I'm curious. I really want to know what people have found is useful and what isnt.

I've heard that word of mouth is great, perhaps the best for getting gigs.

I've also heard the cold calling is good and that it's not good. Personally I've found it to be very effective but I can't say I savor doing it.

In this day of the web and all I was wondering, what lists online have people here found useful for getting gigs?

What other online marketing have you found useful?

Do you have a booking agent?

Does anyone use a blog, web site, myspace site or anything like that to attempt to increase marketability and get more gigs?

Any other tips, experiences and suggestions you have would be appreciated.

Unlike, some storytellers, I do not want to travel that much. I've done travel for work before and quickly found it draining. Of course performances are wonderfully elating and can sort of fill me back up, but traveling is not what I'm after.

Thanks for in advance, your contributions,

Stellar

_________________
Lisa Hicks, The Stellar Storyteller

http://lisahicksstoryteller.bravehost.com/index.html
http://www.myspace.com/lisahicksstoryteller
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=791655159

I will say that word of mouth is the number one source of my gigs. I don't perform frequently-- I can't, I have a full time day job-- but I do a lot of online marketing. I don't do direct mail or cold calling, but then again, I don't choose to have a full time career telling right now. If I were to go that path, I would explore both direct mail and cold calling.

I have found it helpful-- with this caveat-- I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the most "wired" regions in the country. People around here expect professionals to have a web presence, and they use the internet not just for email, but for networking, purchasing, leisure, and research.

The three most helpful online techniques I have found are:
1. Storyteller.net. There are several online directories of public speakers and storytellers out there. Storyteller.net meets my needs. I use their paid listing (there is also a free option). 90% of inquiries I get from people who don't know me come from this listing.

2. Myspace.com. I have gotten gigs via Myspace.com, not from clients seeking storytellers, but from networking... that is, finding and communicating with other performers and producers. I also find it a helpful way to communicate with audiences who come to fringe festivals and/or support independent theatre. This is a very specific audience.

3. Online calendars. I use the ones at Storyteller.net, Craigslist.com, Upcoming.org, and the one for my local storytelling organization here in California, Storysaac.org. These are primarily helpful in getting the word out in metro areas that have audiences that use the Web a lot... but even if that isn't the case where you are, it is helpful in building a web presence. (That is, leaving a trail of "bread crumbs" so that over time, Google or Yahoo has a documented record that you've been performing regularly over a number of years)

Simply creating a Web page or adding your name to an online directory, however, is not marketing. All the usual rules of marketing apply when you put yourself online: who is your audience? what do you want to say to them? and how do you want to say it?

About booking agents: I don't use one, and most of the tellers I know locally do not. If I were to go full time, and wanted to hit the school market, I would probably use a non-exclusive booking agent. Northern California has an agency that books a lot of artists for schools. Apparently, while helpful in building a reputation with schools, storytellers have told me that they don't get a lot of gigs, because they are also competing with musicians, dancers, and theatre artists (each of whom have a stronger case for alignment with state educational standards, since California only recognizes storytelling as part of Social Studies, not Arts). Convincing any booking agent, whether focused on schools or not, on the viability of a storyteller as a revenue-generator for them would likely be a hard sell.

One more thought, especially since you mentioned you're not interested in travelling: create your own venues close to home. That either means putting on the producer's hat and creating your own opportunity to perform... or convincing some other event that what they really want as an added feature of their offerings is a storyteller... and of course, you can help them meet their goal of a successful event.

_________________
Tim E
http://www.storyteller.net/tellers/tereneta
http://www.myspace.com/storiesbytim
http://storytelling.blogspot.com
http://storytellersunplugged.wordpress.com

Thanks so much for taking the time to post your experiences here! I found them to be very useful. I will be using your thoughts, among others as I begin my modest local marketing effort.

Thanks again,

Stellar

_________________
Lisa Hicks, The Stellar Storyteller

http://lisahicksstoryteller.bravehost.com/index.html
http://www.myspace.com/lisahicksstoryteller
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=791655159

Stellar, it sounds like it wouldn't take too much online marketing to really promote yourself online.

You'd need a website of course, but a free regularly updated blog (doesn't matter how often you update, just that you do so on a schedule) on, say, blogger or myspace can help you out quite a bit. A little bit of promotion (like including your website on forum posts...ahem) can go a long way, and so too registering with free services like Technorati and Google Analytics.

Either way, you'd want to make sure that you and your online friends link to your blog as often as possible. As long as you continually use keywords, like "storytelling" and "central alabama" you should be the online go-to central alabamian storyteller in no time. It's a market that's really untapped, I think.

Oh, and also, as long as you answer your cell phone and mean business, there's probably no need for a booking agent.

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http://www.wrensnestonline.com/blog
http://www.wrensnestonline.com

Thanks for your suggestions Lain!

I'll certainly be implementing some of them right away. It's always good to brainstorm with like minded people.

Thanks again!

_________________
Lisa Hicks, The Stellar Storyteller

http://lisahicksstoryteller.bravehost.com/index.html
http://www.myspace.com/lisahicksstoryteller
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=791655159

I've found that I am getting quite a few gigs each month now. It's an upswing of bookings for sure. It started back in August. I'm trying to analyze why.

I think it's because of a listing I have on another web site being updated to include my web site.

Most of these are single bookings. I'd like more regular ongoing bookings but over all I'm pleased.

I'm not done yet with expanding my bookings but it's been a nice start!

BTW, although you couldn't tell it by net presence there is a very healthy story telling presence in this area. I've got a lot of competition in some ways.

I happen to like being part of a storytelling community though. We all do certain things differently of course so competition or not, I love them. I want to strengthen and raise the profile of the storytelling community even more.

_________________
Lisa Hicks, The Stellar Storyteller

http://lisahicksstoryteller.bravehost.com/index.html
http://www.myspace.com/lisahicksstoryteller
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=791655159