Marketing yourself as an artist
We live in a market-led era, and thus it is important to adopt the appropriate skills. Artists who wander onto stands at art fairs and say “Hello. Do you buy pictures at all?” are unlikely to succeed. The wellworn caricature of the undisciplined, capricious, bohemian artist who would prefer to drink absinthe in a café than tout work around galleries is even less likely to survive today than in nineteenth-century Paris (in fact, very few survived even then).
Marketing plans
Have a marketing plan. Know what you are trying to achieve and how you hope to do this. Have a time frame, and realistic objectives, and decide what you will do yourself and what you need to pay others to do. Communication is the key; be sure to send regular invitations, by post or email, to all buyers and potential buyers on your database.
Notify them of all events in which you are taking part and any new releases that might be of interest to them. Email marketing and the Internet have made this type of exercise extremely cost-effective: the cost of printing and post can often be avoided. Some artists are constantly thinking of ways to develop their presentation and image: they look at packaging, fashions in design and the layout of trendsetting magazines, and think how the ideas expressed in these can be adapted to their own use. Perhaps a particular colour of paper or ink should be used throughout, or perhaps a certain typeface would complement the work. What matters most, however, is the clarity of the presentation.
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Buy the 2010 Yearbook
The Writers' & Artists' Yearbook 2010 is now available from our online bookshop. Get all the facts, figures and advice you need to develop your creative career.
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On camera: Julie Myerson
The novelist and journalist Julie Myerson tells us how she writes, what inspires her, and how she got that all-important lucky break. Click here to view the video » 