Selling art & craft online

Thanks to our excellent panellists for this event on Tuesday: Jewellery maker Sharon Dickinson (of Archives Crafts), Amanda and Alison of Giftwrapped and Gorgeous and James Boardwell, founder of Folksy. The key points for selling online were:
- Get good professional photography (well lit, professional models)
- Have a range of work at different price points
- Be niche/specialist - there's a lot of competition out there
- Have a story behind you and your work
- Share your thoughts and enthusiasms

Creative Leicestershire March ebulletin

See the March edition of the ebulletin for lots of information and opportunities relevant to people working in arts, design and media.

This months edition includes:

• Funding for people working in Film & Media
• Call out's for artists & designer makers
• Information on the Creative Leicestershire Arts Mentoring Scheme

Register to make sure you receive the ebulletin straight to your inbox

Epublishing Discussions

Excellent panel discussion took place on 22 March, led by Leicester Writers Club. Amanda Grange - a romantic novelist who sells online as well as in print - summed up the advantages of self-publishing:

• it's fast (can take over a year to publish through traditional system)


• if you have the rights, you can publish your backlist


• you can get a much high percentage of royalties (eg 70% via Amazon)


• you can publish work which might sell in relatively small numbers (which wouldn't interest a mainstream publisher)

And the disadvantages:

• the work won't be in libraries and bookshops


• the work won't be reviewed in the big journals

Rutland Open Exhibition submissions

We are supporting Arts for Rutland to run the Rutland Open Exhibition at a new venue this year. Submission days are Saturday 17th and Monday 19th March at Rutland Museum in Oakham. Costs are £5 to submit one work; £10 for 2 and £15 for 3. Selection takes place on Tuesday 20th and prizes include £250 prize from Creative Leicestershire. Application info, including the compulsory form is under Visual Arts on www.artsforrutland.co.uk and the exhibition runs from 24 March to 21 April.