Self-Employment

The Production Revolution Isn’t For All: Money

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I've been spending the last few columns on the Production Revolution, the changes in technology that let any of us produce media.  Specifically I've been bringing up the factors that limit people from taking advantage of the  tools and technologies available to them and making successful media careers or side businesses.  I've discussed the limiting factors of lack of time, the lack of technical skill, and the lack of marketing skill.

I'm not finished discussing the traumatic truths of the Production Revolution limits yet – I've got one more reason why the new tools and tech out there aren't going to turn everyone into a potential artist, musician, or popular author.

Money.

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The Production Revolution Isn’t For All: Marketing

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You're hoping to leverage the Production Revolution to get out your novel, your music, your comic, what have you.  I've been covering the reasons that the new tools for media creation and distribution aren't going to turn everyone into a potential media success (such as time and technical skill) and I'm going to continue to rain on the parade by noting another factor: marketing ability.

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The Young And Hungry Fanartists

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I'm noticing a trend at a lot of conventions I've been to lately.  I see a lot of young artists in the dealer's rooms and artist's alleys with a few things in common:

  • They've started selling their art in the last 1-3 years.
  • They have gorgeous, professional business cards and signage.
  • They're reasonably to very-well wired, with websites, porfolios online, and the like.
  • They do a lot of personal branding, even going so far as to dress to fit the theme of their table.
  • Their tables are professionally laid out with the right signage, decoration, and so on.
  • They're big on cross-promoting projects they do together, or with others.

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