Where Do Creative Hearts Go?

As an avid poetry, visual artist and author of a psychological thriller romance novel, I often find myself on varied paths in creative areas. Sometimes it really takes flight in levels of thought and I know I'm not the only one in regards to this position. Today I was invited into a group on Facebook where a discussion took place and suddenly Andrea Coventry actually mentioned this "focus" and yet again somehow in the middle I'm inspired. A few words stirs within and have this platform to go on, and so here I am writing, this time hoping it may allow some places for others to explore more as aspiring creators.

My position is one in a low-income bracket, I'm not ashamed to admit to that. Frustrated however because of limitations, and the want to be able to do so much more, not so much for me but for my child, as a parent, wishing for the best ways to care for my child. Again I'm not the only one feeling the "bite" out of the economy. I have my worries and attempt to do the best I can with what I know.

What do I know? Well I know from the heart of me, I'm an artist, and I have this deep passion for writing. There is this need for me in it, to vent, collect thoughts, place something in that has some wonderful feeling other than the everyday worry, though those worries do not just disappear. So I find myself in these places trying to market the work, like Twitter for example. Marketing the work is the most difficult task at hand for me. I'm not one with some big ego speaking of my work as if it is a masterpiece of paintings or some greatly written book that must be read. In fact I'm very honest when it comes to the pros and cons of everything I do, maybe even to a fault, but to me that is fine, it IS me.

How do you produce and promote with little to no money? Not easy, however I have encountered some wonderful places for artists/and even creative writers to check out and perhaps venture into. The way I've sort of looked at it is that I have nothing to lose, why not try it. I'm not the type of person who is crazy about price-tagging the creativity that comes from within either, so other resources for me are kind of a must have because the sites do a pricing and I acquire some form of royalty payment. I have actually scoured some of these sources over the internet in search of trying to gain some notice to the areas I love to work most in.

To list them:
1. The obvious placement for many writers is here as a Ycontributor. There are writers in all genres and categories. I started here when I stepped back into the world wide web, and was seeking a place for my poetry. I really believe this one of the places with a strong platform for everything when it comes to writing and getting those articles and work out there, slideshows that photography can be featured within, as well as assignments that can be utilized if wished to work with, and many friends helping each other.

1. Blogging is an absolute necessity in many aspects. For me it truly is one of the most important elements online to feature virtually anything you have your heart set into. Some people blog of day to day routines, how-to, how NOT to, businesses, parenting, photography, stories, poetry, art. One of the things I love which I've mentioned in a previous article featured here is the friendships connecting in areas I most enjoy. (Poetry & Art) which brings me to my third on the list.

2. OneStopPoetry.com which I must say truly brings out some happiness in my little creative heart with everything that they do. They are helping many causes inclusive of opening those creative doors for others. They are friends, much like a family, uniting people across the globe and assisting on the paths of education and literature, as well as the arts. The friends I've made there truly shine with smiles, which brings me to highlighting her within this fourth placement.

3. CafePress was introduced to me through a lovely lady Jess Kristie, an amazing poet, author, I consider multi-talented, and a supportive friend. It actually was funny because I sat procrastinating in ways to attempt getting some of my work out there and saw her post an update on Twitter of her shop. I decided to go ahead and have a look. I loved her stuff! Of course blogged and commented of the excitement in it. Then looking around I caught notice of how to set up my own shop. I think I also had every gear working in my head when it comes to costs, and explored how to format my image details to upload on the site. I love being able to see the images and some of my writing placed on these products in a marketplace, and having this cool little shop where people can go to get them. I had so much fun putting the images to T-shirts, cups, wall clocks, etc. even cute T-shirts and bowls for the pets in your life. Another great thought for this was to promote my book, so I took my book-cover creation and set it into different areas on the product line also. When it comes to the expenses of course my options are set at the lowest base, or free. At CafePress there is also room for upgrading and expansion, which I'm sure must assist for sales too. More gears at work with questions of other areas that could help in a similar manner. Okay so whine, I ran a Google search and came across number five.

4. Zazzle.com as I stepped into this incredible marketplace my eyes lit up, and then of course there were many many areas to cover ground with to understand it better. The templates to create the products are not extremely hard to use though they can take some getting use to, and money can be made on referral links etc. There is more to it all than CafePress but to take the time to check it all out is really quite worth it. Like CafePress, there is a markup you can set, it starts at 10% and you can raise it (and a customers cost) up to 99% depending on your own sense of value for the product creating. I personally will not inflate a value over 20% because I'd like those interested in shopping at my store to get a good deal and it still remains affordable. My personal favorites in the product lines on Zazzle are the Keds shoes, where I've designed a number of pairs for ladies, a few for kids/toddlers, and a couple for men. Another area I found absolutely incredible was what they offer for Art Prints to canvas. They can expand an image to cover an entire wall up to 52"x52" (5 foot by 5 foot size dimensions are really incredible) and when it comes to my love in art, painting, and illustrating to see this I am in my glory! I placed in my abstract painting; Dance of the Elements among a couple others. They are also so large a site that they cover other areas internationally with sales, and are affiliated with partners like "LABz" and "ArtsProjekt" Both CafePress and Zazzle also have great banners and Flash Players to display your merchandise on your blogs, and great sharing tools to make it easy to get each item posted where you want it.

5. ImageKind.com I actually discovered by accident as I explored many realms for promotions and wanting a set foundation to put a a majority of my visual art and photography into a Gallery type of placement.After I set this all up I also discovered it is another affiliate alongside CafePress.One of the things I love about this site is the quality they present the work in. There are specialty canvas wraps and floating frames making nearly every piece of art uploaded look truly beautiful, and offering buyers a place to find some of the most amazing works of art. My Gallery is located here: http://artsypoet2.imagekind.com/ some of the images you may have also seen before included either on my blog or with poetry I've posted to my content as a Ycontributor .

6. There are also other areas I've placed work into such as RedGage.com where many photos/ art and links can be shared by driving traffic to them for views. I've placed many photographs here that I have taken, as well as altered images, artwork, and even photos my little girl ventured into with her very own camera. A fun site that friends from the Ycontributor site let me know about. My Profile on the site.There are bonus incentives and special features that also allow you to gain more money dependant on the work.

7. RedBubble.com Another friend told me about this site quite some time ago. This is one site I was so excited to step into, but not the easiest to market. I've sold a few things from this location however to make anything from it one must sell a lot and sell daily. Royalties are rather low and pricing is set specifically for the site's standards. The pros of this place is really the fact that it doesn't cost a cent to put your work in.

8. Amazon.com now obviously this one isn't for everyone, but it is a well known marketplace for books and becoming larger a source for many other things also. When I self-published my novel this is one place I could not pass up as a distributor for my book Slipping Back and Forth Between Parallels and also being connected with CreateSpace Amazon's pricing remains the same on sales. Another area to explore is of course uploading a book into Kindle format; an amazing device that allows people the versatility to take the books they love anywhere. There is also an area to go to get a PC Version of Kindle, and Apps for iPhones too. I placed my book here also. The next place I stepped into was number ten.

9. BookBuzzr/fReado This area I actually encountered via another really cool Crime Thriller Author, Claude Bouchard. This spot is really cool because it lets readers explore inside the book in areas of your own choosing. With an upgrade of not even $8.00 per month you can also bring your stories into a contest as a giveaway with Game playing and points, like an incentive. This makes for a lot of fun for readers, and also it gives people a chance to say, "I really like the contents of this book and I'm interested in purchasing a copy!" Mine is here: My fReado

So where do Creative Hearts Go? Well just about everywhere along the world wide web, and to think I've still not covered many other places. The reason for writing this all down here for you today is to maybe give others an opportunity to check it all out. If you enter the areas in product sales please let me know, I'll be happy to link up and share too! Remember to enter through my mention and help me in those referring link areas. It may not be a get rich quick scheme, but it is a lot of fun that could eventually benefit on some levels, and like I said why not give something a try that either can be FREE or very low-cost. One thing without doubt, don't forget to have FUN.