All of my life I’ve been a rebel. I’m the passionate, anti-social, borderline crazy, “art for art’s sake” uncompromising , do my own thing kind of independence. And that worked well for me for many years. However over the past few years (my late 20’s) I’ve found it hard to summon up that kind of willful courage and Promethean daring. I’ve come close to settling down, being responsible, taking care of myself and others. I’ve also struggled with the frustration of being a mid-level artist and writer with no clear plan of action for continuing success. I’m a pretty good writer and painter, but how can I make a living from it? How do I get popular? How do I convince others that my work has value? How do I get the media to pay attention, to hook an agent or publisher, to get into galleries and sell my paintings?
The thing is, I used to believe I could just keep doing my own thing, and my audience would somehow find me; but I was getting frustrated of being ignored or putting in so much effort all the time.
So far in my life I’ve relied a lot of on luck, persistence, and hard work – but that wasn’t enough for me anymore. I wanted to be recognized. What I’ve learned over the past few years (now in my early 30s!) is that indie artists and authors are woefully uneducated about the one thing that is absolutely critical to their own success: branding their own message, building a platform of supporters, and positioning their story.
Creativindie was founded to help bridge the gap and to teach authors and artists how to increase the perceived value of their work, and make a comfortable living off of what they love to do. Since I’ve started to focus more on the business of selling, rather than the “follow my passion” route to creativity, I’ve doubled my income several times, and am actually helping more people get what they want – rather than just pursuing my interests in isolation.
“The Creativindie Manifesto” is an introduction to my newly discovered philosophy. It deals with complex questions like “What is Art?”, when and if to compromise, how to tune into your True Life Purpose, how to fill yourself with fiery passion, how to create a message that spreads like a wildfire, and how to become the spectacle that you need to be. Oh yeah, and like all my books, it will be free to subscribers.
(Coming soon! It’s in the works and should be finished by the end of 2013)
