Why Creative People Don't Do It

Self-Promotion for the Creative Person
by Lee Silber

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"If I go into Universal and even mention the word 'art,' security forces will come and take me away."

— Terry Gilliam

Don't you think I'd rather spend all of my time making art rather than marketing it? I would love to just write books all day, sitting by the pool sipping a cool drink, and never have to write another press release, design another brochure, or cold-call booksellers trying to line up another book signing. I know, get real. Books don't sell themselves. Today's creative person has to wear many hats, from publicist to promoter. The trick is to learn to love it. (With today's technology, I can still sit by the pool and promote. Aloha!) Technology aside, you still have to use your imagination to create simple, effective, and creative methods to market, and then you have to act on those ideas. I realize it isn't quite that simple. I mean, if you are blocked as an artist, you can imagine the big boulders your brain puts in your path when it comes time to devise an approach to promotion. I know, I know. Somehow some of us have managed to overcome and manage to market. So will you, if you can accept the idea that you should.

We have been conditioned to think that somehow hype and mainstream success are bad things. But you don't have to struggle to be a "real" artist. Being paid well for your art is not selling out. Enough already with the myth that to create great work you can't have widespread appeal. Do you really believe that? We must stop feeling guilty about our success as artists. What's so bad if a lot of people love what we do? Does that lessen the quality somehow? I don't think so. "If you're in jazz and more than ten people like you, you're labeled commercial," laments jazz great Herbie Mann. It can be so frustrating remaining in obscurity while you watch other less talented people make it. Many artists get cynical, bitter, jaded, and give up. (You can see them playing at a Holiday Inn lounge near you.) I like the attitude Metallica has to promotion. When pressed by an interviewer about whether they have sold out, they replied, "Yes, we sell out. Every seat in the house, every time we play." That rocks!

Instead of promoting yourself, you can hope people will magically discover you, and then you won't have to market at all. It's true, there are some self-promotional things that are easier and more palatable than others. If you don't like interaction with others, you can still do a website, newsletter, or postcard mailing. Maybe you don't like detail work but have no problem talking up what you do. Find what fits into your comfort zone and start there. After that you can begin to face your fears. As an example, I don't mind going in to booksellers to talk to the store managers about my books. I'll sign the books they have on hand and encourage them to order more. No big deal. But I went beyond my comfort zone recently and found it felt fantastic to both break the rules and be a guerrilla marketer. I made up a bookmark-style tab that sticks up and says, "Are you in your 'Right' mind? Take the quiz in chapter one to find out." I inserted them in each copy of my book. One day I had a wild idea: I decided to slip postcards with my book cover and ordering information in every other book in that section of the store. Yikes! The risk of possibly getting caught was worth the reward of selling more of my books.

Let's talk about the fear of rejection and failure. It will happen — often. Get used to it. It's extremely hard to put something of yours out there and have people criticize it. It takes a really strong person to not take it personally. You must validate yourself, rather than rely on others. Stop worrying that they will "find you out" and that you are a fraud. (You deserve good things to happen to you.) There is also the fear of selling. Relax, it's not your father's selling. The hard sell went out with eight-track tapes. Now it's all about forming mutually beneficial long-term relationships. It's a soft sell with warm leads. You can do that. There is also the fear of selling out. Look at self-promotion as another outlet for your creativity, and when it works, it's very fulfilling. In many ways it's an art form. There is the fear that you may waste your money on marketing. Good. Be very cautious about how (and how much) you spend your marketing dollars, and look for free and inexpensive ways to do it. Which leads us to a fear of technology. Everything is easier and cheaper on the Internet, but maybe you've been afraid to try it. This is a real fear. You must make an effort to at least understand the possibilities available to you online.

Finally — and I left this for last because it is big — there is the fear of public speaking. We will talk about how to make this a part of your marketing and where you can go for help in polishing your presentation skills to the point that you will want to get out there and speak.

What It Takes to Be a Self-Promotion Superstar

"Advertising isn't a science. It's persuasion. And persuasion is an art."

— William Bernbach

1. There must be a market. (Even if it's not a massive market.) It is naive to believe "If you build it they will come." You have to build something they want and will pay for (and then promote the hell out of it). You can't expect that if you create whatever mousetrap you feel like creating, people will beat a path to your door (and gladly pay your price for it). The fact is, you need to know if there is a market (even if it's a small one) for what you do. You have to get your mind around the idea that publishers, studios, labels, galleries, retailers, and even clients want to make money. They want creative people and marketable creations. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to compromise yourself or your art. If you can find an outlet, or people who will pay or appreciate what you do the way you want to do it, that's all being marketable means.

Just find some people (who are willing to buy) to sell to. This said, you have to understand that people's preferences can determine your promotability. If, for example, you write poetry, it will be harder to promote yourself and your work than it would be if you took those same words and wrote a hit song. Sorry, that is a fact of life in marketing. Many creative people have had a nice career living on the fringe. You don't necessarily have to turn into a lip-synching teen idol to make it in music-or any other creative endeavor. There are areas in the arts where, no matter how hard you try, there simply is little or no market, or there may have once been but that market is now extinct. Move on and come up with something newer and better. Reinvent yourself. Focus on reaching people, and reaching the right people. This book is for the creative person who wants to reach a hundred people or hundreds of thousands. As long as these people want what you are marketing, then that is a market.

Copyright © 2001 by Lee Silber. Excerpted by permission of Three Rivers Press, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

About the Author

Lee Silber, author of Career Management for the Creative Person and Self-Promotion for the Creative Person, is an accomplished graphic artist, drummer, workshop leader, radio talk show host, and the founder of five companies, including CreativeLee Speaking. He lives with his wife in San Diego, California. For more information, contact him at www.creativelee.com.