I’ve put together a selection of products and bonuses for those of you shopping the holiday sales.

All include the purchase of my book, I’d Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion.

Bonus Goodies

• NEW from Art Biz Coach! Special report: After The Sale (What to do next)
• NEW from Art Biz Coach! Special report: A Checklist for Promoting Your Exhibit or Event
• NEW from Art Biz Coach! Audio program: Unbelievably Dumb Mistakes Artists Make When Presenting Themselves
• From Cynthia Morris! Special report: Receive Feedback Gracefully to Be a Better Artist
• From Ariane Goodwin! Special report: Artist Statements (What’s the big deal about something so small?)

4 Options

1. Book + Goodies
2. Book + Pre-Order of Revised Edition + Goodies
3. Book + Blast Off Class + Goodies
4. E-Book + Goodies

Shop now! Sale ends December 18th.

In case you missed any posts during the last 12 months, I’ve selected one from each month to call your attention to. Here they are: The Greatest Hits from the Art Biz Blog from 2009.

Offer an Upgrade
Upgrades not only bring you more money, they also provide your fans with another level of service.

Dating Your Art: How Important is It?
Dating your artwork is critical if you’re interested in high-end galleries and museums.

How long did it take you to make your art?
Artists love to hate this question they hear from buyers and customers. And, yet, you continue to hear it over and over again. Read this post and the 80 comments (perhaps the most ever!) it received at the time. Then read the winning responses to the question.

Leah Virsik, Genesis, 2009. Acrylic, paper, beeswax, 11 x 11 inches. ©The Artist

Return to Your Art
Never neglect the studio. Always return to your art. The disciplined practice of making art is mandatory.

Recycle Your Blog Posts into Exhibit Labels
Guest Blogger Val Littlewood shows you how (and why!) she did it.

Identify (only) the Next Action
Clearly define your tasks and identify only the next action for your task list.

Ask for Sponsorship
This post didn’t receive any comments, but it’s crucial if you ever need to ask anyone to contribute services or goods for an opening or event.

Using Other Artists’ Images on Your Blog
How to use others’ images the right way and gain friends at the same time.

Escape the PMWP (Poor Me Whining Phenomenon)
Nobody is responsible for your success–or lack thereof–except you. Of course, there will always be bumps along the road that are not your fault. Get a good set of shocks and ride out the potholes.

Artist Salons: 6 Elements for a Thriving Group (Part 1)
Any artist can start a group, but how can you ensure it will thrive? How can you make it worth the members’ time? Also read: Part 2.

Crediting Your Artwork
Every artist needs to read this! Whether you post your images on a blog, a website, or on a social media site like Facebook, you need to give yourself credit for your artwork.

Finish Off the Sale and Follow Up
Give your art buyers only what they need at the time of the sales transaction and save the rest for following up at a future date.

When You’re Not Getting Paid after the Sale of Your Art
If you’re not being paid by a gallery you know is making sales, your reaction should depend on the answers you give for the five questions in this article.

I hope your day is filled with everyone and everything you love.

Every year about this time I contribute to the delinquency of my readers by posting the annual Bert’s Eggnog Recipe. Why would this year be any different? I’ve already responded to a number of frantic emails: Where’s the eggnog recipe?! I can’t force you to make it or drink it, but I strongly encourage you to do both.

People who have professed to strongly dislike eggnog have been amazed by its deliciousness and, frankly, its power. This is a knock-your-socks-off elixir.

Making the recipe isn’t easy. It requires at least three bowls (one for the yolks, one for the whites, and a third for whipping the cream). I recommend grabbing an elf because you’re going to want four steady hands.

One last piece of advice. Make this the night before you want to serve it. We have it every Christmas MORNING. Yep, morning. The bourbon provides for a nice Christmas-Day nap. Just don’t say you weren’t warned.

Download the recipe.

Cheers!

My mother first made Bert’s Eggnog in 1959, the year she and Dad were married. But my Uncle Charlie had been making it for years. No one knows who Bert is! Mom looked up the recipe in the cookbook and it doesn’t really say.

This recipe has been a part of my Christmases for at least 20 years. We started making it in Crested Butte, Colorado and always on Christmas Eve. After the batch was whipped up, we put it out in the snow overnight. The icy snow makes the nog thicken and the flavors are just that much better in the morning. If you don’t have snow or cold weather, I might suggest a few hours in the freezer. Christmas morning just isn’t Christmas without Bert’s eggnog. (Makes for a nice excuse for an afternoon nap, too!)

We are working fast and furious to get this site working and looking sharper than ever. I really appreciate your patience while we get past the uglies. (Don’t even begin to ask what those photos are at right. Placeholders.)

Please stay tuned. We may have instructions for subscribing to a new feed.

Starting June 8, a crew of us on Twitter are reading and tweeting about the Pulitzer Prize winning book, de Kooning: An American Master by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan.

Join us! It’s FREE!

All you have to do is

1. Pick up a copy of the book (here’s my Amazon link) and join in the conversation.

2. Leave your Twitter handle in a comment on this page to let us know you’re joining in.

3. Start reading! We’re aiming for 100 pages a week (it’s a dense book and over 600 pages).

4. Use the #dekooning hashtag in your tweet when you’re talking about something you read in the book.

5. To follow along and see what others are saying, go to search.twitter.com and enter the #dekooning hashtag. Here’s the direct link with the hashtag already entered.

There are no other rules, so don’t even ask. We’re making it all up as we go along. C’mon! It’ll be fun!

In this week’s Art Marketing Action, I encourage you not to give up on using old-fashioned snail mail. In this, my 1400th post!, let’s look at some of the mail pieces you can send.

©Shirley Quaid, Chasing the Sun.

Postcards with your images on them. There are good reasons postcards are so popular with artists. It’s inexpensive to produce large quantities of 4-color postcards and postcards are cheaper to mail than folded invitations or announcements. But let’s not forget that postcards don’t have to be opened. A full-color image of your art on the front of a postcard can capture the interest of the recipient even though it might be swallowed up in a stack of mail.

Note cards with your images on them. Of course you’re going to send loads of thank-you notes, but you’ll also be sending “It was nice to meet you” notes, “Happy Birthday” notes, “Thinking of you” notes, and more. You need note cards with pictures of your art on them. (If you have a favorite source or idea for these, please leave it in a comment.)

Articles about an accomplishment. Did you get acknowledge for something or have your art featured in a newspaper or magazine article? Make a bunch of copies and send them to your best collectors and best prospects.

Articles of interest to the recipient. If you have a good relationship with your buyers and collectors, you know what their interests are. When you come across something that makes you think of them, copy it or cut it out and put it in the mail with a “This made me think of you” note on top of it. There’s lots more of these ideas in the Cultivate Collectors class (which begins July 8).

Gifts. This almost goes without saying, but sending a gift to someone important to you is never a bad idea. It doesn’t even have to cost a lot of money. If it makes someone smile, laugh, and have a better day, you’ve done good work.

Catalog or brochure. If you’re promoting a new project, new idea, sale, or new line, spell it out in a mailer. When done properly, these aren’t inexpensive, but you don’t need to send it to your entire list. Send it to a selective group of top prospects. Read more about this.

Portfolio. Not too long ago, artists were sending out portfolios like crazy to galleries. These pieces–often stuffed with a sheet of 35mm slides–were outrageously expensive. Think of how much easier you have it these days! Not only do you not need to send these, but galleries don’t want to see them. Gallerists say they don’t have a place to keep all of them that come along. BUT, from time to time, you’ll be asked to send a portfolio in the mail. Get it ready with your résumé, bio, statement, CD of images, prints of selected images, articles, and whatever else you need to show off your art. (See pages of I’d Rather Be in the Studio!)

CDs of your art. This is fairly common these days, but shake it up a bit and personalize your cover, mailer, and add a handwritten note that entices the recipient to open it up.

The Pulitzer Prize winning biography of abstract expressionist painter Willem de Kooning has been sitting on my shelf far too long. I need some accountability so I’m forming a Twitter book club. Here’s what I know so far.

The @abstanfield Twitter book club reading of de Kooning: An American Master begins Monday, June 8.

We’ll use this hashtag in our postings so we can find each others' comments on Twitter: #dekooning

This 600+ page book is a tome and has some dense reading. If we did 100 pages a week, it would take 6 weeks. But let’s start with that and see how it goes.

Grab a copy of the book from your library or favorite independent bookstore and join us! If you want to commit, please leave a comment along with your @Twitter handle.

How many hours a week should a full-time artist devote to his or her career?

This Deep Thought comes from a recent guest post in which Michael Shane Neal mentioned the importance of working art–citing 12-18-hour days. (He didn’t mention if that was 7 days a week or 5 days a week.)

What is necessary and how much is too much?
 

Image ©Caroline Roberts, Killing Moon.

The convenience of email makes it easy to take it for granted. Have an event or announcement to share with your list? Write your email blast early, edit and test it. It's worth it and will give you better results.

Check out these events

No-Excuses Art Marketing Workshop in Terre Haute, IN (April 4)
Keynote address in Milwaukee, WI (March 20)
Keynote address, Artist 2 Artist professional development fair, Hood River, OR (March 28)

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