Art Print Issues by Barney Davey

Art-Exchange.com Brouhaha Still Brewing

A four-year running discussion about Art-Exchange.com and its business practices has been raging on Wet Canvas, which is the largest artist discussion board on the Internet. A search for the term "art-exchange" there returns 21 results of different threads or discussions. Nearly all are started by artists asking for help, opinion and firsthand experience with the company.

The primary thread with "Art-Exchange.com...any opinions?" was started in June, 2005 and has more than 100 replies and 7500 views. This is an enormous amount of response and that it continues to stay lively nearly 4 years later shows the amount of interest and angst generated by the company's business tactics. The near universal response has been outrage and anger from the Wet Canvas art community. Discussion boards such as Wet Canvas serve a great need. The work as a communal watering hole where like-minded folks can gather and share their experiences, knowledge and shared interests.

The latest round of posts were started when a poster named David Miller, who introduced himself as the new president of Art-Exchange.com came on to try to defend the company. He was rightly disturbed by a comment that the employees there should be shot. We all know such talk is meaningless hyperbole attempting to portray the level of anger towards the company and its aggressive sales staff. But, on this point I think he has a right to be disturbed. Not so much, or not at all on reasoned explanations of how artists were treated and solicited by his sales staff.

Needless to say, the response was not pleasant to Mr. Miller's post. A request was put to him to provide artists who would come forth and tell about their positive experience with the company. A suspicious first-time newbie poster named Bill joined the conversation with a kind of passive-aggressive defense of the company. When challenged to prove he was not a shill by providing a Website or some evidence of a real art career, he lamely says he hasn't joined the 2000s yet and has no Internet exposure. He further says he is contemplating working with Art-Exchange.com. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

The discussion of this company is not isolated to just Wet Canvas. You can find strongly held opinions on www.artspan.com and www.artscuttlebutt.com. The later has unfortunately lost many of its older posts when its forum was hit with a hacker attack. It contained some lengthy posts and replies all pointing to artists who had poor experiences dealing with Art-Exchange.com.

There are lessons here. For artists, take the time to perform due diligence when being asked to put up front money for marketing assistance. For companies who have vocal constituents, don't wait years to try and correct a negative perception about the company. In this case for Art-Exchange.com, the ship has sailed and the cow left the barn. Perhaps Mr. Miller can turn the company around, but it will take a long time with an ongoing effort by the company to change its image with the artist community, especially those who participate regularly on discussion boards.

The final lesson is no matter how small or large your company may be, don't take for granted that customer satisfaction is paramount to your long term success. Caveat emptor.

The Digital Painter - Marilyn Sholin's Lasting Impression

Congratulations to Marilyn Sholin for the very successful launch of her new book, The Art of Digital Photo Painting: Using Popular Software to Create Masterpieces (A Lark Photography Book) . It's been a top seller in several Amazon categories since publication. In the early going, her publisher struggled to keep up with the strong demand for her book.

Every now and then someone comes along who casts a long shadow over some aspect of their chosen field. When it comes to making contributions to digital painting, Marilyn Sholin is such a person. She is an acknowledged master of the Corel Painter program who shares her talent, techniques and insights with thousands of digital artists and photographers worldwide.

As with many digital painters, Marilyn's path began with a professional career as a photographer. In her case, she has worked for more than 25 years to become a highly accomplished and sought after portrait photographer. Those who know Marilyn recognize a drive and indefatigable spirit that pushes her to take on new and interesting challenges. Those high achiever attributes undoubtedly are behind her becoming an expert user and teacher of the Corel Painter program and other digital imaging tools as well.

Marilyn's expertise has led her into authoring books and marketing CDs; all with the aim of helping others grow their talents in digital painting. She is also the founder of the Digital Painting Forum. It boasts more than 2100 members who have shared nearly 85,000 posts. What is truly unique is this is a closed paid forum. In an age where forums offering free memberships spring up like wildflowers in warm weather after abundant rain, it is refreshing to see and a confirmation of Marilyn's leadership and the dedication of its membership that the Digital Painting Forum stays strong and viable with its paid membership program.

Marilyn teaches classes around the country and overseas as well. If you are interested in learning more about digital painting, or want to advance your skills, you should check out her schedule of classes she offers from her home studio in beautiful Asheville, NC. I visited there last summer and spent some time with Marilyn. It was an inspiring trip on numerous levels. You can get information on all her upcoming events here. If digital painting intrigues you, as it has so many others, you won't find a better resource to improve your skills and advance your learning than through the stellar efforts of Marilyn Sholin.

Using Press Releases to Gain Publicity for Visual Artists (Part Three)

I trust you have had a chance to read Part One and Part Two of this series on press releases for artists. I'll go further and assume some of you are sufficiently motivated by them to get started using press releases in your art marketing efforts. I've said many times dollar-for-dollar and for time spent, nothing will give your art business a bigger boost than well placed publicity.

There are many things I'm pretty good at, including writing my own press releases. Here are a couple that have I've published on PRWEB.com:

How to Profit from the Art Print Market: Practical Advice for Visual Artists

Chinese Assembly Line Oil Paintings Create Concerns

Five Decades of Passionate Vision Exhibit Extended - this one I dusted up for my good friend Joella Jean Mahoney. It's not something I would normally do. but given her accomplishments and this honor, I had to lend a hand. It came out pretty good for an amateur.

Speaking of being an amateur; I have no intention of trying to tell you how to write a press release when there are so many very talented professionals who can run rings around any efforts I might put forth in that arena. Here are some helpful links to useful information I've collected:

Press Releases as Marketing Tools

PRWEB.com - the anatomy of a press release

The Publicity Hound - free articles from PR expert Joan Stewart

PRWEB Review - insight and great advice from on this service from Internet & SEO marketing guru Rae Hoffman.

How to Write a Great Press Release: A Sample Press Release Template - from publicityinsider.com

10 Essential Tips to Ensure Your Press Release Makes the News

Okay, now that you are convinced regular use of publicity should be integrated into marketing program, you are wondering how you get a press worthy release written. That is you are a lover not a fighter. Just kidding, you are an artist not a promotional writer. I can heartily recommend a great editing service for you to use. It is www.Gramlee.com. You buy words on the site. It's $9.95 for 500 words. That is about the average size for a typical press release. Its professional editors will polish your copy and turn it around in 24 hours or less. You get to bank any unused words for future editing needs.

Related Posts:

How to Write a Press Release for Artists

What Topics Would Be Press Worthy for a Visual Artists? (Part Two)

In my previous, "As a Visual Artist, Are You Press Release Worthy?" post, I challenged readers to assess if they were press release worthy. After all, what we be the point of going through the motions if one lacked conviction or confidence in creating and distributing a press release? I trust if you read it you got the message which is you don't have to be a famous artist to be press press release worthy. You just have to have something interesting and viable to publicize.

Here are a few ideas you could use, including,

You have:

• Published new work
• Been picked up by a gallery
• Been commissioned to work on an important piece
• Moved your studio
• Hired an assistant
• Started a blog
• Have a new Web site
• Been asked to demonstrate or speak at a meeting
• Had a piece selected for a prestigious juried show
• Have won an award at a juried show
• Had a well-known person purchase your art
• Had a piece go into a collection or museum
• Decided to exhibit at a tradeshow or consumer show
• Been interviewed on TV, radio, magazine or newspaper
• Been a guest on Oprah (okay, an admitted stretch, but you gotta dream big to do big things.)
• Had a piece selected for a magazine cover
• Been picked up by a licensing company
• Donated a piece for a charitable organization
• Had a piece donated for an auction that sold well above the reserve price
• Painted a piece for a wine label
• Joined a prestigious art group
• Taken an artist retreat in an interesting place
• Given lessons on painting to children

Those are just some ideas that come to my mind about possible topics. Some of them could be joined. Nearly all could be expanded upon.

Start a SWIPE file.

There is nothing wrong with creative borrowing. When you read anything, keep your mind open to possible PR opportunities. Make a note, put it on your brain, tear out the article and put it in your "Ideas" file. The important thing is to tune into what and where the possibilities are and then be organized to make sure you can retrieve the information when needed. The more ways you find to use publicity, the more effective your efforts will be.

Build a media contacts database.

Begin building a database of potential prospects to send press releases. This information resource, if carefully constructed, can turn into one of your most valuable marketing tools. If you see an article with a byline, drop a note to the author with a quick sincere compliment. If it is a blog article or online article and you can comment, jump in with something short and sweet. Resist the temptation to use these contacts as an opportunity to promote yourself. Save that for when you have something important to tell the world about.

However you do it, getting all those prospective names in some form of a contact manager will be crucial in your long term publicity efforts. Make sure you keep good files on every thing you submit as well. Maintain a copy of the best pieces to provide to galleries and dealer to help them in their marketing efforts. Separately keep everything you have submitted or have gotten press on in a paper file or electronic file. You can save a page from your browser by going to File: Save As and save as a complete web page (*.mht) in Internet Explorer.

Create your own sense of style

Now admittedly, you are not going to use all the suggestions from the list above. You don't need to. You just need to develop your own sense of style and purpose. Do that while building the information on who and what media you want to influence and you are on your way. There is so much media now, and these outlets all need news and features to keep their pages and time allotments filled. They are looking for interesting slice of life angles that will grab a reader, viewer or listener's attention for a few minutes. Take the time to find out what the schedules are and how the targeted media likes to receive publicity. The easier you make their job, the better your results will be.

The range of possibilities starts with national media and includes everything from talk shows, to home decorating shows, to national magazines and newspapers. There are trade publications, specialty niche publications, consumer magazines, lifestyle magazines, regional magazines and local media of all sorts. There are press release outlets such as PRWEB.com that will blast your press release to thousands of media outlets at one time.

Successful publicity is a numbers game

Start thinking about where and how you will get coverage. It is a numbers game. The more places you submit, the better your chances are for getting exposure. If you have inflect with the angle right, keep the content refreshing, interesting and compelling, the better your chances of breaking through the clutter.

Getting good at preparing and sending press releases is something you will improve on as you keep after it. The most important thing is to figure out what will best for your situation and then begin to build awareness in yourself of where your information will best fit. Publicity is an important activity that can produce better and more meaningful results for time and money spent than nearly any other marketing activity, so it is worth your valuable time to be thinking about doing this on a routine level.

If you study the most successful artists, many seem to have a knack for publicity. For most, it comes not so much from being instinctual, but more from intently observing how others get it done and then consistently adapting what they do to fit their own needs. The other part of the effortless pr that seem to follow some artists is there often was much unseen work in building trusted relationships with the press that ultimately made the greatest impact on the business of those artists. In other words, they made it a mission to create good relations with influential media contacts.

I'll get down some nuts and bolts on where to get useful information on how to write a press release, where to get help writing one and how to go about submitting them in the next post.