Today the shop is a shambles - I’m getting ready to go teach the carved box class that starts on Monday. And if you read my wordpress blog, this post is an expanded version of one there today.
It’s an interruption in my usual sort of writing. It’s about promotion. Like many self-employed craftspeople, I stink at marketing, selling, etc. I’ve been very fortunate over the years to have a group of friends, students, followers-on-blogs, readers of books, viewers of videos, etc who have supported my work - the latest being the subscribers here on Substack. I am ever-grateful for the support I get from all these people - otherwise, I don’t know how I’d be making a living.
During the pandemic, Pete Galbert told me about his video series on chairmaking - it being a way to earn some income while being “shut down.” I latched onto that idea and followed suit, with a video about making a joined carved chest. At that point, I figured I might not be making many full-sized chests like that anymore (not because I can’t, just because there’s not that much call for them…) so the project had a double-purpose. It earned me some income when I wasn’t teaching classes and also served as a full document of how I built a chest at that point.
And I got to liking working at home versus all the traveling I formerly did. I then did more of those videos, thankfully shorter than the chest-marathon. Most recently I released what I hope is the first in a series about 17th-century style carving. When that was posted, I was contacted by Rudy Everts, who you might know of through Lost Art Press’s blog posts. He connected me with Liz Davinci, suggesting that she might be able to help promote my video series. I met with Liz through a video-call and she ran down what her marketing program is about - and off we’ve gone.
It was about 10 years ago that I joined Facebook and Instagram - and posted regularly there for a long time. Since starting this blog, I’ve shifted my focus here - figuring people are paying me to write/post here, so that’s where I concentrate my screen time. But I kept the accounts active on the social sites - and Liz made up a plan for some social media “shorts” to attract new viewers – if you see stuff from me on Instagram, youtube or Facebook then maybe you’ve already seen these clips.
And here’s the part I never thought I’d say – I have a Tik-Tok account too! I thought hell got a little chilly lately… If you read this blog or my old wordpess one, then you surely don’t need to see me on tik tok, but if you use that program and you click those short video clips – they’ll start to see me and bring new viewers into the videos. So any of you tik-tokkers out there…wanna give me a boost? I’d appreciate it. As far as I can tell, all it needs is some views to get it started, then the machinery that drives it takes over.
https://www.tiktok.com/@peterfollansbee7
All of this stuff is over my head. But the vimeo videos sort of flatten out after their initial release and Liz’s plan is to drive new people to them. It’s worth a shot for me, so that’s why you might be seeing a flood of these clips around. Thanks for your time & attention - I hope they’re not too annoying. They’re meant for new folks, not people who already know my scene.
and back to woodworking and furniture history next time. Unless some good migrant birds show up here…I’m waiting. So far, just the locals.
And because this is supposed to be about promotion - here’s some links:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/galbertfoundations/
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/follansbeejoinedchest
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/jachairpf
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/follansbeebrettstuhl
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/dedhamcarvingsfollansbee
https://www.davincimarketing.us/
Superb shot of the egret!
I think it was Click and Clack the tappet brothers--WBUR car show guys--who called it shameless promotion. But happy you are being promoted--