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I spent all of my beautiful Saturday afternoon trying to find a way to import photos from my Canon camera to my iMac mid-2011 that I recently upgraded to Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite, only to find out that, according to Apple Support Chat, Canon no longer provides driver or software support for photo transfer from Canon cameras to Apple iMacs running Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite. I was told by Apple verbatim, "This is a Canon problem and you will just have to wait until Canon comes out with drivers and photo transfer software that works with Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite." Even though prior to Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite, every other operating system that Apple has produced since I bought my first iMac computer in 2007 and all Apple photo editing software (iPhoto, Image Capture, Aperture), plus Adobe Lightroom 5, imported photos just fine from my Canon camera.

Now, as a part-time professional photographer and fine artist, I know there are a lot of professional photographers and fine artists out there who own Macs and Canon cameras. A whole lot. And for Apple's position to be "Hey, this is a Canon problem and you will just have to put your business and livelihood on hold until Canon fixes it. It's not Apple's problem." is well, a little callous to say the least. If not downright UNsupportive and certainly not what I paid for when I purchased my AppleCare support agreement that does not expire until December 20, 2014. My response to the end of that Apple Support Chat was "You know I used to be able to upgrade my iMac to the latest Mac OS X release and not have to worry about compatibility issues. It just worked. Now it just doesn't." To which the Apple Support Chat response was "Have a nice day". I am not kidding.

Fortunately though, Canon technical support provided a workaround that Apple should also be aware of, but apparently isn't. Or else, if it is, it is not sharing that information with its customers who have active AppleCare Support agreements, which I do have. Apparently even the oldest Canon DSLR camera, which I happen to own, a Canon EOS Digital Rebel (the original), supports the Picture Transfer Protocol driver which is built into all Macs, even the ones running Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite. Canon technical support told me that all I needed to do was make a simple change on the camera settings. Change the Communication method from "Normal" to "PTP". That's it. When I did that, Apple's Image Capture software was then able to see and transfer my photos. Although it still would not display the thumbnail previews for images captured in RAW format on my camera with the PTP communications setting, it did transfer those images in RAW format correctly to my iMac hard drive where I could then view them in Finder and Preview, and more importantly import them to iPhoto, Aperture or Lightroom 5 for editing.

I am posting this in the hopes that someone else who is experiencing this problem will not have to spend an entire sunny Saturday afternoon in early November (a rare occurrence in the Pacific Northwest) trying in vain to upload photos from their Canon camera that are critical for their business to their Apple iMac running Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite, which is also critical for their business, only to have Apple Chat Support tell them that they just have to wait until Canon fixes it and "it's not Apple's problem", when every Mac has a built-in driver that is compatible with all Canon DSLR cameras. Too bad Apple does not share this information with their Support personnel and their iMac customers who have active AppleCare Support agreements that they purchased less than 2 years ago. Fortunately Canon does. Even for their customers who bought an original Canon EOS Digital Rebel DSLR camera 8 years ago and who have no support agreement.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Recently my partner, George Porter, the Managing Director of Lake Oswego Consulting Group shared a few tips on what it takes to sell art. I have been getting a fair amount of feedback on my blog post, Advice for a Newbie, Revised, that was syndicated by Fine Art Studios Online and published in their Fine Art Views Blog on 2013-07-15. Some of it is from artists who seem to be confused about the difference between selling art and marketing art. And you can substitute the word “art” with “product of your choice”. Here, in his very succinct and tongue-in-cheek fashion, are the Five Essential Elements Necessary to Sell Art (or anything else), according to George Porter:

1.  a piece of beautiful and/or interesting art that is well crafted;

2. a qualified buyer who is interested in buying your art;

3. an enthusiastic presentation, preferably by you, the artist; or by your artist sales representative, art dealer or art gallery;

4. a question: Do you want to buy this piece of art?

5. a price and payment method that is mutually agreeable.

If you are missing any one of these five essential elements, George would say that a sale is not going to happen, period. I would say that if you are missing any one of these five essential elements, unless you are extremely lucky, a sale is not going to happen, period. Every once in a while the art angels smile down on us and a miracle happens. But miracles are not something that consistently put food on the table. Creating and selling your art can. 

So that is it. It is as simple (and as challenging) as that. Our job as artists is to:

Create and produce beautiful and/or interesting art (and I would add unique if you want a better chance at success) that is well crafted;

Put our art in front of qualified art buyers who like our art;

Present our art enthusiastically or hire someone to do that for us;

Ask for the sale or hire someone to do that for us;

Set a fair price and provide a variety of easy payment options so buyers can buy our beautiful piece of art RIGHT NOW!

So why do we, as artists, have such a hard time with this? We spend countless thousands of dollars getting art degrees, attending workshops, joining artist societies and taking classes to improve our craftsmanship, so one would think that we must have Item 1 pretty much nailed.

Surely we, as artists, we love our art and are proud of our work, so we should be able to handle Item 3 and present our art enthusiastically and not require someone to do that for us … if not, I would be asking myself the question, why not? And figuring out how to solve that problem.

Are the words Do you want to buy this piece of art? in Item 4, really that difficult to utter? And yet there are so many of us who freeze at the thought. There are even some artist societies and online artist groups who try to make it sound evil to even be trying to sell your art, if you are a member of their society or in their group. Those societies and groups you want to avoid, if making a living as an artist is as important to you as creating your art.

We are frequently willing to give away one half of our income or more, because that one question terrifies us so. I ask you, what is the worst that can happen? Your suspect says Nope, not interested. Okay so MAYBE this is not the time for this buyer at this moment. It does not mean that you are a bad artist, or that this person will never be interested in your art, or even that this person is not interested in your art right now.

Have you ever gone into a restaurant not really sure what you wanted, and at first nothing seemed to interest you? Then the server comes to your table and tells you a little bit about the dishes and the specials, mentions the wonderful fresh ingredients, and maybe gives you a glimmer of how the chef uses his culinary wizardry to create it. And then your server comments on how many people have ordered the dish and told him or her how great it tastes. Suddenly your appetite is whetted. It’s not any different with selling art, or selling anything else for that matter. As long as you are telling the truth and you believe it. If every dish on the menu is a disaster and the server tells you how great it is and how much everyone loves it, well then you, the server and the restaurant have a big problem. It is time to leave our insecurities behind. Hunger makes the bravest souls out of the most timid of men and women.

A little market research on Google can tell you what art is going for in any market in the world, so setting a fair price should not be an issue. You might not like that price, or think that it is high enough, but if that is all that people are willing to pay in that market at that time ...

you can sell elsewhere; you can try again later; or you can adjust your expectations accordingly. There are things that you can do to increase the perceived value of your art, and you should never sell your art at a loss; because you cannot make up a loss on every piece of art with volume. However, fair market price is the overriding factor. If you are not internet friendly, or you don't have a computer, then go to some local art fairs and galleries to get an idea. With the ability to take payment by credit card, debit card and paypal on your hand-held mobile device, inflexible payment issues are a thing of the past. So cross off Item 5.

So the real stumbling block then must be Item 2 - finding qualified art buyers who like your art. I ask you this:

How many homes are there in America or insert “country of your choice”? What do they have on the walls?

How many people buy vacation homes? What is on their walls?

How many people travel to new places and want a souvenir of their blissful vacation to take back home with them?

How many new businesses start up every day in your town, city, or state? What is on their walls?

How many new restaurants start up and need some great ambiance to make customers want to stay and order more food and alcohol? What is on their walls?

What about those government buildings like the post office and DMV, where you have to stand in line for interminable hours and would give anything to be able to look at something besides the the long line and grey walls?

There are qualified art buyers everywhere. You just need to put yourself and your art in front of them, be friendly and enthusiastic about your art, and ask that magical question. Over and over again.

We all want to succumb to the idea that if we simply post it online, they will come … Sadly it just doesn’t work that way. Not unless you and your art are already known and already famous. And even then, the general public has a very short memory.

Do you need a website or online gallery or physical gallery? Yes, unless you want to be constantly knocking on doors with your portfolio in tow, something that generally sets fear into the hearts of every artist that I have ever met, and takes up virtually all of your time. You need a place that you can tell your qualified prospects, and your customers can tell their friends and business associates, to go to look at your art and keep up with your recent creations. Some place professional and friendly. And search engine optimized, or located in a part of town with lots of foot traffic and nice big front windows. And easy to find and navigate. Where there is always someone available to present your art enthusiastically and ask the all important question, Do you want to buy this piece of art? One that takes cash, debit cards, credit cards, paypal, travellers checks, money orders - any and all forms of cash and cash-like substitutes.

Can a good website or online gallery replace a traditional gallery or art fair or art show? Honestly, probably not. Because walls don’t sell art. People sell art. People buy fine art from people - from artists, artist sales representatives, art dealers and art galleries that they know, like and trust. 

But can a good website, online or traditional gallery help your marketing and your sales? Definitely, yes. In this digital age, you need a strong marketing presence. Like it or not. People want to buy art from successful artists. Having a website and a gallery, shows that you are serious about your work and others are serious about it too - serious enough to bet their livelihood on it.

Do you need social media? It’s free, there are a lot of people on it at any given moment. Use it and your time wisely. Because it can be a giant sucking hole in terms of time. Have you ever seen the movie, “The Money Pit”? It is a hilarious comedy that shows how a fixer upper can become a giant sucking hole for your finances. Same thing with social media for your time. Just because it is free doesn’t mean it isn’t costly. The most valuable resource you have as an artist is your time, because YOU have to create the products that YOU sell. So use it wisely. Your time is best spent creating and selling your art.

A few regular social media posts linked to your website can do a world of good for your “known” factor, but you won’t necessarily be getting known by qualified art buyers. Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn are great at creating likes and follows and shares on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.  But as have all discovered, a like on Facebook does not equal an art sale. Facebook and many other social media sites do; however, have great prospecting tools built right into them, that you can use to get your messages out to a targeted list of possible buyers. You just have to know where to look and how to use them.

If your biggest problem is that your art is not selling, the first question you need to ask is who is selling my art? If the answer is no one, that’s where you need to begin. If the answer is someone, or some gallery, or yourself, then you need to ask what am I, or they doing that is not working? Which of the five essential elements am I, or they, missing?

Trying to make a living as an artist means that you are in business for yourself. And as any small business owner can tell you, it takes a tremendous amount of effort to do a start-up. For every success, frequently there are two or more failures that came before it. But if an artist is who you are, and not just what you do, then I think it is worth the effort. 

For more information on how to create a sound, realistic and achievable artist business and marketing plan, check out Lake Oswego Consulting Group’s Marketing Your Art Workshops, created by artists for artists. And yes, this is a shameless plug for one half of what puts food on my table. In addition to creating and selling art as Anna Porter Artist, I am also the Marketing Director for Lake Oswego Consulting Group.

In future blog posts, we will take a look at the difference between sales and marketing and why both are important to us, as artists - if we want to make a living creating our art.

Enjoy the journey!

Anna Porter

Anna Porter Artist

Fine Art and Digital Photography

(503) 697-7666

http://annaporterartist.com

http://instacanv.as/annaporterartist

[email protected]

Anna Porter

Marketing Director

Lake Oswego Consulting Group

(503) 360-7260

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.com

https://facebook.com/LakeOswegoConsultants

https://facebook.com/MarketingYourArt

This is a repost of a blog article that I wrote for Lake Oswego Consulting Group in its entirety. It has been reprinted with Lake Oswego Consulting Group's permission:

How linked in can LinkedIn be if its software cannot get links right?

Friday, May 10, 2013

BEWARE THE LINKEDIN SHARE FEATURE!

Anna Porter asks the question “How linked in can LinkedIn be if its software cannot get links right?”

I once thought that LinkedIn was one of the better social networks out there. That is until I recently tried to use the LinkedIn Share feature to share an update that I had posted to my LinkedIn profile with the LinkedIn Painters in Watermedia Group that I belong to. Instead of embedding the correct link that was in the original update on my profile, the LinkedIn Share feature inserted garbage in the link when it posted my update into the Group Discussion in the Painters in Watermedia Group. This caused everyone in the group who clicked on the link to get an Error 404 Message - Page not Found on my website.

 

So, instead of seeing the lovely photo of a painting of mine on my website with the announcement that it recently was accepted into a four-state juried watercolor competition with the embedded link http://annaporterartist.com/workszoom/1162703 (the way it appears on my LinkedIn profile):

 

 

the LinkedIn Share feature inserted garbage in the embedded link and replaced my correct link with the following embedded link:  http://annaporterartist.com/workszoom/1162703?goback=.gde_4114314_member_238608137 in the post to the Painters in Water Media Group. This resulted in everyone who clicked the link seeing the following:

 

 

This went on for two days, unknown to me, until I started receiving emails from people letting me know that the shared link was garbled. When I tried the link on my iPhone 3GS it worked fine. When I tried it from the original update on my LinkedIn profile from my iMac it worked fine. But when I and everyone else tried it from the Painters in Watermedia Group Discussion - a discussion that the LinkedIn software created automatically when I pressed Share - the garbled link lead every person to the Page Not Found image above.

 

When I verified what was happening, I created a ticket on LinkedIn. I saw from other tickets created about this issue that it has been a known problem on LinkedIn for months. Yet LinkedIn did not warn anyone about the problem. Something they could easily have done. This is the response that I received from LinkedIn Customer Support to my ticket:

 

 

So why not just delete my Group Discussion in the LinkedIn Painters in Watermedia Group and start over?

 

Well, for one thing, two of my discussions this week, this one and another, were the most popular discussions in the Painters in Watermedia Group last week:

 

  

 

If I delete my discussion, all that popularity and influencing vanishes.

 

LinkedIn charges people for advertising on the basis that it can get its links right. I mean the social network’s name is LinkedIn after all. And this problem has been a known issue on LinkedIn for months based on the tickets created by LinkedIn members. The pat response that I received from Betsy in LinkedIn Customer Support is the exact same response that another LinkedIn member received in February.

 

LinkedIn could easily have posted a warning message when it first found out about this problem, say a pop-up that appears whenever someone presses the Share button, with a message that says:

 

“Hey, don’t use this. It doesn’t work right. And we won’t fix it.”

 

But it didn’t.

 

Like many other individuals and businesses, I am paying for a LinkedIn Premium membership. If LinkedIn is going to charge members for premium service, it needs to be doing a better job of fixing its software bugs.

 

Here is my response to Betsy and to LinkedIn:

 

 

LinkedIn would do well to heed the words of Henry Ford that are highlighted in the Inspirational Quote of the Week on the Welcome Page at Lake Oswego Consulting Group's website (quote originally found at http://www.customer1.com/blog/customer-service-quotes):

 

“It is not the employer who pays the wages.
Employers only handle the money.
It is the customer who pays the wages.”
                                                -- Henry Ford

 

Anna Porter

Marketing Director

Lake Oswego Consulting Group

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.com

 

Fine Artist and Digital Photographer

Anna Porter Artist

http://annaporterartist.com

 

 

Image © Saniphoto | Dreamstime.com

Besieged with SPAM on Instagram for months, and furious that Instagram and Facebook have not devoted the resources to resolve this issue or even seem to care about it, Instagram photographers and artists are fighting back with a two day protest that begins at 12:00AM on 2013-04-15 and continues through 12:00AM on 2013-04-17. Instagram is a social media platform and mobile device app for the Apple iPhone and iPad and Google Android mobile devices that can be downloaded and used for free.

If you have an Instagram account, please SET YOUR ACCOUNT TO PRIVATE and THEN LOG OUT OF INSTAGRAM by 12:00AM on 2013-04-15 local time, wherever you are, and STAY LOGGED OUT until 12:00AM on 2013-04-17 local time, whereever you are.

Ever since mid to late 2012, spam has become an ever-increasing problem on Instagram, a site that once was spam-free. A similar one day protest in November 2012 resulted in spammers either going away or getting quiet, but now they are back. And back in hoardes. Spammers post inappropriate comments on photographs usually targeted at getting Instagram account holders to go to a url on the web to buy followers in order to get more likes for their photographs. People who dream of having their photographs make it to the Popular wall on Instagram may be tempted to do so; however, buying likes to me is like buying votes - very shady indeed and shows a complete lack of character! For the vast majority of serious photographers (and I like to consider myself one, even though my first love is painting), being on Instagram is not about the likes or the followers, and it most certainly is not about being on the Popular page. It is about having a social media platform where it is fun to share your photographs with other photographers and photography enthusiasts, to participate in photography challenges, and just to enjoy looking at beautiful photographs.

Instagram photographers can also sign up for a free Instacanv.as account online and have their Instagram photographs automatically posted to a beautiful online web gallery where customers can view and buy high quality reprints on a variety of media; including canvas, framed prints, acrylic prisms, iphone5-4S-4 cases and fine art cards. Photographers receive 20% of the proceeds from sales on Instacanv.as; Instacanv.as receives 80%. While this commission structure is astronomically in favor of Instacanv.as, Instacanv.as handles all online ordering for customers, order-tracking, manufacturing, production, shipping, and returns of products, as well as photographer payments and tax reporting; and they provide customers with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. While this all sounds well and good, for any social media platform to be enjoyable to use, and therefore for anyone to want to use it, it must be FREE OF SPAM.

Other photography sharing sites are not plagued with spam. Sites like  EyeEm, Google+, Path, Pinterest, and StreamZoo do not have a similar spam problem. Even Facebook does not have this kind of spam problem, and Facebook bought Instagram last year. So it is a mystery why this problem continues only on Instagram and why the developers at Instagram and Facebook seemingly care so little about their devoted users that they refuse to acknowledge or do anything about this very real and very annoying problem.

In response, Instagram photgraphers have organized a grass-roots campaign to try to persuade Instagram and Facebook to do something to stop the spammers once and for all. GOING PRIVATE prevents new people from following you on Instagram without your prior approval (including spammers). But going private also carries a penalty with it of not allowing private accounts to participate in photo challenges and contests on Instagram, something which most photographers enjoy doing. This is a particularly tacky policy of Instagram. It is bad enough that photographers are forced to go private because of Instagram and Facebook's unwillingness to allocate the resources and budget to do something about spam; but then to be penalized for doing so is like rubbing salt in an open wound.

LOGGING OUT OF INSTAGRAM and having ZERO ACTIVITY THERE FOR TWO DAYS - NO POSTS, NO COMMENTS, NO LIKES will hopefully send a message to Instagram and Facebook that we are serious and cause them to allocate the necessary resources to solve this problem.

TOGETHER WE HAVE A STRONG VOICE; Divided we are but a whisper.

So fellow igers, please go private and log out of Instagram until 2013-04-17. Please help us try to return Instagram to the great social media platform that it once was, a place to share and showcase your photography, without having to deal with annoying SPAM every minute of every day. As for this photographer, even though I will miss my Instagram friends immensely, if this protest does not result in Instagram and Facebook solving the spam problem once and for all, then I will be looking for a different social media platform. Because having to take time to delete and report every item of spam on every one of my photographs, and to search for and block spammers manually, with apparently no lasting effect on the spammers at all, not only takes more time than I have to use a social media platform, it takes all the fun out of being there in the first place.

Thank you for supporting this cause!

Anna Porter

Anna Porter Artist

Fine Art and Digital Photography

http://annaporterartist.com

http://instagram.com/annaporterartist

https://facebook.com/annaporterart

http://annaporterartist.tumblr.com

https://plus.google.com/b/103935033304572570209/

Back in the day when I used to work for one of the largest Value Added Resellers for the Hewlett-Packard Company in Southern California, we knew what it meant to "add value". We helped our customers resolve hardware and software issues until the issue was resolved. We did not "pass the buck". Sadly that cannot be said for many of the suppliers providing website hosting services these days. A case in point is my own experience with the suupport staff for my own website, managed by Fine Art Studios Online. Ten days ago, I informed FASO of a problem verifying my website on Pinterest using the exact instructions that my website "support staff" had published in their member newsletter. At first they provided support by assuming that I was an idiot and emailing me the same instructions that were in their newsletter - instructions that I had tried three times with two different browsers, and they did not work. It took them several days to get to the point of even handing anything over to their "developers", who apparently were too busy handing all the problems in their code to pay much attention to someone who has been paying them monthly for two years for a website that gets almost no traffic, yet is supposed to be "search engine optimized". Which is why I was so insistent on getting the Pinterest verification of my website handled. Pinterest, unlike FASO, has a proven track record of improving traffic to websites.

Undaunted, I kept emailing back and forth to my "support staff", who told me several times that they were just "too busy" to pay any attention to my issue. Each of my polite requests that they do something about the two pages of warning messages that I was receiving in Firefox about issues with their code was handled by a different "Artist Support Specialist", apparently so that no one would have to take responsibility to actually help me. Finally they agreed to send my case to their "developers", who immediately decided it was "not their problem". After over one week of communicating back and forth, the sole assistance that I received was to be told to "go talk to Pinterest". When I insisted that they address the issues pertinent to the warning messages about their code, I was assured that they would forward those issues to their "developers" once again. Then, today, I received yet another email from yet another "Artist Support Specialist" stating that if I wanted these warning messages addressed, then I should open yet another ticket and start all over again.

This is my response. I am your customer. I am paying for your support services. I am paying for you to have a website service to offer to artists. I expect that when I am getting warning messages in Firefox when I attempt to follow your published intructions about how to link my website to a social network that you claim to provide an interface to, and when at least half of those messages are warning messages about your code, that you will pay attention to those messages and attempt to resolve the issues quickly. And I expect that you will not respond by "passing the buck" or telling me start all over again.

I have no idea where Fine Art Studio Online "Artist Support Specialists" learned how to not provide customer support. Wherever it was, you apparently learned your lessons well. I recommend that Fine Art Studio Online pay attention to the legitimate complaints from its customers, or it will soon find that it has no customers left whatsoever.

As for me, I am in the market for a new website. If there is anyone out there who believes that they can provide better service and support, please email me at [email protected] with a link to your service and samples of existing websites so I can check them out. I cannot have you email me at my FASO email address, because whenever I try to add my FASO email address to my desktop Mail application, when Mail goes out to try to verify the FASO server, it gets an invalid security certificate error - yet another issue that I have been trying to get assistance with from FASO for SEVERAL MONTHS, without success.

Bottom line, artists, unless FASO resolves the issues with their websites and with their customer support services, my advice is to save yourselves the headache and an aggregious amount of wasted time and look elsewhere to place your website.

Anna Porter Artist

Fine Art and Digital Photography

http://annaporterartist.com

[email protected]

Recently I posted an entry to a question posed by a fellow artist in a LinkedIn Group that I belong to called Painters in Watermedia. In “Advice for a Newbie”, the new group member stated that she was new at art and had started her art career later in life. She was wondering if there was any advice that group members could share with her with regard to establishing her newfound career in art. This was my reply: 

 
“I began painting at the age of 37 in art therapy. At the age of 46, I returned to college part-time to take transfer classes towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. Like you, I started late. I have never stopped painting. My career as an artist has been very unconventional and definitely full of twists and turns. The best advice that I can give is:

1. Take classes whenever and wherever you can, as you can afford them. If it interests you, do it.

2. If you cannot afford classes or workshops, think about starting a “painting” or “drawing” or “insert your art type here” group. Like a book club, but for artists instead of readers. Get together to paint or do whatever en plein aire in local parks when the weather is nice. Being around other artists and creative people inspires your creativity and your growth.

3. Always work on improving your craftsmanship.

4. Always work on increasing your “known” factor.

5. Establish a website or online gallery and start an art blog. Link the art blog to your website or online gallery.

6. Use social media effectively to promote your art for free. Link your social media sites like Facebook, PInterest, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ to your website.

7. Stay in touch with your customers and your prospects with an email newsletter. Include links to your website and social media in your newsletter.

8. Galleries want to know that an artist is current and consistent. They need to know that they can count on a steady and consistent supply of art from you. Start good habits now, so that you paint, draw, or do whatever you do, every day, no matter what.
 
9. Look for non-conventional places to show your art - restaurants, cafes, bars, government offices, schools, corporations are a good place to start.

10. Check online for Call for Artists and Call for Entries in your local area. New restaurants will frequently post notices on Craigslist.
 
11. Submit at least one piece of art every month, if you can, to an art show or art contest. Art Magazines, like The Artist's Magazine, are a good place to look for art contests, call for artists, art fairs, art shows, workshops, technique tips, etc. The website host for my website, FASO, also has a monthly Boldbrush Painting Contest and one free art contest entry per month is included with Gold Membership.

12. Visit galleries and get to know the owners and the type of art and artists they represent. When you find one that fits you, make sure that they are good at what they are supposed to be good at - marketing and selling art. Visit the gallery at least three times on different days and at different times to make sure that it:

    a. is reponsive and attentive to customers;
    b. is knowledgeable and honest about the art that it is trying to sell;
    c. is open at convenient times when there are lots of people in your target audience available to shop;
    d. has good foot traffic, signage, parking etc. (all the things that are important for any retail business);
    e. is pleasant, courteous and respectful to customers, to the artists they represent, and to you as a prospective artist;
    f. accepts multiple forms of payment;
    g. has been in business for at least two years (like a restaurant, the first two years are the make it or break it years). At least five years is even better;
    h. is well-liked and well-known in the community (if it can market itself well, then odds are it can market your art);
    i. has a strong online presence for the gallery, and will link to your artist website;
    j. ideally, can accept orders and payments online, in addition to in person at the gallery;
    k. has an established dealer network in other geographical locations;
    l. offers a commission plan that is acceptable to you, and that includes marketing expenses
       (e.g. the gallery pays for posters, postcards, announcements, press releases etc. for your shows at their gallery);
    m. does not place restrictions on how else you market yourself and your art
         (e.g. online, at art fairs, with artist representatives, or at art galleries in other geographical areas).

Ask the gallery owner or representative how they prefer that you submit your work for consideration, and follow their directions. Before you sign a contract with anyone, ask a lawyer to take a look at it to make sure that you know exactly what you are getting and not getting. It is worth the legal cost to protect your art and yourself. Don't skimp on the important stuff.

13. Think about different ways that you can diversify your product, so that you can have “something for everyone”. A few ideas to get you started:

    * If you are a painter, create tiny paintings, as well as large paintings;
    * If you are a painter, create fine art giclées from your original paintings;
    * If you are a painter and you paint from photographs, also consider selling canvas prints, prints on metal, prints on acrylic, and framed prints in addition to the paintings;
    * Create gift cards or gift tags from your artwork;
    * Create a themed ebook of your artwork or your photography using Apple’s iBooks Author software;
    * Create themed hardcover or softcover books of your photography or artwork using Apple’s online publishing services (I am sure that there must be similar services available for PC users, I just do not know what they are, since I am a shameless Apple fan and that is what I use).

14. Get marketing help if and when you need it. In addition to owning my own art business, I also work part-time for our marketing company, Lake Oswego Consulting Group. We are beginning a series of workshops for artists at the Oregon Society of Artists in Portland, OR titled “Marketing Your Art Workshops”. You can see the brochure for the workshops here. If you a creative professional in the Portland, OR area, we invite you to attend. Please call me at (503) 697-7666 to register. If you have questions, please email me at [email protected].

15. Check your local art societies to see what types of workshops and classes they offer to support artists in your area.

16. Check your local community colleges for art marketing and studio art classes. In addition to my studio art and art history classes at Portland Community College, which I enjoyed tremendously, one class that I took stands out in particular. It was called “Artist Survival Skills” and it was extremely valuable.  I learned how to write an artist biography and an artist statement, how to photograph my paintings, how to approach art galleries, how to take advantage of tax breaks for artists, how to protect my art with copyright law, how to do gallery installations … the list goes on. Currently PCC offers an online class called Start Your Own Art Business. Alternatively, you can check with your local community college and see if they offer a similar class. You will be glad that you did.

17. Never, never stop doing your art, now that you have found your new gift. I love the following quote that I read recently in an art blog by artist Kevin Mizner at Maine-ly Painting:

    "Artist is not what I do for a living. It is what I do for life.”

I hope this was helpful and good luck!”

Anna Porter Artist
Fine Art & Digital Photography

I will be one of the featured speakers at Marketing Your Art Workshop II created by Lake Oswego Consulting Group. This is the second in a series of three workshops for artists and other creative professionals that will be held at Oregon Society of Artists, 2185 SW Park Place, Portland, OR on October 18, 2012 from 9:00AM to 1:00PM. With hands-on demonstrations and interactive slide presentations I will be:

• showing workshop participants how to quickly set up and optimize social media to help drive traffic to their websites; and

• providing tips for writing press releases, internet ads, email newsletters, art blogs, artist statements and resumes.

George Porter, the Managing Director of Lake Oswego Consulting Group, will be presenting a newly revised Art Gallery database that he has been creating for the Portland, OR area. Using examples from his extensive research, he will examine traditional versus non-traditional channels of distribution that are available to Portland artists, photographers, sculptors, artisans and other creative professionals in the Portland, OR metropolitan area.

A poster that I created for the workshop is shown below:

Following are links to blog entries that I have authored for Lake Oswego Consulting Group. Go to http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org to select from a variety of articles on how to improve sales and marketing your business or profession:

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org/about-us/

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org/2012/06/28/hello-world/

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org/2012/07/08/why-your-business-needs-a-master-marketing-plan-by-anna-porter/

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org/2012/07/08/the-benefits-of-a-well-thought-out-master-marketing-plan-by-anna-porter-2/

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org/2012/07/08/the-first-p-in-the-master-marketing-plan-people-by-anna-porter-2/

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org/2012/07/08/lake-oswego-consulting-group-has-a-new-blog-and-website-address-by-george-porter-2/

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org/2012/07/08/we-have-arrived-by-anna-porter-3/

For more information on how Lake Oswego Consulting Group can help you better sell and market your art, products, services and business online visit our website at http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.com, email [email protected] or call (503) 360-7260 today!