Turning Authors and Artists Into Entrepreneurs
More and more artists (authors, musicians, painters, photographers, et cetera) are taking greater control over the exploitation of their creative assets. It has become a revolution. Whether an artist chooses independent production and promotion or partnership with a corporate distributor, one truth remains constant. For a creative artist’s career to flourish, he or she must be a savvy entrepreneur.
While the cornerstone of any creative career is the production of the creative works to be distributed, the successful distribution of those works rests heavily on the implementation of sound business strategies. The artist entrepreneur creates not just for themselves, but also to share the beauty, passion, and entertainment of their creations with the world.
I began a writing career not as a hobby. My goal is to become a full-time, bestselling author who supports her family on the residual income I derive from the sale of my works.
Day job? What day job? 
I didn’t transition from a career as a full-time lawyer in the corporate sector to dabble at some pastime that doesn’t, or barely, pays the bills. I intend to knock this thing out of the park.
In the coming months, I will share here information and business strategies designed to assist creative artists in unleashing the entrepreneur side of their brains. Sometimes, this will be achieved via information sharing and events with other organizations (for example, the Success Blossoms Entrepreneur Network). Sometimes, it will be through cross-marketing with my business education endeavor Gisst Information Strategies. Sometimes, who knows from where the right advice or tools will come.
The important thing is that we, as artist entrepreneurs, get the information we need and translate it into meaningful strategies that we actually implement in productive ways.
If your goal in not just to be an artist/author/poet/…, but to be paid well for being such, then come along for the journey. Together we can build an artist entrepreneur network that will transition us from “starving” and “aspiring” [fill in the blank] to thriving entrepreneurs with incomes that support our life goals and desired lifestyles.
Let’s start by opening a dialogue. Please comment below to share your thoughts on the following:
What challenges are you currently facing as you progress towards the next level of your creative career?
Copyright © 2013 Lisa Rayne, All Rights Reserved.
In my opinion, the biggest challenge I am facing as an Independent Author is marketing and publicity. Not only do I not have the time, I don’t have the experience or knowledge to be effective.
Tim, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to share your challenge. I agree that implementing an effective marketing and publicity campaign can be a real challenge. Much is said about the author’s need to build a platform, but many forget that building it, in itself, won’t necessarily get results. I’ve been working with a social media advisor because of this very issue. I’m learning some good tips. I’ll be sure to pass them along here.