Art and PR - Why an Artist Needs Boldness to Be Successful

Shyness and modesty are very likely to become the death of an artist's career.

Right now it's a very personal matter. This is a very "young" blog, and I've started enough internet projects in my past to know that it takes much time and patience until it'll get at least a very little bit of attention. That I don't get many clicks and comments right now is actually what is to be expected, especially considering that I didn't do much PR for this blog. I should be rather surprised and happy that it actually got a few clicks without me doing anything.

It isn't like I don't have any ideas for how to promote my blog. I have more of them than time for implementation. The reason why I didn't do much so far is that I'm afraid like a total newbie. My train of thoughts is like this: "I've just started, there isn't much content yet, I'm still trying to figure out what works and what doesn't, so there isn't much I can offer to potential readers." To make it short: I'm afraid of getting readers while my blog is still in a beginning state.

At the same time, however, I understand that this is the time when I should get my blog out there, because if I wait until my blog has more content before trying to get readers ... Well, readers usually aren't stupid and don't expect much content from a new blog. Yet when a blog isn't that new anymore and still doesn't have any readers, there's something wrong with it.

So what is the conclusion?

No matter what kind of product you're trying to get out there - be it art or anything else - you have to work hard - very hard - on attracting the public, since chances are small someone else will do it for you. There are a lot of great artists, talented people who do amazing work but fail at getting it out there for years. And seeing this is really sad.

The problem with promoting your own stuff is that you have to be immodest. Every advertisement is an exaggeration. It is a promise, not what's actually there. So in my case, promoting my blog means to tell the people what it's meant to become, not what it is right now. I don't say that advertising is lying. It's ... describing your product in an appealing way. It's like wearing clothes that hide the less pretty parts of your body and accentuate the more beautiful ones.

I believe that many people who don't have the talent of "marketing" just don't feel comfortable with praising their own work. In many cultures modesty is highly valued, so being immodest often feels immoral. If an artist is still new on the "market" he also didn't have much feedback yet, so it's hard for him to judge how good or bad his work is. Another issue is that when you're still new you might be afraid of demoralizing feedback that could make you drop your work before you've even started properly. It's a risk everyone going into the public should be prepared for, having enough self-confidence to continue his work no matter what. And last but not least, "marketing" is extremely time-consuming. I'm speaking from my past experience here. An artist doesn't always have the time, the energy and enough skill for networking, advertising and other ways to get his art out there.

In an ideal world every creative person would have a personal PR agent. Yet since we don't live in an ideal world, there's no need to be ideal ourselves. It's our right to be selfish and immodest. To approach people and tell them directly how great we are and why they should admire us. Shyness and modesty are very likely to become the death of an artist's career.

So let's drop our false modesty and be more self-confident!

... Well, I did manage to motivate myself. Was I able to motivate you? If I was, then please comment and share this post!

Yours,

Feael Silmarien