thoughtful graffiti in Venice, CA 2004
So this is where I've been the last 2 days, finishing up this podcast. As I mentioned in the podcast, this one was particularly hard to write, but now that's it finished I'm excited to share it with you. More about money, my theories and a little about licensing, wholesaling, pricing your art, discounts, and answers to questions you've been asking. It's another long one. I thought about splitting it into several podcasts but since it's been a while since the last podcast, I decided to leave it long, but it's packed with information that I did my best to keep cohesive....I hope! And I hope this one is as helpful as the last one was for so many of you. It's late at night on Wednesday or early in the morning on Thursday. I wanted to go ahead and put this one up but I promise to return later today with links to the references I suggested. See you again shortly...and happy creative thursday a little early!
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Links related to this podcast
Eckhart Tolle
A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
Oprah.com
Hay House Radio
Michael Neill
Licensing Art 101
Graphic Artists Guild Handbook
21 Distinctions of Wealth (a new book I've just started and am really enjoying)
Surtex (I almost completely forgot to mention the biggest licensing trade show held annually in NY ~ I have not participated before so it slipped my mind in the podcast, but this show is one of the best ways I've heard to get your work out there for licensing companies and/or agents and reps to find you. In fact it's going on in the next few days, May 18-20!)
Official Copyright Website
Edit *Monday, May 19* A couple more things I want to mention.
One is that if you've asked me questions via a comment, unless I feel I can answer you best by emailing you directly, I am now trying to get in the habit of answering them here in the comments section so everyone can benefit from the answer. So I answered a couple of questions this morning and one from Cathy that I want to answer here in the post.
I realized after I recorded that it might be confusing what I meant when I said, "I'd rather know in advance who I will be licensing/selling my work too before I sign any agreements". Don't get me wrong, even though I did not know that Urban Outfitters was the customer on this latest licensing deal, I am of course thrilled that it was them ~and even if had I known in advance that they were the company, I would've certainly chosen to work with them because I feel like my art is a good fit, they have a great national and international presence, and especially because I have been and continue to be so fond of that entire company. I do however, think that it is very important for an artist, or any business owner for that matter to know who will be selling their work so they too can decide if they think this will be a strong partnership and a good fit for the big picture of where their business will expand to. My point is that not every opportunity that comes your way will be the best fit for your business and you should feel free to make decisions based solely on that feeling alone, as to whether this feels like the right next step or not. I will even go so far as to say, just because it may be a good move financially does not mean it will be a good choice for you. And the reason again, that I mentioned it in the podcast is because upon further reflection I think it is unfair for a company to ask you to agree to sell to another company without knowing who they are first. I think this idea is based upon the impression that any one of as business owners, especially artists should be so grateful for the opportunity that we shouldn't even ask these questions, that we should just accept whatever comes our way. And that is what I'm suggesting needs some re-evaluating on the part of the artist, I believe, not the "appreciation for the opportunity part" but the part that says we will give up our fair rights for any and every opportunity.
And another thought on licensing in general. It is important to keep in mind that it can take a couple of years of getting your product out there via licensing channels before you can start to see some results. I was told this early on and now 3 years later have found this to be true. Not to say that things can't happen fast, because they can especially if you're already known as an artist. It's just that it can sometimes take an entire year for a catalog, for instance to decide that it will pick up a particular image of yours to sell, something I have also recently experienced. So if you decide to license be sure to give it time to grow.
