|
|
Published
January '10 in SCBWI Metro newsletter "Illustrators' Corner". A New Look at an Old Industry - page 2 I would first recommend a change of ATTITUDE. Do not assume that the industry suddenly 'hates' your work/style because you are not getting calls. Almost everyone is feeling the decline. Some of my artists who have always had work have barely had anything this past year. Look at this as a personal challenge to try new things… to survive bad times and be ready for the good times. INNOVATE: you want to be seen in new, different and MEMORABLE ways. Try digital created art if you've always painted with a brush… educational work will require it within a year I hear. Produce a graphic novel format maybe. Try to write if you haven't before and make up a story dummy …if for no other reason then to SHOWCASE your art. MAKE a BUSINESS PLAN: stick to it, evaluate it and change it as needed. Be your own 'marketing agent' get your work SEEN! (See my articles at www.catugeau.com for ideas how to do this.) Be organized and professional about this. I promise that you will find WRITING your plan of attack will facilitate it happening. Get together often with other local (SCBWI!) artists to share ideas and encourage each other. Don't Quit your DAY JOB. No one wants to hear that, but freelancing in the children's publishing market has always been a challenge financially. Prices have gone DOWN as other costs have gone UP. Everyone needs everything faster for that less money. I think feeling secure is important for creativity, but our industry is too changeable and cyclical to provide it. All things considered, you might actually have to GET a day job. That does not mean giving up your creative aspirations either! The tide will turn, the pendulum reverse. Maybe not before this new year is ending, but it will happen. Move with it…not against it. If your time isn't being taken up with assignments, maybe the new 'venture' (job) will help you focus, so that the time with art is better used and appreciated. Turn anxiety into positive action. TRACK RECORDS: Counter-intuitively, in a downturn it can be easier for a book publisher to bring in a 'new talent' with no track record, than to use a 'tried and true' artist who has a few books that have not sold well. (even if it is the writing!) This is a sales and marketing 'bottom line' issue, and it is easy now for any publisher to check on the selling records of other publishers. And new artists are more willing to accept lower advance on royalties. This is good for new artists, not so good for more established artists. PROMOTE: do what you can to promote any books you might have out there. Signings, school and library visits, websites… Try to get the sales record UP. And promote yourself in any other way you can artistically. Give a class (on wall murals, with kids, children's book art etc.) Join local art groups you might not have had time for before. Go with friends to museums…inspire yourself and each other. Donate some work to a nursing home, or fund raises, and get in local newspaper….good for all! DO NOT COMPARE TO THE PAST: that is over and will only discourage you. Things have probably changed forever, but publishers, sales, agents, writers and artists are not completely sure HOW yet. The book is being rewritten and re-illustrated as I write... which is one more way of saying that books are very much alive, in one form or another. So a brave new year begins…and perhaps a brave new approach to our careers. That is an opportunity! Styles and trends change like the seasons… you can count on that. Keep in mind that your particular style and talents are one of a kind. Maintain old and build new relationships with clients and peers. So jump right in. Play a bit. Expand and educate yourself. And then take a good picture book to bed with you and rest easy! Happy 2010! 
|