I was pondering the investment required for my one-on-one artist consulting and coaching services.  Recently it has been suggested to me that the cost of these services are too low for the value that’s provided.  Although every one of my artist clients is different, and so are their results, most artists increase their sales to cover the fee during the time we’re working together.  If they don’t, artists can see clearly how they will increase their sales the near future.

This got me thinking and I decided to examine the current annual cost of the fine art education that I received. I attended the Cleveland Institute of Art, established in 1882, a prestigious member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design.  This year the annual tuition is $47,780! The investment for my services? They’re a small fraction of the current annual tuition.

In 1987, the bachelors program I attended required five years.  I can’t imagine taking on that investment of money and time at this point in my life without a clear path to success in mind.  But for those students who have, I wish them the very best.  Because the odds are not good, even with the finest education from a prestigious art school.

Part of the artist dropout is simply unavoidable but tragically much of this is avoidable.  Even the very best art schools do not adequately prepare their graduates for the realities of the art market. If a student wants to become, and remain, a professional artist they’re going to have to make an additional investment.  That is an investment of time, money, and effort in learning and applying business and marketing principles to their art career, or rather, their art “business.”  If there’s no employer involved, we’re talking about a business, not a career.

I’ve said before that I believe that becoming a top artistic talent is much more of a challenge than learning about marketing and the business of art.  Evidence of this abounds.  We see mediocre talent in the art and music industries everyday. What’s happening?  A lot of mediocre does well when it is effectively targeted to a well-defined market.

Besides instruction, just think of what we must invest in art supplies, photography, framing, or show fees, etc.  Now why is it that are we not investing more in our businesses?

A published collection of an artist’s work can be a powerful marketing tool. But only when the publishing process is carefully planned well ahead of the actual design and printing. Lacking adequate information and a good strategy, it can be a colossal waste of time and money, time better spent on your art.

This is intended to be a brief overview of where to begin. For a more complete description of design, materials, and printing, I would like to direct you to my web site for a more extensive article I wrote on these subjects.

Learn more at…

http://ralphgradyjames.com/PrintingYourBook.html.

Your first consideration should be, why do you want to print a book and what is the end use of your book? Is it to showcase your art, or maybe to teach art technique and theory? You may think these are silly questions, but they are foundational in your planning and often overlooked or ignored. The reason they are important is because the design, the narrative, the marketing of your book, and even the type of binding and materials used should reflect and agree with these objectives.

If you plan on selling your book, what compelling reason does a customer have for purchasing your book? Let’s face it: you may be a great artist, but unless you are nationally or internationally known, basing your sales only on displaying images of your work will limit your sales. Consider designing your publication with several levels of appeal. For instance, if you also teach something new about technique or business, or share beautiful places to create art, then you’ve increased your potential market.

The last critical thing to ask is do you have the funds to finish your project? Take the time to think through your project from beginning to end and make sure not only to include design and printing cost but also think about any associated costs, such as advertising, shipping, or storage. Also, remember, because of the time required in design and print production, it may be a while before your book is ready to start returning your investment.

I want to encourage anyone interested in publishing a book to go for it! It can be a wonderful and fulfilling experience if you are willing to invest a little time and thought before beginning. It will also leave a legacy for the future, which is priceless.

All right, I’ll go first.  I have a few experiences with art galleries and let me just say they are not all bad.  But I’ll share the first one that pops into my mind. A  gallery owner asked if I would participate in a fund raising auction.  I was to receive one half of the sales price and I set the starting bid.  This is the only way to go (if) you are going to participate in a charity auction, which generally I do NOT recommend.

Anyway, one of the two framed paintings I offered sold and fetched a good price.  The other painting was actually returned to me in a perfectly sound and stable box.  But when I opened it, I discovered the frame had been shattered into smithereens and the oil painting was just laying on top of the frame fragments.  No note, no call, nothing from the gallery owner who sent it. I think the gallery owner was just being hateful and to this day, I honestly don’t know why. I wrote him emails, I left him messages, and I sent him letters trying to get an explanation and payment for the broken frame.  Again, nothing, no response.

So I contacted the Executive Director of the charity and I let her know what had happened, and I shared my obvious displeasure.   She was appropriately horrified about the way I had been treated and the charity promptly reimbursed me for the frame.  The gallery owner, I’ve never heard from him.

Needless to say, this gallery may offer excellent representation to some artists.  But just in case, I’m happy to offer fair warning below and to a provide a blog that  explores profitable alternatives.

http://www.efgallery.com/

http://www.artistswhothrive.com/

I was recently interviewed for an article profiling successful artists.  The interviewer asked, “What are the biggest mistakes that you see artists making in planning their careers?”

That was easy to answer.  The biggest mistake that I see an artist making early, and sometimes too late, in their career is that they do not recognize, and or respect the fact they are “in business”.  They’re not sure how to be savvy entrepreneurs.  They are trying, often without much success, to follow a prescribed model of working solely with galleries and keeping their fingers crossed that one day that this tired formula will work.  The problem is that 99.9% of the time, it doesn’t.  And if it does, too many art galleries fold.

Part of this mindset is ingrained by a cultural stereotype that artists should not, or could not, be concerned with money and business.  I can’t tell you how much I hear this disrespectful crap. So I purposely have my full title on my business cards and the footer of my emails, “Ann Rea, Artist, CEO, Ann Rea, Inc.”

The good news is that there’s a lot of money changing hands in the art industry, and artists can get their piece of the pie.

I’ll remind artists that I consult with that no one is going to “discover” them, no one is coming to save them.   But once an artist recognizes, respects, and embraces their business, we’re ready to work together.

And those artists who I work with have surprised and delighted me with the leaps of progress that they make.  And they even inspire me to up my game, to dream bigger, make a plan, and move into action.

The Academy of Art University of San Francisco was founded in 1929 and it currently has almost 16,000 students enrolled.  The Art Academy is a for-profit (not a dirty word) institution and a Hasbro Monopoly-like landlord of San Francisco.

I’ve hired several eager and capable interns from the Academy of Art and I have to say that I’m concerned that they will, like so many graduates with a fine art degree, never be full time artists.

I’ve got no doubt that they have received capable art instruction or the Academy of Art couldn’t possibly enroll so many students.  However, it puzzled me to learn that the Academy of Art has no admission requirements.  Prospective art students do not have to have “any art experience.”  They don’t even have to show a portfolio of their work.

Can you imagine applying for Julliard and not having to audition?  Images of American Idol come to mind.  We all know that the arts are a tough business so stacking the odds in your favor with the best education available is a minimal strategy.

It also appears that the Academy of Art University pays little to no attention to teaching the business and marketing aspects of selling one’s art.  This is mission critical and this missing piece of education could end an artist’s career before it starts.

Like it or not, art school graduates had better be good at something else besides creativity or they’re not going to make it.

The good news, in my opinion, is that developing a “marketing mindset” is not that difficult nor is it beyond the capability of a reasonably intelligent person.  So why not make business and marketing a cornerstone of the standard curriculum?  One reason?  Because generally professors are academics, not entrepreneurs.  And so there’s no need for them to fuss about unique value propositions and target markets, or even respect these basic business concepts.  But guess what?! A thriving full time artist is an entrepreneur extraordinaire.