Andrea asked me to write about selling. I am just an observer of this space, I don’t claim the expertise.
An art is a mixture of myth attached to an object [see my post about myth and books]. Myth sells the object but the ratio varies. Sometimes an inspired myth follows a benign object and sometimes an outstanding object can’t find its myth. In the past an art required an unquestionable skill and art preceded the myth. Today the ratio is trending towards the myth and myth alone.
In the past art and books were created by and for the literate gentry, so there was the sophistication and culture that could recognize object almost independent of a myth. Mass forms of expression like radio, TV and film superseded the traditional art as an artistic outlet of the post industrial middle class. So not only art appreciation is a challenge but the myth mongers of the modern art criticism deliberately advanced the idea that any art is just a myth. Tom Wolfe wrote a definitive small book about it – The Painted Word. The unintended expression of the Jewish tradition claims art is an abstractly defined mythology. Bunch of Jewish art critics anointed as the high priests of modernism decided who is rich and famous depending on a prophetic dream. As it became more difficult to get noticed the shock value of an object has increased. One needs to shock to get noticed. Of course the carpet image bombing desensitized people, even to most shocking “art”.
The ubiquitous innovation of the online world is that you can get noticed without an intermediary but there is a catch. People who started blogging ten years ago indeed could get noticed, but the blogosphere is so saturated now that we are back to the dominance of the retched middle man, even online. Someone with authority must link it, even above the noise of the social media.
There is also a perception that you don’t need that many fans to sell, the advance of the hyper-local blogging and the notion that as long as you have even a narrow base you can sell to it. I am not sure about this. Hugh says you don’t need that many fans, but he is really a copywriter that creates catchy jungles attached to simple illustrations. His art is all myth propelled by the early adopter status. I don’t think it’s impossible to get noticed online, but most people don’t realize how much work it requires, especially today, perhaps always.
I know this is not much of the a practical advice. But I believe in these truths. People create art because it is how they think and experience the world. True artists do this because they can’t help themselves, this is an unstoppable force and addiction with unexpected reward. A true artist is ahead of his or her time by the McLuhanian definition. Be patient, preserver online and do go to all the parties. The purveyor of luck will have no choice but to smile upon you.
Further Reading:
The Curse of Comparison and Planetary-Wide Fads
A Virtual Community is an Oxymoron
The Bible as a Web 2.0 Business Model
