Artist Exchange - grassroots

Last nite I was talking to Dawno and shared and idea I have with her. She seemed to think it was a good one, so I am now trying to find my words and pass it along to you.

The idea is an Artist Exchange.

This is what I would like to see happen. I want a community support group of artists that encourage and cross promote other artists. For example, when I make a sale, I include a thank you card with the order. The card is made by a local artist, SooBoo. She is helping me create that personal touch with her cards, that I would not have had on my own - cross promotion. A cross promotion outside of your craft. We all see the badges, buy local, buy hand made, this is one avenue to make it happen.

There are some stipulations to this exchange - you have to have a blog, you have to have a store. The whole point of this exchange is to review a product that you have received in exchange for one of your products. You blogging about your 'gift' is a way to showcase what you have just received. Then review it, and point others to this artists site in the hopes of helping to raise awareness of a new artist and the ultimate goal, to create sales.

There will have to be a dollar amount minimum and maximum set as well. This is not your retail price but your initial building cost for the item. It wouldn't be fair to exchange your $30 piece for someones $3. So I may set up categories that you can choose to participate in - $10 and under, $10 - $20, and $20 - $30, or I may just set a concrete dollar amount and move on from there.

I am hoping we can do this 4 times a year, and set up a theme for each exchange.

Leave me a comment if you want to participate, talk about it, tweet about it. The more that participate, the more fun we will have.