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Something to Cherish - Art Licensing Blog

SCBWI BLOG SPOTLIGHT

Visual Storytellers Studio Interview

BrandYOU: Your Avatar

A New Community Forum for Art Licensors

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SCBWI BLOG SPOTLIGHT

By Cherish Flieder · Comments (2)

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Kite Tales — Published March 2009
Interview with Jennifer Bertman for the Society of Children’s Book Writer’s and Illustrators Rocky Mountain Chapter

Cherish Flieder is not only a designer, but an artist in the truest sense of the word, that has skills to help any client with a wide array of graphic, illustrative, and marketing needs. Cherish has been sketching, painting, drawing, and creating little products ever since she was a small child.

Cherish pursues her passion for art and design at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado. Her design studio, (Cherished Solutions, llc, and brands Something to Cherish™ and Painting for Life™), works with publishers, manufacturers, and other niche businesses to achieve their goals in the marketplace by creating designs and illustrations and pairing them with thoughtful marketing objectives. Cherish works on the creation and production of conceptual and cohesive licensing collections, product development, books (especially children’s books), packaging, and other marketing materials.

Why did you decide to start a blog?
The more I learn and experience in life, the more I want to share my findings with others. I found myself retelling the same stories and sharing the resources repeatedly to other illustrators, writers, family, and friends. I began to think that keeping a blog would be a more effective way to share my messages and updates. I took a few classes on blogging and that helped spur me on to further action.

I first started blogging for the Colorado Alliance of Illustrators as their Secretary and Vice President (www.AllianceOfIllustrators.BlogSpot.com). This gave me the experience and confidence I needed to start my own blog about my art and related interests.

My blog at www.SomethingToCherish.com is woven into the structure of my website that promotes my illustration style. I use WordPress to easily manage and update my blog, but it actually started in www.Blogger.com which is very easy to use if you are new to blogging.

Why is blogging important to you?
Blogging is my way of connecting with others and chronicling events and resources that I don’t want to forget. I know that by sharing this information I can help and encourage others. Blogging also gives my work exposure to a world-wide audience that I would not get with a static website on its own. I have met so many incredible people through blogging and have found an audience for my art that I never knew existed before.

Advice or tips to share about blogging?
The most important thing about blogging is that you tie your blog post articles into who you are and what you do. Blogs have incredible power behind them to promote you and connect you with the search engines using RSS (Real Simple Syndication). For example, my blog is focused on illustration, publishing, and art licensing. So, when I decide what I want to post, I think of things that relate to all or any of the above. There is also a very personal element to blogging and even more so for artists and authors that blog. People who read your blog want to know about your expertise, but also about who you are as an individual. It is highly recommended to have an actual picture of your face on the blog or at least on your website somewhere. Occasionally, you will see artists and writers post personal blog posts about the kids, the cat, the summer vacation etc. When you blog about personal events, you help readers to feel more connected to you on a personal level. However, it is important to balance out your posts. It probably isn’t a good idea to post much in any single area that might detract from the main purpose of your blog. If your goal is to share your expertise in writing or illustrating children’s books, you need to make most of your posts revolve around that purpose. “What do I write about on my blog?” This is the number one question any new blogger has hanging in front of them as they stare into that blank screen. It was overwhelming to me at first too, but now I have so many ideas on what I want to post there is no want of new material, just time to simply write it out. Here are some ideas for blog posts:

New artwork or articles
Classes or teleseminars you are teaching
New videos, podcasts or e-books
New partnerships, volunteer efforts, organizations and charities with which you participate
Special events you are hosting, promoting, you attended or you are sponsoring
New book or product releases
New services you offer or new details on current services
Contests in which you are participating or want to organize and award
Polls or surveys you are conducting
Your stand on a controversial topic (i.e. Orphan Works)
Local angle to a national story
Current holidays and national day/week/month celebrations (See www.Chases.com for a complete list.)
Share helpful tips and resources
And the list goes on and on …

I keep a little notebook/folder with my ideas for future blogs before they even make it to the web. If you start brainstorming a list for yourself first before you even turn your computer on you will have much more focus and success with your blog. “How often do I need to publish new posts? This is another commonly asked question. However, the answer is really left up to you. Just remember that once you start a blog you need to add posts regularly. It does not positively promote you if your last blog post is several months or several years old! I try to post new material to my blog about one a week with the minimum being once a month. I just pick a day of the week, Wednesday in my case, to do all my online marketing updates and use it as a reminder to post something new on my blog. My last piece of advice for all bloggers out there is to make sure that your contact information is easily accessible from any page of your blog. Also, don’t forget to add a link back to your main website, where people can learn more about you and your work. You are missing out on valuable correspondence if you don’t put it out there. Favorite blogs? I subscribe to over 100 blogs on many different subjects. Here are a few blogs that I can always count on to be full of ideas and inspiration:

When I meet a new artist I like or an organization with whom I want to keep in touch, I subscribe to their blog using my RSS reader. I use Google Reader, but there are many others out there for you to explore. Subscribing to an RSS is great. It doesn’t clog my inbox and I can pull it up all in one place to catch up on my reading. I also recommend subscribing to your own blog to make sure that the RSS is working properly. I like to use www.FeedBurner.com to publicize my feeds all over the internet. Blog Excerpt: My most popular post is an article called “Leveraging LinkedIn’s Networking Power” about how to use LinkedIn as a marketing tool. Below is an excerpt. Thank you for your interest in my blog. I hope to connect with you online soon. Happy blogging everyone!

“I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.”

You may have been sent an email with this exact request on more than one occasion by a friend or colleague. If you have dismissed this invitation as just another one of those time wasting, friend collecting sites, then you may be at a considerable disadvantage.

So, if it’s that important, what exactly is LinkedIn you ask … and that’s a great question!

LinkedIn, found online at www.linkedin.com, is by far the largest and most professional, business-oriented, social media networking site on the World Wide Web. Although it has only been around since 2002, it has over 25 million participants worldwide and grows at the rate of over 130,000 members each week!

LinkedIn is easy to use and opens the doors of opportunity to develop meaningful relationships with key players of the human race, in a new and effective way. The basic concept of how it works beckons back to the theory of “six degrees of separation.” On LinkedIn it will only show you up to three degrees of separation, but that alone will connect you to millions of professionals once you start linking up with other users. Your network will consist of your connections (1^st), your connections’ connections (2^nd), and then the connections to which they are connected (3^rd). This dynamic function will start to make more sense as you begin see it in action.

It’s a good idea to create and maintain a professional LinkedIn profile page if you want:

* a beneficial way to promote your art brand, products, and/or services online

* to meet key players in your areas of expertise

* to discover new business or job opportunities

* to learn about a new industry in which you hope to expand

* to reconnect with colleagues, classmates, and clients

5 Things I Love About LinkedIn

* LinkedIn helps me to “stay in touch” and “touch base” with people that are important to me. Often, we get so busy that we never follow up on important connections and we loose out in the long run. LinkedIn is a superior tool for keeping you cognizant of your important connections and gives you an easy way to contact with them when the time is right.

* LinkedIn gives you a visual reference of your network, helping you readily discover commonalities. You can find someone with a skill you desire. You can post jobs or even apply for them online. When you are looking to join or serve with a new company, you can use LinkedIn to conduct preparatory research. LinkedIn makes it easy to discover which connections you have working with that company or who is associated with it, even before you have your first interview.

* LinkedIn is a great way to learn about any industry. You can see what other people are up to, see how they are promoting themselves and view their notable accomplishments.

* LinkedIn manages my database of connections for me. I don’t have to go and look up an email for anyone that is connected to me or even open up my email composer to send out a message. It gives me an instant connection to their email inbox from their profile page.

* LinkedIn makes it simple for each member to keep their own information current for the benefit of the community. This feature helps users quickly access updated job summaries, aspirations, interests, status, website links, and more.

One last thing about social media sites … there are so many of them out there. If you are using them for your business you will need to carefully select the ones that help you best maintain professional connections and ultimately keep your brand in front of your clients. Professionally, I use Plaxo, Facebook, and Twitter, in addition to LinkedIn. MySpace can be good too, if you approach it with a professional touch. But, if you only choose one, I urge you to go with LinkedIn, as it will give you the most professional online presence and effective online networking available.

If you would like to read Cherish’s “10 Tips for Making the Most of Your LinkedIn Profile”, sign up for her e-zine at http://somethingtocherish.com/souvenirs. To see the complete issue of Kite Tales, click here.< – >

Comments (2)

Categories : About Cherish, Children's Books, Education, Marketing, SCBWI

Tags : article, Blog, CAI, children's book, Illustrators, SCBWI

Visual Storytellers Studio Interview

By Cherish Flieder · Comments (1)

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

I recently joined this new creative group of illustrators known as The Visual Storytellers Studio. It is wonderful format that features new illustrators work on a rotating basis. Founding member and illustrator, Lisa J. Michaels, was kind to grant me an interview to tell me more about this unique way to get children’s book illustrations in front of eager art buyers and lovers on the internet.

What is VSS?

A few years ago, I belonged to a illustrator group called “The Picture Bookie Showcase”. It was started by The “Picture Bookies”- a group of 6 talented individuals who had a blog where they critiqued each others illustration work. They decided that the world needed a place where children’s book illustrators could post their work for public viewing, with the hope of eventually attracting art directors, editors, etc. They began asking other talented illustrators to join them (by invitation only), and the group quickly grew to fifty! It ran for several years, with several of the members being “discovered” and fulfilling their dreams of publication.

Running a group of that size can be a daunting task, even if the site is designed extremely well. The Picture-Bookies eventually decided to close it down due to time constraints and personal success. This created (in my opinion) a huge void for the other 44 participating illustrators. Being part of such a prestigious group gave them something impressive to add to their credentials, as the Picture-Bookies had developed a reputation for excellence and had become well known. To be included was an honor, and it meant you were among the best the nation had to offer.

The “Visual Storytellers Studio” is basically modeled after the “Picture-Bookie Showcase” idea, but we have taken it a few steps further.

What is it’s purpose?

The main purpose of the VSS is to provide a national forum for talented children’s book illustrators to post their BEST work for public viewing. I believe in the “six degrees of separation”, the notion that the more viewers we have, the better our chances of being found by the editors and art directors who will put us to work, doing what we love most, illustrating!

It’s secondary purpose is to bring to the public…parents, teachers, and children, some of the finest illustrations that are being produced today. We can come right into their homes via their computer. They can enjoy new illustrations every week, as we are constantly posting. We also conduct “Illustrator Interviews” with working, published illustrators, so kids (and moms) can learn about their favorite illustrators and what makes them tick! (You can read the first interview on Patrick Loehr here)

I feel the need to mention that the site is free for viewing, and has none of those annoying pop-ups or advertisements that so many other sites have. We want to remain as professional as possible. Nobody’s getting paid for any of this.

Who is behind it?

In June of 2008, my local SCBWI critique group disbanded, and I was left with no one to critique my manuscripts or illustration work. There were several on-line groups, but they were all full, and the waiting list was just stupid! I had been dabbling in website designing, so I thought…Why not start my own group? I knew I was not the only person out there who needed a critique group–duh!

Being a member of the SCBWI definitely has its perks, but I wondered about those who weren’t as fortunate as I was, and couldn’t afford the yearly membership. Let’s face it, writers & illustrators just starting out are far from wealthy! So, I decided that my group would not discriminate and I began accepting non-SCBWI members as well as critters like me, who’d been around a while.

We went “live” on July 23^rd, 2008 and “The Yellow Brick Road” was born! We now have 15 members, many of whom are also SCBWI members and many who are published. That’s how I met Jill Bergman. Jill needed a writers critique group, and she found my “call for critters” on the SCBWI message boards. Soon after bringing Jill into the my YBR group, she was inspired to start her own critique group (illustrators only) and asked me to join.

Jill’s blogsite, “Our Lil’ Group” made me start thinking about the Picture Bookie Showcase again. I wondered how many illustrators had been forced to pay exorbitant fees to belong to one of the many on-line galleries that exist on the net. Many charge as much as $300+ per year to belong, only to find that it’s members get lost in a virtual sea of talented artists, on a site were there are hundreds to compete with. I thought, How can editors weed them out from the crowd? Is it worth that much to be lost in the shuffle? I noticed that those who go that route seldom change their listings, editors who do manage to find them-see the same samples over & over. That must be boring!

I knew that I had to do something different. I wanted my showcase back, but it would mean I’d have to do the work. Well, lazy I am not. So I proposed the idea of a virtual “gallery” to Jill’s wonderful group of illustrators, and I volunteered my web designing skills to make it happen. They had all given me something very valuable by letting me join them, so it was time to give back! I also thought of it as a way to pay it forward to the “Picture-Bookies”, for all the years they had allowed me to be a part of something so great. I have invited many of them to join us, and it feels like coming home!

When did it start?

I started building the VSS site in January, 2008 after explaining to the members what I had in mind. Everyone was really excited, and it reminded me of how I felt when my invitation arrived to join “The Picture Bookies Showcase”. I could feel everyone’s hope come alive. The enthusiasm for the project was overwhelming!

I assembled bio’s, illustrations, photo’s, hyperlinks, etc. for each group member, then assemble a “Meet the Illustrator” page for each of the 10 “spotlight” artists. Once that was done, then I began to put together the VSS site, building it around the logo that we all collaborated on.

On February 4^th, 2008, we went “live” with our grand opening for public viewing. Invitations to view the site were sent out to hundreds of e-mail addresses. The list was compiled from lists that each person in the group compiled. I asked them to send me e-mail addresses for all the teachers in all of their local elementary schools, publishers that they had submitted work to in the past, art directors that they had worked with, friends, family members, private students, local libraries, etc. Just anybody who might be interested in children’s book publishing. It took me hours to send them all out, but the hits keep coming!

What are your goals for the next 2 years?

That’s an easy one, growth. We want to be seen and respected. We want to build a great reputation, as a place where the publishing industry knows they can come to find great talent and fresh illustrations that haven’t been sitting parked on a site for the last 3 years! We would like to find ourselves in a position where illustrator inclusion on our site is sought after and coveted. We are very serious about what we do as illustrators. We all feel a great responsibility to produce the best work possible for the parents who buy our books and the children who enjoy them.

How can other illustrators and writers get involved and spread the word?

Illustrators who would like to be considered for a “Contributing Illustrator” spot, need to send me a request/introduction and the link to their website or blog at wscribbles [at] att.net. It will go before our Spotlight Members for the decision making process. We will be limiting the number of invited illustrators, but the exact number has not yet been determined.

We at the VSS would love for other professionals to spread the word! We hope that everyone will come by and check us out at www.vstorytellersstudio.blogspot.com. If they like what they see, we encourage them to pass it along.

Comments (1)

Categories : Artists, Children's Books, Community/Philanthropy, Illustration, Publications/Websites/Blogs, Resources

Tags : Blog, Children's Books, Illustration, SCBWI

BrandYOU: Your Avatar

By Cherish Flieder · Comments (0)

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

A Twitter friend of mine ECStewart wrote a very informative article on branding yourself as an artist online. Whether you are new to this idea or an experienced pro, you are bound to learn something new in her wonderful little blog posts.

BrandYOU: Your Avatar — Part 1

The importance of keeping one’s brand, personal and professional, consistent.

BrandYOU: Your Avatar — Part 2

What makes a good avatar? A “HOW TO” guide for creating the perfect digital representation of YOU!

Comments (0)

Categories : Education, Marketing, Resources

Tags : avatar, Blog, branding, online, Twitter

A New Community Forum for Art Licensors

By Cherish Flieder · Comments (0)

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

Calling all artists who license their art … or want to.

There is a wonderful new forum set up by my fabulous art licensing friend, Tara Reed, simply called Art Licensing Forum. A great place to share your blog, photos, ideas, news and most importantly, meet up with new and talk to other artists that are also serious about making a living from their art.

For more insider resources for artists on the business of art licensing, visit: my resources for artists page or artoflicensing.com

See you there!