Posted by Tara Reed on Aug 19, 2010 in Art Licensing
Once again, great questions were asked and helpful answers were given by Attorney Cheryl Hodgson. Last night Cheryl was my guest for the third time as part of the Art Licensing Info Monthly Ask Call Series - we had some technical excitement (something about Comcast and the conference call service switches maybe?) but I edited out as much of that as possible.
Here is what we covered:
Should I make my company an LLC?
How do business DBA's work if I already have an LLC?
How can I protect a product design concept that I might submit to a company with art?
How to respond to Trademark infringement concerns.
How do we determine if we can use what seem to be common sayings in our art, without having trademark issues?
How do you protect your tagline?
If we register copyrights in groups, does it limit our protection?
What recourse do I have if I see something created commercially that looks a lot like an image I posted to my website?
What are the rules about using paintings of private homes for commercial use?
Should we add copyright watermarks to everything we post to the internet?
Do I have to re-copyright art if a company slightly modifies previously registered work? Say color or layout changes?
Can I still copyright my designs if I've posted them on my blog or printed them on cards?
What should you do if you find out your images have been copied?
Do you recommend artists audit licensee accounting records regularly?
If you want a copy of the audio replay, it is $15 through 8/28 and $25 thereafter. We appreciate your support in purchasing these calls - it helps us continue to attract and create the great content artists have come to love and expect each and every month!
What's coming up next...
Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - NEW EXPERT Dena Fishbein will be answering your questions. Head to www.AskDenaDesigns.com to learn why I'm so excited to have Dena join the ranks of Ask Call Expert.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010: www.AskPaulBrent.com
In addition to answering questions from artists, Paul Brent will discuss how to plan your art collections for a trade show. Planning your collections, pacing yourself to get the work done and designing for trends for the new year.
Here's to your creative success!
– Tara Reed
P.S. Learn more about Cheryl Hodgson on her blog at www.BrandAideBlog.com - be sure to sign up for her ezine to continue to build your legal savvy muscle!
Posted by Tara Reed on Aug 18, 2010 in Art Licensing
Just a quick reminder that attorney Cheryl Hodgson will be answering the questions submitted by artists like you tonight. If you've signed up for a call before, you should have received the dial-in details by email.
If you've never participated, head over to www.AskCherylHodgson.com and sign up. Since we have already organized the questions, you can just put "no question" in the box then fill in your name and email and you will get the dial-in details.
The call is at 5:30 pm Pacific / 8:30 pm Eastern and will last for an hour. It's free to listen live. The audio replay will be available Thursday and cost $15 through 8/28 and $25 thereafter.
We will be covering copyright registration and enforcement questions, pros and cons of business forms (LLC, Corp, etc), trademark questions, contract questions and more.
I look forward to chatting with you tonight!
– Tara Reed
P.S. Don't forget! Let's get social on Twitter (use #ask when tweeting so we can find you!) and Facebook during the call. CLICK HERE to download all the details.
Last Saturday I had the honor and fun of heading to Seaside, Oregon to see Paul Brent at work in the monthly Art Walk. Nestled in the Fairweather House and Garden on Broadway Paul was working on a new oil painting. Never having painted with oils - except in maybe 7th grade which I don't think counts – I was watching the process in awe. It didn't seem as scary as I'd made it out to be in my head.
I was amazed at the number of paintings - both watercolors and originals - Paul had done of local homes and seascapes. Just as in the licensing side of his business, he can produce, produce, produce for the original / gallery side of things too.
They served wine and hors d'oeuvres, people milled about and many stopped to talk with Paul while he worked.
I've never done anything like this so I found it very interesting to watch and study. How is doing an Art Walk similar or different to art licensing?
The Art Walk was similar to licensing, in that Paul was there presenting his brand. His art, style and the way he interacted with shoppers were all a part of it. Much like showing his art and interacting with manufacturers at a trade show.
A key difference was the subject matter. In licensing, art often has to have a broader appeal - the beach should look more generic so it could sell on both coasts for example. However when selling originals in a beach community - people are more apt to expect art from the local area.
This is a great example of how you need to understand your customers - during the Art Walk they were people who would potentially buy originals for their homes. (Yes, he sold a few!) For licensing, the customer is the manufacturer who doesn't want to sell one of a kinds but quantities of a product.
Thanks again Paul for letting me come and enjoy the event!
– Tara Reed
P.S. Mark your calendar now! Paul Brent will be the October 20, 2010 Ask Call expert. In addition to answering questions from artists, Paul Brent will discuss how to plan your art collections for a trade show. Planning your collections, pacing yourself to get the work done and designing for trends for the new year. Head to www.AskPaulBrent.com to submit your question at any time.
The other day, I re-learned a lesson that I knew, but have chosen to disregard in many areas of my business. The lesson is:
If you read instructions and learn to do things efficiently, you will save time and effort in the long-run.
I know that men get an especially bad rap for never reading instructions, but I will be woman enough to admit that sometimes I skip them too.
Other sayings that say the same thing include "Look before you leap" or "Measure twice, cut once" - I sometimes leap and cut my way to a more complicated day!
I figure out the basics and then charge ahead - often to the detriment of my work flow and time. How many times have I said, "I'm self-taught on Photoshop. I'm sure there is so much more I could be doing with it, but I'm too busy to take the time to take a class, watch tutorials, learn new things..." That applies to many other programs on my computer as well.
If you read my blog regularly you will realize what a fan I am of Daylite - a contact management software system for the Mac. And how many times have I lavished great praise on Matthew Bookspan, a Daylite partner who I hired to talk me through the setup. He asked questions, learned what I wanted the software to do and helped me get it ready to roll. Maybe I wouldn't be writing this post if I had a Matthew for every software program... but alas, I don't.
One of my goals for 2010 is to start documenting what I do in my business and creating systems. As of December 2009, everything that was done was stored in my brain. What would happen if something happened to me? What happens if I *gasp* want to go on vacation and not check email - truly leaving someone else in charge for a bit? Without anything in writing, that would be impossible.
The first thing I decided to document was the Ask Call procedures. Everything I do, all the systems I use, to do the free monthly calls. Shouldn't be too bad, right? You would be amazed how much goes into it - 57 pages of documentation and I'm not sure every last bit is there.
When I started, I decided to split the information up into a group of Word Documents - I had 6, each on a different category. The websites, the audios, etc. But then it became a mess to find anything - the process was long and the page numbers kept repeating and trying to do a table of contents was ... well... not an easy task.
So I slowed down and learned how to set up my Word document so it would create and update the Table of Contents for me. By spending 30 minutes googling I found a great article about how to easily accomplish what I wanted (Microsoft Word 2008 Generating a Table of Contents), thought through my document, set up my headings that would be pulled for the TOC and got down to business. I then had to copy and paste from the 6 different documents to create one master Ask Call plan, but it was well worth the effort! Now it will be easy to see where the information is that I need - or better yet, that an assistant needs - to get things done. And the next thing I document will be faster still because I'll do it right the first time.
I'm sure there are many of you shaking your head that I didn't know how to do this - but I didn't. We all start at different places with technology and computer programs. The point is, we are all very busy with many demands on our time - sometimes it's easy to justify saying,
There may be a better way, but I know this way so I'll just get it done.
and to believe that you are saving yourself time and accomplishing more. I'm here today to question that theory. It isn't always true. My new theory is
LEARN BEFORE YOU LEAP.
I'll be asking myself if there is a better, more efficient way, on a daily basis, will you?
Posted by Tara Reed on Jul 30, 2010 in Art Licensing
I am very excited to announce that in September we will have another new art licensing expert on the line. As a new contributor to the Art Licensing Info Monthly Ask Call series, Dena has graciously agreed to share her more than 20 years of experience in art licensing with us.
I first became aware of Dena at a SURTEX trade show - she always has an amazing booth that is draped in fabric and very inviting. Then as I started designing fabric and thumbing through Quilting and Sewing magazines her name and face would show up again... Dena boasts an amazing career of art, design and honors in the industry - the studio has won 17 Louie Awards including Greeting Card of the Year from the international membership Greeting Card Association. Dena has also been nominated for Best Art Brand Program of the Year at the prestigious 2008 and 2009 annual LIMA International Licensing Excellence Awards.
Dena knows art licensing. Designer, TV Host, and entrepreneur, Dena founded internationally acclaimed Dena Designs Inc., as a full service design and merchandising studio.
For more than 20 years, Dena Designs has created powerful best-sellers which have sold globally in the hottest stores, from specialty retailers to the nation’s leading chains. Join us for Dena’s live (FREE) 60 minute teleseminar on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 (5:30 pm Pacific / 8:30 pm Eastern).
Dena has several home decor and scrapbooking books at Amazon.com - one of the most recent being "Embellish Your Home*".
Learn more about Dena on her website, www.DenaDesigns.com and be sure to mark your calendar for Wednesday, September 15th, 2010 for this great new expert!
– Tara Reed
P.S. If you can't make the live call, as is always the case with new experts, the audio replay will be available for free after the call.
FTC disclosure: The Amazon links are affiliate links and Tara Reed will receive a small commission if you click the link and make a purchase. Every little bit helps us keep blogging and creating these calls!
Yesterday I got organized and registered a batch of art with the Library of Congress. As I logged in, I saw a big red warning about system upgrades and downtime and thought I'd pass it along to all of you.
The Copyright Office is engaged in a major project to upgrade the software application that drives eService. System testing and implementation of the new software will occur over three upcoming weekends, resulting in periods during which eService will be offline. The testing and upgrade schedule is as follows:
1. Test Run 1: Friday, July 30, from 5:00 p.m. until Sunday, August 1, at 6:00 a.m.
2. Test Run 2: Friday, August 6, from 5:00 p.m. until Sunday, August 8, at 6:00 a.m.
3. Upgrade: Thursday, August 12, at 5:00 p.m. until Sunday, August 15, at 6:00 p.m.
All times listed are Eastern Standard Time. We apologize for the inconvenience. I hope you have some system in place to regularly submit your art to the Library of Congress. Without registering your work, you are limiting your ability to defend your work against theft and unlawful use. Submitting your art to online sites that say they will confirm your deposit if there is a problem isn't good enough. The only way to protect your work is through the US Library of Congress.
If you register online, the cost is $35 per registration and you will get your paperwork back much faster than mailing in your submissions - which costs $45 - so slower and more expensive. Do you think they want artists to embrace technology?
Cheryl will be answering more of your legal questions, copyright or otherwise, on Wednesday, August 18, 2010.
To submit your question for consideration, go to www.AskCherylHodgson.com today.
The call is free if you listen live and the replay will be available for a small fee after the call.
Protect your creative genius - register copyrights and learn the legal aspects of licensing. Here's to your creative success!
Back in February I was interviewed by the lovely Tara Reed for her monthly Ask Teleclass. The topic was Ask About SEO For Artists and it was a valuable call (if I do say so myself!). Tara has a real talent for bringing out the golden threads in these classes and the result was some very straightforward guidance for artists to improve their search engine rankings.
If you weren't on the call and haven't listened to the replay I highly recommend you do so. If you think I'm kidding about how valuable this is, here are a couple of testimonials from that call...
Thanks to your tele-seminar with Tara Reed, I am now in first place and first page when I search for "licensing studio", "art licensing studio", "artist licensing" and "artist licensing studio". Before I listened to your ask call my website looked pretty on the outside but was a mess on the inside and thanks to you I now have seo optimization! I listened to that call more than once taking notes and will listen to it again and again to keep things fresh. Thank you Thank you!!
SUPER SUPER SUPER! That's all I can say! I never expected to get this much out of Daniel's call! I understood EVERY WORD! He makes it so simple to understand! And to think -- I spent hundreds on supposed "promotion" companies who claimed to submit you to X amount of search engines - numerous times over a certain amount of time, fix your meta tags, get you X amount of reciprocal links, etc... and NONE of what they CLAIMED I needed (and what I paid for) was in Daniel's top 3 for SEO!! Unbelievable!
I confess that I'm not normally one to self-promote as outrageously as I have above! I'm an Aussie by birth and we are trained to be somewhat self-effacing. When I landed in California 15 years ago I had to learn self-promotion 101 very fast otherwise I would have been eaten alive!
But seriously, the reason I am pushing this whole SEO topic strongly is because it is SO IMPORTANT for you as an artist and there isn't a lot of comprehensive SEO guidance available focused on the art community. This interview with Tara was exactly that - SEO For Artists.
So, why is SEO so important?
Many artists and even some art coaches think it's not relevant to art because art is somehow "different". Nothing could be further from the truth. When you sell art that is business - and SEO is a major force for business success online. Let me give a hypothetical example of how it might work for an artist...
How Search Engines Help Artists - An Example
Susan is an oil painter who lives in Northern New Mexico and paints landscapes, many of which are focused close to the town of Abiquiu. (Note: If you haven't had the opportunity to visit this town you should mark it on your list of places to go - it is right near Ghost Ranch and Georgia O'keeffe's desert home - just gorgeous landscape!)
Susan has a website which she has optimized for search engines. During that process she discovered that many people google "Abiquiu Paintings" and "Ghost Ranch Paintings" and so she optimized her artist website to rank highly for those phrases.
Susan has opened the door to several big potential opportunities:
A gallery director scouting for new work of Susan's style and subject matter may very likely google "Abiquiu Paintings" and "Ghost Ranch Paintings" as part of their search strategy. When Susan's website ranks on Page 1, it means they can find her and look at her work. This is priceless attraction-marketing for free!
Similarly, an art licensing company may be looking for work similar to Susan's for a new line of home decorations at Target Stores. Search engines would be part of their strategy.
Finally, tourists who have visited the area and fallen in love with it often get home and realize that they really want a piece of art to remind them of their experience at Ghost Ranch. What do you think might be one strategy they might use? Search engines - of course!
Now, in all honesty, search engines are only one method used by businesses and individuals to find what they want. But they are very powerful - so why would you want to miss out on the potential business with a website that doesn't rank highly for the phrases that are heavily searched? Why would you risk missing out on possibly 50% or more of your potential new visitors?
You wouldn't right? That would be plain crazy! But that is exactly what MOST artists are doing with their websites! And the most insane part of this is that SEO is not really that difficult to master, IF you know what to do.
A lot of powerful people think that search engines are important for your business. Here is what Qi Lu, President of Microsoft's Online Services Division said recently...
Search Engine Advertising is the most powerful economic force on the internet.
Those are important words and as an artist I would certainly want the most powerful economic force on the internet working for my art career! So, if your website doesn't already rank highly for search terms that actually bring customers here is what I would suggest:
Start by listening to the recording of Tara's SEO For Artists Teleclass. It's free, and as you can see from the testimonials above you could actually learn some useful info. This is really required knowledge for any serious art marketer.
If you are really serious about selling more art via high search engine rankings on your artist website, consider buying our Artist SEO Success System.* It is a complete 21 day program to comprehensively optimize your website for search engines - and it is 100% focused on artists. At $97, it is not cheap but it is tremendous value when you think of the potential market you can open your website to (learn more*). And yes - we have many great testimonials about this product too! Here is one that just came in this week...
I'm going through the workbook and doing a lot of the exercises which are really great. As an creater of educational materials and online courses (in my day job, I have a Masters in Instructional Design) I am totally impressed with the guide and workbook. It is so well written and thought out and CLEAR! I can tell you guys did a ton of work... Bravo! .... Kristen Hoard
As art marketers and artist website developers, our job is to give you the tools to create business success with your art. I'm handing you this one on a silver platter - so please make use of it and go sell some art. I can't wait to open the champagne and toast your success!
FTC disclosure: Links with an * are Tara Reed's affiliate link to the SEO for Artists product by blog post author, Daniel Tardent. She will earn a commission if you click the links and make a purchase.
Posted by Tara Reed on Jul 22, 2010 in Art Licensing
My sister, Christine, who many of you have met over the years at SURTEX or who you may have heard on the Trade Show Tactics Teleseminar, helped me on the July Ask Tara Reed call. We always have a lot of fun together - including her pre-call threats to do one of the following:
forget the call completely and leave me stranded
be asleep and if she woke up, she'd be groggy and hard to understand
swear and embarrass me in any way she could come up with
use different accents for each question
She didn't forget and behaved very well. The only problem reported was that we sound so similar that sometimes people had a hard time figuring out who was talking. (We get that - especially over the phone. Lots of fun to tell our dad it's "His favorite daughter" and listen to him pause - trying to figure out who it really is and then say the others name!)
Here is what we covered on the July 21st call:
What are the first steps you should take before you try to license your art?
Do you need an agent to license your art?
Is it better to email or snail mail submissions to agents?
Is there a "set" advance price for artwork?
What types and sizes of files should you submit to agents or manufacturers?
Should you follow online submission guidelines to the letter or make follow-up calls?
How do I make calls to companies without sounding like a newbie?
What are the pros & cons of a contract with a "worldwide" territory?
How can I build marketable character-based art without having a Saturday morning tv show?
Trade show preparation strategies / tips
How do you use social media (Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn) in your art licensing business.
Thank you so much to Laura for her fabulous question about cold calling and willingness to let us tease her (we are twitter friends so I knew it would be ok!)... we are now applying peer pressure to get her on the phone and then to report back on how it was, on the blog. Send her a message of encouragement on Twitter - she's @CreativeGirl - to keep her moving forward.
Facebook was a little quieter than usual but on Twitter it was so cool to see people joining forces to stay accountable! Social media is such a great connector!
If you want a copy of the audio replay, it is $15 through 7/31 and $25 thereafter. We appreciate your support in purchasing these calls - it helps us continue to attract and create the great content artists have come to love and expect each and every month!
What's coming up next...
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 - Attorney Cheryl Hodgson will be back to answer your legal questions. www.AskCherylHodgson.com
Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - NEW EXPERT Dena Fishbein will be answering your questions. Head to www.AskDenaDesigns.com to learn why I'm so excited to have Dena join the ranks of Ask Call Expert.
Heidi Gray is! The next call is Wednesday, July 21st at 5:30 pm Pacific / 8:30 pm Eastern with me, Tara Reed. After submitting her question, Heidi sent me this great email and gave me permission to "share it with the group". While it isn't chocolate chip cookies - hopefully you will be inspired by her positive attitude and action taking style!
"Hi Tara!
I can't wait. I've been busy working on artwork and making plans - a plan to be @ Surtex May 2011.
I'm working on updating my art licensing story to re-post on your stories page... coming soon.
My original story: I made it while on VACATION... hunting for the nearest internet in the mountains! Thank goodness for Starbucks and just a few pieces of art on my computer hard drive... I took your advice of "Done is better than nothing at all" - way out of my comfort zone of perfection.
So, I'm revamping and adding in my journey over the last few months.... including my own website to link to!
I can not tell you how much I value your insights & networking with other artists in the business. I am confidant that licensing my art is the venue of the entrepreneurial spirt I've had deep within.
The stories from this year's Surtex were so exciting & inspiring.
Here is Heidi's original video again - can't wait to see what the updated version will look like!
If you haven't submitted your question for the call, head to www.AskTaraReed.com now and give me your best shot. I hope you can join us on the 21st but if you can't, never fear, the replay will be available shortly thereafter. ($15 thru 7/31 and $25 there after.)
Talk to you soon!
– Tara Reed
P.S. Is Heidi working on her second video making you think you should do your first? I hope so! I'm all out of videos so no more will be posted till someone sends them to me! Click here for all the details and remember, you get a coupon with your first entry!
Do you get the bi-monthly eNewsletter? And if so, do you read it? If you answered "No" to either of those questions, I encourage you to reconsider. Sometimes I add information and even discounts in there that aren't advertised elsewhere. (A little reward for opening the email and seeing what is going on!)
In last Monday's eNews, I announced that you could get 4 Ask Call replays for the cost of 3 when you use code ASK4 at checkout. There is so much amazing information locked in these audios - many free and a dozen that sell for a mere $25 for the hour long info session.
Once again, great questions were asked and helpful answers were given by Attorney Cheryl Hodgson. Last night Cheryl was my guest for the third time as part of the Art Licensing Info Monthly Ask Call Series - we had some technical excitement (something about Comcast and the conference call service switches maybe?) but I edited out as much of that as possible.
If you've never participated, head over to 
