I have been talking about making money with art for a long time. So long, I am developing a field guide to how different creators react to selling their art. Because, being the Maker and the Marketer is a big journey, and we all deal with it in different ways.
Please peruse my guide! And if you don’t see yourself there, feel free to add your own category in the comments.
THE FIELD GUIDE OF ARTISTS GOING PRO
The Hustler: Tries to treat their creative business exactly like a tech start up. They have Alex Hormozi in their ears, day and night. They’re taking business courses for a lot of money, they’re dreaming of sales funnels and call to actions.
The Purist: This creator believes that mingling art with business WILL ruin their relationship to their art, they will become a sell out. They believe that if you think about your audience when you create even for a second, BANG, you’ve destroyed your creation, tainted it with the evil lust for external validation.
The fingers crossed: This artist is just sort of hoping that if their art is meant to find someone it will. They occasionally share it online and cross their fingers and put out good vibes.
All in all out: This artist believes that they must quit their day job to become a pro artist, and refuses to believe that they could be taken seriously as an artist if they also had a day job.
The almost there: has done absolutely everything other than tell people their art is for sale.
The Pick Me: This creator feels they have no agency in their creative journey, other than submitting their work to gatekeepers. They spend their lives hoping someone from a big institution notices their art, as that’s the only way they think they can make it work.
The Cynic: This artist is committed to ONLY pointing out the systemic horrors that make being a pro artist so difficult, without being curious about how one could make it work. Because the system is broken, it is not worth playing.
The Perfectionist: This artist says this sentence exacly: “I’m going to sell my art, I just need a year to make a marketing plan, and I need to do a few courses on branding, at least one on talking to camera, and then when I’ve finalised my website, I’ll start.”
The creator not content maker: This artist is nostalgic for (an imaginary) past where artists used to just make art and someone else would promote it for them. “Born to be writing in the woods, forced to post book content on reels.” When they do promote their art, they feel incredibly bitter about it.
The one week wonder: This artist promoted the shit out of their creation for launch week but it didn’t sell in the way they wanted, and so it was a failure and they never mentioned it ever again.
The side hustler: This artist monetizes every thing they have ever made, and is often completely fucking exhausted and disenchanted by creativity.
The wearing 200 hats: This artist is making, marketing, branding, making sales funnels, got 8 income streams, 3 employees, does all their own accounting, and is trying to make a masterpiece all at the same time and it is rapidly becoming obvious that this is not sustainable.
Wherever you are at on this journey at the moment, I see you, this is a big journey and I want to take care of you. These reactions aren’t character flaws, they’re inevitable coping mechanisms because no one told us how to do this! We were told that being a pro artist for the very lucky, the very few! And whilst it’s never said explicitly, the feeling is: the key to becoming a succesful creative is a SECRET. And so, we improvise. Some of us became hustlers. Some of us became purists. Most of us became a little bit of all of them, depending on the week and how exhausted we are.
We deserve guidance, love, and very open, honest conversations with other artists as we go on this journey. Which is why I am hosting two masterclasses on this topic on Saturday. I want to tell you everything I know. I want there to be no secrets. I want us to rise together.
I am hosting two masterclasses. August 22nd, 8am AEST and 5pm AEST. They will be Live, recorded and sent to you. Paid substack subscribers and my closed creative community the Inspired Collective only. But you are more than welcome to become a paid subscriber for a single month in order to join - for 8 dollars!
I’ll draw on my experience as a thriving hybrid author with both self-published and traditionally published perenial sellers. As well as the lessons I’ve learned growing my Instagram to over 550,000 followers and my Substack to over 35,000 subscribers.
The first masterclass: How to fuck Zuckerberg over, instead of him fucking you. (AKA: how to actually thrive as an artist on social media.)
The Second Masterclass : Business for artist - tactics, strategies, discussions about making money, marketing, branding, all the words you cringe away from.
Being a professional artist is so fucking challenging.
Being a professional artist is so fucking possible.
I would love to see you there.
Amie x
I'm a bit of all and I joined just now for these classes. Maybe I'll stay beyond that. You put my thoughts on the signs in your images. Thank you.
Sometimes I am a “fingers crossed” artist, sometimes I am an “almost there” 😅 Depends on the mood 🤷♀️