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We (Metalabel) are making this guide to reflect what weāve learned about releasing and promoting work. TheĀ good and the bad.
Weāre sharing this guide while itās still in progress because our perspective is just one voice. Thereās also yours. We want to reflect different points of view in the finished version of this guide.
In this work-in-progress doc, weāve left comments on (see?) so that you can add your experiences and reactions. Weāve also made this chill five-question surveyĀ about how you feel about promoting your workĀ that this will draw from as well.
Later this summer weāll publish a version of what you see below mixed with what you have to say. Everyone whose perspective is included will be invited as a collaborator and be on the split if we ever choose to make the work available to purchase.
<3 Metalabel
We love to createĀ but dislike hate[b][c][d][e]Ā to publish[f][g][h][i].
Making something new is all experimentation and possibility and exploration. Super yes to every step of that.
Publishing means promoting[j][k][l]Ā which means venturing into the market to show our wares. An entirely different experience.[m][n][o][p][q][r][s][t]
We all release work with hopes that other people will like andĀ even want to purchase it. That generally does not happen without some push[u]Ā from us, which comes more naturally to some than others.
How do we do this?
Here we give a guide of sorts. To caringĀ or not caring. A menu of options that may or may not feel right to you. Nothing matters more than staying true to our voice[v]. We hope this guide helps you do that.
Ā 01 Ā Do it for yourself[w]
Itās easy to base our feelings about our work on what others think.
Itās normal to feel discouraged and question ourselves when things donāt turn out the way we wanted them to[x].
Itās important to make work because youĀ want it, not because of where you hope itāll get you, and certainly not because itās what you see someone else doing. Your work should be work that youĀ are inspired to make.
Doing it for yourself takes courage. It means not obsessing over outside voices. It means staying true to what weĀ believe even when itās out of step with whatās popular. This is hard but rewarding.
When it comes to promotion, doing it for yourself can take you in very different directions, depending on what youāre comfortable with.
Because youāre doing it for yourself[y]Ā you could be someone who goes the extra mile, taps into your entrepreneurial energy, and does everything possible to create opportunities for your work to be seen. Some of us are wired this way.
It can also be true that because youāre doing it for yourself, you donāt want to promote at allĀ because it feels out of spirit with your practice. We know what itās like to create from a deep place. Thatās the kind of thing we all tend to be sensitive to.[z][aa]
Both camps benefit from one piece of advice: liberate yourself from caring about immediate responses to your work. [ab]Liberate yourself from needing things to sell out. Liberate your judgment of your work from its commercial or social response.Ā [ac]
Do not give a f*!k about how many people like it.[ad][ae]Ā [af]
No matter how many people like your work, it will never feel like enough if thatās the reason youāre making it. Youāll see someoneĀ elseĀ with a bigger audience and feel inadequateĀ again. Itās a never-ending spiral.
This does not mean you should be casual or careless. You can not give a f*!k about what other people think [ag][ah][ai][aj][ak]and still take care in every element because itās your standardĀ for your work. Be serious and obsessive about the things that feel right to you because they feel right to you. [al]
Give yourself freedom. Donāt give yourself the pressure of needing to[am][an]Ā deliver creatively and hit some metric. Creating to please a potential audience can be torture. Create because you want to. When we make work because we care about it, weāre infinitely more likely to find a fruitful path.
[ao][ap][aq][ar]
Ā 02 Ā Small is beautiful
Dominant, commercial language world [as][at][au][av][aw][ax]says GO BIG. MAXIMIZE, OPTIMIZE, AMPLIFY, WIN. Get ahead. Self-promote. Donāt self-reflect.[ay]
This is the world filtered through marketingĀ and social media. The water we swim in.
For some people this message clicks. For others, the ego-thumpingĀ couldnāt feel more foreign.
Some of us donāt want to go viral. We just want to make things we like and have our own idea of what success looks like for ourselves[az].
This is easier said than done. Much of the internetās pressure comes from the visible, open-ended[ba][bb]Ā metrics that surround us. Because a post was likedĀ X manyĀ times, we see it as more valuable than something we did withĀ less. How we rank next to our peers is right there in black and white.
This is where we get into trouble. We drag ourselves down. Their thing is so much better than our thing. We doubt our voice.[bc][bd]
Can this be avoided?
One counterintuitive way is by releasing work thatās more limited.[be]Ā By setting the ceiling for how much interest weāre looking for, we define our success.[bf][bg][bh][bi]Ā Itās not about did you get X many likes, itās simply saying are there 25, 50, or 100 people out there that really care about what Iām doing and will take a chance on something I want to share?
Limited releases shape success in a way that can be meaningful to others, too. When the audience is intimate and it means something to be there, magic can happen.
This is a key step towards inner creative liberation. We can let go of the idea of being everything for everybody. Free ourselves from the burden of pleasing an imagined audience. Empower ourselves to make work that we think matters and craft it in a way that it meaningfully matters to others too.
Embrace the liberation of small.[bj]
Ā 03 Ā Celebrate[bk]Ā the night before
Our friends at MSCHF[bl][bm][bn][bo]Ā once shared a fascinating anecdote: they always have release parties for their drops the night before. They want to celebrate making the work rather than how the work is received.[bp][bq][br]
Thereās a lot of wisdom in this. First, itās common for our hoped-for release day dreams to outpace reality. Outsized expectations can cause us to misjudge success as failure. Release day hangovers are real and unfair to ourselves.
Second, celebrating the night before reinforces making the work as the act to be celebrated. As it should be. Thatās the one part thatās under our control. Itās the process that you as the artist or we as the small team went through thatās deserving of celebration, regardless of what other people think about it.
Learn from MSCHF. Celebrate the night before.[bs][bt][bu]Ā Separate the market expectations we carry about a work from the creative effort of producing the work itself.
Ā 04 Ā Context is queen[bv][bw][bx]
In an age where weāre swampingĀ with content, itāsĀ context that makes certain things stand out. When we know who itās from.[by]Ā When we know why it exists. When we get a sense of a deeper world it connects to. These are all experiences that draw people closer to our work.
For some creative work ā not all ā a way in is the why that inspired it to happen[bz][ca]. Some deeper narrative that drives it. These are important things to share in ways that are true to our voice and who we are.
Process can also be a rich area for framing and giving context around a piece. Because the work was made in a certain way, or involved these specific people, it will gain a greater sense of aura and curiosity.
[cb]We can take this even farther and build a world that our work comes from.[cc]Ā Worldbuilding is a form of creative resilienceĀ āĀ a way to strengthen our point of view and give ourselves license to create with freedom. Our work can be a sneak peek into a hidden universeĀ that audiences are invited to discover[cd]Ā and our work reflects.
When people glimpse what drives our work they feel more connected and empathetic to it. They think of it as their discovery, something they feel warm and proud for being a part of. Facilitate that deeper story of meaning by sharing the why and the context behind your work. [ce]
Ā 05 Ā Release windowing[cf]
Thereās an adage in marketing that it takes three impressions for someone to act on a piece of messaging.[cg]Ā We donāt want to treat our work like a product that needs to be advertised[ch],Ā but there are lessons we can takeĀ from this: chiefly that it takes more than one exposure for someone to be convinced.[ci][cj]
If we take this insight a step farther, we can see that for most projects the right goal isnāt to make the biggest splash, itās to stay in the cultural eye for as long as possible.[ck][cl]Ā The longer your work is cycling through social media, culture, and in peopleās minds, the greater your chances of being seen and growing your audience.
The classic strategy for this is āRelease Windowing,ā or designing an elongated campaign around your release that will give people a reason to keep paying attention.
Think of the way movies have pre-release hype, then a big release day, then later pop up again on streaming services and other formats. Thatās a Release Windowing strategy developed by the film industry to maintain mindshare for their projects. Same with hardcover and softcover books.
The same concept applies with releases on the internet āĀ if we wish. (Keep in mind, not giving a f#!k is advised.)
Thinking in terms of a Release Window would say donāt think about your release as just the day it comes out, but the preceding ten days and the ten days following āĀ ripe periods of time to build anticipation and a deeper story about your work. [cm][cn]
You can do this by holding back on releasing certain information or media until the right moment, or scheduling specific events to happen in the days before or after your release. The goal is to use this space to establish the context of your work and build anticipation and understandingĀ of it in your publicās eyes.
Release Windows can also be helpful because they create a sense of internal pacing for youĀ the promoter. Itās easy to beĀ sucked into a frantic energy in the early days and push out too much too quickly because we fear things arenāt going as well as we hoped. By setting a schedule and strategy ahead of time, we can pace ourselves and express our work thoughtfullyĀ and at a rhythm thatās more likely to be felt.[co][cp][cq]
Ā 06 Ā Be prepared for release day
VeryĀ basic, but [cr][cs][ct]itās a good idea to have a plan for whatās going to happen on the day you release.
These plans include having a post ready to go out on the platforms where youāre most active toĀ writing a personal essay or newsletter about why the piece exists. If you wish to care about these things ā and again, you truly are at liberty not to āĀ you can tailor your message to the platform to make sure itās more likely to be shared.
This can also mean building anticipation around the date ahead of time. This is constant in the worlds of music and film, where release dates hold a lot of cache[cu]Ā for the true believers. You can experiment with doing the same around your work too.[cv][cw][cx][cy]
In our experience, release days are also prone to be times of constant refreshing in search of the dopamine hits of stats updates and notifications. It leads to what we think of as āslot machine eyes,[cz]ā where we constantly look for affirmation and experience no joy or emotion of any kind no matter what happens. All we want is more.
Anticipating this, weāve learned to schedule our posts and time away from keyboard when we put out new work. Rather than get lost in that initial frantic burst, we give ourselves theĀ gift of a couple of hours with a friend or outside away from a screen, then come back later to see how things have gone.
[da]Ā 07 Ā Release in different mediums
Consider theĀ power of the music video ā taking workĀ that had existed in one medium and breaking it into another, creating a new type of audience and cultural relationship.
This transformation is something thatās possible with all work. We can experiment with releasing and conjugating our work into other mediums and formats.
I[db][dc]Ā wrote a book five years ago and made a point of expressing the book as a website, a deeper community[dd][de][df], a video, and through countless podcasts and events. All of these were expressions of the work intended to put it in front of audiences who would be open to it if I expressed it in forms that they were already consuming.
Thereās a danger here, where you find yourself doing nothing but conjugating your work into different social media structures. Thatās absolutely an āLā and not something you should do.[dg]Ā But when it comes to bigger pieces or work you wish to cycle into the cultural eye through wider circles, explore expressing it in another format can introduce it to a new audience and enrich the connections you already have.
Ā 08 Ā Host an event or talk[dh][di][dj][dk][dl][dm]
As we build out a Release Window, one of the surest tools at our disposal for generating organic attention is an event. An in-person gathering can serve as an opportunity to go deeper into our work, to bring together a community of people around it, and to introduce our work to new audiences.
A couple of examples from the Metalabel universe: multiple labels have hosted release parties to celebrate their work. These have happened the week before the release, the week of the release, and after the release.
Weāre especially a fan of hosting an event both the week of the release and a ways afterwards. In the case of āThe Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet,ā the collective held a virtual roundtable for collectorsĀ six weeks after the release. This served as an anchor point for collectors to anticipate, as well as a new excuse to talk about the work during and after the event itself.
Ā 09 Ā Get interviewedĀ about it[dn]
Obvious but not to be underestimated: getting interviewed or written about by somebody else[do][dp]. For most of us, this is a key step to finding our path to being seen and to finding our voice. Itās also a part of the process of legitimizing us in the eyes of others.[dq]
As weāve said before this is not the reason to do things āĀ itās a slippery slope to bad vibes āĀ but it is a key amplification point that legitimizes you to a new audience.
We can write a whole separate post on how we communicate our work, but for now just know that other people talking about you and having you on is one of the best ways to introduce you to a new audience. Do not underrate.[dr]
Ā 10 Ā Multiple people sharing, not just one[ds][dt]
It makes a huge difference when multiple contributors are committed to a plan for promoting a release.
This works best when thereās a common understanding among the group of timelines, when people are meant to start posting[du], what youāre going to say, and even things that youāll do together physically or online to celebrate and bring attention to the release.
This isnāt easy. To do this well, you need a central group coordinator[dv]Ā who has the energy and organization to get people to pay attention and follow through. Everyone will have their own things going on, so plan ahead and use the communication channels that are most effective to be in touch with the group.
In our experience, direct messages, texts, and emails work much better than group messages when it comes to getting commitments and making decisions. Use group threads to share information, but to get anything done go direct.[dw][dx][dy][dz][ea][eb][ec][ed]
Ā 11 Ā Scenes[ee]
Related to promoting with others is to be part of or connect with the wider scene of people who make work like you.
In the past decade of the Creator Economy weāve [ef][eg][eh][ei]tended to view people who make work like us as frenemies more than potential peers.[ej]Ā But traditionally when people build relationships and release work in shared contexts, thereās a positiveĀ sum tide that lifts everyone up.
Scenes can have a negative connotation[ek]Ā āĀ exclusivity, people judging each other āĀ but when we see that we can all create scenes around whatever we want, they take on a much more abundant and supportive tone. This is how we think of scenes ā not as exclusive so much as specific and infinite.
This is something the internet does really well. Where scenes are most meaningful, however, is when itās with people in physical proximity. The feeling and sensation of intermingling, sharing ideas, building and responding to each other not as brains or instruments but as people, is one of the great rewards in life.
Ā 12 Ā Make the next thing[el][em][en]
In the closing pages of Virgil Ablohās life retrospective Figures of Speech he writes: āUpon creating this dense book of work, I have realized one thing at the end: itās all worth nothing compared to the freedom to express the next idea.ā
This is the most important principle of all. Itās always about the next thing. Thatās the real beauty and joy of being a creative person.[eo]
This is how we have to think as creative people: weāre always moving forward. Weāre always inviting our brains and our hands and our bodies and whatever we use to keep exploring and experimenting. Weāre always hungry to explore.
We do this not [ep][eq][er][es]out of careerist goals. We do this not of a desire to win a status game. We do it because itās whatās in us. Itās whatās fun. Natural. The thing we most love to do[et].
This is the reason for the first principle ā do it for yourself āĀ and its corresponding encouragement to not give a f#!k. By grounding ourselves in our voice, our drive, and the freedom to create, we liberate ourselves from the emotional swings of the creative life and keep us focused on the true joy: producing work.
This is the pocket to stay in. This is where our inner selves are freed to connect to the Source and channel the voices of the gods. This is the reason why weāre here. Stay true to it.
13 Your additions? Comment here[eu][ev][ew][ex][ey][ez][fa][fb][fc][fd][fe][ff]
Maybe one about sharing your process, or bringing folks along? I use Patreon for this, I think you all use the newsletter for this (and this doc), some people create Discords. But some collaborative way to have accountability, feedback, community, bringing people in who want to do something similar, beta readers, etc. Sharing bits and pieces in safe settings earlier makes the final sharing less sCarY via exposure therapy lol. āĀ Vickie Tan
I would add a section about networking and walking the line of networking overshadowing the work... Networking as a way to find like-minded friends AND promote. Both are important. Focus too much on friends, you're in trouble. Focus too much on promotion, it drowns your creative spirit. Tamara Winters is great on this. ā Default Friend
Hanif Abdurraquib suggests, "Your legacy is what you love and what you've asked other people to love alongside you." I think that's a great way to think about promotion. Asking people to love things alongside you. ā Christie George
1) Accept that the act of creation itself (prior to the question of to promote or not) is duality, both unapologetic self expression and the deep desire to connect with others. Creative advice in both veins abound: "Write for yourself!" "Meet people where they are." In my experience, going too far down either path is crazy-making. Both are true! Both methods have yielded amazing art. Goya's Black Paintings are my favorite example of stunning art created only for oneself. Then you have folks like Ali Wong or the makers of Frozen 2 (GREAT docuseries on Disney+ y'all) that workshop relentlessly. Promotion is fraught and confusing because art is. Don't worry about it too much!
2) One person reached is a success (perhaps a subpoint of "Small is beautiful"). I've put out a lot of work that has only touched one person, but that one person alone made it feel worth it. I'm also thinking of a story I once heard about a YouTuber who consistently only had like 6 or 7 views on his videos, but then one of those turned out to be Oprah and she gave him a show!! So you never know. But even so, one person is often all it takes.
āĀ Jess Sun
How do we let go and move on to the next? When is the right time? Do we double down on an idea or move on? How to stay in "don't give a fuck" mode and do what you want? At what point do we use the stats and data to make decisions? When do they help and when do the hurt? How to stay in the creative groove for the long haul? Prob many a book to write! ā Ryan Stubbs
Consider promotion a way of staying devoted to your practice. It's not easy to keep at this whole creativity thing in the face of doubts (self and otherwise), the market, the limitations of time. I like thinking of promotion more like a way to stay devoted to the art - and not just putting it out into the world/abandoning it hoping that the right people show up. In the vibes of devotion, promotion can be thought of as acts of care and tending. ā Christie George
"Learn and iterate" - After each release, take a step back and reflect. Carve out the time to consider what you liked/didn't like about this release from all angles (creative, promotional, community) and what insights you've gleaned moving forward.
Perhaps this could be added to the "Make the next thing" section, as I do believe we're constantly asking creatives "What's next?" which can bring its own pressure, when sometimes it's good to just pause and celebrate this milestone. ā Shannon Chen See
Vibing with people who love what you love is networking and self-promotion. It's ok if it feels fun and easy! Find your fellow vibers and nerd out. That's how scenes start. ā Kirsten Lambertsen
Can you make art and not post?[fg][fh][fi][fj][fk][fl]
If you make something and donāt post about it did it actually happen?
āI paint with my back to the worldā
āĀ Agnes Martin[fm]
Interview with Agnes Martin (1997)
*Should we include here that while Martin paintedĀ with her back to the world, she was an active member of a vibrant art community that included gallerists and journalists, all of whom championed her work to the world? āĀ Kirsten Lambertseon
www.metalabel.com
Get in touch hello@metalabel.com
[a]I'm goingĀ to need this guide in 3-6 months and feel so appreciative that it's here
[b]Hate feels too strong here (for me)
If I had ample time to publish/promote, I think I would enjoy it more, but promo feels like it's always on someone else's timeline, and right at the end stages of creating.
6 total reactions
Sam Lawrence reacted with š at 2024-06-21 04:14 AM
Ops Archive reacted with š at 2024-06-21 13:46 PM
Diana Heald reacted with š at 2024-06-24 20:03 PM
Francesco Fusaro reacted with š at 2024-07-11 14:16 PM
Kirby Ferguson reacted with š at 2024-07-19 03:59 AM
Vasudha S reacted with š at 2024-08-06 15:06 PM
[c]Truth!
[d]would like a better descriptive word than "dislike" though...how about "struggle" or "dread" to publish?
1 total reaction
Benji Friedman reacted with š at 2025-11-02 05:09 AM
[e]Maybe "hesitate" instead of dislike?
[f]is 'publish' meant to be a catch-all term for all media?Ā
I see that it states publishing means (involves) promoting in the following paragraph.
I guessĀ I'm just getting a little stuck on the traditional use of the word publish and how it might mean something else in this context.
Or is publish specific to the act of releasing works on metalabel?
[g]When I say "publish" I'm meaningĀ putting work out digitally. It's not just writing. If you put up a YouTube video it says Publish too. Digital is my bias here
[h]Ohhh ok. I get it. So it is specific to metalabel and essentially posting it/publishing it online.Ā
Thank you for clarifyin :-)
[i]I wouldn't say specific to Metalabel. It's intended to reflect a feeling across any web platformĀ where you're posting or promoting your work
2 total reactions
Victoria Helena reacted with š„° at 2024-06-26 12:03 PM
Lynette Young reacted with š„° at 2025-01-10 21:06 PM
[j]Do you think we dislike publishing or *promotion*? Is it true that publishing means promoting? I feel like part of the "ickiness" that people feel is around promoting (probably for many reasons including a lot this guide covers, but also for external reasons like influencers and social media poisoning the well).
[k]I wonder this as well. I do think the distinction is important. Publishing has commercial connotations which is perhaps where some of the conflation between the two enters in.
[l]Publishing means making the work available to the public. It doesnāt mean it will ever be seen ā I recall a library of unread books installation at the Sydney Museum of art (need to fact check the name but it was 2015 and I was there) where there were walls of books that had been placed on shelves and made available to the public but were never checked out.
Having a poetry wall in your front yard where people can post their poems on a wall is a form of making the work public. Ā Putting a bigger sign with a brighter color to make sure people on the other side of the street will wander by and read the poetry is promotion.
As artists we are looking for kindred spirits ā we are inventing a new way of looking at the world which we are secretly hoping will create a cultural resonance or zeitgeist.
When things āgo viralā it usually overwhelms the usual promotional channels. Most artists have this kind of dreamtime where they feel
that the work they have produced has a sacred quality to it and to promote it means to materialize something we find in ourselves to be sacred. That is the disconnect. Ā Viral equals the ultimate validation of our work, hence the cringe around promotion.
As an artist, listening to the whisper of our muse, we feel our job is done once we write it out and put it on the shelf. But it wonāt have meaning or be part of our conversation until x number of people read and respond to it. So finding out like minded audiences is the new promotion ā and that is the confirmation bias inherent in the internetā¦
[m]Maybe the document is about shifting the publishing process slightly towards the window of experimentation, possibility, and exploration, or presenting the publishing phase as another opportunity for 'making'? In that case, perhaps it would benefit from presenting publishing in such a way, while noting that it is often not perceived in that light."
8 total reactions
Sam Lawrence reacted with š at 2024-06-21 18:42 PM
Kelly Kuhl reacted with š at 2024-06-21 19:19 PM
Victoria Helena reacted with š at 2024-06-21 20:58 PM
Anne Muhlethaler reacted with š at 2024-06-22 16:14 PM
Christie George reacted with š at 2024-06-24 22:15 PM
Francesco Fusaro reacted with š at 2024-07-11 15:00 PM
Ops Archive reacted with š at 2024-07-24 14:05 PM
Kirsten Lambertsen reacted with š at 2024-08-03 16:32 PM
[n]I like this addition
[o]Me too
[p]I think figure out a way to publishĀ in the text with the original copy, but with francis's much stronger twist here as a comment or correction or footnote somehow
[q]_Marked as resolved_
[r]_Re-opened_
[s]I love this addition and really like the idea of not only integrating some of these comments into the final doc, but in the case of something like this one, which is so strong, figuring out a way to call extra attention to it in the way you've suggested - as a comment/correction/footnote - which has the added benefit of modeling some of the principles (eg really making visible the process as suggested in 04 Context is Queen).
[t]Yes, I like the idea of showing hte original thought, and then the "developed" thought. Feels right
[u]I find that choice of word interesting. For me, it echoes push notifications, pushing PR campaigns, push marketing. When we push, it requires energy, but denotes pressure.
Is it the publishing we dislike or the pushing of the release once it's out there?
What would happen if we reframed the process?
[v]just wanted to say thank you for creating this essay -- so much wisdom here, and lots of courage to be found in the shared struggle of staying true to your voice ā¤ļø
I was moved to make it the focal point of a recent piece, sharing in case anyone is interested: https://decentialbeat.beehiiv.com/p/beat-bffe
[w]I want to (belatedly) draw attention to what seems to me a broader tension at play in this doc. What drew me to Metalabel was that it was unashamedly presenting itself as a new platform, implicitly and explicitly attempting to harness and then create a new mode of thinking about creative work.
When I read this document, though, I donāt feel like Iām encountering a new subjective mode. The subjectivity is pretty clear: the āsmol beanā, anxious, individual creator. This is a character we all know well and the doc itself reproduces the language of its cultural environment: a self-help-y, emotional understanding of the individual and their relation to creative work. The āworkā is individualized and personalized (production as self-expression) and the guide lays out the defensive care towards that particular model of subjectivization (that one must promote carefully, understanding the work as an extension of the self). Again, Itās not wrong, but itās a model of self-conception or orientation that is more at home in the old ācreator economyā.
This isnāt a bad thing. Itās a useful thing, especially normatively ā this is a guide for surviving in the creator economy as currently constituted. But itās at an interesting distance from the bold goals of Metalabel itself. How can this tension be productively utilized?
Thereās a reoccurring theme in the comments: the desire for tactics, techniques. Maybe thereās an opportunity for the development of discrete and useful tactics that, through their application, shift the subjective lens. A transit from the āsmol beanā to the post-individual, by the means of stuff that ājust worksā?
[x]I feel like the distinction gets blurred in this section between the work itself and the act of promoting - if the work bombs, did I make bad art, or did I just fail as a promoter?Ā Liberation from caring about responses is admirable, but not if it means I keep grinding out low quality stuff and blaming the market(er).
[y]Not sure if you want more quotes, but I really like this one from William Zinsser (author of On Writing Well):Ā
"Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Writing is an act of ego, and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going."
I like the permission to embrace your ego - most of us are ashamed to do it!
[z]I struggle with self-promotion as an introverted creative. I definitely lump myself with the camp that sees wisdom and value in focusing my energy on my practice and ignoring (mostly) everything else.
Iāve had success with externalizing both the filtering and the structuring of promotional needs. My trust in an external extroverted team and scheduled prompts allow me to āget over myselfā to drip out content that they can promote. They can worry about the theory of mind work w.r.t. what patrons may find interesting. and I can focus on art.
1 total reaction
Kirsten Lambertsen reacted with š at 2024-08-03 16:33 PM
[aa]<3
[ab]this is SO important!!!
2 total reactions
Christie George reacted with šÆ at 2024-06-24 22:17 PM
Ruby Bailey reacted with šÆ at 2024-12-09 12:46 PM
[ac]it might be nice to also frame it in a way of liberating the work once it is done and out of our hands/out of the studio
[ad]Don't know if it belongs here exactly but another helpful perspective for me at this highly emotional stage is asking myself: Will I regretĀ not doing this, even if nobody seems to be supporting or caring for it it right now?
I love this quote by Steve Jobs: "Regrets are different from Mistakes. Mistakes are those things that you did, and wish you could do over again. Regrets are most often things you didn't do, and wish you did."
4 total reactions
Francis Kanai reacted with š at 2024-06-21 05:26 AM
Yancey Strickler reacted with š at 2024-06-21 18:28 PM
Brunni Corsato reacted with š at 2024-07-18 13:37 PM
Olivier Sun reacted with š at 2024-12-29 17:20 PM
[ae]Love that. Like "Will you look back in 10 years and regret NOT doing it." YOLO. Traveling time horizons can be a useful practice for me.
I also think of Laurie Anderson's three rules: Keep your sincerity detectors strong; be tender; and fear no one. (The last one being most applicable to overcoming the sentiment about succumbing to the judgment of others).
2 total reactions
Yancey Strickler reacted with š at 2024-06-27 02:58 AM
Olivier Sun reacted with š at 2024-12-29 17:23 PM
[af]I loveĀ this sentiment but also think it is one sentiment of many that we should considerĀ as artists. The word "like" becomes troubling to me, partially because it's now heavily associated with social media, but also because liking somethingĀ is not an action. I believeĀ that as artistĀ we are hoping to engage in a conversation with an audience, and we've been taughtĀ that the audienceĀ is universal. I would shy away from wanting universal approval, but I am very interestedĀ in a niche audienceĀ engagingĀ in my work and having their own responseĀ to it, and paying for it. I just want to say, I do care aboutĀ how many peopleĀ engage in my work, and I care about who theyĀ are and how we impact eachother and I even care about what they think (I want to value my audience!), and I think it's ok to want something, and to feel disappointment, but not let it define our worth.
[ag]Are we channeling Lee Ving here?Ā
lol
Everyone that is putting work out into the world is doing it because they give a fuck about how the viewer experiences it.
It may be 2 viewers/readers/listeners or it may be 2mil - but there is an audience to contend with.
Creations need to be seen/heard/experienced/read etc. Otherwise we wouldn't put it out there. It is so much easier to just leave it in our studios.
I think liberating the work allowing it to live a different life in somebody's experience is all part of the process.
[ah]I think it's very possible to make work for yourself and to release work for yourself without any care of what the audience thinks about it, or whether anyone care at all
2 total reactions
Karin Soukup reacted with š at 2024-06-26 15:54 PM
Olivier Sun reacted with š at 2024-12-29 17:28 PM
[ai]Agreed.Ā I also think it's possible that sharing and promotion can simply be a way of having YOURSELF be counted regardless of how many people respond (counted as in "I'm out here, too!"). One other way I've been thinking of the promotion part of a project is as a way to find my people. Like a beacon or a flare. Like the Andre Breton quote: "One publishes to find comrades!"
Making something for yourself as the audience can also be incredibly liberating - with no other audience to please, you can pay attention to and be guided by your own delight during the creation process. Maybe there's a way to extend that to promotion as well?
2 total reactions
Karin Soukup reacted with š at 2024-06-26 15:54 PM
Yancey Strickler reacted with š at 2024-06-27 02:58 AM
[aj]those comrades are still an audience
[ak]š
[al]Kind of a small thing, but 'because they feel right for you' feels tonally better than 'do it for yourself.' I wonder if we can bring this framing into the title?
[am]this part is a bit wordy for me - "Don't needlessly pressure yourself to hit some metric." ?
[an]Agree
[ao]I think it could be helpful to give a few words of advice to the artists who do struggle with caring too much about their audience.Ā
Some examples:
- Expand your definition of success beyond promotion/reach/sales: Is it finding a new creative process? Finally figuring out how to represent what's in your head in the world?
- Limit social media use if you find it leads to comparison and self-sabotage
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AntĆ²nia Folguera reacted with ā¤ļø at 2025-10-06 06:57 AM
[ap]An interesting corollary to this one might be: Do it for the people you love. In my experience, so much creative expression is tied to connection with people I care about.
7 total reactions
Brian Mark reacted with š„° at 2024-06-20 15:16 PM
Avi Solomon reacted with š„° at 2024-06-20 17:14 PM
Francis Kanai reacted with š„° at 2024-06-21 04:09 AM
Sam Lawrence reacted with š„° at 2024-06-21 04:19 AM
Ops Archive reacted with š„° at 2024-06-21 13:47 PM
Yancey Strickler reacted with š„° at 2024-06-21 18:28 PM
Kelly Gray reacted with š„° at 2025-04-07 23:28 PM
[aq]Love that additional framing. Very nice <3
[ar]Seems important to note that individuals have very diverse motivations for creating work: from pure curiosity about the outcomes of a set of processes, to pure enjoyment of the exchanges that take place between creators within a group working towards completing a project with little concern for the final outcome. I also don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong with an individual's drive to create being motivated by a competitive spirit, or with success defined by monetary or social approval as the primary metrics.
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Kirsten Lambertsen reacted with ā at 2024-08-03 16:37 PM
[as]In my experience, there are other worlds that do not say this. In other words, what you call "the world" is not the only one out there so it could be useful to name this one. Maybe you mean "the mainstream" or "the marketing world" something like that?
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Francis Kanai reacted with š at 2024-06-21 03:19 AM
Kirsten Lambertsen reacted with š at 2024-08-03 16:38 PM
[at]Ya agreed, maybe you mean more the capitalist world?
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Francis Kanai reacted with š at 2024-06-21 03:20 AM
Kirsten Lambertsen reacted with š at 2024-08-03 16:38 PM
[av]š
[aw]Commercial world?
[ax]Maybe something like
'dominant [capitalist] language pressures us to GO BIG, MAXIMISE, OPTIMISE,Ā etcĀ and often seeps into the creative mindset where self promotion begins to override self reflection' ....
[ay]may be it's just me, but I've never heard of the opposition between "conventionalĀ success" and self-reflection. Also self-reflection, in commercial language, means more "reflect on your business mistakes" then on your inner world
[az]This can be stiked out because it's alreadyĀ been said in the sentence with "our own idea."
[ba]is open-ended the right term here? I think of open-ended questions which are unrestricted, but it sounds like we're trying to say "out in the open" or "glaring"?
[bb]Agree, and I think that idea is already covered by "visible." I would change this word to quantified instead to highlight the ways that we assign numeric value
[bc]This statement feels really important. More so than a lead-in to one of the doc's points. It could hold its own section and perhaps have its own list of antidotes.
[bd]Agreed 100%
[be]Creative advice can often feel abstract and not particularly actionable (analogous to "be yourself!"). I really like the specificity of limited releases as a solution here, especially because you caveat it as "counterintuitive."
It's also a way to get more specific about audience. Whenever anyone defines their audience as "everyone", it's often a signal to me that they haven't done enough thinking about the specific someones that might be their actual audience. The idea of a limited release is an elegant way to encourage that thinking.Ā
One question I'm left with is "How do you determine the number?"
[bf]Struggling to articulate why, but something about this feels off or incomplete to me. I understand the desire to exit the arena of public comparisons, but I feel this approach creates problems of its own.
For one, a limited release, by it's nature, makes it harder for work to *explode* in the way that those mostly-annoying platform algos can occasionally provide. Of courseĀ this is a rare circumstance, but it has been my experience that a smaller audience can sometimes represent a sample-size that is just too small to gauge the potential of a work.
Beyond that, the idea of creating scarcity around a work feels uncomfortable to me. I've never understood the appeal of the "limited edition" -- maybe I just don't have the collector's impulse -- but almost all my most treasured memories of art / music etc were from widely accessible formats, where no transaction took place. I know that many love to collect and have rare editions etc of things, but it's tough to imagine myself doing that to my own work, when I feel so disconnected from that impulse myself.
[bg]I appreciate that and get where you're coming from. I don't think of scarcity and cultural ubiquity are in conflict at all. It's not an either/or.
The way I've experimented is making a limitedĀ something that's for peopleĀ who really care and how I most want to be seen. And then slightly later I have a bigger open release that anyone can engage with.
By first having that step of appealingĀ to a smaller audience, I get to personally feel a lot more satisfied about the work, and i'm building a core community and set of relationships that I can buildĀ on. As I keep doing things likeĀ this, the number of editions I make availableĀ can go up with my audience. But it should always feel meaningful to be a part of it
A post where I talk about this more:
https://ideaspace.ystrickler.com/p/new-experiments-in-publishing
2 total reactions
Crook Music reacted with šÆ at 2024-06-23 21:43 PM
Karin Soukup reacted with šÆ at 2024-06-26 15:55 PM
[bh]yeah, great points! i even think including some of what you've just written would give the section more context: explaining how it can be both and not instead-of feels important for this one :)
[bi]š
[bj]Seems like you have some nice design strategies throughout. (e.g. Embrace the liberation of small; Celebrate the night before; etc.). For those, like myself, who find it difficult to build awareness or break habits, I think it could be useful to have a visual shorthand of these core ideas to put visibly in space. E.g. Corita Kent's 10 Rules.Ā
https://www.corita.org/tenrules (Plus a bit more visual emphasisĀ inline in the doc)
[bk]4 total reactions
Vicki Tan reacted with š„³ at 2024-06-20 23:59 PM
Anne Muhlethaler reacted with š„ at 2024-06-22 16:24 PM
Victoria Helena reacted with š„ at 2024-06-23 12:29 PM
Carol Benovic-Bradley reacted with š„³ at 2024-07-03 01:30 AM
[bl]This is a tiny point, but consider identifying them in some way beyond "our friends". I probably should have known who they were, but I had to leave the doc to Google them, which took me out of the flow of the piece. I get the reasons for not having a ton of links in this doc or leaving it unlinked in a kind of IYKYK way, but assuming people will know MSCHF seems counter to what you're trying to do - make the work of art and creativity more accessible. You could do something like "our friends at the art collective MSCHF"
2 total reactions
Shannon Chen See reacted with š at 2024-07-15 16:03 PM
Kirby Ferguson reacted with š at 2024-07-19 04:28 AM
[bm]Agreed
[bn]Agreed
[bo]Also agree. I think you could add a sentence at first. "MSCHF is an art collective that yada yada. They have a fascinating ritual. They have release parties etc"
[bp]As a corollary to this, I've found a lot of benefit in coming up with these kinds of criteria for success that have no connection to the work's external reception. Other than "celebrating making the work", I've also celebrated "all my collaborators still being on good terms by the end of the project", "introducing some of my favourite collaborators to each other", "finishing the damn thing!" etc.
[bq]I love the specificity of these companion metrics/celebrations.
[br]These are great
[bs]I loved this idea, and it also seemed pretty daunting to pull off for the kinds of people (like me) who are working right up until the last minute.
[bt]I get that but also donāt think the night-before-celebration needs to be a huge endeavor. Especially in the context being developed here, I believeĀ the point is to emphasize the importance of the process of creation, however the artistĀ manages. If that's a cheeky drink with the nearest and dearest at the bar around the corner, great! If it's a big ass release party, also great!
[bu]A practical approach to celebration would be postponing the publishing of your work. For example, I schedule publishing my articles always for the next day. Thereās no rush. Slow down crazy child <3
[bv]It could be worth noting that this kind of promotion work can be happening throughout the creative process (pre-launch and post-launch) and can be both a way to build audience as well as feel slightly less icky than traditional promotion. I haven't read it in awhile, but I think there's a lot written about this in Austin Kleon's Show Your Work.
[bw]+1 on includingĀ some reference to Show Your Work!
[bx]I would like this to be something like, bring them into your inner world (or something more pithy) only because I've heard context is king a lot
[by]the 'who' matters less to me when the 'where' (the type of platform) is a space I don't enjoy.
Perhaps unique to me, but Substack's push notifications etc, have moved me to ignore my favorite writers recently.
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M MC reacted with šÆ at 2024-07-06 08:49 AM
[bz]I don't follow this line - a way into what?
[ca]Oh I see this is about a way for the audience to connect to your work? So this applies as a promotional principle in the sense that you can more easily promote your work by sharing your process and context?
I think that makes sense but I didn't understand that until the last paragraph of this section.
[cb]Another tactic to possibly add here is around including your community in the creation process. eg. as a poet, I've put out a question related to what I wanted to write about, crowd-sourced people's responses, and synthesized that into a poem
[cc]This framing makes this point really sticky and real to me, love! I suggest drilling own from this framing into actionable examples of how artists have leveraged the worlds / the exploration of their worlds, in their work, to promote it authentically. In general I think using real-world examples to drive home these points would be empowering to readers searching for their own nuggets
[cd]For example in a form of a community, that uses similar mental models, and speaks a shared language.
[ce]but we can also present work in an intentionallyĀ open spirit of speculative collaboration perhaps? such that an audience can take it apart, reassemble, move into new spaces facilitated by our work, spaces we hadn't thought of but from which we can learn more, and respond again in some new way
[cf]I am curious whether we can think of the release window on an even longer term than just 10 days in the interest of creating things that are evergreen/live past one hype cycle? Things often take time to find their audience, and it can be magical and delightful to stumble into something from a different time that remains relevant. It feels especially important given the point about needing three exposures. Can the time horizon be longer? Are there examples of this? Can you plan for that? Or is that just unrealistic?
[cg]7 impressions? (as per Herstand's "How to Make It in the New Music Business", which I would really recommend to anyone reading this - despite some shortcomings)
[ch]We def donĀ“t want, but again, if we want to sell (pay bills, feed the cat), we have to! And in social media, everything is becomingĀ a product, even people... (i.e,influencers and influencers wanna be). I often wonder about other avenues to make an income thatĀ“s not strictly selling?
[ci]exposure to what - our work? to convince someone of what - to engage with it? need some more nouns and verbs here to clarify this, I think
[cj]Maybe instead of "convince", it's more about "get someone to awaken from their routine" or "break through someone's automatic filter" to get them to even notice what you're doing.
[ck]Yes, for releases and longer projects but maybe even more important for a careerĀ (regular effort and presence).
[cl]I think you could also add a point here about aiming for zeitgeist-y things / understanding how your work has potential windows to hit the zeitgeist and how you can maximize that luck surface area
[cm]Could image a simple diagram to support and reinforce this concept for visual people
[cn]Perhaps all of them. (Happy to help there)
[co]The flipside to this, in my experience, is that it can be easy to wind up drawing the promotion period out for far longer than is helpful, in the name of "seeing it through". To help with this, it's probably good to set a clear end date for your Release Window before you begin.
[cp]I'm interested in this point. Do you mean this in a diminishing returns kind of way? Like continuing to do promotion or events even there's marginal benefit after the initial launch?
[cq]Yes. One of the challenges is that we often hear about works that become popular long after their initial release / promotional period, and those stick in our memories as hopeful examples. We (understandably) hear less about the examples where people spent way too long promoting something that never took off in the way they wanted.
I think setting a clear end date for when you'll stop promoting a given project and move on to the next one is helpful; to avoid spending endless energy on something that might never pan out. It also gives you permission to move on to the next thing without feeling like you could've done more! We couldĀ always promote more, but we have to set a limit on it, before we end up doing nothing else!!
[cr]I would consider removing this qualifier as it weakens the strengthĀ of the point being made. Perhaps something more like, "Regardless of how big you go on promotion pre and post-release, it's a good idea..."
[cs]Agree. The other sections start with a bit of set-up or an example. Maybe a brief, first-person walk-through of the chaos of release day could be a good opener.
[ct]š
[cu]cachet
[cv]I'm skeptical of this as a key strategy for smaller releases by smaller creators or creator collectivesāunless the pre-release content is really, really well done (or obviously if it's for an event, lol). I can remember many instances of seeing a pre-release I was actually interested in and would have purchased at the time, but either forgot about it or my desire for it dissipated after the release date. I also think audience fatigue is a thing.Ā I also personally find the surpriseĀ of a random sudden release I like very satisfying.
[cw]agreed. i was hesitantĀ listing it. maybe we cut
[cx]maybe there's a way to keep it, if it's made clear that this makes more sense for those with an existing / captive audience of "true believers" rather than someone trying to build that audience?
[cy]I'd be curious if there's an average audience size the intended readers of this doc would have? There's some great ideas in here but I'm having trouble understandingĀ what group this is intended for. Some of the advice seems geared toward creators with huge followings, some of it for people who are just getting started.
[cz]Love this, hehe
[da]Also: Be aware that if things go well you'll have more work to do (eg responding to feedback/requests). Make sure you make space for that!
2 total reactions
Francesco Fusaro reacted with š at 2024-07-11 15:47 PM
Finn Schubert reacted with š at 2024-10-01 03:26 AM
[db]This is the first switch from first-person plural (we) to first-person singular (I) ... not sure how to smooth the transition but it stood out when I was reading through
2 total reactions
Sam Lawrence reacted with š at 2024-06-21 04:25 AM
Shannon Chen See reacted with š at 2024-07-15 18:35 PM
[dc]It's been an I writing in a royal we all along, lol
2 total reactions
Crook Music reacted with š at 2024-06-22 16:43 PM
M MC reacted with š at 2024-07-06 08:17 AM
[dd]curious as to what it looked like to express a book as a deeper community!?
[de]+1
[df]The book introducedĀ a philosophy called Bentoism, which turned into a community of people who met weekly and created space together. Some of them are here in this doc with us now :)
[dg]I think the slang of "that's absolutely an "L" isn't doing much here and you could get rid of this sentence entirely without losing the bigger point.
[dh]I like the idea of adding cozy, so it doesn't seem so corp. Host something cozy.
"To host is to open up a way bigger life, where the intimacy of your inner world is required to face the reality of what you project."
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Agalia Tan reacted with š©µ at 2024-06-23 06:08 AM
[di]Agree here -- the community aspect can often take a life of its own. Events I've done have spun off into book clubs, writer's groups, magazines etc. some (most!) of which I either don't run myself or may not even be involved in.
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Vicki Tan reacted with š«° at 2024-06-23 20:28 PM
[dj]I love the idea of somethingĀ cozy!
[dk]This section seems like it has a lot more potential to share a few different examples that are more creative (like the kinds of things mentioned above) and go beyond a the more standard event / talk / party.
[dl]I would love to see more examples here for people who aren't talk/host kind of folks or who are in a more virtual space
[dm]Agreed @Haele! Some virtual event alternatives:
- X (Twitter) Space to chat about creation process, premiere the work (audio releases are best for this)
- Decorate a metaverse space with your art/music and host a gathering there
- IG Live with some friends to create that celebratory moment
[dn]I realize these are just supposed to be principles, but I really appreciate the sections where you give tangible examples. This one feels a little less robust compared to earlier ones.Ā
In this case, are there are a couple of sentences about the "how" (in the absence of having a publicist) that you could include? For example, surely you don't just write to a writer and ask them to write about you, or do you? As a principle, it makes a ton of sense, but I wouldn't know how to put this into practice as currently written.
[do]One thought is that media strategy can be part of the release strategy. Legit questions- should a media release strategy be different than release plans and should there be specific asks for writers to write about your project? How do you develop those relationships, which platforms etc? How much energy is this worth?
[dp]prob the "wholeĀ separateĀ post"
[dq]Combining interviews, along with sharing a few words about your art and combining that into a 90 second highlight reel and then pinning that to your socials is great way to amplify your social proof. And donāt understatement your value for offering yourself to the local media, especially tv news. They are starving for local stories and experts especially for the morning news, 12p news and most easiest for an opportunity are the weekends.
[dr]I think this advice is more relevant for more established creatives, but some basic media outreach principles could be added here like:
- Identify a target list of journalists or partners/collaborators who might be interested in featuring youĀ
- Build relationshipsĀ with journalists over time
- Create a press release for your release
- Outreach these journalists with the PR ahead of release
It also helps if you have something to offer the journalist, eg. an invite to your release party or a first look at the art etc
[ds]Oh, just had an idea about this! as a possible parallel project: gathering a pool of people interested in create a social media campaign around each otherĀ“s work. This tie with my comment below about seeing "promotion" or rather, social media as an "art medium/medium for self expression" rather than just promoting. I found that many artists (self included) find difficult to promote themselves, but are much better at sharing otherĀ“s work theyĀ“re passionate about. ItĀ“s easier when you belong to a collective (like metalabel), but not as easy when you work solo. So itĀ“d be cool to facilitate this exchange, maybe, in the future. Maybe as a challenge?
[dt]I hadn't noticed it before a couple of other people commented on it, but in this case the "not just one" phrasing had the same effect for me of negative framing making the prose slightly harder to follow, or in this case, a little uninspiring. Given the content here, I wonder if there is a way to make the heading feel more inspirational/communal/more like an invitation.
-All Together Now
-Invite people in.
-Let people help
None of these are quite right, but you get the idea...
[du]I agree with this point, as timeline takeovers w/ all people involvedĀ in a project posting the same thing at the same time have been super effective in my experience. However, this does feel like we're just trying to beat the algorithm and I love Metalabel's thesis that we as creators are so much more than just algorithm hackers.
Maybe the principle is more along the lines of: "Build and nurture your core team", ie. a trusted group of collaborators, patrons/fans/collectors, whom you include throughout the process and who becomeĀ your key advocates when you release something
[dv]just thinking about this- how to be a good central coordinator, what can we learn from each other, hard to occupy space that is both fun and chill and also wrangle groups
[dw]this is huge. i know this doc is called "promotional PRINCIPLES", but some of these more specific / tactical insights are excellent imo
3 total reactions
Karin Soukup reacted with š at 2024-06-26 16:09 PM
Ryan Stubbs reacted with š at 2024-06-27 02:30 AM
Francesco Fusaro reacted with š at 2024-07-11 15:36 PM
[dx]+1 to this. I appreciated how specific and actionableĀ this was.
[dy]Ah, I'm glad! This has been learned through painful trial and error
[dz]Agree! I could imagineĀ a printable 1-page supplement that translates all these ideas into a synopsis of key insights, takeaways, and action items to help those like me who benefit from a quick tool to engrain new thinking. Happy to help if that's useful.
[ea]I LOVE this idea. I find myself really gravitating more toward the specificity and examples and then keep having to remind myself that this is supposed to be a document of principles. Maybe the Part 2 document could be Tactics for Creative People :)
[eb]+1000 this whole section. I have also found that using video messages or audio DMās has been great. People get to see you and your non-verbal Ā cues or hear your passion and sincerity. It seems to help break through the clutter and they connect with your message more deeply.
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[ed]_Re-opened_
[ee]Is this intended to be a reference to Scenius (https://www.wired.com/2008/06/scenius-or-comm/)?
If so, I might explicitly say that we're actually harkening back to that time.
[ef]Is this metalabel we or a different we?
[eg]A global we I guess :)
[eh]relationships to the Creator Economy are vastly different depending where on the globe you're experiencing it from---the attitude you're describing has been much more common in my interactions with North Americans than with Latin Americans, for example. Of course, there are people with this attitude anywhere, it's just interesting to me that its pervasiveness might not be as global as is implied here.
[ei]Interesting but also difficult to determine the uniqueness or universality of the premise. Beyond potential regional group differences, there are also potential individual differences, the interpretations of which are likely very diverse. That said, I do sense glimmers of ubiquitous truth beaming at me from Yancey's statement. (For context, I grew up in North America and have lived and worked in creative areas from within Japan for 15 years.) ...Is it individual outlook/maturity or social organization driving these views?
[ej]i feel this. it's an incredibly sad state.
[ek]I only perceive "scene" in a negative sense when it's used without a preceding adjectiveāTHE scene or A Scene. It doesn't evoke creation.
The "punk scene" or the "utopian sci-fi scene" sounds like an emerging movement that I want to know about. It evokes the image of something being created.
[el]ryan holiday's perennialĀ seller has some great thoughts on this
[em]Agreed
[en]Absolutely. Amen.Ā I'd also be curious to hear you describe a relationship to time and self-promotion, more tactically.Ā In the big picture, I think it's an important discussion point in "designing" a promotional practice given the constraint of time and energy.
I don't imagine there's a specific answer, but I would love to hear how people approach a % investment of hours / week ā in the modern world ā knowing it varies across individuals and rhythms of releases.
I say this as someone who hates self-promotion yet knows 1) It has value 2) is necessary and 3) for many, it takes away time from more valuable or meaningful pursuits, like art-makingĀ itself.
[eo]yes for sure, but also maybe the work of going back, revisiting andĀ reimagining past work, building new projections into the the present and the future from our own histories and the viewpoints within them. maybe sometimes goingĀ back and simply decommissioningĀ is the most creative next thing!
[ep]I noticed a lot of negative framing in this piece---"not this, but that"---and in general find that it makes the prose harder to follow and takes away some punch from the arguments you're making. Consider counting your "buts" and "nots" and see if you can restate the sentence without them.
[eq]_Marked as resolved_
[er]_Re-opened_
[es]I noticed quite a few instances of negative framing throughout this piece---"not this, but that"---and find that it usually makes the prose harder to follow and takes some punch out of the argument you're making. Consider revisiting the "buts" and "nots" to see if there is a more direct way to make the point.
1 total reaction
Shannon Chen See reacted with š at 2024-07-15 19:02 PM
[et]I used to...then the need for self promotion killed the joy XDĀ
On a serious note now: thanks for writing this and mostly, thanks for letting people commenting. A lovely experimental piece of collective writing.
[eu]What would you add as another promotional principle? Leave in this comment thread. Maybe we'll include!
[ev]Maybe one about sharing your process, or brining folks along? I use Patreon for this, I think you all use the newsletter for this (and this doc), some people create Discords. But some collaborative way to have accountability, feedback, community, bringing people in who want to do something similar, beta readers, etc.
Sharing bits and pieces in safe settings earlier makes the final sharing less sCarY via exposure therapy lol
4 total reactions
Francis Kanai reacted with š at 2024-06-21 03:20 AM
Avi Solomon reacted with š at 2024-06-21 16:44 PM
Christie George reacted with š at 2024-06-25 02:24 AM
Shannon Chen See reacted with š at 2024-07-15 19:04 PM
[ew]Yes yes, this! (also difficult for me and sCary. maybe a toes at a time?)
[ex]I would add a section about networking and walking the line of networking overshadowing the work... Networking as a way to find like-minded friends AND promote. Both are important. Focus too much on friends, you're in trouble. Focus too much on promotion, it drowns your creative spirit. Tamara Winters is great on this.
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Andrzej JĆ³Åŗwik reacted with š at 2024-12-31 14:41 PM
[ey]Hanif Abdurraquib suggests, "Your legacy is what you love and what you've asked other people to love alongside you." I think that's a great way to think about promotion. Asking people to love things alongside you.
[ez]1) Accept that the act of creation itself (prior to the question of to promote or not) is duality, both unapologeticĀ self expression and the deep desire to connect with others. Creative advice in both veins abound: "Write for yourself!" "Meet people where they are." In my experience, going too far down either path is crazy-making. Both are true! Both methods have yielded amazing art. Goya's Black Paintings are my favorite example of stunning art created only for oneself. Then you have folks like Ali Wong or the makers of Frozen 2 (GREAT docuseries on Disney+ y'all) that workshop relentlessly. Promotion is fraught and confusing because art is. Don't worry about it too much!
[fa]2) One person reached is a success (perhaps a subpoint of "Small is beautiful"). I've put out a lot of work that has only touched one person, but that one person alone made it feel worth it. I'm also thinking of a story I once heard about a YouTuber who consistently only had like 6 or 7 views on his videos, but then one of those turned out to be Oprah and she gave him a show!! So you never know. But even so, one person is often all it takes.
[fb]How do we let go and move on to the next? When is the right time? Do we double down on an idea or move on? How to stay in "don't give a fuck" mode and do what you want? At what point do we use the stats and data to make decisions? When do they help and when do the hurt? How to stay in the creative groove for the long haul? Prob many a book to write!
[fc]Consider promotion a way of staying devoted to your practice. It's not easy to keep at this whole creativity thing in the face of doubts (self and otherwise), the market, the limitations of time. I like thinking of promotion more like a way to stay devoted to the art - and not just putting it out into the world/abandoning it hoping that the right people show up. In the vibes of devotion, promotion can be thought of as acts of care and tending.
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Kirsten Lambertsen reacted with ā„ļø at 2024-08-02 18:23 PM
[fd]"Learn and iterate" - After each release, take a step back and reflect. Carve out the time to consider what you liked/didn't like aboutĀ this release from all angles (creative, promotional, community) and what insights you've gleaned moving forward.Ā
Perhaps this could be added to the "Make theĀ next thing" section, as I do believe we're constantlyĀ asking creatives "What's next?" whichĀ can bring its own pressure, when sometimes it's good to just pause and celebrate this milestone.
[fe]Vibing with people who love what you love is networking and self-promotion. It's ok if it feels fun and easy! Find your fellow vibers and nerd out. That's how scenes start.
[ff]How to make the ask!
Often, we know what we want to ask but we hesitate to make it. It could be we feel we have no value to offer (wrong) or that we feel too vulnerable. One process I use is that I Ask for 11 minutes. Dont ask for 30 or 60 thatās too long of a commitment that the other party has to consider. And dont ask for 5, no one believes you. Ask for 11, just enough to get a dialogue going and short enough to increase the chance of a yes. I use this strategy for meetings, pitches to media, cold calls etcā¦ the unique number grabs their attention and if you hold to the 11, the trust factor for the next call or longer meeting just increased. Hope it helps someone!
[fg]could be worth touching on the question of making money from your artā if one's goal is make a living from their work, their promotional approach will look different than someone who creates more casually.
[fh]Even within "making a living from work," there is a wide range of prioritiesā is it to gain fans? to get more work from peers? etc etc
[fi]Maybe this can be an addendum to the first principle- do it for yourself, but take time to try and clarify your goals/intentions (something that can be done along the way!)
[fj]Yes, good calls on making money from art
[fk]@rafaaslan Repeated what you said above, should have read the whole doc first XD
The answer to this question -at least for me- is: Separate producing from posting if you are the type of person who hates self-promotion. How? If possible, set aside a time and space (if you have the luxury) to create a project (by project I meant a creative endeavour that has defined goals and a deadline) AND produce without thinking anything else more than creating. When you have a good body of work/are satisfiedĀ enoughĀ (if ever, thatĀ“s another conversation, hehe) to put it out there, create a full campaign as explained here. This can also be creative and fun! A follow up art project even, if we see social media as another art medium
[fl]I really appreciated @rafaaslan for bringing up the money question. That was something that felt missing for me in reading the document, but I couldn't exactly figure out how/where to suggest writing it given that this was a principles doc. What I'm particularly interested in is how to think about money in the context of promotion (read: how does the promotion get paid for?/who pays for it?). Even it's just beer and pizza for the party in Principle 03, someone has to pay. Maybe it's just a reminder to not forget to set aside time/money for promotion or something like acknowledging that promotion also costs money, but there are low-cost/free ways to do all these things. I realize this sounds kind of transactional for a principles doc, but I think it does a disservice to make it seem like promotion is simply a matter of courage or getting over the ickiness versus acknowledging that promotion also costs resources in terms of time and money.
[fm]Should we include here that while Martin *painted* with her back to the world, she was an active member of a vibrant art community that included gallerists and journalists, all of whom championed her work to the world.