Nobody likes to feel vulnerable.
Although companies market their products, artists market themselves. To be an artist is to put your soul into your work. You put yourself on display--naked for everyone to see, to criticize, to rip apart, to envy, to hate, to destroy. If you hold anything back of yourself as you draw, paint, write, sculpt, create, dance, or act, you will miss the mark. Your creation will be empty and no one will be drawn to it. No one.
When I published my first book, I felt strangely naked and vulnerable. I had written with the purpose of publishing, but after posting the book on lulu.com, I wanted to snatch it back. I wanted to hide behind my computer screen. I'm just not ready, I told myself. My writing's not good enough yet. I don't know what I'm doing. Who am I to think anyone wants to read what I wrote?
What if they reject me? My first book and no one likes it. They'll never try to read my stuff again. Worse, what if they like me and my fame spreads across the world? Complete exposure, my soul hanging out for everyone to see. Friends, neighbors, strangers--they will all know the nitty gritty of what makes me tick.
I wasn't sure I wanted this dream to be an author anymore. My hands shook with the effort to not delete my first ebook.
I got over it. The discomfort of nakedness only lasts a short time. Just like the discomfort of trying anything new, the newness fades and the exposure becomes natural. So I want to give one word of advice:
If an idea to further your exposure makes you want to hide, then that is what you must do.
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3rd Marketing Strategy: Being PersistentOther topics on nakedness:
5 Baby Steps to Parading Naked
Recommended Marketing Books:
Purple Cow by Seth Godin
Great analogy! Especially when you take into account that when we write, we are essentially copying down a part of our souls. When we sell it, we are selling a portion of ourselves. Good writing can't always be a sexy part, sometimes that gross ugly wart tucked away under the chin has to be exposed for real power to be gained.
ReplyDeleteUninvoked, you summed it up well with your last line about the "gross ugly wart."
ReplyDelete