On Brain Graveyards

Often, the reclusive artist doesn't have these amazing stories to tell (outside of the stories they are diligently pounding out on a keyboard already), so the inspiration for a blog post usually has more humble beginnings.  In this case, "brain graveyards" are something that often come up for my creative friends and I and worth some introspection and maybe advice.

First, let me plug one of my friend Joe's current YouTube videos.  Personally, I think videos are something that take a lot of courage.  You not only do you have to have a clear voice and an enthusiastic tone, you have to have a topic interesting enough that you can talk about it with finesse.  I myself am not an avid movie goer, but I always find his insights and banter charming and witty.  He's always been passionate about it and his reviews don't tell you to like or dislike, he just lets you know if it might be the movie for you.  He always has these little tidbits of fact that I enjoy and he's adventurous.  Sometimes he does single shot videos where he researched it and scripted it to add more, sometimes he's with a friend or two and they banter about it.  There's also a rum-laced version.  He's always thinking of new ways to present his ideas and I'm really happy to save his video line-up for a cookie-baking day.

And how can you resist those pretty faces?

That being said, back to the topic at hand-- brain graveyards.  It's a term that can take on a lot of forms, but for the artist breaking into a new endeavor, the struggle is real.  In this case, it often has little to do with the creative.  Your friends and family are along for the ride and you've even picked up a couple of curious pioneers.  You absolutely love your fanbase, but when it's so difficult to pick up more visibility, you start to wonder what you're doing wrong.

And you're not doing anything wrong.  Society is burdened with choice, the market is skeptical, you're probably promoting anywhere you can as subtly as possible.  Still, you're having those times when you aren't seeing the numbers move.  Your work is wonderful in its own right, but what else can you do?

In my case, a lot of my visibility efforts have shifted away from just the posting on social media.  Of course, most of my efforts to put my toe in the water take time to bear fruit.  In October, I'm promoting my first ebook as free for the first five days.  I would have loved to do for a full month, but I will keep using that promotion whenever I can.  This won't be of much help to my friends that are already offering their work for free and just allow people to make donations.  If you are offering your work free and don't have that set-up, do it.  Attach your link to everything.  I have also had an interview with a reputable book blogger, the lovely Cynthia A. Morgan over at Booknvolume, who likes to use her traffic to help other new artists gain visibility.  I will link that on October 8th when it is published.  I also queued up for a virtual convention Virtual FantasyCon, which is a relatively new platform where fantasy authors are coming together on social media to gain visibility and interact with people who might be curious about what new and established authors are doing in the genre.  It's certainly not for lack of effort.  I'm always looking at local writers' conventions and I've considered collaborative efforts as well as fanfic and competitions.  I have a plan, but...

Even I have those moments of doubt.  I am confident in my work, ready to defend my choices and styles and output, but another rare commodity is constructive feedback.  It's hard to ask people to dedicate their time towards inspection and promotion.  Sometimes they're hesitant to tell you what's bad and sometimes they really enjoy it and there's little to say about how you can improve (even though there's no way something is perfect-- some people just don't want to nitpick and cheapen the good experience).  

The brain graveyard starts burying things like confidence and unearths doubts and fears.  While it's not good to entirely bottle those feelings up, you are now a brand, a business, and you have to carefully choose how you voice those doubts.  Blogging is a great way to express your very human fragility, but under no circumstances are you to make your current fans feel less important or valid by screaming 'WHY IS NOBODY BUYING THIS?!'  They aren't 'nobody' and even the ones that did not pay or review, their personal experience and support is equally if not MORE valuable in the long run.  Despite your frustrations, share it with the market, don't downgrade your current fanbase.

Marketing itself is super tricky.  There's only so much you want to hit social media without getting yourself unfollowed/unfriended/ignored for the tactless way you attack people with information.  Post about the harder facts, the releases, the promotions, your gratefulness for the support.  Use your outlets wisely.  There are still people out there that need the thrill of discovery, to believe that finding you was what they needed.  That is never something you can force on people.  When you are doing all of the work yourself, you are often NOT going to be the best advocate.  Of course, you believe in your work, but how much does it resonate with the people you're marketing to?

There are other brain graveyards, pitfalls that stem from your slow emergence.  Those creative blocks, those dips in motivation.  I know it's not so simple as just silencing them, but pick up your preferred method of expression and just start doing.  This is where blogging and fanfic excel for me.  Keep doing things where the only reward is learning and doing.  Remember, the minute your frustration turns to the people that didn't 'fall in line,' you're going to lose people.  They cannot force their friends and family to like you; in fact, they may be the black sheep even among their closest circles and their niche tastes are already tolerated, but not embraced.  Yes, word of mouth is important, but it needs very specific and sincere voice to be of any use.

I absolutely enjoy giving advice on this.  I'm not someone who is above this struggle and I have a lot to learn myself, but I will tell you, you are going to have to discipline your attitude.  People want to see your passion for your work and you can't confuse them by assaulting them with your doubt.  If they want that innermost dialogue, they know where to go.  If they want to see your events, they have the links.  If they don't have time, respect that time.  They're not out to get you or see you fail, they just have their own struggles.  Be grateful when someone says they want to put your book on their shelf in the future.  Thank them, leave it at that, believe that that day will come and not in your acceptable windows.  I know you've probably already told yourself a lot of these things, but read them again and make them into a mantra.  On my tablet, I actually have a memo widget on the screen where my first to-do is :

"No brain graveyards!  You are talented, you are loved, you are necessary."

Because it's easy to forget that.  It's so damn easy to forget the little things, to let it cloud your passion and what you put into it.  It's not because you're stupid or worthless or people hate you.  You are self-criticizing because maybe some practical part of you started comparing yourself to someone else's success or your reasonable expectations gave way to impatience.  Even the most seasoned artists to do it.  Take inventory.  Your inventory may not be long.  Personally, I am proud I have degrees in my field that gave me the knowledge to self-publish and design.  I am proud of the courage it took to say it's finally ready after x amount of years falling in love with it over and over again.  Hell, you can even be a little negative and say "Even though there are technically better artists, I love my style and I want to share it."

Don't sit in dark places.  Name them and put them behind you.  Even without knowing you or your skill level, you always have room to improve, to adopt the right attitudes, to apologize and acknowledge you are still learning.  Do your work anonymously sometimes, find visibility through other outlets that don't have your name on it so you can be a little bolder without worrying about how it affects your brand.

Haaaaa, I realize I am using command words, but it's so much easier to state them as something you can do rather than be wishy-washy.  You have options that don't include giving up.  Grow and learn and don't forget to ignite those passions.  I'm pulling for you!