The Secret to Getting Paid for Your Art

What if art was your full-time vocation? What if you had the financial freedom to follow through on the weird art ideas that pop into your head while knowing you had more than enough money to pay your bills and buy whatever deluxe coffee drink that catches your fancy?

There is an army of talented musicians, writers, poets, painters, and crafters who want to unleash their art on the world—but they’re stuck.

Some are stuck with the belief that real artists must suffer. Some are stuck because they think marketing is a foreign language that’s too hard for them to learn. Others are don’t understand the value of their work, or they believe their art is too weird for the world.

Most of the people in this artistic army are stuck waiting. They’re waiting to hear back from a gatekeeper, waiting until their work is good enough, or waiting for some wealthy patron with a briefcase full of cash to knock on their door and present them with a certificate that they have now been officially discovered.

If you’re a member of that army of doubting and waiting artists, my passion is helping you make an incredible living while unleashing your art on an unsuspecting world. You have what it takes to change the world.

But you need something.

You need to learn the business of art.

You need to learn to make your business a work of art.

Business Isn’t a Bad Word

If you believe that you must suffer for your art to be pure, or you think that business is a bad word, I have nothing to offer you.

But if you believe that you were meant to find an audience for your work and you want to learn how to earn enough money from your art so that you never need a side job or day job ever again, I want to travel with you.

I want to take you to the promised land where art isn’t a side hustle. I want to journey with you to that mystical place where you don’t have to fit your art around your life and work because your art is your life and work.

Business isn’t a bad word. It’s a tool that allows you the freedom to be the best artist you can be.

At its best, business is a form of artistic expression. It is a way for you to communicate your mission and passion to people eager to receive your gifts.

You don’t need an MBA to create a successful business from your art. But you do need to learn the ropes of running a successful business without losing your soul.

That’s why I’m creating BizArt. It’s a micro-publication with business and marketing advice for artists.

It’s a physical and digital zine made by artists for artists.

BizArt is a Zine With Business and Marketing Advice Just for Artists

First, what’s a zine? (Pronounced ‘zeen’, like the tail end of magazine.)

A zine is an underground publication. They’ve been around in one form or another as long as publishing has existed. Before the mid-twentieth century, they were usually called pamphlets. Everyone from abolitionists to suffragettes published small, handcrafted brochures to persuade people to join their cause.

Since the 1960s, zines have been used by everyone from punk rock promoters to anime fans. Zines are a way for people to share fan art, poetry, and even vegan recipes with people who share their passions without getting permission from gatekeepers.

BizArt is for artists who are passionate about making a profitable business from their creative endeavor. It’s for indies and anyone else who wants to take control of their financial and artistic future.

Most importantly, BizArt is a zine for people who want to be part of a community of thriving artists.

What Do I Know About Making Money From Art?

Unlike most business blogs, podcasts, and books, BizArt isn’t just about getting information from an expert. It’s about traveling together with like-minded artists towards a common goal.

I’m a poet, writer, visual artist, and zine creator. I’ve published books and been commissioned by companies to write haiku for corporate presentations and publications.

But, I’m not quite where I want to be in my artistic career yet.

However, I also have an extensive business background. I was a practicing lawyer for nine years before leaving the law to become a freelance copywriter. I’ve built a successful career writing marketing materials for business-to-business (B2B) companies over the past eight-and-a-half years. These are businesses that sell goods and services to other businesses.

It’s a multi-billion market—and it’s a goldmine for artists.

Through BizArt, I’m sharing what I know about marketing and building a business. I'm showing you my successes and failures and as I expand my own artistic business. I also curate the best business advice and resources for artists so that we can grow together as a community.

The first issue of BizArt is all about how artists can use the B2B model to make more money and create more stable income streams.

The feature article is about B2B songwriter Cathy Heller. She made $300,000 a year selling songs directly to studios, production companies, and advertising agencies. Her story shows how anyone can create a prosperous artistic career if they are willing to be creative with their business model.

Creating a Community of Thriving Artists

While the information in BizArt is useful and evergreen, the real power of the zine is as a gateway to a community of thriving artists.

I’m not interested in creating a list of faceless readers. I’m recruiting an army of excited, creative people who will march together to overthrow the system of gatekeepers and scarcity.

I’m looking for people who don’t believe in the myth of the starving, suffering artist.

As a community of thriving artists, we will support and learn from each other. Together we will make the world a better place through art.

The Business Model

It’s much easier to make great art when you’re not worried about the electricity getting shut off or how you’re going to afford school clothes for your kids.

Being a thriving artist means developing a variety of different income streams. Part of the BizArt ethos is leading by example.

BizArt will be a critical part of my larger artistic business.

My small press, Weirdo Poetry, will publish the BizArt zine. Weirdo Poetry will also be the publisher of the world’s most intriguing micro-publications and brand fanzines.

Each publication is a separate income stream. Weirdo Poetry makes money from subscriptions and purchases of individual issues (priced at higher “newsstand” prices).

BizArt will be different in that it will drive revenue from sales of the publication and from membership fees.

The BizArt community will charge a small monthly fee that will include a digital and physical subscription to the BizArt zine, a private podcast, an exclusive newsletter, an exclusive community Discord server, and access to community events. The podcast will feature interviews with owners of successful art businesses, marketing tutorials, and post-mortems on my failures and successes.

Other sources of revenue may include sponsorships and affiliate income from trusted partners whose products and services provide value to members of our thriving artist community.

Lastly, Weirdo Poetry will also earn revenue through offering a high-priced B2B service. Through Weirdo Poetry, I will create bespoke brand fanzines that businesses can use as customer swag, employee swag, or to supplement presentations and trade shows.

Everything I do with Weirdo Poetry and BizArt will serve the members of the BizArt community. Every success will show one way that artists can make money. Even more importantly, each failure will present invaluable learning opportunities so other artists can avoid the same issues.

While many business-focused publications are focused on the spectacularly unattainable stories of outliers, BizArt is about taking a journey together and overcoming the obstacles in our path by learning from each other’s experience and expertise.

Consider This Your Notice of the Revolution

The future is human. AI might be improving and taking over all manner of tasks and jobs. But in the future, we will still need humans to create and curate art and information.

This is your notice that the creative revolution is underway. This might be your last chance to join.

It’s time to unleash your art. The world needs us. It’s time for artists to stop starving and start thriving.

Together we will reshape the world.