I'd like to thank the folks who posted thoughtful comments on my 2/22/07 blog entry.
YES to Carol Lois Hayward, you are absolutely right: Sometimes, at a show, it ISN'T about the orders.
I've done small shows with very few sales, only to have someone come to my studio afterwards and buy a wall hanging. Or a store owner sees my work and I end up with a great wholesale account. Or I meet a wonderful person who offers a connection or suggestion about my work that turns everything around. Or I simply learn something valuable about doing shows.
But as a friend used to say, "If you don't make good sales, then you don't need to keep doing that show to learn that same lesson again."
It costs me THOUSANDS of dollars to do the Buyers Market of American Craft. Even a tenth of that would go a long way to generating a great press kit, or doing a knock 'em dead ad. So even though this show helped me build my business over the last six years, it's not giving me the income I need to keep moving me and my art forward. It's time to move on and try something else. A different show, a different audience, a different strategy.
Loretta Lam and Michelle Davis Petelinz asked questions about press kits. I'll soon be moving to another blog host that will hopefully be easier to search. In the meantime, google "Luann Udell" and "press kits" or "Getting Your Story Out There" and that should bring you to several past entries about press kits.
For Loretta, re: the image of your work that appeared in the "Gallery" section of ART JEWELRY magazine.... I would start by contacting the magazine and asking if you have their permission to photocopy that page, or if they sell reprints or tear sheets.
MOST magazines are pretty good about letting you reproduce their articles or images, especially if they used YOUR digital or photo images. If there's a charge, it's still worth it. A copy of the actual page gives a lot of credibility in your press kit, especially if the name of the publication and the date appear in the header or footer.
If they charge an arm and a leg, then simply make copies of your original image, with a little note or sticker that says, "As featured in the "Gallery" section of ART JEWELRY magazine!" and the date of the issue.
Good press generates more good press. Any time you or your work gets media coverage, stick a copy in your press kit. It "vets" you. If it was a good enough story for one media to cover, then it will be good for others. Everyone likes a winner!
When you get to a point where you have TOO MANY articles to include in a press kit (what a lovely problem to have!), you can do several things. You can choose the best articles (the most recent, the ones with the most photos, the most colorful ones, the ones that appeared in the most prestigious or best-known publications, etc.) You can then add a sticker inside your press kit saying something like, "For copies of additional articles, just contact me at ***".
I've also seen examples where someone created a huge collage of all their articles, reduced it to a regular page size, and copied THAT. At the bottom of the page was a sentence that went something like, "For reprints of these, and many other articles, contact the artist at ***".
If you're REALLY cutting-edge, you could have a media section on your website where media people can download files of the articles, and photos. (This is on my wish list for my new website.)
If you do shows, you can also go to Kinko's or Staples and have that image (and caption) blown up into a poster-size image for your booth. I wrote recently on that very strategy. Throw the blown-up photo into a cheap poster frame, and you have a great marketing tool for less than $25.
What to leave out?
I would say your resume.
I can hear a gasp from the crowd on this one. But I've looked at many artists' resumes, and they make my eyes bleed with boredom. Here's why:
First, I've never understood why 2-D people (painters, photographers, etc.) list the artists they've studied under. Anyone with the money in his pocket and the time can sign up for any class taught by an artist. How does that make you look better? And why do I want someone's work who acknowledges that they are working "in the style of" another artist?? I think this is something of interest to OTHER ARTISTS, not to your potential customers or the media. (UNLESS, of course, you were in a prestigious, hard-to-attain apprenticeship or understudy position, or some such thing.)
Likewise, where you went to school and what shows you've been in are interesting to OTHER ARTISTS. They're either comparing what YOU'VE done to what THEY'VE done, or they're trying to figure out what shows THEY should apply to.
A brief dateline of your studies and your achievements, perhaps in the more informal form of a curriculum vitae (CV) will give a writer the facts and background they need to know, without making them plow through a 3-page list of shows and schools and workshops you've taken.
You can google CV or curriculum vitae to find out what goes into one. I just did, to find out how to spell it! There are tons of sites that will advice you on putting one together.
But what will make it sing to a writer/reporter is when you take it out of list-making mode ("I went to this school and then this one, and then I took this workshop and then I did this show....") and into CONTEXT-MAKING mode.
Here are the questions I get asked all the time when someone is doing a story on me:
How did you get started?
How did you get trained/educated to do this (if you did...)?
What's unique about your work? What sets it apart from others doing similar work?
How did you get to where you are today?
What would you like to do next?
Do you see where these questions are going?
They are looking for A STORY.
They are looking for a hook that will engage their readers.
REFRAIN FROM CLICHES AND TRITE REMARKS. My favorite cliche for artists? "I just love color." Well, DUH.
Look for the "HOOKS" in your life. USE THEM. This is NOT being manipulative, or shallow, or greedy. It is how PEOPLE RELATE TO OTHER PEOPLE--looking for the similar threads, the things you do differently, and gives them a peek into YOUR LIFE.
And lets them imagine what would happen if they took the same leaps and risks. It gives them a chance to hope, and to dream.
I'll share some of my hooks, but ONLY if you PROMISE not to copy them willy-nilly. I've said it before, I'll say it again: You cannot scrunch passion into a template. Define and offer your OWN passion to the world, and it will take you far.
How did I get started doing this? When I looked at my 3-year old daughter, who was bright and quirky and looked at the world very differently than anyone else I'd ever met.
I wanted her to keep that close. I wanted her to find a place in life that honored that and encouraged her unique outlook.
I did NOT want her to learn how to give up her dreams, to "tamp down" in order to fit in, to give in to mediocrity.
Then I realized 3 things:
Did my mother once want this for me?
How could my daughter learn this if I did not model it for her?
And if I wanted this so badly for my daughter, why did I act like I did not want it desperately for myself?
So being a mother inspired me to be brave even when I was afraid, to persevere even when it got hard, and to rejoice in my gifts even when it sometimes seemed the world was not interested in them.
Do you see the "hooks"?
The answer to this simple question appeals to parents, to educators, to other artists and creative people. It speaks to other women my age, who find themselves middle-aged and NOT living the life they dreamed of. It celebrates diversity and creativity. And it says we ALL have a place in the world, and bring a gift to the table.
Here are other "hooks" I've heard in workshops I've given on self-promotion:
"I had a baby, I nearly died, and everything changed."
"I want to preserve and cherish a craft that is part of my cultural heritage."
"My husband died, I lost my home, and suddenly I had nothing. That's when I realized I could make new choices--and I changed everything."
"I found that making these gave me a better way to relate to my teenage daughter."
My last tip is to simply start where you are. A good story (and yes, if you don't have press coverage, you can write one yourself), a good image, and enough facts, background and contact information so someone can put together an article about you. Use a ten-cent folder from Staples, slap a postcard or photo of your work on the front, include your business card, and get 'em out there!
