The problem is that it doesn’t fit comfortably in any one area. It sits between art and craft, between bookbinding and book art, between mainstream and underground. It’s art made in the interstices.

Personally I find interstitial art to be more interesting, but as an artist it makes it very hard to find existing markets in which to promote it.

When you’re trying to sell or promote artwork (or indeed anything) the first thing you need to understand is your potential audience, because this usually dictates how and where you market your artwork. There are many existing routes you can use if your work fits neatly into a genre or discipline, but if your work floats between established definitions then it’s far more difficult.

This chain of thought led me to the Interstitial Arts Foundation, which was founded by a group of literary, visual, musical, and performance artists for the purpose of developing and promoting interstitial art. There’s quite a lot to digest on their website, and I’ve only read a fraction of it so far, but I recommend it as a very interesting collection of ideas.

However I’m still left with the problem of how to get The Book of the Erinyes “out there” — how to raise awareness of it so that I can sell some copies of the limited edition handmade book and of the various other related artwork (I’m planning an unlimited paperback print-on-demand version, and various limited edition postcards, not to mention a free ebook version).

My personal view (and, please, if you have a different view, leave me a comment below) is that The Book of the Erinyes might appeal to two key audiences:

1. Book Arts/Bookbinding Arts — a more traditional arts audience, albeit still in a grey area between the more fine-art area of Book Arts & Artist’s Books, and the more craft-orientated area of Bookbinding. And of course it also involves Letterpress printing, which is another separate area!
2. Arty & Weird — this is my working name for a sub-cultural strand that seems to cross various boundaries, but can be broadly defined as those people who have an interest in art combined with one or more of the following interests:
   • graphic novels (particularly those by people like Warren Ellis and Neil Gaiman, and the Hellblazer series),
   • goth or alternative music sub-culture,
   • films by David Lynch or Terry Gilliam,
   • books by the likes of Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, and Jeff VanderMeer.

   I promise I’ll try to think of a better name for this imperfectly-defined audience  — if one already exists please let me know!

So, having worked out who I think might be interested in The Book of the Erinyes I now have to find ways to reach them.

And this is where you, dear reader, come in. I’m soliciting suggestions and ideas as to how to reach my target audiences.  Please leave me a comment below if you have any ideas.

EDIT: Thanks to the Interstitial Arts Foundation for citing & discussing this post.

Other Journal Entries

• Sunday November 30th, 2008 — Patience and Serendipity
• Sunday November 8th, 2009 — Research in London
• Sunday August 17th, 2008 — Putting plans together
• Saturday August 8th, 2009 — Title and Half-Title Page Proofs (part two)
• Sunday August 10th, 2008 — A Busy Few Months Ahead

Just go to twitter.com/lazcorp and click ‘follow’.

Related Journal Entries

• Wednesday February 10th, 2010 — The Center for Book Arts in New York
• Sunday January 17th, 2010 — Lino prints and woodcuts
• Monday December 21st, 2009 — Research on the Broadside or Broadsheet
• Saturday November 28th, 2009 — Letterpress video
• Monday November 9th, 2009 — New Gallery Pages

I’ve been wondering how to promote the Book of the Erinyes and I realised it’s going to be difficult.  It’s not just one image—it’s a whole book of images and text—so I can’t just put one big image on a web page.

My first idea (which I may still do) is a video or flash widget showing each page, with a hand turning the pages at intervals (or on the click of a button).

Once I’d got that idea I thought “why not make a trailer”.  Well, why not? So that’s just what I’m going to do.  As I progress with the Book of the Erinyes project I’m going to record clips for a movie-style trailer (as well as perhaps a “Making of…”).  And I’ll put them all up on the internet for free.

I’ve just borrowed a Samsung VPL600 Video 8 camera from my friend Sooty, and I’ve got the studio lights that I use for photography.  Now I just need someone with a very low gravelly voice for the obligatory ominous voice-over…

Related Journal Entries

• Saturday November 28th, 2009 — Letterpress video
• Wednesday February 10th, 2010 — The Center for Book Arts in New York
• Sunday January 17th, 2010 — Lino prints and woodcuts
• Monday December 21st, 2009 — Research on the Broadside or Broadsheet
• Monday November 9th, 2009 — New Gallery Pages