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Think abundant artist & bust the myth of the starving artist

May 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Abundance MentalityA few days ago Speak 2B Free interviewed Cory Huff, founder of The Abundant Artist, about using paid advertising online to sell your art, books, cds and yourself online.

You can click through to the interview: How professional poets and storytellers can use paid advertising online

Below are some key takeaways to some of the questions we asked Cory:

1) Can you tell us what the Abundant Artist is?

The Abundant Artist teaches all artists how to market themselves through email lists, social media and paid advertising. They work with established artists that are working full time as artists. The Abundant Artist has a great slogan: Dispelling the starving artist myth.

2) There are so many free things on the internet, so why should artists be interested in paid advertising?

If you are serious about your growth, paid advertising can really accelerate your growth. But it is not only for artists that are interested in quadrupling their growth, it is also great for artists that are not good at PR, or interested in the spotlight or just not comfortable in interacting with people and networking. You can set up adverts targeted at the people who are interested in the work you do. And it is also not as time consuming as networking, but I would suggest combining paid advertising with social networking.

3) Is paid advertising affordable?

The great thing about paid advertising is that it is completely affordable – you can do it all on a limited budget. You can see results for as little as $20, which really is not that much if you are trying to sell your book.

4) Why is the internet important for artists?

The internet is removing the need for gatekeepers in the arts. The internet is making it easier to reach your audience and to understand them. This medium is allowing artists to reach a different audience other than the academic crowd.

It has now become possible to reach the average person on the street who likes art and can afford it at a decent price.There was a time when as a spoken word poet or slam poet you needed an agent, editor or a publisher or a record deal to get your work into the hands of your fans. But that is no longer true, you can do it all yourself. The myth of the starving artist is dying!

Cory told us that the artists that do best online are the artists that have a physical product to sell such as a cd, paintings etc.

The great news is that a professional writer, spoken word poet or professional storyteller can do very well online. A good professional writer can attract a large audience by blogging and self publishing, he suggested looking at The Miracle In July

The most successful professional poets will be those that learn to communicate and build relationships with their audience via twitter, blogs, facebook and Google ads.

5) How are artists using social media to market themselves?

Unfortunately most artists are not using social media.

Cory, told us that most of the art world is 5 to 8 years behind in technology because artists would much rather be focusing on their work rather than a business. Artists want to work on their art and do not want to worry about the business angle.

I can truly sympathize with wanting to focus on your art, but the truth is we are not one dimensional and taking care of our finances and getting to know our target market is not an all day affair, we can all afford to donate 2 hours a day to go online and comment on blogs, twitter etc.

Besides, focusing on selling our art increases our chances of forever being full time artists and decreases the chances of having to take on a part time job or quitting altogether and going corporate.

In my humble opinion most artists just do not network. We assume that our work speaks for itself, which it may but the truth is we understand our work, but the next person many not and may need to hear a little more about the photograph, the painting or the poem. Stories are very powerful when we are trying to sell an art piece.

Image by Flickr user FeatheredTar

Filed Under: -General business advice Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Don’t let your fear stop you from being center stage

May 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

At some point, if you are serious about being a spoken word poet or storyteller, you are going to find yourself in front of an audience performing poetry. Some people-no matter how often they perform poetry in front of an audience-still get nervous or still get stage fright. Here are some helpful public speaking tips to help you overcome your public speaking fear and become a legendary spoken word artist:

  • Do some exercise before your spoken word performance

    Any type of exercise – walking, jumping, running etc-can get you to relax and help you calm down. Jogging is my method of relaxation exercise before a slam poetry contest or a business presentation.

  • Perform poetry or stories in a mirror in the craziest way possibleI admit – this is from my own vault of public speaking tips but I found that vocalists are also advised to perform in front of a mirror. This technique works wonders at curing self consciousness and public speaking fear. I used to have this serious problem with memorizing my poetry for a spoken word performance. This can be very unnerving I agree, but it is also very powerful to look at yourself in the mirror, perform poetry and see yourself as you imagine the audience sees you when you are on stage. How do you stand? What gestures do you make to distract yourself? How do you use your hands? All these things are important and it is important to acknowledge all your little worries (I sometimes worry that I will cry during an emotional performance) and to accept them so that you can give a great spoken word performance.
  • Avoid caffeine and sugarCaffeine and sugar make you hyper and increase your blood pressure and heart rate, all of which just add to your nerves and public speaking fear. Substitute your coffee with water or caffeine-free tea. Even Tim Ferris says he avoids caffeine any time he has to do a speech.
  • Eat bananasMy public speaking teacher, Dale Deletis, always told us to eat bananas before a show. Bananas have potassium, which relaxes the muscles. It also slows down your heart rate, helping to keep you calm enough to deliver an excellent spoken word performance.
  • Visualize yourself performing poetry or performing your storyA lot of our public speaking fear is subconscious and almost impossible for the conscious mind to fight using will power alone. The great news is you can trick your subconscious into believing something has already happened when it has not. You can do this through visualization because the subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between reality and imagination. Make the visualization as real as possible and see yourself giving a stellar spoken word performance.
  • Scream your work at the top of your lungsReally! Just go outside where no one can hear you and just say all those words out loud. This can also help you get rid of any self consciousness you have because it’s just so out of character.

Do you have any other techniques or public speaking tips that you use before a spoken word performance? We invite you to share your public speaking fear and experiences as well as your own tips for performing poetry live!

Filed Under: Art of Spoken Word Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The first step is selling yourself to the slam community

May 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

If you are a published poet and are new to performing poetry or the spoken word poetry arena it can be quite intimidating to actually go up on stage and perform poetry or meet other poets.

You can have the most amazing poems but if no one gets to read them or hear them, they will never touch anyone’s heart or change a life.

Here are some ways to get noticed in the spoken word & slam poetry community or at least work up the courage to start performing poetry live:

  • Share your writings with some spoken word poets

This could be as simple as connecting with some poets that you met on facebook and tagging them in a note. Of course you can also do this on the speak 2b free website. This is really scary in its own way because it opens up your soul to different people but most times they’ll have nice things to say and are flattered by the gesture.

  • Join a meetup group or other online group

I like the thought of joining poetry meetup groups (there are 302 groups in 193 cities globally) and meeting spoken word artists & slam masters you admire. Most times at a spoken word poetry & slam venue, I find a lot of people very focused on performing poetry and many strategies but if you are just starting out on this journey it may be best to keep it informal and a virtual space may help with that as well.

  • Befriend other spoken word poets or slam masters and learn from them

Birds of a feather flock together. Go to a show, network and get to know the spoken word poets and slam masters you really              admire. If you befriend really popular slam masters you can pick up a lot about the tricks of the trade and learn different spoken word performance techniques, learn how to land a feature, book a venue etc – learning all this will help you gain recognition within the poetry community and industry.

  • Perform open mic poetry as regularly as you can

My very first open mic poetry performance in the US was at the Nuyorican where I forgot all my words to my poem and had to start from scratch but I am glad I did it. This may sound intimidating but it is the easiest way to get to meet other spoken word poets in your local community and to start getting recognition for your work. Do a short piece to start off with and then keep doing longer and longer pieces as you become comfortable on stage. Whatever you do, I really suggest performing open mic poetry – the thought of it is scarier than the reality but you will be glad you did it

  • Enter a slam poetry contest

I admit this is still intimidating to me no matter how often I do a slam poetry contest. It’s scary to have people judge your poetry and to put yourself out like that but at some point you are going to have to do it. Most really good spoken word poets today started off as slam poets. Slam poetry has its bad points but it also has some good points – the competitive aspect can make you a better writer and performer. Winning a slam poetry contest can also gain you recognition within the poetry community.

Please feel free to share any insights and suggestions you have on becoming a slam master and gaining recognition in the poetry community in the comment box below. You can also share your slam poetry contest and open mic poetry experiences!

Filed Under: Art of Spoken Word Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

How to capture a DRUNK AUDIENCE’S ATTENTION

May 6, 2010 By 11 Comments

There is nothing more challenging than performing poetry to an indifferent or belligerent audience but this experience can also teach you a lot. On Monday I had the pleasure of performing poetry with a varied group of professional poets and musicians at a sports bar. Here are some public speaking tips I learned for capturing an audience’s attention:

Ask for the audience’ attention

I learned a few public speaking tips including this one from an amazing poet who once told me to stop performing poetry for people unless they showed me respect. She told me that sometimes you have to ask for people’s attention. You don’t have to be rude about it, but you do have to be assertive. This is always a little intimidating for me so I always repeat a mantra to myself where I remind myself that I respect my work and others do too.

What you do before going on stage matters

One of the coolest things I ever did was take public speaking skills class because the first things that my teacher rid me of was my incessant need to apologize for my content, caused by my public speaking fear. He asked me, if you are not sure about what you are about to perform, why should someone else listen?

If you are performing poetry for a group of people who would rather be enjoying their drink and watching an ice hockey game, the worst thing you could ever do is indulge in your public speaking fear by apologize or act a little insecure as you walk on the stage.

Although you may be nervous, you have to appear confident. Don’t be arrogant or egotistic, but exude an air that you believe in what you do.

Be unique and trust your own style

I know everyone says be unique but this is the real key and I saw this on Monday where everyone had a different way of getting people to focus on them. For example I went on stage and outright demanded attention and actually asked 2 gentlemen to keep quiet and focus. A musician who came after me did not do that (even though they had started talking again)- instead she asked to share a story about why being there with them was a blessing to her and she was just grateful. Sharing a story it turns out was just as powerful as being assertive. Having your own unique style will often get people to sit up and listen. This taught me something: you can be soft spoken and exude confidence and command an audience; you can also be loud and outspoken and command an audience.

Be passionate in your delivery

After exuding all that confidence and asking for people’s attention, you have to back it up with something: your performance. Give it all you’ve got because you only have about 30 seconds before everyone goes back to talking and drinking.

Two tips I was given by my public speaking skills teacher:

1) Ditch jiggling earrings and bracelets when going on stage because they are distraction

2) Pause often during your performance and thank the audience after your performance

Here are some links to public speaking skills blogs that i find helpful:

Public speaking skills coach: http://coachlisab.blogspot.com/ (she is really great)

Executive speech coach: http://coachlisab.blogspot.com/

Filed Under: Art of Spoken Word Tagged With: , , , ,
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