Book Review: “I’d rather be in the studio!” The Artist’s No-excuse Guide to Self-Promotion

I just finished reading Art Biz Coach, Alyson B. Stanfield’s book “I’d rather be in the studio!” I highly recommend it to artists who want to make a business of their artistic talent. It is

The Artist’s No-excuse Guide to Self-Promotion.

This book is for artists at every career level from starting out to well seasoned. It takes the fear out of self-promotion, which can sometimes paralyze artists with excuses.

Alyson encourages artists to think of the business side of their artwork and she gives plenty of tips, ideas, and suggestions on how to promote themselves in very creative ways. Her advice is invaluable!

In her informative book she teaches artists how to:

• Introduce yourself as an artist so people want to know more
• Nail your artist statement to discover the right words for all of your marketing strategies
• Expand your mailing list and use it to cultivate collectors
• Create marketing materials that outshine the competition
• Become a media magnet so buyers come to you
• Take advantage of your Web site and blog to build a bigger audience

Artists, you will have no more excuses for getting your art out there after you read I’d rather be in the studio! You will be inspired to take action and reap the rewards of your success!

To order a copy go to: http://www.idratherbeinthestudio.com

Thank you Alyson for your insight!

Gina Hurst, Art Consultant

To learn more about Alyson Stanfield, Art Biz Coach, please visit:

Website --> http://www.artbizcoach.com

Blog --> http://www.artbizblog.com
Book --> http://www.idratherbeinthestudio.com

Twitter --> http://twitter.com/abstanfield
Facebook --> http://www.facebook.com/artbizcoach

Writing a Bio and Artist Statement

Concerning writing a bio and artist statement, here is something to think about...

Your bio is about you and your artistic accomplishments. It is written in the third person (otherwise, it would be an autobiography). It helps to think of it as your résumé in paragraph form. Write it in reverse chronological order, acknowledging that your most important accomplishments are those that are most recent. I think it's nice to
open a bio with a short paragraph summarizing your current work. This can be taken from your statement and reworked for the bio format.

In contrast to your bio, which is about you, your statement is about your work--the current direction of your work, not the history of how you got to this point. It's your opportunity to define a body of work before others respond to the work and define it for you. Your statement--because it is a statement--is written in first person. It is not the definitive statement about your work forever and ever because your work changes. You must allow your statement to get better
and to grow along with your art. My litmus test for a good statement is that it makes me want to quit reading and look at the artist's work again. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of words.

Copyright 2007 Alyson B. Stanfield. Alyson takes the mystery out of marketing your art and making more money as an artist. Visit http://www.ArtBizCoach.com to get articles just like this one delivered to your inbox.