5 Tips For Artists Who Say: “I’m too busy to promote myself”

ArtStars Books
5 min readJan 13, 2021
Photo by Julius Drost on Unsplash

“To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don’t isolate.”

-Michael Jordan

Long gone are the days when artists can sit up in their studio and act as if that’s all they have to do to survive. “I have no time to promote myself,” they’ll say. “I’m too busy making work.”

We’re in a time where you’re are asked to do more than what you’re asked for. That means learning new skills and improving on what you’ve already done. So much of what you’re responsible for is beyond the art studio.

Every successful, professional artist knows they must put in the extra effort to get noticed, and that means more than just sitting in your studio making your work in the dark. If you put in the time to promote yourself, you will reap the rewards.

As a journalist, I have received hundreds of thousands of PR emails in my life, it’s all a part of the job in journalism. And you know what? The best ones are conversational. They have a casual, but professional, tone. Don’t be the corporate CEO in your email voice.

We all take ourselves seriously and are confident in our skills, otherwise we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing. But be a little friendly or give a shout out to someone’s past articles, ask how someone is doing, offer an exclusive or welcome their questions. Be willing to put in the extra work. Just don’t copy and paste a press release. Talk to people, even if it’s only two sentences. Here are five promotion tips from my ebook Getting Your Shit Together.

  1. Know the power of news hooks

A news hook is timely, like Christmas stories in the media (how many times can you read about Santa Claus?) or Father’s Day (where there is some sort of heartwarming dad story). So if your show of portraits of your father is opening on Father’s Day, you are going to get press (note: get your dad to the press conference). Or if your paintings of bunnies open one week before Easter, chances are, a local newspaper will be on it with an Easter egg story angle. Or the artist who paints actor portraits who opens a show just as a film festival opens.

For example, I interviewed artist Alexander Binder about his creepy new series of photos right before Halloween (which is also his birthday, and was the opening of his show). That is a “news hook,” tying into something else bigger going on which we all know about.

A news hook plays on stuff in the news. Can you put a twist on news which is trending? Journalists are always playing off news hooks; it just depends on whether your work connects with that. Have an opinion about something in the news that ties into your work — be it portraits (look at George Bush’s paintings of politicians), work that ties into a visit somewhere exclusive or special access you’ve gained to research or photograph a particular community. You have to go against the grain and offer something new, like a new opinion, a new outlook or a funny take on big events, as a political cartoonist might. It requires extra thought beyond your own day-to-day life, but it is totally possible. As long as it’s something you feel passionate about.

2. Learn the fast-reply lingo: “It’s an exclusive.”

If you are dead set on being featured in one specific publication, offer them an exclusive before sending out anything to a media list. It’s like a special offer. You write one particular journalist from one publication asking them if they want the exclusive to your show. That means, though, that no images have ever been published from what you’ll be featuring — and it’s a world premiere, nobody else has seen them. Attach those images! They get the exclusive interview and premiere of publishing your work with it. That usually results in a fast reply, as this is an exclusive deal. Hopefully it works, if not, keep moving.

3. The quality of your images says everything

With web reporting, visuals are becoming more and more important, in fact, they’re more important than words these days. When I get a PR email with no images, I delete it immediately because I cannot simply forward it to my editor, adding on a quick question at the top (“Are you into this?” or “Have we covered this one yet?”). Dropbox won’t work, editors hate to click, they want everything in one place from their writers. Same with WeTransfer and images tucked inside of a pdf — they lose their power blanketed inside those. What you need to send are low to medium res jpegs (roughly 700x1000 dpi) sent directly attached (not in a zip file) and about 10 of these fancy-looking jpegs of art pieces by the artist attached in pitch emails. Then, art editors can take a quick look and give me the yay or nay.

4. Step it up: You need compelling images

I cannot stress this enough. Hire a photographer if you must, but the photos of your work — or yourself — must be incredible. And fresh! There is nothing more banal than someone who hasn’t changed their profile picture in two years. Be Madonna, keep reinventing yourself. You need compelling images: Different lightings, close ups, details, installation shots, interior shots, exterior, night and day. Studio shots. As much variety as possible (but no more than 20 shots). The photos will often sell the story.

5. Promote yourself with advance notice

I cannot stress this enough, either: If you are an artist and it is Tuesday and you have a show on Thursday, the media world will not stop just for you. I have had artists write me last minute expecting me to drop everything for them. It’s just not going to happen.

And in fact, often times, monthly magazines are planned six months in advance — so while you’re on the beach in June, magazine editors are planning their Christmas issue. You have got to think ahead. Maybe not as far ahead as some publications do, but do be considerate of other people’s time. Especially in the case of ‘preview’ articles (which usually come out a month before a show opens to the public), be prepared to begin promoting an art show one month before it opens, if not longer. This gives people time to go through your email or invitation, consider the options and see if you fit into their schedule.

An example: Your show opens on June 11.

· First press reach out: April 1

· Images available April 5

· Big PR blast send-out : April 12

· Interviews start trickling in: May 1

· First article about your show is out: May 14

· Magazine press comes out: June 1 (for an interview you did in April)

· Show opens: June 11

For more information, tips and tricks, get your ebook copy of Getting Your Shit Together by Nadja Sayej

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ArtStars Books

An indie ebook publishing house helping out with business smarts.