Self Promotion
It can cause folks to like or dislike you. It can make your career or make people weary - and sometimes both at the same time. Promote your work too little and folks might think you lack confidence or commitment. Promote it too much and folks might consider you an egomaniac.
Is all art self promotion of a sort?
Is self promotion inherently good or bad? And if it depends, where do you draw the line?
Do we sometimes use self-deprecation, consciously or subconsciously, to promote ourselves?
Can we at least say writing a poem or posting a blog is a form of self promotion (unless, perhaps, we do it anonymously)?
Might reading a book, eating a meal, and taking care of one's health be forms of self promotion as well?
What if I promote my blog showing off other people's talents? Does that qualify as self promotion or other people promotion?
And what if some of our self promotion is self destructive? Does it still count as promotion?
I have more questions than answers. But while I continue to ponder, I encourage you to leave your own thoughts on self promotion below.
self-portrait at the Coventry Library in Cleveland Heights on 10 May 2009
Is all art self promotion of a sort?
Is self promotion inherently good or bad? And if it depends, where do you draw the line?
Do we sometimes use self-deprecation, consciously or subconsciously, to promote ourselves?
Can we at least say writing a poem or posting a blog is a form of self promotion (unless, perhaps, we do it anonymously)?
Might reading a book, eating a meal, and taking care of one's health be forms of self promotion as well?
What if I promote my blog showing off other people's talents? Does that qualify as self promotion or other people promotion?
And what if some of our self promotion is self destructive? Does it still count as promotion?
I have more questions than answers. But while I continue to ponder, I encourage you to leave your own thoughts on self promotion below.
self-portrait at the Coventry Library in Cleveland Heights on 10 May 2009
I very much liked this observation and do not think "self promotion" is entirely egotistical. Writing is communication and without communication there is no art. Without art there is nothing to teach or criticize. Some are artists, poets, writers and some are critics. I think most of us would prefer to be the former and so our works are written, published and hopefully remembered for the future. If self promotion satisfies the one who creates it is a good thing even if some may dislike the creation.
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I have more questions (than answers). Can anything we do ever be entirely devoid of egotism? Perhaps everything we do is egotistical or at least selfish (though the difference can be nebulous) on some level. I mean, are we more inclined to do someone a kindness if we can feel good about it as a result? And is helping our species survive (even if it means sacrificing one's life to save others) a form of selfishness (I'm trying to use that word without its negative connotations, which may be impossible) on the part of the species? Maybe what I justify as a selfless act is the species using me as an arm to accomplish its self promoting deed (or self-preserving, though again the difference can be nebulous).
Just thinking aloud here, trying to take ideas to their logical conclusions, logical flaws and all....
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You raise some interesting questions. Of course, I'm always trying to walk that fine line of self-promotion, myself. All artists must struggle with the concept. Along with the selfconsciousness of presenting something you've created, it presents an interesting dichotomy, don't you think?
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Ah... that precarious walk some of us know all too well. Though I hate to quote him, I'm reminded of something Hitler is said to have said - we "navigate across an abyss on the edge of a razor."
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One other point, self promotion made me a local best-selling author. I'm all for it!
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I'd rather get paid than be known but how do you get paid if you're not known (re: chicken or the egg theory)? I do like to eat...
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I like this blog - like the thinking behind it.
For me everything is measured by nausea & ecstasy. If I feel ecstatic, I share and promote. If I feel nausea or dullness, I clam up.
I think as long as one is sincere & in the moment, promotion/exhibition is OK. (But who am *I* to say this for anyone else?)
I think everything that has a potential audience is tweakable.
I revel in makeup & dressing up, glam.
Self-destruction can be very interesting and creative.
I want a world full of exuberant, awkward, precocious, annoying, beautiful & strange personalities rather than a careful crafty world of political creatures scared to assert anything.
I want more expression, not less. I want people to say their inner thoughts, especially the ugly & interesting thoughts. I want to hear the pollyannaish stuff as well. I want to hear about jealousy too.
I want weirdness & ecstasy & a spotlight & chance for everyone.
I want people to say what they love. I want people to say what they hate. I want people to act w/ good heart towards other people.
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I like this Kathy .. would like to say ditto to almost all these points.
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Nausea and ecstasy - good terms for it - I do (or feel) the same - exactly - though once in a while I share my nausea, which can either make me feel a bit better or make me feel a bit more nauseous.
Sometimes I'm not sure in retrospect if I was sincere or in the moment - though I might have believed (convinced myself?) I was when I wrote. Or am I overthinking it? Like I wrote in "Going Mobile":
"Often I feel I
overthink
most everything I do or say -
other times I feel I don't
think enough
or am thoughtless -
sometimes I feel I'm doing
or not doing
both simultaneously...."
Is "everything that has a potential audience ... tweakable"? Yes - and I love to tweak - but sometimes I'm afraid to because something Shakespeare said pops into my mind: "Striving to better, oft we mar what is well."
Ah, makeup.... Confession: I had an inexplicable urge to wear eyeliner to Lix and Kix Tuesday. But I didn't because I wanted to stay "real" - or maybe also didn't want folks to perceive me as trying to be something I'm not - didn't want to be "phony," whatever that is. But maybe disobeying the creative urge (even in something as insignificant as eye makeup might be) for fear of how it might be perceived or misperceived made me as guilty of being unreal or phony as I was trying not to be.
I believe it was Bakunin who said "The urge to destroy is a creative urge."
You say, "I want a world full of exuberant, awkward, precocious, annoying, beautiful & strange personalities rather than a careful crafty world of political creatures scared to assert anything." Me too! Yet in significant ways it is more comfortable to be political. Alas....
I say I don't wanna hear the pollyannaish stuff - but part of me would feel somehow lacking if I never did.
And as for the rest of what you said, I can only say YES.
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I think it would've been neat to see a man wearing makeup - it's not an everyday thing
Who cares about the cattiness of other people? f them. they're keeping the weirdness level down. they're the enemies. my own cattiness makes me ill when i perceive it creeping into my attitude, the 'specialness' of my ego.
I'm gonna make me some sock puppets
We have to do our crazy dreams otherwise we're *not* doing our crazy dreams & that's crazy
We need to be unreal but real
O that I am never haughty, high n mighty, just shy or gauche, or magnificently awkward & self-effacing, or clumsily beautiful & bold
Not calculated for carefulness. Tho premeditated artistic acts are swell.
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Like the sock puppet idea... weirdness rules in my book.. or uniqueness as the case maybe...
I think we do get a bit uptight about things sometimes.. so thanks for the reality check Kathy.
But will it sell? LOL.. (just kidding)...
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They had a heated discussion on Michael Grover's FB page on this very point a few days ago...
And myself, I view it as a double-edged sword. Something we all have to do to some extent or other but sometimes it is hard to find just the right formula that works for us.
As a writer or artist, or someone trying to be noticed or have their work noticed you have to do some form of promoting. But when is it offensive or too much? As you say. Do you have to promote yourself as well as your work?
I have seen people who I can identify in my mind as folks who do it well. That I emulate. And I can also point out people (if I wanted to) who I've actually come to dislike because of the methods they use to promote themselves and their work.
So if it is done there is a right way and wrong way to do it obviously. And if it offends people then you have just undermined yourself/ oneself as an artist. People will be turned off and not take you seriously. So what to do?
I tend to think of the lessons from the Tao when it comes to things like this.
Lessons like humility, gentleness, perseverance, etc.. all come into play.
I think when it is done in such a way at to not put down others at ones own expense then it is good.
I tend to like to do it in conjunction with being supportive of other people and what they offer. As part of a group. It is just what I feel comfortable with. I don’t like having to promote myself… but want to share my work.
So if there is a good or better way of doing it... I’m all ears.
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Thanks.
This is the John I have always enjoyed.. gadfly.
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And even if out intentions are good we are going to annoy some people..
So do we quit? I don't think so.. I think we always tinker and adjust... just as we do with other things in life.
Still I have more questions than answers - and maybe I'm drifting off the original point(s), though there are connections to be made.
I do know what "feels" right for myself or when I see it.
What feels right for you John?
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That's what that made me think of.
I would really appreciate it if someone would point out the line we have to walk between what is perceived as self-confidence and drive and what is perceived as megalomania. Every time I post an announcement I wonder if I have set out a neon "amateur" sign.
I tend to agree, Ren - disingenuous indeed. Sometimes "they will come" if you build it - but you're a rare, lucky case if they do.
And I can definitely relate to wondering if I've "set out a neon 'amateur' sign" - though I haven't seen you set one out yet.
I'm writing that down in my book of favorite quotations, Charles.
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I often think about these things - as I am often self-promoting in one way or another. The discussion on Michael's blog got methinking about it again this morning - but I didn't leave a comment there because I felt I had more questions than answers and didn't want to be perceived as taking sides. I wrote this blog as a sort of thinking aloud - never imagining that more than one or two people would comment in response. Interesting how it's developed....
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I could write a blog 10 times as long as this one talking about self-promotion, the people who tell you you're selling out if you try to promote yourself, the divas whose attitudes are 80,000 times bigger than the quality of their work deserves.......you've gotten those wheels turning in my mind again John...
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Part of me is scared to death I'll end up being one of those divas. I fight it with self-deprecation and other tools - some well honed and some dull and rusty.
If you wrote such a blog, I'd love to read it.
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I don't think there is anything wrong with ethical self-promotion. Right now I'm having a huge problem with Cheney's self promotion.
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Sometimes there's a thin line between self promotion and self preservation. Sometimes, like in Cheney's case, I wonder if there is a line.
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Since I was the first to comment I may be the last. I believe any creative work, be it art, architecture, poetry, music etc. should have an individual personal style and it should be recognized as the hallmark of that individual. So there is nothing wrong in any self promotion. But to imitate,
copy and have another person's work as a basis for one's own is to lose one's individuality. Of course, one can belong to a school of artists, poets, etc. that think and write and create similar works but it is still more important to forge one's own work without using another person's work as the foundation. There is no egotism when the creation is truly individual, and furthermore if it has a personal stamp of one's own creative juices giving it something of one's inner being. This is by no means selfish or self-serving. Are there any more comments or questions?
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Bono sang, "Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief, all kill their inspiration and sing about their grief." Do you agree?
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Do I agree? Absolutely not. Every and all artists and poets aren't the same in spite of the fact that thief and grief rhyme. I would sing a different song.
Viva la diferencia! Long live individualism. And as far as this blog is concerned what does it mean to be published in a VANITY PRESS? Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. Ecclesiastes says: "I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit."
Just be cool and rock on and all you poets will be happy. Everyone will say they LOVE it and WOW and give the claps.
lol and
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In Ecclesiates it is also written that "There is nothing new under the sun" - which I think is kinda what Bono was affirming.
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Perhaps there is nothing new, but what is new? Everything every minute of every day things change. We change, nature changes, so I would say there is nothing that doesn't change under the sun. Even you and I change, don't we?
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Perhaps "Solomon," in his near infinite wisdom, realized that astronomically speaking we're not actually under the sun at all, anymore than we're under Jupiter whenever we see it in the sky. There's nothing new under the sun (I imagine the sun would crush and burn up anything it fell on). But there's plenty new orbiting the sun. It's all a matter of perspective.
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John 14:6 I am the way the truth and the life.
Sounds like self-promotion to me...?
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That does it - now I'm going to have to dig out that WWJD bracelet a fellow inmate gave me years ago. Or was it the chaplain? Again, sometimes the distinction is nebulous.
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Wasn't the Bible written by Shakespeare?
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Whose speare was he shaking?
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Chaucer's; or was he Chaucer, too? Now I'm confused!
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No one else will ever promote you, so it is really the only venue.
Then the question becomes: How do you do it well, and in such a way that is self-sustaining.
I think one problem is that we hate the shit out of ourselves, and it invariably shows.
When you actually encounter someone who is OK about who they are, the effect is dazzling ... and the self-promotion actually works.
I say this as an observer, not as one who knows how to do it!
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We hate to love ourselves and love to hate ourselves.
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The word "promotion" suggests marketing.
Is this what we are talking about? Think of Emily Dickinson and Kafka who wrote everything without an audience to promote their work.
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I'm thinking of it in a more literal sense - a sense in which I think Emily, Kafka and everyone else was or is promoting.
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unless you're wealthy and have an agent to promote you - what choice have you?
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(The rest is a species of vanity, greed, lust, etc...)
I think the one difficulty is that the person him/her self must judge the level of their own ability or talent... and that is were the problem lies. If they are a sensible judge of their own talents then they will hopefully promote their work at a level appropriate to where they are.. if not there is egotism and vanity.. as you've said.
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promoting other people's art/words/thoughts/actions is promoting oneself because we're in essence saying "look how cool i am to recognize other's talent" - usually (but not always, since life is usually usually and never always).
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I agree. That's what my whole online library is about - and if there wasn't some satisfaction in it for me, I suppose I wouldn't continue doing it for very long. But is that good or bad?
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must act in their stead to let talent rise to the top.
And, yes, we may indulge the Greats and often do forgive them all sort of tastelessness for their gifts.
As far as the relation of humility to egomania are concerned, Schopenhauer says it best: With people of only moderate ability, modesty is mere honesty; but with those who possess great talent, it is hypocrisy.
intellectually lost who ever argue.' Nuff said
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it's good because besides self promotion we're also sharing cool stuff with others, which is how i personally find out about cool stuff. as the old testicle says, nothing in and of itself is good or evil, it's how and why it's done.
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An interesting short video someone posted on Facebook today.
That speaks a little to the topic of self-promotion.
It is about distributing poetry in the modern age.. but Anne Waldman's statement about Kerouac, Ginsberg and the others being published says, " We didn't wait around to be discovered... we discovered ourselves."
I like the thought in it... It speaks to self promotion in a positive way.. not necessarily egotistical.
Anyway.. thought I'd share it :
Will post it below... hopefully.
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We discovered ourselves! I like....
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http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/authors/anne_waldman_saves_the_chapbook_115398.asp
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This is an interesting discussion. Poetry and art are forms of communication, so is promotion. If you have something to say you want people to hear it, to get people to hear it you need to promote. Of course there are exceptions, the very personal writing, then also the problem of people who have no substance behind their promotion. Blogging is self promotion too!
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Indeed! Thanks, Crafty! I appreciate your feedback. Good points....
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