PHOTOGRAPHER: Amanda Strong
THIS WEEK: How NOT to use the Internet to find investors for your film or theatre project; 50 questions to evaluate the quality of your Web site; the seven deadly sins of submitting a self-published book; and, more....
BUSINESS TIPS FOR CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS:
#1. Tips for Starting an Arts Business
The following are some of the things I have learned while creating my own business, which started out as a small table exhibiting photographs in a small town arts and craft show in Texas in the late 1980s.... There are many paths to the goal you choose to reach. The following are observations that may help you on your path....
by Kelly Borsheim | Borsheim Arts Studio | READ ENTIRE POST
#2. When a Client Can't Afford You: Why It's Still Better to Bid High
As an experienced professional, you know your services aren’t cheap, and you may be too expensive for a start-up with a shoestring budget. You want to know what the project’s budget is, but they can’t tell you. Start-ups and small companies often don’t have a set budget for projects like these. They are looking to you to provide a price quote, so they know what they can expect to pay. Still, your gut is telling you this client can’t afford you. What do you do?
by Freelance Folder | READ ENTIRE POST
FILMMAKERS:
#3. How Not to Use the Internet to Find Investors for Your Film or Theatre Project
In recent weeks, I’ve begun to see more and more independent filmmakers and theatre producers using forums, chat rooms, and other Internet-services to seek out investors for their projects. In most cases, these inquiries are couched in plain language: “Seeking investors for independent film” or similar. Unfortunately for these producers, their use of the Internet as a tool in identifying and securing the financing for their projects may actually serve as an impediment to their efforts, making the sometimes improbable chances of raising funds virtually impossible....
by Gordon P. Firemark | The Law Offices of Gordon Firemark | READ ENTIRE POST
PHOTOGRAPHER: Amanda Strong, Chakras
FINANCIAL ISSUES:
#4. What is Money?
People's definitions of money are wide ranging. Some see money as power, some as social acceptance and some people see it as evil. I've heard money described as a “store of value” by some and as security by others.... It took me almost two decades of working with small business and doing tax returns to realize that money is only meaningful in a context.....
by Amanda Mills | Loose Change | READ ENTIRE POST
MOTIVATION:
#5. Do You Recognize These 10 Mental Blocks to Creative Thinking?
Whether you’re trying to solve a tough problem, start a business, get attention for that business or write an interesting article, creative thinking is crucial. The process boils down to changing your perspective and seeing things differently than you currently do....
by Brian Clark | Copyblogger | READ ENTIRE POST
#6. Five Success Principles You Can Learn from One Tiny Creature
The study of insects is not really one of my many favorite hobbies, but there is one little critter that has a way of attracting everyone’s attention. The little creature in question is of course that busy little ant. The ant is known for being industrious and achieving what it sets out to do. There are at least five success principles we can learn by taking a little time to observe some ants at work....
by Kiwi Champ | Mindset for Living | READ ENTIRE POST
VISUAL ARTISTS:
#7. Time to Put Your Art Blog Where It Belongs... On Your Portfolio Website
If possible, don’t have a separate blog and portfolio website. Combine them. However you want to do it, bring everything together into one place. Attach a blog to your online portfolio. Or set up full image gallery for your artwork on your blog. Blogging is much more effective over the long run when you do it on your own art website — where all your art can be found — and on a domain that YOU own....
by Dan | Empty Easel | READ ENTIRE POST
PHOTOGRAPHER: Amanda Strong
WEB TIPS:
#8. 50 Questions to Evaluate the Quality of Your Website
Here is a...detailed list of questions that a website owner should asked himself about his own website. If the answer to every question that follows below was answered with yes, you can be very pleased with yourself and consider yourself the top of the crop....
by Carsten Cumbrowski | Search Engine Journal | READ ENTIRE POST
WRITERS:
#9. The Seven Deadly Sins of Submitting a Self-Published Book
From time to time, I hear people say there's no hope for a self-publisher to get reviewed in the pre-publication magazines.... That's simply untrue. Not only have I gotten my own books reviewed in those publications, but I now work with clients who have been reviewed. In one case, a self-published book got reviewed by every single pre-publication reviewer (and went on to win major awards nationally, too). So how do you avoid the "self-publishers curse?" Here are the Seven Deadly Sins of Submitting a Self-Published Book to the Pre-Pub Reviewers....
by Jacqueline Church Simonds | Midwest Book Review | READ ENTIRE POST
#10. Self-Published Book Distribution
Book distribution is the main dividing line between self-publishing and publishing with a traditional publisher. The Self-Publishing Review can talk all it wants about the merits of self-publishing — complete creative control, higher profits — but bookstore distribution is the main argument for publishing with a traditional press. If you think about it, even small traditional presses cannot get into major chains, or even small independents, so self-published novels are even a further step behind....
by Henry Baum | Self-Publishing Review | READ ENTIRE POST
ARTWORK by Amanda Strong (Mississauga, Ontario)
Want more info on this artist? Please visit her Web site: AmandaStrong.com
