****QUESTION****

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Permalink Reply by Diana on June 8, 2011 at 8:35am

Well, the first clue is that the my anti-malware program pops up every time I try to look at the website. I read part of the cached version and was not impressed. 

Secondly, if this outfit is asking you for ANY MONEY at all, run away.

They have one or two books on Amazon, and it seems to be a pay-to-play scheme, whereby they get a lot of artists to pay in order to have their bio and art in a big book.  This article sez that if they claim that museums and galleries read and use the book in order to find new artists, to ask for a list of those museums/galleries and contact some of them yourself to see if they actually receive the books/use the material.

Here's a quote from the article inartbusiness.com:

http://www.artbusiness.com/osoqutscawas.html

"Pay-to-play books, magazines, or other types of directories that offer to include your bio and images of your art in exchange for anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Some publishers claim they send their publications out to thousands of international dealers, curators, museums, distributors, and collectors. Any such claims MUST be verified, not only in terms of whether the purported recipients actually receive the publications, but more importantly, whether they take them seriously. Before you send any money, ask for the names of 20 museums, galleries, or significant art world notables who receive the publication, and then selectively contact them to see whether they're ever heard of it, seen it, or taken it seriously.

* A variation on the above example is pay-to-play periodicals that will give you an article in exchange for purchasing a certain amount of ad space. People in the art business know which publications operate this way... and not to take their content very seriously because it's based on who pays rather than on who's good."

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Permalink Reply by Loryn Spangler-Jones on June 8, 2011 at 8:36am

kind of what i thought, Di!  thanks for confirming!!!! xo

 

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Permalink Reply by Grant Dowling on June 8, 2011 at 10:31am

Thanks Diana.. helping to keep us all safe from the scammers...

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Permalink Reply by Greef on June 9, 2011 at 8:52am

Yes run run for the hills!

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Permalink Reply by Judy Wood on July 9, 2011 at 3:09pm

Looks like a "pay to play" situation, and what you will be paying is a sizeable amount (you are agreeing to buy two copies of this book at 85 euros each, which is $242 US). . If you want your work in a book format, you'd be better off just doing it yourself via one of the sites that does this. Generally speaking in the art world, if they want you to pay them for "representing" your work, consider that a red flag. They've got your money up front, and they really have no incentive to do anything much at all to promote you.

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