You’re an artist. You make jewelry. You paint original oil landscapes. You have a whole laundry room stacked with music CDs you had professionally produced. You’re ready to promote your artwork and you’re all ready to go.

Or you might be a writer. You’ve got your book proposal done, ready to send off to publishers. You might even have an agent.

Or you may even be a crafter who sells handmade items on Etsy.com.

But you forgot one important detail!

Your artistry, writing, or crafting is a business. And in order to treat it as a business, you need to treat it seriously.

This means you need a brand.

But what is a brand?

A brand is an image or identity that captures the essence of who you are as an artist or writer. It includes a logomark and your name.

Face it. Image is everything, whether you plan to promote yourself online or offline. On the Web, your prospects will only look at your site for a few seconds until they make a decision to stay or go. This is usually decided based on first impressions. And if you don’t have a brand that distinguishes you from other artists, your CDs, jewelry, crafts, or paintings will still sit in your storage room collecting dust!

I’m sure you’ve heard of the slush file. The stacks and stacks of manuscripts that acquisition editors have on their desks. How can your manuscript or artwork or music stand out?

And on the Web, your prospects are going to be skeptical. It takes trust to make a purchase, especially online. Some of your prospects are going to be downright scared.

It’s not like there’s the reliability of a national brand like, say, Thomas Kinkade or Michael Crichton. Your artistry or writing is an unknown entity. And an unknown entity is full of danger.

Buyer beware indeed.

So start thinking about your artistry or writer or crafter image. Who are in artistry for? Who are you writing for? Whom do you make crafts for? How did your artistry or writing or craft business start? What makes your art or writing or crafts unique?

What simple image represents your art, writing, or crafts? Are you a fine artist? How about brushes? Are you a jeweler? How about a simple drawing of one of your pieces? Are you a photographer? How about a simple photograph, one of your signature pieces? What about your writing? Are you a romance writer, science fiction, children’s author? Your chosen genre and audience for writing will determine your image!

Whatever you do, put some serious thought into the branding of your artistry or writing. Then watch your art, writing, or crafts get noticed! The result? Increased sales, a book proposal landed, an album deal, a magazine gig!

Who could argue with that?

To learn more about creating your own brand image and how you can make that brand more effective, download my FREE report, 10 Ways You Can Make Your Brand Sizzle at http://www.makeyourbrandsizzle.com.

Want to get started right away to make your brand sizzle? Check out my extensive course at http://www.brandidentityquest.com that will teach you not only the basics of graphic design and marketing, but how to build an effective brand that gets noticed.