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Comedy: Comedian Tips: Doing Your Own Publicity

Becoming your own publicist is an advantage in any industry. Wether you have the knack for it or not, you can do your own publicity and make yourself known. Admittedly, publicists have their own skillsets and contacts that can help you get your name out there and make people hear about you, but even without those skills and contacts, you can do your own job in that respect.

The are several reasons you may want to consider being your own publicist. For one, there is the cutback on costs. Publicists, agents, and managers usually charge a fee of 10% to 20% for any gigs you do, and over time this percentage can hurt your wallet. Another reason for becoming your own publicist is control. Publicists will usually negotiate deals for you and you may find yourself booked for a gig that you won't want to do, but by then it may be too late to back out. Being your own publicist allows you to pick and choose the jobs you take.

That said and done, here are a few tips to getting started as your own publisher.

Know your selling points - as a comedian, you have to be completely confident in yourself. Self confidence is anecessity in any endeavor, but for entertainers of any sort who perform on stage, wether musicians, actors, or stand up comedians, self confidence is extremely important. Not only does it allow you to perform effortlessly on stage, when it comes to doing your own publicity you have to be confident about the things that make you funny. It's not just about making people laugh; you have to know why people find you hilarious, and add these to your selling points. As your own publicist, you'll be selling yourself, and you have to let people know what you've got to offer.

Expand Your Contact Base - try to make the acquaintance of other comedians as well as comedy club owners. Start small, and look to getting to know them as a learning experience. You'll be able to pick up tips from the more experienced comedians, and stories from the comedy club owners regarding past comedians that they saw were either good or bombed. But aside from getting information, you'll also be performing a very important task - slowly but surely, you'll be getting yourself noticed by these people who are already working with the comedian industry. When time comes for you to start your stage runs, you'll also be able to ask these people for assistance in getting bookings.

Advertise, Baby! - whether through posters, mock interviews, flyers, or whatnot, you'll need to get word out that you'll be performing. Different approaches work for different people. Do your research in this area, and look at your options. Find a method of advertising that you feel will be both effective for the audience you're targeting, and one that you'll also be personally capable of producing. For example, TV or radio airtime is something most people can't personally afford (and if you can, I'd like to talk to you about making a charitable contribution to my bank account...) but some newspapers are always good to go to publish an interview or to do a review. If you're feeling confident, you can even write your own reviews and do the newspaper's work for them, just submitting the article to them and letting them slap one of their writer's name on it as an author.

Go Online - get your own website. This is an easy way to get people to know you. Make sure to approach comedy websites and arrange to place links to their sites to yours. In return, ask them to place links to your website on their, so that people surfing their sites have a chance to be directed to yours. Do the same for comedian forums.

Prepare a Debut Performance - when all your stuff is ready, prepare a debut peformance. While you may already be doing small gigs at less known clubs, a properly publicized debut performance gets your name out through word of mouth faster than relying on normal word of mouth. Choose your act carefully, because you definitely DON'T want to bomb this gig. This is a make or break maneuver, so you have to choose a venue that will cater to a lot of people and has it's own reputation that will lend an added boost to yours. Also, when preparing a debut performance, don't rely on the owner of the club for assistance in getting the word out. Until you make a name for yourself, you'll just be another act for that club owner, and realistically you shouldn't expect any support from them until you can prove yourself.

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