062: Investigate Your Industry

Do you understand how your creative industry works? Do you know who the key players are, and do you have an understanding of how artists in your specific creative discipline get projects and are able to do the work that you do? Do you have a firm grasp of the current style trends and changes that are impacting the creative work of your colleagues? How much do you know about the behind-the-scenes businesses and decision-makers that run your creative industry? Today, let’s talk about why it’s important to have curiosity about how your little corner of the artistic world works. Let’s discuss together why you need to investigate your industry.

In this episode, you will learn:

• What it means to investigate your industry, and why that matters to the health of your creative business.
• How a mindset of collaboration can help you build a sustainable artistic career.
• Why thinking of your creative business as a long-term commitment can help you form relationships with the decision-makers in your industry.
• What kind of communication practices will help you be a supportive collaborator in all of your creative projects.
• How a mindset of curiosity can give you the information you need to truly be a thriving artist.

In this episode, I mention the upcoming Thriving Narrators Retreat, which will take place August 22-25, 2024 in Cincinnati, OH. (Erick Black of Dreamscape Media, the guest for today's episode, will be a faculty member at this retreat.) You can learn more about this opportunity for audiobook narrators on my website, www.StarvingArtistNoMore.com/ThrivingNarratorsRetreat.

During our conversation, I mention Episode 57 of this podcast, when I interviewed audiobook casting director Jonathan Pennock (057: Casting Director's Perspective), and I also refer to the six components of a thriving creative business, which you can learn about here. Erick and I discuss using Airtable for project management. You can learn more about Narrator.Life's Airtable template here, and you can see Rachel Jacobs' Notion templates here. (Notion is a database system that is similar to Airtable.)

I also mention my other podcast, Crafting Audiobooks, which I co-host with the amazing Sarah Beth Goer. Sarah and I interviewed Erick for the Crafting Audiobooks, and you can listen here. Crafting Audiobooks is also available wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode includes an interview with Erick Black, who is the Director of Production at Dreamscape Media. Erick will be a faculty member at the Thriving Narrators Retreat, August 22-25, 2024 in Cincinnati, OH. You can learn more about Erick and the retreat here. 

A full transcript of this episode can be found here. Full transcripts of every episode will always be available at the Starving Artist No More Blog.

Thank you for listening. Please feel free to reach out to me at www.StarvingArtistNoMore.com, with any questions, comments, or feedback. I'd love to hear from you.