The Artists Diet

I just sent out an email to my customers, galleries, artist friends, etc. One of my artist friends wrote back "Your newsletter is also a major inspiration, it's something I must do. Hard to find the time while trying to supply galleries/enter shows."

To me that is like saying, "It's hard to find time to brush my teeth because I am so busy eating". I happen to know that this artist friend has several wonderful paintings in each of her galleries. Filling the walls of the gallery is like over eating. You are more attractive if you eat a balanced diet and don't stuff yourself. People find it easier to buy your work if they are not over whelmed by too many choices.
My suggestion is to Go On a Diet. Instead of sending more and more work to the galleries, spend time creating a newsletter and communicating with the world.

I actually quit sending my monthly newsletters because I was getting little, if any, response. Instead, I send out emails when I have news (accepted into shows, won an award) and when I have a new painting. I try to send something out once a week. This brings in lots of response. I also like to keep images on several website and keep up with my blogs.

And how much time does it take? As little or as much time as I have. If I sit down and do this all at once it can take me 2-3 hours. But I usually breakup the task into small bits. I have my email addresses in different folders: customers, friends, galleries, media. The first people who get my email are my customers. I use Mozilla Thunderbird for my email and am able to personalize the emails, click "Send" and I'm off to the easel while the computer is sending all the emails. Later, I come back and send emails to the rest of my contacts.

If you have time to post on Facebook, you have time to send an email.

My blogs and images on websites are done in a similar fashion. I prepare an image with description and put it on my own blog (sharing the info on Facebook and Twitter) Then over the next few days I put the same info on other website where I show my work. It really take very little time each day.

The trick is to get in the habit of doing it. Yes, sometimes you really DO need to stay in the studio and paint and the blogs and emails get neglected. And that's ok. Just get back on your diet as soon you can and stay in touch with the world.

Snail Mail vs Email

Sacred Heart, detail on postcard, original painting 36 x 36

Back when I first started painting I did a lot of art fairs and exhibits. The great thing about them is that you come face to face with folks and you can build your mailing list. On the down side, most fairs don't attract the original art collectors, they are geared toward the inexpensive print buyer. I was lucky enough to participate in Red Earth art show in Oklahoma City for several years and got quite a nice mailing list of my collectors. Most galleries won't give you the names of your buyer making it difficult to build your list. But that's a discussion for another post

I used to mail out newsletters, postcards of show openings etc. But with the ever growing popularity of email  the the outrageous price of postage, my Snail Mailing has really dropped. Some people just won't give you their email address or they mean to but never do or *gasp* don't have email. I've lost contact with some of my collectors by neglecting them. How could I let this happen?

So for the next few days I'm updating my Snail Mail list by searching the internet for current addresses. I'm happy to report that most of my collectors are still right where I left them the last time I wrote. Whew! I've also found a few on facebook and I will pursue that further

I will be sending postcards to all of these folks to try and acquire an email address. But I'm also planning on contacting the folks on my email list and try to get their mailing address. Why? I think folks like to get post cards from artists. Don't you? And most artists no longer do this. I'll stand out in the crowd. Email will continue to be my main source of contact but I'll also be adding an occasional post card to the mix. 

Email List and Aggravation

Quilled Moccasins,12 x 9, oil on canvas

As you know, on Fridays I like to email folks about new work. I always send the emails to myself and Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) the emails to everyone else in groups of 25. I have about 500 folks on my list so I send out about 20 groups of emails. NEVER 'carbon copy' your list when you are emailing. Other people can see their names and email addresses. This is an invasion of privacy to you clients and can result in them asking to be removed from your list.

When you send each group of emails to yourself (with everyone else getting a BBC) you will get your email when each group of 25 is delivered. Am I making sense? Well, today I only got half of the emails I sent to myself. Something wonky is going on with my email server. I was unable to reach my server by phone. I suspect that something strange was going on and they were receiving numerous phone call complaints. Very irritating but something I must reconcile with my server before I can send out next weeks emails. If I weren't sending each group of emails to myself, I wouldn't have known that something was wrong

 

Monthly Newsletter

Redwing, oil on canvas, 30 x 24, currently at the Hubbard Museum Grande Biennale

I've been really busy the past few days so I've been limiting my time on the internet more than usual.  As you know, when you are on the computer one site can lead to another and before you know it the day is gone.

I do most of my Social net working and blogging in the morning. My goal is to be in the studio at 9:00 am (sometimes earlier). Painting is important, blogging is not. 

Now on to the topic of Newsletters. I send one out every month around the first. Are you seeing a pattern here? Emails on Friday, newsletters on the 1st, computer til 9am. I set deadlines and times that things need to be done. I make it a habit. I don't beat myself up if I miss the deadline but I know certain things need to be done and setting a deadline really helps me.

Who gets my newsletter? Everyone I can think of: customers, folks that subscribe, media, my galleries, galleries I want to be in, shows I'm in, shows I want to be in, folks that have inquired about my work, other artists. I know the politically correct thing to do these days is to "ask permission" before sending an email to someone. Well, I don't. I  figure if a gallery is in the art business or someone has asked about my art then there is no harm in contacting them about art. I also have a notice on the bottom of my email telling them that I will remove them from my email list on request. That's just my opinion. And to my knowledge , my newsletters comply with the spam laws.

I also put the newsletter on my blog. I then announce it on Twitter and Facebook.

What's in my newsletter? I try to stick with what's currently happening. In my April newsletter I tell about the shows coming up in April. Or awards that I've won in the past month. If I have nothing going on (which is unusual) I'll post images of paintings and tell a bit about them. You can see my current newsletter here

I have a place on my blog so folks can subscribe to my newsletter. Feedburner collects the info for me and I go to their site and get the email addresses.