Want to immediately improve your marketing materials—so you can book more and better work? If your bio, email pitches, grant proposals, or cover letters could use some help, then this message is for you. Let’s tackle Musician Self-Promotion: 8 tips for editing your...
If you're a musician who wants to book more work, start by composting. Here's what I mean: The first step to having effective promo materials — the kind that help you book more work — is to create what I call a Bio Compost list. This includes all of the items you...
Most musicians want their promo materials to be more authentic but aren't sure what that actually means in a Bio. So let's explore how to bring more of yourself to your Bio — while effectively promoting your career. In a recent presentation on branding and online...
Let me tell you a story about a client I'll call Diana, an experienced freelance violinist. She came to me for help with her email pitches. The help, though, it wasn't what she expected. In fact, it got her asking, Why is Bio writing so hard? You see, Diana thought...
Is your mission statement a mess? Chances are the answer is YES because most musician's mission statements are dreadful. Whether they're for our ensembles, organizations, or ourselves, musician's mission statements tend to be full of hot air, clichés, and sweeping...
Let me tell you a story about a musician . . . a terrific violinist I’ll call Chris, who came to me because her career had hit a plateau. She was doing OK: she played with some excellent new music ensembles and had a solid teaching job. But she was frustrated that her...
Here's a special treat: my colleague and friend Matthew Carey is a pianist, music director, and coach from down under. His terrific podcast Studio Time is about "the big and small ways artists can change the world." Matthew recently interviewed me. It was a fun,...
In working with musicians on their promotional materials—especially their bios—I've found there's an essential question that they need to ask themselves: Why do you I make music? What's key is being able to answer this seemingly simple without resorting to generic or...
As a follow up to last week's post on letters of recommendation: have you ever had to write your own? Have you ever asked a student or intern to write her own? It's hard enough to convey someone else's distinctive strengths and detail what makes them a great...
Image: A Divine Humour (Creative Commons) Here is the last of our mini bio series before we move on to other topics. Here are 2 perspectives on bio writing I found especially helpful: 1. From Michael Gallant, in his excellent Discmakers piece "How to Write a...
