A recent title (10 Steps to Powerful Online Self Promotion for Creatives) caught our attention, and after getting in touch with the author, Alex Mathers, we got a review copy.
The book is, as the author describes it, “an in depth guide to effective marketing, winning regular clients and making sales using the Internet“.
The book is organized in 10 chapters, or as the title suggest, steps. with every step being an important part of your online presence and promotion.
10 Steps to Powerful Online Self Promotion for Creatives has received some great reviews from some important figures in the design industry.
Scott Belsky, Founder of Behance, The 99%
“Alex Mathers has mastered the methods for effective self promotion in the creative world.”
Jerelle Kraus, Former New York Times Art Director
“Mathers’ book is all you’ll ever need to become an expert yourself. I’ve never encountered a more valuable or thorough guide to promotion.”
After reading the over 220 pages of the book we can say it’s an insightful and inspirational look into the best modern techniques of self promotion in the design field and we strongly recommend it as a must have in every designer’s bookshelf.
CLD : Hey Alex. Tell our readers a little bit about yourself.
Alex : Hello! I am an illustrator and designer currently living in London, UK. I studied geography at university, although I decided to return to my interest in art and design a while after completing the course and working in the property industry. I’m a fan of war films, obscure electronic music, writing, Japanese things and contemporary design. I currently run two sites.
One is Red Lemon Club, a site for creative professionals aimed at sharing various methods and discussions on online self promotion. Ape on the Moon, my other site, is a blog showcasing the best in contemporary illustration styles and techniques, featuring a host of excellent illustrators. I also contribute to Design Taxi and am about to join the contributing team at productivity for creatives site: the 99%.
CLD : What motivated you to start your blogs, Red Lemon Club and Ape on the Moon?
Alex : Red Lemon Club was set up to focus my own efforts as an illustrator of researching the best online methods and theories behind effective and up to date self promotion, aimed specifically at creatives. The site was built to share what I found with the creative community, and I get a nice buzz doing so.
Ape on the Moon was initially set up to compliment my own portfolio and share my interests on a range of design related topics. Over many months, it developed to focus on showcasing the various illustration styles and techniques of the best current illustrators in the world.
CLD : A lot of ideas about promotion are in your book, but could you give our readers a few short pointers on promoting their blogs?
Alex : I have a whole section dedicated to promoting blogs in the book, which covers resources for many design sites you could use to post the link of your posts, pinging your site, posting an update through social networking sites, alerting other bloggers, using forums to share your posts, submitting the posts to RSS feeds, and social bookmarking.
CLD : In your opinion what are the main difficulties regarding online self-promotion?
Alex : I think the hardest thing most people face, and something that I found when I was looking to promote my own illustration work, is in knowing exactly how to make use of the internet as a tool that can be used for promotion effectively. Because things tend to be fairly technical when it comes to promoting work on the net, people need to know exactly the steps required to master all of the methods on offer. Not only this, but people find it hard to know where to start and in what order to do things. All of these issues are covered in my book.
CLD : Could you tell us a few words about your book “10 Steps to Powerful Online Self Promotion for Creatives”?
Alex : The book was written with the intention of dramatically improving the self promotional effectiveness of all kinds of creative professionals. This includes being better prepared for self marketing even before you start marketing. The book is an in depth guide to not only gaining substantial online exposure, but in increasing the number, regularity and quality of clients, maintaining your promotional activity into the long term and, if you have products to sell, making more sales.
CLD : What motivated you to write the book?
Alex : The book is a direct result of setting up Red Lemon Club and wanting to share what I found with other creatives. It is also a nice achievement to have completed and promoted my own book!
CLD : 5 websites you couldn’t live without
Alex : Great question, and a tough one! Well, here are my frequently used sites that I enjoy:
CLD : What other books would you recommend?
Alex : I’m really into books with quirky facts about trends and social phenomena like the ‘Tipping Point‘, ‘Outliers‘, and Freakonomics, and books on business like ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad‘ and the ‘Four Hour Work Week‘.
CLD : Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Alex : Woah - that’s another tough one! My goal is to eventually work in the animation/film industry, so I’d like to say that I will be overseeing the production of some animated film whilst sipping a mojito.
Alex, thanks for taking the time to talk to us and good luck with your new book.
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March 14, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Very helpful article…
April 24, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Can’t wait to read the book. We’ve been looking for something like this.