It’s About Making The Art Work

With all the confusion of last week, I’m sure some of you might be a bit unsure exactly what the heck I’m actually doing. As promised, this post will break down everything I have planned for 2013, but first, a little clarification on the new mission.

When I started Fresh Rag, the idea was to find a way to help artists who work with paper find more success, either through exposure, or hopefully more sales. At some point I drifted, losing my way a bit, and Fresh Rag became more about art curation. There’s nothing wrong with curation sites, but there are a ton of them out there already, and the goal to Fresh Rag was to be different, a little more than typical art blogs.

After last weeks wake-up call, I took some time to figure out Fresh Rag’s mission. Putting it simply, it’s not just about the artwork, but helping make the art work. I want to help artists improve the overall quality of their lives, be it through sales, attention and better promotion. With a renewed vigor, I’ll be turning Fresh Rag into a resource to help ALL artists do better with their work, and I have a few different things I’ll be implementing to make this more than just a blog, but a hub of art and design success. The following are just a few things I have planned for 2013.

OFFICIAL GUIDES & EBOOKS

One of my most popular posts was a series on where to sell art online. In fact, it was the popularity of that series that caused me to rethink my focus. Soon, I’ll be turning that series into an free ebook for newsletter subscribers, but I’m also going to go bigger with the idea, creating some specialized guides on how to sell specifically to a particular marketplace or website. Another idea that has been brewing for a while is my complete guide to self-publishing a magazine, and because I am not a Pollyanna on the idea, I’ll be including my thoughts on digital versions as well. Lots of good stuff planned, but lots of work to do still.

PODCAST & VIDEO

In order to do step outside of my own comfort zone a bit, and also practice what I will be preaching, I’m going to up my audio and video game by posting more of these online. Granted, I don’t have a podcast yet, but it is a major goal for this year. Of course, I don’t know all the answers, or even most of the answers, so I hope to bring in other experts to share their stories and experience in order to help you.

ONLINE SHOP

I want to sell stuff, but not just my stuff. In fact, I want to sell all kinds of art and craft related items that will be exclusive to people that come to Fresh Rag. If you’ve never seen Poketo, it’s a shop that started strictly online, selling cool art and design products and gaining a lot of popularity all through their interactions online. Now they have a brick and mortar shop and they’re killing it in Downtown Los Angeles. I don’t know if I ever want a brick and mortar shop, but I definitely want to emulate their online success in order to help others be successful.

Some possible items I’m considering are limited edition art prints, independently published mags and zines, greetings, cards and other paper goods. I might even consider some apparel, but that’s not necessarily a sure thing. This will probably start very small and work up into something bigger in the future, but I do want to start offering some items this year.

POP-UP SHOPS

One idea a friend and I have been kicking around lately is doing our own craft show, but centering it around paper goods. I want to put this into action this year, starting with a small pop-up shop type of event where we invite a very small group of artists and designers to participate. There are lots and lots of details to work out on this, and of course it will only be available for local folks, but I will keep you all posted in case you have a wild hair to come to Southern California during the event. If it works out, and we get popular, maybe we’ll do more in other towns in the future.

PHOTO: Alan Stoddard

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