order the book internationally, can I still participate in the launch broadcast?

Yes, of course! Just forward your receipt to help@theabundantartist.com and we will make that happen for you!

The book doesn’t have art on the cover! How can you have a book for artists without art on the cover? Did you think that wouldn’t be important?

The book is full-color illustrated by Cynthia Morris. We actually fought for a publishing deal that would be illustrated because we agree – shouldn’t art books have art in them?

If you care, here’s some more detail about the cover: Harper Collins’ design team went through several dozen iterations internally. Book covers are tricky things because what intrigues one person might turn off another person, even if they’re both professional artists. We did extensive research to see, among art-related business books, which books have sold best. It turns out that over the past few years, simple covers like HTSYAO’s cover have done significantly better than more intricate covers. That follows a broader trend in the book market, as well as the art market.

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Manga-inspired Fine Artist Camilla d’Errico on the Convention Circuit

http://traffic.libsyn.com/theabundantartist/Camilla_Derrico.mp3

In this episode, we cover:

2:00 – Camilla d’Errico explains how she got started attending comic cons, and how her presence at the conventions has changed over 18 years. Her first solo show sold out!

7:30 – Camilla addresses the fact that its scary to put your work out for people to see, and how she deals with it.

11:00 – How Camilla has been so incredibly prolific with her work, and why she chose to license her work in various ways.

18:00 – What Camilla’s team looks like – her employees, as well as the freelancers that she works with. She also directly addresses how long it took her to start hiring out for the tasks she didn’t want to do.

25:00 – How she deals with haters, and a hilariously rude example of one.

29:00 – Camilla has a show running in Los Angeles at the Corey Helford gallery.

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I’m a Multipotentialite

When I submit guest articles or speaker bios, it usually ends with something like this:

Cory Huff is an actor, storyteller, director, and photographer living in Portland, Oregon.

What does that mean? I thought I’d share a little more with you.

Actor/Director

I’ve been acting since I was in 4th grade. In high school I was in a touring Shakespeare troupe that performed all over Utah. I’ve done plays, films, commercials, and web tv shows. Theater was my introduction to the arts. I still perform regularly and will be playing Bottom in an upcoming production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I also direct plays probably  once a year or so, and I hope to be doing that more often.

Storyteller

When I moved to Portland in 2007, I encountered personal narrative story telling through Portland Story Theater, and began telling stories with them and other groups. In 2012 I wrote and performed my first hour-long one-man show. Story telling is different from acting. It’s more honest and requires more improv skill, and I love it.

Photographer

My interest in photography took off when my wife and I started traveling more. That image of the pigeon pooping on the statue is one of my favorite photographs (yes, I still have a 12 year old sense of humor). I’m hoping to do my first solo show in 2017. I’ve been hesitant to show my photography here because so many of you are such amazing photographers and I’m such a newbie, but I do identify as a photographer.

A few of my favorite images (click to enlarge).

Take from the Tower Bridge, this is downtown London. Notice the modern buildings in contrast to the ancient Tower of London in the foreground.
The Southeast coast of County Wexford, Ireland.
My first time night shooting. Street performer blowing bubbles in Dublin.

Of course, on top of the artistic things that I do:

I run The Abundant Artist
I act as dungeon master for my gaming group
I’m a husband
I volunteer with youth at church
I have an obsession with food: cooking, eating, writing reviews on Yelp

All of the things that I do are fulfilling in their own way, and I don’t want to give up any of them.

In 2008 I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do to make money. In my life, I have held MANY different jobs. A coworker tried to say that he’d held more jobs than me. I laughed. In my life, in addition to my artistic pursuits, I have done the following jobs: roofing, fast food, roadie for bands, secretarial work, handing out promotional materials at concerts and conventions, putting up posters, and several sales jobs in utilities, advertising and software. I’m probably forgetting a few things.

So why am I sharing these things with you?

I wanted to let you know that I get it. I’m a scanner, or renaissance soul, or multipotentialite like you. I’ve had so many artists tell me that they can’t get over the idea that they were meant to be more than one thing, and that’s great!

You don’t have to pick one thing. You can make a living from one thing, or multiple things. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or can’t do. Its up to you to decide.

The Multipassionate Must-Haves Bundle is Back

Every year for the last 4 years, I’ve teamed up with Michelle Ward and Emily Wapnick to promote a bundle of stuff that every multipotentialite would find useful.

Here’s how it works: 10 of the most passionate, successful multipotentialites that I know will be contributing an individual product to the bundle. I think the total value this year is going to be over $500.

Your cost will be $97. $10 of that goes to Michelle’s anti-cancer team sponsored by Avon.

The sale lasts for 72 hours, starting May 12, 2016.

Contributors for the bundle are some of my very favorite people, including:

Tiffany Han, business & branding coach, and hilariously awesome person
Scott Barlow, career coach at Happen to Your Career
Jennifer Lee, the Artizen Coach 
Mayi Carles, a “tiny artist with a T-Rex Heart” 
Beth Maiden of Little Red Tarot
Amy Ng of Pikaland
Michelle Nickolosian, creater of The Freelancer Planner
Paula Jenkins, life coach and founder of the Jumpstart Your Joy podcast
Jason & Jeremy of Internet Business Mastery Academy (Jason is a close personal friend and a hugely influential mentor)
Jennifer Louden, personal growth pioneer
Michelle Ward, aka The When I Grow Up Coach
Emilie Wapnick, founder of Puttylike
Me, Cory Huff!

If you want to be on the early notification list for the bundle, click here:

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Emily’s epic TED talk on why you might not have just one true calling. It’s been viewed more than 2.7 million times.

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Time Management for Artists: How to Feel More Satisfied at the End of Your Day

This is about time management for artists. Wait – don’t run away! Because it’s also about deciding what matters to you. And how you’re going to get it done and feel good about it. Managing energy, managing expectations, managing distraction – they’re all part of managing your time.

For many artists, even the words “time management” sound restrictive. They sound so corporate, so un-creative, so lacking in any understanding of what you as an artist really do. BusinessDictionary.com says that time management is systematic, priority-based structuring of time allocation and distribution among competing demands. Maybe it’s the idea of systematic that puts you off. What about the artist’s life is systematic? And time allocation and distribution – artists by nature are imaginative. How imaginative is that?

Or maybe it’s those famous books on time management. They have titles like:

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen R Covey)
Eat That Frog (Brian Tracy)
Getting Things Done (David Allen)
The 4-hour Workweek (Tim Ferris)
The 5 A.M. Miracle: Dominate Your Day Before Breakfast (Jeff Sanders).

(above are all affiliate links)

The ideas in them might be useful for a busy executive, but you don’t see how they could have much to say about the life of a working artist.

And yet, sometimes you feel overwhelmed. There’s so much to do. You ask yourself if you’re really creating as much as you could. If your art career might get more traction if you had more time to work on it. If there’s a way to feel less at the end of the day like you didn’t do what you wanted. And more like the productive and fulfilled artist you set out to be.

If you ask yourself questions like these, you definitely aren’t alone. Managing multiple expectations, structuring your daily life so it supports regular art time, and feeling satisfied with your choices are ongoing struggles for many artists.

The good news? You can use your creative brain to figure all this out. You can ask different questions, questions that will help you be your best artist self without so much struggle.

But remember, there are no wrong answers to any of these questions. There are only you and your special circumstance. Which are right by definition. You aren’t a problem to be solved. You are your greatest resource.

Getting started with Time Management

So you’d like to feel more directed and productive. Like you know what you’re going to do next. More like an artist and less like a juggler. If so, these are the questions that come before anything else.

What do you want?

What’s important?

What’s important enough so you can commit to it?

If you don’t know what’s important, how do you know whether to do it or not?

You can also ask yourself: Do I have goals? If so, what are they? If not, should I develop some? If I don’t want to quantify what I want, how will I know when I’ve achieved it? What do I want to change?

Remember, there are no wrong answers. What’s right for you is right. But you’re more likely to know what’s right for you if you ask the questions.

For example, this is what I want: Almost daily time for the work that matters most to me. Enough money so I don’t have to think about it. Recognition. Connection. Possibility.

Tara Swiger, artist and marketing coach for crafters, wants this: “Having fun. Having space and time for creativity. Writing. Watering my enthusiasm. Following the moment.” (You’ll hear more about Tara later.)

Artist, performer, Happiness Catalyst, and Creativity Instigator Melissa Dinwiddie, already familiar to many of you, wants “Control over how I spend my time, feeling content and happy with my life, and making a positive impact on the world.”

Your list of wants might not look like any of these. Just remember that when you know what you want, you have a much better chance of knowing whether you’ve got it or not.

Questions About Time Management

We each have all the time there is. We get 24 hours in every day. In 24 hours, we sleep, eat, and spend time with our spouse, friends, children, dog. We commute to our day job or are involved with our community. Sometimes we go to the bank or the dentist or on vacation or get groceries. Somewhere in there we also make our art and try to get people to pay attention to it.

How much time do you have for the artist part of your life? No, really, how much time do you have? Do you have half a day every day, one day a week, Saturday afternoon, between 5:00 and 6:00 after work, between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning, 15 minutes a day? Are you using that time as well as you can?

Out of what is important to you, what will you do in the time you have?

What really matters?

Enough time

Of course, you don’t have enough time! Who does? You have your art-making, your family commitments, the rest of your life.

But then again, do you really not have enough time? Or is it that you have lots of time and you aren’t using it for what’s important to you? Is your time taken with things that used to be matter but don’t so much now? Are you busy doing things you don’t really want to do? Are you clear on what’s important? How can you do less of what you don’t want and more of what you do?

Saying no

Sometimes we need to do less in order to do more. So you can have more time with what you do want, do you need to say no to what you don’t want? Or do you need to say no to some things you do want, so you can do more of what you want most?

What can you say no to? What can you delegate? What can someone else do? What can you just stop doing?

Many artists are hard-wired for communication, connection and contributing. It’s hard to say no. Remember that every project you commit to means there’s something else that won’t happen. Time isn’t elastic. Your interests change. Other people can do more than you think they can. How will you make more time for what matters?

Structure

Now that you know what you want, how much time you have, how to make choices and how to say no, all that’s left is to fit it together.

What structure works for you? Are you most creative in the morning? Does that mean you’ll need to get up earlier to fit in some art before your job? Do you work best in small steps with a timer and lots of breaks? Do you need to get the paperwork and marketing out of the way first so it doesn’t distract you from your real purpose? Or is any time you spend on social media before 4:00 p.m. just a distraction and an excuse to procrastinate?

Using me as an example again, I have sleep issues and therefore problems waking up in the morning. This is lifelong and probably not going to change. But my work day goes best if I can be in the studio by 10:00 a.m. So I need to manage bedtime and morning in ways that serve me and my art, not hinder us.

My work day also goes best if I don’t need to change directions mentally to meet people until I’m ready to stop painting for the day. So I don’t do morning appointments or lunch dates unless they’re scheduled on designated non-studio days. Like many artists, I have other kinds of work besides painting, both for income and for connection. Where possible, these get into the calendar after 2:30 in the afternoon, so my current painting gets a good few hours’ attention before anything else does.

And sometimes, despite my best intentions, the entire plan falls apart. That’s what tomorrow is made for – beginning again.

As you work out your best schedule, you may need to try different approaches. But really try them. Don’t think that one or two failures means it won’t work. Failure is really only a chance to learn.

How much is enough?

Because wanting to manage your time better is usually about wanting to get the best out of that time, how will you know when you’ve done enough? How will you feel satisfied at the end of your artist day?

Personal growth pioneer Jennifer Louden has written about this more usefully than practically anyone. I think her Conditions of Enoughness should be required reading for everyone who hears what Louden calls the Hounds of More, More, More. Conditions of Enoughness uses four steps to create a boundary or container around anything. The four steps are:

Name what is enough in simple facts
Include a time element. For how long…How often…By when….
Ensure these conditions are dependent on ONLY YOU on an AVERAGE day. Not a superhuman day.
Declare you are satisfied when your conditions are met—even if you don’t feel

Why? As Louden says, research shows that this is what allows us to build and sustain our momentum. You will get in the habit of trusting yourself and your own judgment, and you will then be more likely to trust your management of time.

Celebrating

The last important question: How will you celebrate? Because celebrating your accomplishments will also get you in the habit of trusting your own judgment. Stop for a minute. Recognize what you’ve done.

Then tomorrow, you’ll have another 24 hours. Just think of everything you will achieve.

Other resources

Every subject has experts. Here are some of the best on time management for artists.

Melissa Dinwiddie, artist, performer, Happiness Catalyst, and Creativity Instigator has written and recorded multiple articles and podcasts on the subject. One of her best is Time Management Is a Lie – Here’s the Truth (and You’re Not Going to Like It… But It Could Change Your Life). “If you don’t say no to some things, whether temporarily or permanently, you will absolutely, positively never get a handle on your time-crunch chaos.”

Cairene MacDonald, artist, writer and teacher, whose Atelier of Time offers generous and helpful learning opportunities through her School of the Fourth Dimension. “Time is not a force to be managed, but a dimension to be shaped.”

Mark McGuinness, creativity and motivation coach and author of Time Management for Creative People, a free e-book. “You’re an expert at getting things done…The trouble is, you’re not getting much done that has an impact.”

Springboard for the Arts, producer of Time Management for Artists. “When I read Stephen Covey’s book, it was just like every inch of every day is scheduled. It’s like not going to happen, not gonna work.”

Tara Swiger, marketing expert and podcast host. “You do not need to get better at ‘managing your time.’ You need to take action.”

About the author:

Laureen Marchand

Laureen Marchand is an award-winning artist who paints, mentors other artists, and writes from her studio, exploring art-making, ideas, and the walks she takes through the open space near her home to sort it all out. Living just north of the Montana border in one of Canada’s most remote and beautiful regions, she makes realistic-looking oil paintings that consider how we perceive beauty and what we think beauty is. Laureen has exhibited regionally, nationally and internationally in more than two dozen solo and two-person exhibitions as well as over 40 group shows. Her paintings are held in many public and private collections and have been represented in exhibition catalogues and reviewed in newspapers and magazines. She has been artist in residence at the Leighton Colony/Banff Centre for the Arts, the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland, and the Ragdale Foundation in Illinois, among others.

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13 Ways to Be A More Productive Artist

I recently asked the artists that follow TAA on social media for their tips on how to be more productive & efficient in the studio. We got some GREAT answers and inspired tons of really fun discussion.

Why Does Productivity Matter?

Why does productivity and efficiency even matter? Doesn’t thinking like that get in the way of making art?

As Elithea Whittaker said:

“Wait, this is an objective?”

or as Deborah Rushton put it, “But then it becomes a product or commodity & not true “art”.

and

“I think we have to stay aware of faustian bargaining. Contextualising, reviewing and refining art work, takes time, we shouldn’t neglect these things and rush just to make a sale and churn out more emperor’s clothes.”

While I certainly agree that making good art takes time, I challenge the notion that art creation cannot be made more efficient and easier on the artist.

Some artists feel that they need to be given unlimited time for exploration and “feeling” out the art. There is certainly some value in exploration, and every artist has a process that they go through to make their work.

But when you start talking to some artists who sell regularly, you start to see a slightly different take on productivity.

Of course, it takes time to find the optimal process for your own specific work. When you make work over and over again, you find short cuts in your brush strokes, in your color choices, in how you dry your work and a thousand other little things. Some of that can only be discovered through doing the work.

David Lee Murray emphasizes, “Don’t take shortcuts. Learn the knowledge, develop a strategy and procedure and execute. To make prolific art more efficiently takes time and lots of studying. There’s no easy way to get fast and do good work, its all about the grind and learning to love the grind because there’s no “making it.” It’s a lifestyle of training and constant growth.”

As Joel Garza said, “It’s all about perfecting your craft and technique as much as possible. It’s a constant state of perseverance and evolution. It doesn’t happen over night but when it does happen… it just flows!”

How to Produce More Art, Faster

So, with the understanding that we’re not trying to lower the quality of your work, here are the community’s top tips for being more efficient in the studio.

MAKE ART EVERY DAY

Melissa Dinwiddie is well known for encouraging creatives to create every single day. Her 15 minute per day challenge was recommended by several artists.

The suggestion that you must make art every day was echoed by dozens of artists.

Mike Bone said, “I’m almost at 4 years of consecutive 365 days of a drawing / painting a day. I’ve found that when you have momentum you can more easily systemize some things and also the self talk that you need when creating something new is more readily available. Keeping a list of concepts, ideas and inspiration when you don’t need it is key so it’s readily available when you do! I collect those in Evernote or google docs.”

TIME BLOCKING

For centuries, high performing artists, athletes, scientists and others have recognized that there is a state that is highly conducive to doing our best work. In 1990, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (no, I can’t pronounce it either) published his seminal book on the subject, titled Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience, and this state of performance began to commonly be called Flow. The book details the results of years of experience researching how people enter these optimal states. The book is rather academic and a bit dry, but it is a very useful read.

Based on the science, giving yourself time to enter the state of flow is giving yourself an opportunity to enter your peak performance state.

Some artists try to simply fit the art in wherever they can. If you are immersed in a full time day job, raising children, or other demanding responsibilities, this might be all that you can do. But making art really requires giving yourself time to sink into a state of flow. That might take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour of work, depending on your state of mind and the difficulty of the work you’re doing.

I like this suggestion from Savannah Newton, “Just making myself work work work for long periods. I have days that I set aside as “art nights” when I’m not allowed to go out with friends or watch tv, set my phone on “do not disturb” and lock myself in the studio for hours. It doesn’t make me work faster necessarily but I do complete pieces faster. The only time I actually work fast is when I work emotionally.”

Savannah’s comment echoes our post The 50/50 Rule for Successful Art Careers.

Remember that you do what you plan to do. If you plan your time to make art, you’ll do that. If you plan time dedicated to selling art, you’ll do that. Remember that by planning time to sell you work, that means you must be more productive in your art making.

TREAT IT LIKE A SECOND JOB

Most artists are still working at day jobs that suck up a huge portion of their time and energy. By the time you get home, its easy to just … not make art. We wrote a blog post on how to deal with day jobs that is still very relevant.

As Kellee Conrad says, “Set a schedule and block off work hours. Don’t get tempted by all the million other things you could do… Do your work!”

ORGANIZE YOUR WORK AREA

Alisa Bradish said, “Get all your supplies set out in advance (including snack and drink if you’re going to need it). That way once you start working, you don’t have to stop. Put your cellphone right there too if you might get calls that you might want to answer.”

Evan Johnsen said, “Keep all your art materials out, immediately available and very visible. Put your work space in a place you cannot avoid, this way you have no prep work to slow you down and you’ll be constantly reminded of what you ought to be doing whenever you’re not doing it.”

WORK MORE SIMPLY

Melissa Dinwiddie, again, “I consciously started working in a less time-consuming manner, in order to make my paintings more cost-effective. I still make more layered, time-consuming art, too, but very intentionally developed a style that takes me less time.”

This is great way to create some easier art that will bring in some cash in a crunch.

OPTIMIZE PRODUCTION

Amira D Rahim, “I paint in cycles at this point. Working on up to 10 different canvases at once. My best recipe for being prolific and I publish at least several paintings per month!”

SET DEADLINES

Again from Savannah Newton, “Find a reason to set a deadline really soon. I used to apply for shows and competitions like crazy just because it would give me a reason to make new work.”

Joshua Lawyer says, “Start a few personal pieces then set a deadline to finish them by that you are comfortable with. This will not only get you ready when you have to get a commissioned piece done at a certain time. But it will also train your hands and brain to stay focused on a project. As an artist myself, this tactic has really helped me. Hope it helps you as well.”

TAKE BREAKS

Studies have shown over and over again that taking breaks when you’re studying and working makes you more productive. The same is true for artists. Your energy flags. You need to stretch. You need to step back and return to the work from a different angle.

GET RID OF DISTRACTIONS

Dana Jones asked a simple question, “close Facebook?”

The irony of asking about productivity on Facebook is not lost on me.

Do You Hate Me? About that crazy email from last week…

Last week I sent out an email with a shocking subject line.

Do you hate me?

And wow, did it get a lot of responses.

Here’s a response to that email I sent, from a reader named Gary:

Are you crazy? Do you always send inflammatory emails like this? I think you need a little help.

I’m not crazy. It was just a survey. I was just asking people who didn’t sign up for the course why they didn’t sign up.

Here’s part of how I responded to Gary:

Hi Gary,

Do I always send inflammatory emails like this? You’ve been on our mailing list for months – you should know the answer to that question is no.

Yes, it’s a shocking subject line, but I did it for a reason.

Many of the people who received that email have been on our list for months and have been fairly unresponsive. I noticed that you have been on our list for over a year and have never responded to an email before or purchased anything from us.

I don’t want the people on our list to passively consume information. I want them to take action. I want them to sign up for a course, hire me as a coach, or, at the very least, implement what we’re teaching and tell me about the results that they got.

You’ve been reading our emails for a year and never responded before. Why do you think that is?

The Danger of Passive Consumption

I’ve been running TAA for 7 years. There are people on our mailing list who have never purchased anything from us in that entire time. I pay for my very expensive email service based on the number of people on our mailing list. People who sit there and never buy anything cost me money, thought admittedly its a very small amount on a per-person basis. But that’s not a big deal to me. I’m happy to support those artists who can’t afford our courses and help them make a few sales so that they can get more training.

The bigger problem is how many people I see who join a bunch of mailing lists and never actually do anything with the information that they are consuming. This is a big problem in the information marketing business in general.

If you are one of the hundreds of artists who have emailed me and thanked me for the blog posts, and shared stories about how you tried something that I suggested, and it worked, then THANK YOU and way to take action on what you are learning.

But for the rest of you, here’s the deal: there are 3 things that prevent artists from making a living from their art: knowledge, support, and mindset.

That’s it.

TAA provides knowledge. That’s actually the easiest of those three problems to solve. We also do our best to encourage the community to support each other, and to provide insights into the mindset of successful artists.

It’s not about how good your art is. It’s not about making the right connections. It’s not about being given the right opportunity. Those things matter, but are not the ultimate arbiter of successful art careers.

We’ve interviewed dozens of successful artists on the podcast. None of them had their artistic careers handed to them. They all took massive action and didn’t give up until they made it.

Did I Make You Uncomfortable?

Most of the artists (600+ and counting as of this writing) who responded to our “Do You Hate Me?” subject line had a sense of humor about it. They got that it was tongue-in-cheek.

But there were a few people, like Gary, who had a strong emotional reaction. If you had a strong emotional reaction to that subject line, and you’ve never made a sustained, concerted effort to implement the advice from our hundreds of blogs, podcasts, and videos, then I would challenge your assessment of me. I’m not crazy.

I might be a manipulative marketer who is intentionally making you uncomfortable. You could probably make that case.

How to Safely Package Your Art for Shipping

When sending something you love with a courier, never leave anything to chance. By following these basic packaging and shipping techniques, your art will arrive as you intended it too – intact and looking beautiful.

The great thing about shipping with a courier is choice and flexibility. For art, the best two options for shipping is either with a new, triple ply cardboard box or a wooden crate. This guide will show you how to package both.

Let’s begin with framed art in a cardboard box

This is the most basic and expected way to ship your art with a courier. For this, you will need:

Acid free art tape
A triple corrugated box
Acid free packaging paper
Loose fill
Bubble wrap
Two pieces of plywood (0.5cm thick)
Scissors
Shipping labels

The objective: To create a 12cm protective bubble around your art, including the cardboard box.

This will ensure your goods are protected against all transit wear and tear.

The execution: Start by first cleaning the glass panel connected to the frame. This is to stop any smudges or marks appearing on the glass. You will then need to wrap the entire frame and painting in acid free wrapping paper and tape down the edges.

Now is the time to start your 12cm protective bubble. Take the bubble wrap and securely wrap your painting 6cm deep all the way round. Then take your tape and secure the edges to keep it firmly together. This will be your primary protection, so secure it tightly.

We now need to make it even more resilient. First, take some spare bubble wrap and shape it into corner protectors. You want these to be 2 inches thick and secured with plenty of tape. Then take the two pieces of plywood and attach them on the front and back of your piece of art to create a protective sandwich. Secure both pieces with tape – your art package should be feeling solid and secure.

Now you will need to take your new box and fill the bottom with 2 inches of loose fill. Don’t use packaging chips to fill any remaining space, they will just settle at the bottom – shredded straw and paper are best. You will then need to insert your packaged art into the box to rest on the loose fill.

Once inside, fill the remaining space with any shredded straw, paper or bubble wrap so your goods cannot move inside. The objective here is to make sure the internal packaging of the parcel is not touching the inner walls of the box.

Finish: 

To finish, secure the box with plenty of tape making sure to add tape to the hinges and flaps of the box. Then, run the tape three times in each direction around the box, much like a Union Flag.

Attach your shipping labels to the box and secure with tape.

Using a wooden crate? No problem.

Sending art in a wooden crate is sometimes the best option as a crate can offer better protection than a cardboard box. Packaging the crate is very similar to what has been listed above – a 12cm protective bubble, with goods suspended within the crate and not touching the inner walls.

You can buy wooden crates for shipping from most packaging retailers and are not expensive to purchase. You can also cheaply make it yourself. Here’s how.

You will need:

Masonite board
Wood glue
Hard wood strips
Strong screws
Bubble wrap
Acid-free wrapping paper

First you need to make the frame.

Use your hard wood strips to create the basis of the frame. You can use a size approximation by building it larger than your art work, after it has been packaged. Leave the top strip unscrewed as this will act as your lid.

You will then need to cut the two pieces of Masonite board to be the front and back of your crate. Secure them with the wood glue and screws. Now is the time to line the inside of your crate with bubble wrap and place your package inside.

Now secure the package.

Place your packaged art piece inside of the crate and fill any remaining space with bubble wrap or paper. Avoid using Styrofoam, which can create static. Place the other piece of Masonite board to the top of the frame to become the lid. Secure this with wood glue and screws and check that it is water tight. You can label it with ‘open here’, for easy access.

Attach your labels 

You will now need to attach your shipping labels to the crate so the courier driver knows where to take it. Staple these to the crate so they cannot become detached during transit.

Need a Video Guide?

Check out this video tutorial from Agora Gallery.

Heshaam Hague is a content writer at international courier service, ParcelHero. Curating content based on all aspects of the company as well as customer insights. He joined their marketing team in early 2015 after working for digital marketing agency, Forward 3D. Outside of the office, you’ll usually see him at Griffin Park as a long suffering Brentford FC fan.

The post How to Safely Package Your Art for Shipping appeared first on Online Marketing for Artists.

Artists: Instagram doesn’t care about your Change.org petition

Instagram recently announced that they are rolling out a new algorithmic feed. That means when you open your Instagram app, you won’t see a chronological scroll of updates from the people you follow. Instead, Instagram is using math and machine learning to determine which updates to show you first.

Naturally, artists and other users are upset. Instagram has been a great source of free advertising for years for many artists. I’ve touted Instagram as the next big art dealer. Several artist groups that I’m a part of are full of discussions about how the sky is falling because of these changes.

A few people even started a Change.org petition to get Instagram to change their minds about the algorithm.

Lets stop right there.

Instagram doesn’t care about your Change.org petition. And they shouldn’t.

Instagram is a business. They’re owned by Facebook. They have a responsibility to do what’s best for their business.

And truthfully, algorithmic interactions are quickly becoming the new normal across all of our lives. Not just in social media, but also in search engines, plane, theater and concert tickets, news websites, work schedules, and dozens of other interactions.

The algorithm is here to stay. Lets examine why.

What is machine learning?

According to The Guardian, the average user only sees about 30% of what the people they follow post. So they know that people are missing updates that they would think are super interesting.

With 400 million users, Instagram can see which updates are most popular in which networks, just by seeing which updates get the most comments, hearts, and shares. By using this data, Instagram can tell you which things are most popular in your network of friends. 

And here’s the dirty secret that most people don’t want to admit: people like being told what to do. Sifting through all of the lame posts about what people ate for dinner is boring. So if Instagram can show you the good stuff first, they are pretty confident you’ll keep using Instagram AND that more people will join. After all, Facebook has gone from 900 million users to 1.5 billion users since they implemented their own algorithmic timeline, and they are far more profitable as well.

So that is what Instagram will do. They will start rearranging the timeline and testing to see whether or not people spend more time in the app – and I’m 99% sure that they will. Because math is a pretty good predictor of people’s behavior.

Whine or Win

Rather than fight against these algorithmic changes, here’s my suggestion: learn to play their game.

I’ve been selling things online since the early days of Google’s Adwords program. Back in the day, it was easy to make money from Adwords. The company I worked for frequently helped other companies make millions of dollars by buying ads on Google and by optimizing websites for Google’s algorithms. Now Adwords is complex and everyone knows about it so its also very competitive. It takes serious professional marketing chops to make money with Adwords.

Right now, Facebook ads is pretty complex, but not that competitive. There just aren’t that many marketers that are doing Facebook advertising well. The ad rates are cheap because competition is low. You should be taking advantage of Facebook advertising.

(Note: we have a Facebook advertising class for artists.)

Up to now, Instagram has been a free ride. You could build a following relatively easily just by engaging and interacting with people, and your engagement rates would consistently stay above 30%, which is miles better than Facebook or Twitter.

But the free ride is ending. The algorithms are going to create better experiences for the people using Instagram, but worse experiences for the brands trying to sell stuff. And that’s how it SHOULD be. Instagram wants people to spend more time with their best content, and see fewer ads and boring dinner pics or selfies.

Test, not Talk

If you are an artist who doesn’t have much of a following, and you would still like to build a following on social media, Instagram will work for a while yet. They haven’t turned the algorithm on for more than a handful of people yet. Read our blog posts on How to Sell Art on Instagram and How Ashley Longshore Sells $30,000 Paintings on Instagram.

If you have a budget, learn to advertise. You don’t need to spend more than a few hundred dollars before you can get pretty good at using Facebook’s ad platform. Your business will grow much faster if you can advertise effectively.

If you just have no money at all, then I would suggest checking out our blog post on 86 free ways to market your art.

If the Instagram update is going to kill your business, then you need to invest in yourself as an artpreneur. Invest in learning. Invest in getting help. Stop whining and find someone to help you.

The post Artists: Instagram doesn’t care about your Change.org petition appeared first on Online Marketing for Artists.

How To Not Get Stiffed For Your Artwork

Somebody wants to buy your art. That’s wonderful! Congratulations! That is the ultimate compliment. They love something you created so much that they want to give you money. Yet, for dozen of reasons, your buyer might flake on you, which results in you not getting paid.

How do you ensure that you get paid for your work? Usually, getting paid is cut and dry, but other times it gets messy, especially if you get commissioned for a piece of art. Here is some advice on how to get paid for your artwork.

Set Clear Monetary Expectations

Putting a price tag on your work can be difficult. It’s understandable. For something that you’ve poured hours, or even days into, you may think it’s priceless, or you may feel a little insecure and think that it’s worthless. At the end of the day though, to sell something, you need to give it a price tag.

If somebody is approaching you for your artwork, they like what they have seen. Whether they want to buy a piece you’ve already created or commission you for something specific, they need to know going in how much it will cost. Approaching the problem with a “Make an Offer” attitude is a bad idea because it makes you seem unsure of yourself. Set a clear price for your work that covers the costs of supplies, properly compensates you for your time, and is reflective of your skills.

Before you ever agree to a project or selling a piece, make sure your buyers understand the final costs, and have a clear explanation of why it costs that much. Nothing turns off a buyer quicker than a surprise when it comes time to pay. If you plan your costs based on how many hours a piece of art took or if the price is more associated with your skill level, have it written out clearly in case they have questions. People who are unfamiliar with how much fine art costs may not understand your price tag. Having it all written out will be handy when potential customers try to haggle the price down or dispute it.

Make A Contract

Contracts make everything more official. Everything from the government to small businesses use them to make an agreement legally binding, so why wouldn’t you? Setting up a legally binding contract may seem daunting, but once you’ve made one, you can make slight changes everytime you sell a piece or are commissioned for a new project.  

A binding contract should cover all aspects of your project including:

Compensation
How you will be paid
Payment deadline
Details about the artwork
What happens if the buyer backs out or doesn’t like the finished product
Whether your work is copyrighted or not
Your return policy

Not only will a contract ensure you get paid, but it will set you up as a professional and encourage your buyer to go through with the purchase. This is especially important if you do a lot of commissions, but it’s also great when selling any of your art. When hundreds to thousands of dollars are involved, having some legal backup is reassuring.

If you sell art through a website, contracts can be done digitally as part of the process of buying your work. This generally requires a buyer to click a digital consent button and you are protected if they refuse to pay or a check bounces.

Scams To Watch For

Depending on where you are selling your work, you might get some less than savory people inquiring after your art. This holds especially true if you post your work on Craigslist or eBay. Anytime somebody wants to buy your art with a non-traditional payment, be highly cautious.

A popular scam right now is to send payment in a money order/cashier check. Once you receive the money order, it will be over what you are charging for the art. The buyer will ask that you send back the money they “overpaid,” usually through a check or wire transfer. The issue is that the money order you received isn’t good and attached to an account with zero money. Your bank will accept a bad money order, but will catch the mistake later, pulling the deposited money out of your account. That means never accept money orders or cashier checks, especially if they overpaid!

Another common one you might see is trading other goods for your artwork. This includes trading with electronics, furniture, other artwork, and jewelry. You might think you are getting a good deal by trading for something only to discover it’s broken or a fake. Stick to legal tender or use online services like PayPal.

There are also scams when it comes to commissions. Someone might approach you wanting to hire you for a piece of art, and ask for personal information for “tax purposes.” They may be posing as a business looking to beautify their office with your art. Scammers want your private information like your social security info, bank information, and whatever information they think they can get. Then they steal your identity and rack up thousands of dollars of debt in your name. Do your research on the business to make sure they are legitimate and be careful with giving out information. Unless they set you up as a contractor with a 1099 form, a buyer shouldn’t need any information from you.

Never Give Them The Finished Piece Until You Get Paid

Occasionally, you may get in a situation where your buyer refuses to pay until they have the painting in their possession. These situations are the worst, because if they don’t like the work, you don’t get paid. Do all you can to avoid these type of circumstances.

Yet, no matter how hard you try, desperation and promises of piles of money may force your hand. Be prepared to feel like the kidnapper in a hostage negotiation, holding the art ransom, because you don’t want to hand it over without first getting the duffle bag filled with cash and an escape helicopter with enough fuel to get across the border.

If your customer demands to see the art before paying, send them a few different pictures of the art that highlights the positives. That way, they can see the finished product, but don’t have it in their possession. From there, you can demand payment and hand over the art once you safely have it in your bank account.

You can also use an escrow service. This is where you send a trusted company your art and the buyer sends over the payment. The escrow company then ships the art and payment at the same time to make sure nobody gets stiffed. Just be careful to use a legitimate one as there are some scammy or fake escrow sites designed to steal from the unaware.

What Happens After You’ve Been Stiffed

Sadly, you might get stiffed. You might have a painting of a family that you can’t sell to anyone else, so it will awkwardly sit in your room, too valuable to you to throw out, but not valuable to anybody else. It might be that a painting you spent days working on went out to a buyer, only you never got paid for it. If you have a contract with the customer, you can pursue legal actions to ensure you get paid, but without one you’re kind of dead in the water.

Take some time to reflect on why you aren’t getting paid. Were there any red flags about the buyer you missed? Was this art your best work? What could you have done differently? Once you have figured out what happened, make plans to prevent it from happening again.

What are you doing to make sure you get paid? Have you ever been scammed when selling your art? Share your experiences below and help educate other artists.

 

[image error]About Today’s Guest Blogger: As a freelance writer, Ben Allen understands some of the trials artists face when looking to sell their art. He enjoys bringing his expertise to others and helping them not make the same mistakes he’s made. He also writes about working as a freelancer, running a small business, effective digital marketing practices and occasionally geeks out about video games. You can follow him on Twitter to read more of his work. 

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