onezumi.com : Stupid and Insane Defenders Against Chaos

If you are a new artist or musician, this article is for you. Come to think of it, if you are not so new but are having some difficulty, this article is also for you. I'm going to talk about common promotional mistakes and how to avoid them. Some of these are small; others could completely destroy your career. All of them are so commonly perpetrated that it's absurd. If you care at all about people seeing your work, this concerns you.

Promotion: A Delicate Balance of Pain

Promoting yourself is a necessary evil. If you do it too much, you risk being labeled as a spammer. If you do it too little, you will probably hear something like, "Wow, your work is good. How come I've never heard of you before?" Even though this is frustrating, it is far better to hear the latter, rather than being labeled as a spammer. Spam will get you an initial stir, but it will cause people to boycott you on principle.

I know of a famous spammer. He likes to spam everybody about his events. He is well known because people hate him and his lack of consideration, not because he is doing well. People are always blocking him from their email boxes because he won't take "no" for an answer. A new event popped up in the area, and many people were going to go and check it out until his name was tied into it. Everyone immediately changed their plans.

Don't be a spammer. It does not work in the long run. If you need to promote, find communities that allow this type of thing and follow their rules. Include your URL and brief information about what it is in your signature line. Here's a new one, contribute to the group. Do something nice for others. Get people talking about you. Post your work on an art posting forum. We even host a place for that at Harknell.com.

Business Cards: It's Not That Hard, People

I notice that the same people who are struggling often have one thing in common- bad business cards or no business card at all. There seems to be a myth floating around that business cards are difficult to make or expensive. I can assure you, if your average uncreative, cheap-ass corporate executive can get them, so can you.

There is a high number of people at Cons and other events without business cards. To me, this is like a fat man walking around with no underwear. Please do not be the fat man. The fat man wastes my time. We all know how I feel about the fat man wasting my time.

There are thousands of people at these events. There is a slim chance that I am going to remember your specific URL/name/whatever without a business card. It is likely that I will remember people that I speak with when they tell me what we talked about, but not the spelling of their name and URL. Your business card is your link that outlasts the event and reminds people that they were interested enough to speak with you.

I don't understand why some people don't have business cards. It is a complete no-brainer. If you don't have business cards, ask yourself: "Do I just not care if people forget about me?" A lasting impression will certainly not be made.

Business cards are not expensive to order. If you are a dirt-poor student, they are also not hard to make. You can go down to your local office supply shop and get some Avery business cards. This is what I did for my first run. You can get ones that pull off cleanly from the backing paper and will not look bad. They may not be first class, but they are presentable and they get the job done. I was able to use color on mine with no problem. If you look around enough there are plenty of online printing places that can do your cards for a decent price. It'll just take you a week or two to get them sent to you, but time isn't that big a factor if you have no card at all.

Hello, Captain Cheap-Ass

I cannot stress how important it is to not go cheap on your promotional stuff. I keep seeing people with terrible business cards. No, I don't mean badly designed cards. I mean non-standard sized cards that do not fit in anyone's wallet and cards printed on shitty paper. This tells me that you are a cheap ass who couldn't be bothered to shell out a few bucks for Avery, all before I ever get to typing in your URL.

The other really bad thing I've seen are cards with advertisements on the back of them that tell you where you can get free cards. I specifically remember that, but I don't remember the person. I do remember throwing it in the trash, though. It's like an ad that says, "I'm too cheap to spend a few dollars on cards. I'm not someone you should take seriously."

Good presentation is everything. I've thrown away many a business card, CD sampler and other such things just because they looked like the person went out of their way to put no effort into it. If you want people to look at your work, consider this your first bridge to cross.

Presenting your work is the same thing as promoting your work, yet I constantly see this done poorly. What great artist puts their work in a rainbow Trapper-Keeper? For as little as $20, you can buy a nice, expandable, archival art portfolio. I was completely broke, but I still saw the value of investing in one of those. It's long-lasting, looks nicer, and can accommodate more pages. How much does a first impression cost? You can never get that back.

Get with the Technology or Die

Modern technology is good enough that it makes promoting art and music a breeze, compared to how it was in the 80s and 90s. Most people seem to unfortunately ignore this fact.

I received a promotional CD for a local band. It was done so badly that I am not sure I have words to describe it, but I'll try: The liner notes looked as if they were done on a 15 year old Epson color printer that had run out of ink. The CD had handwriting on it, and a really messy logo. The cover art looked like it was done in MS Paint by somebody who had never drawn in their life. I think it was supposed to be of a girl with a ray gun, but I really can't be sure.

I am more forgiving than most with this stuff, so I decided to take the CD home and give it a listen. I have to admit that this was mostly because we wanted to see what kind of shi- err...interesting sound would come off of a disc that looked this cheap.

I tried to listen to it twice. The people encoded it the wrong way and it would not play in both of my players. Keep in mind that 99% of everyone probably didn't even try to listen to it to get this far. Usually, if something is done poorly, there is a similarly poor effort behind it. This is almost always true as far as I have seen.

Ditch the Attitude: Respect Your Fans

It is part of your job to be social.

Yes, really.

You are going to have to deal with all kinds of people. How you interact is a big deal. This is a simple thing, but it's also often ignored. Nobody is a god. Nobody is special. If you are doing art or music just to feel better about yourself, you are not doing it for the right reasons. There is never a reason to snub anyone, or act as if you are above them.

Often I have heard people say, "Oh wow..you guys are nice!" as if it's some kind of rare thing. I didn't believe it at first until another popular webcomic came over to my table and went out of their way to insult me in front of people. He then responded to my benign politeness with an "aren't you glad to have met me." attitude. My interactions since then have shown me that this is more common that I would have thought.

Funny. I have also heard fans talk about how no matter how good their product is, they will never support them.

There is no better way to kill the appeal of your work than to be a massive jerk or obviously patronizing to your fans. I hesitate to meet artists that I like, because if they are a jerk, I will never be able to look at their work without a basic level of disgust getting in the way. It's like a fine pastry that has been crapped on by a small dog. With worms.

I don't mean that you have to be everyone's best friend, just friendly. It is amazing how many people this is lost on. Oftentimes I think some people are just shy, but that is no excuse. I am shy too, but it is part of my job to be social. If you are having a bad day, it's nobody else's business except for maybe your shrink. Who knows, you may find that its fun to talk with people. I went from being afraid to generally looking forward to talking with people.

Get over the issues, or risk being labeled a jerk. If you feel strange when people pay you compliments, get used to it. It is a fact that people are going to like you and people are going to hate you. You can easily embarrass people or turn them off if they go out of their way to greet you. How would you feel if you said "Hi" to a stranger, just to be ignored or met with a strange look?

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Promotion and Presentation: Don't be the Fat Man with No Underwear