The Artist's Way to Self-Promotion

Lee Silber knows a thing or two about creative people and how they think. He's the author of Self-Promotion for the Creative Person, as well as a number of other books on time management and getting organized for creative types.

"It's critical that you embrace the idea of self-promotion if you want to have a successful career," Silber writes in an article on CareerTrainer.com. "If you look at it as another way to express your creativity, it doesn't seem so intimidating. Many, many others have had fun (yes, fun) promoting themselves."

Here are some of the creative examples of self-promotion he lists in the article:

• A couple of actors in an off-Broadway play got on the subway and performed part of the play. They left off with a cliff-hanger and then handed out flyers for the play.
  
  
• One author includes recipes in her mysteries and was able to attract the attention of food editors who gave her books more attention than book reviewers.
  
  
• One obscure sculptor started doing wood carvings with a chain saw to garner more attention from the media.
  
  
• A band performed in the parking lots of large companies as workers got off and sold CDs and promoted their club dates.
  
  
• A painter teamed up with a Realtor who buys her paintings for full price and then gives them as a gift to new home buyers.
  
  
• One resourceful artist displayed her art in vacant storefronts along a busy street in a tourist town. She left brochures and directions in a display outside the windows.
  
  
• An aspiring filmmaker showed his documentary about sharks at night in hotel pools. The media loved it.
  
  
• A struggling sculptor working as a street sweeper made elaborate carvings on the handles on his brooms. A gallery owner noticed this and offered him a chance to show his art.
  
  
• When this author visits bookstores he inserts postcards featuring his book into competing titles.

Lesson: Think outside of the you-know-what. Don't limit your creative abilties to your artistic craft only. Take Lee Silber's advice and put it to good use when marketing yourself too.