Artists spend most of their time painting in their studios. And when they're done, they put it on display and try to make it visible to as many people as possible. After the masterpieces were created in perseverance, giving people comfort and joy through an exhibition and publication would be the direction painters wanted.  It would be great news if painters could get an opportunity to show the most out of their work at the lowest possible cost. Various vanity publishers, which are rapidly increasing due to the development of the Internet, often return artists' efforts in the form of overpayments, disappointing them. The best alternative is for the painter to create his publication. Some vanity publications cost over a thousand dollars a page. And if you can pay, it will be printed as a good quality publication without any verification or assessment. It often feels like money is in priority more than artistry. However, if you are a true artist, you will come back even if you got sidetracked for a while. Artists want to be reasonably valued and recognized, even if it takes a lot of time. Because we know well that a flashy spotlight that we thought was a shortcut can be a shameful glory in the long run, looking at this situation.

 ​Therefore, I am investigating ways to self-publish, even in a simple e-book format.
Below is an e-book pamphlet from the Etsy site. It is cheap with a tax of $25, and it is not a one-time use but can be used several times unlimitedly. What's even better is that you can create your publications through the print-on-demand service of a company called Canva, an online site linked to this e-book. The output produced in this way will be cheaper than the so-called vanity publications. Today, I would like to share the services and results I have found.

 ​The e-book template provided by Canva presents the easiest way for anyone to add pictures, change fonts, fill in content, and create various types of e-books.

  If you follow the process provided by the template, the result will come out sooner. Select the menu on the right at the top to decide whether to save the result as a PDF or print it.

  ​As soon as the opportunity arises, we will post research on self-publishing. I hope it helps you to create your own art book.

  Have you ever heard of Vanity Gallery? 
 If you focus only on your work as an artist, you may naturally become vulnerable to responding to harmful information. Because of this particularity, artists are often at risk of being exposed to scams. Therefore, artists must also research and study continuously before doing anything and before signing a contract.

 With the development of the Internet, anyone can easily achieve their dreams according to their purpose  if they wish.  And, perhaps, investing your money and effort will give you instant fame without any professionality. It is due to the weakening of barriers to entry by diversity and commercial marketing. As a result, the person who wants to pursue with sincerity to do something can suffer under the insidious pitfall of business and marketing slot. 

  Recently I have faced same problem. Looking back, I have been painting for nearly ten years, but I have never met a so-called vanity gallery and wasted my money before, so I can say that I am a lucky painter. Today I would like to share some of private experiences about the relationship between gallery and artist. 

 The galleries I exhibited were not fancy, glamorous, or luxurious places for anyone to see. It was a gallery run by membered artists who created and operated a cooperative. However, the paintings here have been vetted rigorously. The gallery did not charge any fees to the artist for the exhibition. And there were many benefits that an artist could take advantage of it. For example, a cooperative gallery in Germany helped set up an exhibition for me, an emerging artist, during a local festival. So many people came to see my paintings, and my works were sold. The director was delighted with my first success. Instead, I had to create a promotional brochure myself. I had designed it in Photoshop, printed it on my home printer, and cut it overnight with sharp scissors. An exciting experience was that I made and sold postcards, which sold quite well. And I took the profits from postcards and paintings to the proportion of 80 and 20 galleries.

 Some galleries also did not charge for the exhibition and gave me money for the performance after the show oppositely. 

 Maybe I didn't have enough money, and once the some vanity gallery asked for money, I couldn't answer it as their needs.  With the financial motivation, more fiercely, I searched for exhibition spaces that were provided for artists for free.   When the exhibition was held at a local cafe, it was quite good because it was a win-win strategies. The local gallery with cafe was a famous place for artists, the exhibition record remained on the Internet for a long time. They judged all paintings and curated by own professional staff. 

 When I came to the United States, a commercial gallery director rented a space for free (2 weeks) after looking at my work. At this time, I also made a promotional poster in Photoshop, printed it, because the gallery can't do it. Since it was a gallery in a tourist area, many people visited, and paintings were also sold. The owner himself hung and nailed the pictures for my exhibition and actively promoted my images. When my work was sold, I divided our portions  50/50 by my voluntary decision to repay for his efforts. Since then, I have joined a local art councils to exhibit and sell works mainly.

 However, after experiencing an artist open call, I noticed something suspicious. Since open Internet calls are not person-to-person, it is challenging to respond with detecting by instinct.   So it is an area that needs further research. I'll do more research on this and keep posting.   When submitting work through an open call, you must check whether the institution is reliable. 

  Also, I am often in a situation where it is ambiguous whether this is vanity or not. The standard is the expenses. In other words, from experience, there are many opportunities to expose my work without spending overpayment. It seems that something that looks flashy to see and hear must be verified first to avoid being deceived.

 In that regard, I modified the career section of my homepage. I plan to update again after confirming the parts that need verification.

The path of an artist is not only a path to painting but also an arduous side. You have to protect yourself, and you have to plow through the rough sea like a ship breaking through the waves. There are many temptations and shortcuts, but you have to close your eyes in front of the sweat calling. Sometimes I get deceived and upset, but I have to shake it off and get up again. Still, I have to go this route again. If you are an artist who has a hard time making a living, this process can be even more arduous.

 In the future, I plan to study how to protect myself as an artist and show and evaluate my work more authentically.

Reference : ​https://fineartviews.com/blog/33648/vanity-gallery-art-scam-or-art-opportunity