Friday 5.3

Artomatic alum/Post Secret superstar Frank Warren is speaking tonight at Lisner auditorium:

Literature Frank Warren on PostSecret The Germantown-based creator of the PostSecret project encouraged people to write out their deepest secrets on postcards and drop them in the mail to him — and here’s the thing: They did. Warren, who has compiled several books collecting the confessions (which range from funny to tragic), visits George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium tonight to talk about the project and his work in suicide awareness. $10; GWU students $7. 7:30 p.m. Lisner Auditorium, 730 21st St. NW. 202-397-7328 or visit the Lisner box office, 202-994-6800.

There are lots of ways to use the web to reach your audience. If you want to use your art/craft/project website to propel yourself to superstardom, sitting at home whining that it’s not fair that Frank gets all the attention isn’t really the path. You’re going to have to do lots of behind the scenes work. Fortunately for you, there’s no one right answer.

If you’re doing the etsy thing and you haven’t bookmarked Tina Seamonster’s project, Hello Craft, you really should. Lots of great info there.

You should also consider hitting up an event Tina posted about earlier this week. The Creative Alliance is hosting this event in Baltimore on Sunday:

The Business of Craft (Presented by The Baltimore ETSY Street Team)

Sun Jan 25. 10am-2:30pm.
Adv reg $25, $20 CA & BEST mbrs. Walk-in $30, $25 CA & BEST mbrs. Includes lunch.
Practical information for the creative entrepreneur featuring roundtable discussions led by experts on legal and accounting basics; marketing, wholesale and pricing; and looking your best– on the web and in promo photos. Speakers include: Cynthia Blake Sanders, MD Lawyers for the Arts; Rebecca Cason, former director of the Buyer’s Market of American Craft; Jen Menkhaus, working crafter and one of the founders of the Baltimore Street Team, as well as a professional photographer, accountant, and web designer. Over lunch, get connected with other local artists and crafters to make new friends, show off your work, and share ideas.

The directions and registration info are at that link.

I’ve gotten lots of requests for legal and technical panels or workshops for next Artomatic related to showing or selling your work online. I’m keeping a list of suggested topics, so keep sending them my way. I’m not going to manage the workshops but I’m sure I’ll be helping out or at least putting out feelers for good speakers or presenters.

But back to Hello Craft – Tina reports that Etsy has at long last integrated Google Analytics into the stores and she links to the tutorial to help crafters use the tool effectively.

And now, back to the original topic: Post Secret. CBS still has the full episode available on-line of the fall episode of CSI: NY, titled “Dead Inside”. That’s the episode wherein a murder leads to “an art-house project called SecretU” where an artist posts anonymous confessions mailed to her on artsy post-cards.