1. Get inspired.
You’re trying to compete with millions of other hard working and talented artists, authors and entrepreneurs. Sometimes it’s hard to stay positive. That’s why, besides the insanely useful, practical and exclusive tips on how to build a small business around your own creativity, I’ll keep inviting you to stay motivated and optimistic, and encourage you to keep going.
2. Case Studies and Personal Interviews.
I’m not an expert at everything. Keep in mind, I’m an artist and author also – I’m trying to figure out the best way to sell my books and paintings, on a larger scale, more quickly and easily, to make a killer profit. One thing this blog allows me to do is seek out the expert, the professionals, the gate-keepers, and ask them to share their knowledge. Then I share it with you, so we can improve together.
3. Free stuff.
This isn’t a blog for me to sell my own personal art or writing. I keep that part of my life separate. What I’m setting myself up for here is the challenge of making an immensely popular blog and online community by offering high quality content. I’m doing this to put into practice one of the main claims of my vision of Creativindie – that most artists and authors fail because they aren’t focused on helping others get what they want. Besides my blog posts, I’ll be developing special, unique content, just for subscribers.
4. Blogging and online marketing tips.
It seems almost crude to offer blogging tips to writers or artists – but the truth is without an incredible blog or website to build up a fan base, it will be much harder for you to sell your content. Negotiating the complex landscape of online promotion (What should I write about? What should my site look like?) in a way that leads to increased visibility, community and eventually, 6 figure income will remain one of the main topics of interest.
(I’m a huge WordPress fan, and part-time web designer, so mostly I’ll be recommending WordPress hacks, plugins, etc.)
5. Improving quality and perceived value.
The quality of your work is a huge factor in your success. If you’re an artist, you’re going to need the skills to produce professional, clean, gallery-ready art. You have to learn how to take care of it, protect it, and transport it as if it were worth a million dollars. I won’t focus explicitly on painting or drawing tips, but I will tell you how to raise the perceived value of your art to increase the demand and sales price.
If you’re an author, you need to be a decent writer, and have a great story. (You can be a great writer with a mediocre story, or you can be an OK writer with a great story. Along with a good cover and basic marketing, you’ll do fine.) These days being a literary writer, a genius level writer, isn’t a guarantee of more book sales. So I will target the things that actually lead to more (or less) book sales, so that you can take whatever writing ability you have write now, and make more money.
Although I’m intimately familiar with self-publishing, I’m determined that my next book will be traditionally published (I’ve already picked out the publisher); so I’ll also be posting things like how to write a query letter or book proposal, hook an agent, get a big advance, and get on the New York Times list.
6. Personal Branding.
If you have jaw-dropping gorgeous paintings, or a literary masterpiece, that will help. But it isn’t enough. People like to support people. You need to develop a “branded image” of yourself as a professional author or artist. Your website, your work, your photos, should all reveal an artistic lifestyle that is both captivating and approachable. You need to be a super star.
This entails creating a specific plan, making choices, being consistent. (A counter-argument is to just be yourself and be natural; if you’re cool, people will like you – but I don’t think I can manage to teach people how to be cool or how to be likeable… who knows, maybe I’ll try.)
7. Not a sales letter.
If you know anything about online marketing, you’ve heard the mantra, “The Money is In The List”. But I’m not an online marketer. First and foremost, I’m an artist and author interested in the success of my own projects. The tips I’m sharing are the things I’m learning to advance my own career.
I won’t be hassling you with products, programs, or other money making schemes that only benefit myself, nor will I be recommending a ton of affiliate products so I can make money off of you.
That said, if readers are clamoring for something that will make their life much easier, and making it eats up a large investment of time and money for me, then I may figure out a way to offer it for a fee (but I won’t shove it down your throats).
And of course, if my content is boring or I get too annoying, you can unsubscribe at any time.
So go ahead. Type in your email below and hit the button.
