Creatives First Gathering
Creatives of Canterbury first met at the charming Route 23 Coffee Shop on the 23rd January 2018 to network and support one another in their creative journeys. It was wonderful to gather together with such differing skills and interests and yet have much in common. Discussions were incredibly helpful and insightful and some of the key points are detailed below.
Local events
Garden pop-up stalls – several of us are up for these when the weather improves.
Tying children’s books to specific elements of the National Curriculum when we approach local schools
Village halls were identified as a possible venue for sales
Social media and www stuff
Instagram is something to explore and blogging was acknowledged as a helpful thing when committed to regularly to build up an audience and following
Andrew Buller (info@andrewbuller.com) is on hand to help anyone with getting WordPress websites off the ground
Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/ has wonderful content about writing, publishing, and marketing books
Bad Redhead is good for marketing ideas: http://badredheadmedia.com/
Ellie Philpott Links
Etsy forums have held some success for Ellie Philpott – improving SEO for her Etsy site has led to some successful sales. Ellie shared details of links she has found useful:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4017017.Ellie_Philpott
The good Facebook group for Etsy is Etsy UK Sellers Social Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/377648889088476/ You have to wade through a lot of bumf, but they do tackle a lot of practical issues like SEO.
Build My Social Empire (FB Group) has a Teach Me Etsy Week coming up. She’s a bit of a rough diamond, but she has some great insights. She covers all social media topics. Her speciality is Pinterest. She does regular ‘Teach Me’ weeks – all free. https://www.facebook.com/BeYouBeSeen/photos/a.1430571013677211.1073741828.1426985630702416/1656929814374662/?type=3&theater
Elizabeth Lymer Links
Elizabeth Lymer offered to share links that she has found useful in her creative journey which are included below.
Writing for Children
Other things
Winning prizes from magazines or even starting our own up.
What about putting a book together? – a chapter from each of us about what works and what doesn’t
Elsa has ordered ‘Real Artists don’t Starve’ and maybe we can pass it round and see what we think.
