My Sometimes Foolish Quest For Press

Getting press can be tough
I consider myself to have been remarkably fortunate in the “press” department of my career as an artist. Sometimes publications contacted me out of the blue or I happened to be a part of someone else’s project - someone more well known than I am - and found myself in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal - all of this is some very good luck!

Other times I have reached out and nervously called the editor of a magazine. This has never been easy but I’ve forced myself to do it periodically because good press is the very best way to get oneself out there - having someone else talk positively about my work is worth 100x more than any self-promotion I can do. And fortunately, 9 out of 10 times when I’ve gotten on the phone and called, I’ve received a positive response and gotten some coverage even if very small.

However, still to this day I’ve had no luck getting into Architectural Digest. I can imagine most of you saying “who cares, I’ve never even looked at this pretentious rag!” and I would have to laugh and agree. It IS pretentious and doesn’t necessarily represent the most talented people in the architecture and design world. BUT regardless, it seems to be the most widely known and valued publication especially if you have anything to do with high-end home decor. As a tile artist, my work relies heavily on the home decor market so to be seen in AD would be a coup. It would give me undisputed cred.

That's my firebox tile in the fireplace at the bottom

I’ve managed to be in World of Interiors (above) which in my opinion is an infinitely better magazine and this happened because I simply called the editor in the UK. And I’ve been in Metropolitan Home, the LA Times and many many more really great periodicals, …. but never Architectural Digest. I’ve called, I’ve written and no dice.

Because AD is the industry “go to”, I really tried with this one. In 2007 I decided I would get their attention if it was the last thing I did. I had tried everything without any results so I decided to take an unorthodox approach.

I got together with 2 of my most talented staff and together we brainstormed a little mosaic. It was intended to be a “stunner” and to get their attention. We made it small, like a mosaic postcard at 10” x 6” and we thought it had a good message: we GOT the worm! Really I guess I was saying “Give Us the Worm!

Well, they did take my call and said they would keep me in mind for future inclusion but nothing ever came of it despite my many follow-up calls. But interestingly they did keep the piece. On one of the calls when it seemed they really had no intention of including me in any article, I thanked them and gracefully asked about the piece. It was very clear they wanted to keep it and had no intention of returning it.

Sort of a mixed compliment that has always baffled me - they liked the piece too much to part with it (postage paid) yet not enough to run my work. Oh well.

I shouldn’t say that nothing came of all of this. One of the editors did keep me in mind and a few years later called me. Unfortunately she was just about to leave the magazine with an Editor in chief changeover so I never was printed in A.D. After this, I just let it go and stopped trying for Architectural Digest and focused on putting my efforts in more fruitful places.

The good news though, is that this editor and I continued to stay in touch and with her next job at Entra on-line magazine, she produced and published a video for me, a nice little piece about father-daughter collaboration and then last year she became the west coast editor of LUXE magazine and put in a major feature about me. We have become good friends who make sure to get together whenever either of us travels to where the other lives.

All of this I’m very grateful for and I am pretty sure it is more valuable than a piece in A.D. But I have to admit that recently in some far and foolish corner of my mind, I’ve had the tiniest spark of wondering - hmmm….maybe it’s time to approach Architectural Digest again!

Probably a foolish notion but I’m a little hard-headed ;-]

Here are a few of my press pieces, these and other full articles can be seen on my website:
http://ruthfrancesgreenberg.com/rfg-press.html

Mention in WSJ definitely a stroke of luck to be included in Ellie Cullman’s feature

Below is page 1 of a 4 page profile in Luxe earlier this year
luck AND lots of networking can sometimes yield a good thing even if different from what was sought originally!