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Dec 31, 2012

One piece of advice you give writers/artists is to put their work out on the internet. However, how does someone get noticed in a place that has become so mainstream that the people who have established a spotlight for themselves don't allow for any light to be shed on the newcomers that have the potential to be great?

mirikaye

Okay, here we go, real quick:

1) “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” Nobody gives you points for the “potential to be great,” unless they’re your parents or your teachers or something. Stop worrying about getting noticed. Keep making work, keep putting it out there, but most importantly, keep getting better.

2) Make a lot of work, know that a lot of it will suck, share the stuff that doesn’t. Just crank, crank, crank. Sturgeon’s Law tells us 90% of everything is garbage, so post the best 10% of your work online.

3) Own your own turf. Get www.yourname.com. Set it up as your homebase. The spot where people can find you.

4) “Do what you do best, and link to the rest.” If you want your work to be noticed, start noticing the work of others. Share work that you love by your peers, by your heroes, etc. Blog, tweet, tumble. Don’t just pin it to your pinterest board, write about it. The way to be interesting is to be interested, etc.

5) “Give yourself a decade.” No, really. Every overnight success is a myth. This shit takes time.

More in my book, Steal Like An Artist, and more in the next book, which I’m in the middle of writing.