Hi, I just joined, since I'm seriously thinking of becoming a professional storyteller. I've thought about it for a while, but I really am going to become more proactive about it now. I want to tell fairy stories, some suitable for children with others more more mature audiences, as well as adventure and travel stories like Sinbad, St. Brendan and Jason. I also want to have a program for heroes of America.

My problem is this: I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I have a list of things that I need to start off, and that isn't too much to do, but I don't know how to find out if I need anything like a business permit or how to file taxes for self-employment. I've never even made enough money in one year that I had to pay taxes anyway. I'm twenty-four years old, and feel that, since stories have always been in my blood since third grade when we wrote them in class, I might as well do something about it now.

Any suggestions?

Welcome Thomas!

Try hooking up with a guild of tellers near to you. Many are listed at http://www.storynet.org/Programs/Guilds/ca.htm. Also contact your state liaison for National Storytelling Network listed at http://www.storynet.org/stateliaisons.html (California is so big that it has 3). They'll have suggestions about what works in your area.

There are some excellent books about getting started in the online Marketplace https://www.storynet.org/market/ e.g., the Beginner's Guide to Storytelling, but poke around the marketplace & you'll find more.

Good luck,

_________________
Yvonne Healy, storyteller
www.YHealy.com
810-225-2204

Thomas,
welcome! There are actually quite a few active informal storytelling groups in the Bay Area... mostly in the East Bay and North Bay, but the Southbay Storytellers and Story Listeners meet monthly in Los Altos. http://www.southbaystorytellers.com/
They are a welcoming bunch, and a good way to practice stories on your feet. However, you'll get inconsistent advice on running your own business from them.

Call the Arts Council of Silicon Valley (http://www.artscouncil.org/) for advice on running your own business as a self-employed artist. They can probably be helpful in terms of taxes, permits, etc.

You also might want to inquire with Young Audiences of Northern California (http://ya-nc.org/). They have annual auditions for artists to appear in their catalog of performers that goes out to a lot of schools. My understanding is that appearing on their roster doesn't pay the rent (you'll just get a few gigs), but it can be invaluable if you are targeting the school marketplace, because being vetted by Young Audiences gives you credibility. You can see from their roster that every performer has thought long and hard about where in the curriculum their show fits in. It's not enough to be a performer anymore. In California, in many schools, the "arts" are an afterthought. So you'll need to think about how your storytelling enhances a school's Language Arts or Social Studies curriculum. (That is, if you want to work the school market).

By the way, although the National Storytelling Network is a helpful organization to join... in my experience, they are understaffed, especially n the Web site department. The list of California guilds there is at least three years out of date. For an updated listing of Northern California storytelling meetings, check out SAAC, the Storytelling Association of Alta California. http://www.storysaac.org --click on Calendar link. Join SAAC. (Full disclosure: I'm the former webmaster and Chair of SAAC)

Finally, I recommend joining the New Voices discussion group that NSN sponsors. The group is designed to support young storytellers in their 20's. They feature a monthly conference call with some of the best pros in the country. Tricky part is: they don't actually explain anywhere how to join the discussion group. Check out: http://www.newvoicesonline.com and see if you can join the listserv.
I've created a Facebook group for them (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18002301704), but so far no one under the age of 30 has joined: it's a bunch of 40 year old storytellers waiting to be asked advice. Hmmph. Kids these days. If you can't get a twentysomething to use Facebook, what is this world coming to?

Oh, one more invaluable resource. Eric Wolf has a podcast, "The Art of Storytelling with Children." He invites the best producers, storytellers, storytelling gurus (on everything from marketing to finding venues to developing new work) on the podcast and interviews them. This is information that you can't get anywhere else (unless you can afford to fly to NSN's National convention every year) and it's FREE! You can listen in via iTunes, via the rss feed at Eric's web site, or live (the interviews are done via conference call)-- sign up at Eric's web site: http://www.ericwolf.org/

Hope to see you at the Bay Area Storytelling Festival next May! It's a must-attend event. (full disclosure: I'm a volunteer organizer of the Festival). http://www.bayareastorytelling.org

Again, welcome!

Regards,
Tim

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

Hey Tim,
Does the Young Artists group accept residents of Nevada, or must you be Californian?

I'm moving to Tahoe/Reno next June, and will be in great need of info on what's happening out there. Since SF is only 3-4 hours away, I'll certainly make sure that I come to the Bay Area Festival and your other venues.

Do you know any storytelling or spoken word performers or impro groups in Tahoe/Reno?

Thanks,

_________________
Yvonne Healy, storyteller
www.YHealy.com
810-225-2204

hey if you want to practise helping to create a never ending story, go to www.create-a-story.350.com/stories.htm its really interesting to observe how people can take the story and go in a whole new direction!