Creativity and Entering the Market Place

I confess, this is  an extremely difficult issue for me.  Maybe it is because I am self-taught; maybe it is because I use art materials for self-understanding and self-expression; maybe it is because I am an introvert; maybe it is because of all of these and more.  All I know it that I enter a discussion of  “selling” in a tentative way which I already know is not necessarily the best way to “sell.”

I could, of course, simply do what I have been doing.  That is, I could continue to mid-wife the images that emerge and let them accumulate in my studio.  The problem is that some of the images gifted to me are just too interesting, weird, touching, unusual, colorful to keep squirreled away in my studio.

I could arrange a show getting pictures framed, tagged, priced, etc.   This has been suggested to me, but at this point I am not ready to invest in the financial and psychological cost of such a project.  Maybe someday I will.

What I have chosen to do is utilize our digital/virtual world.  I have joined Imagekind so that people can purchase prints of some of the images (www.redknibbles.imagekind.com).  I have published a book of Mandalas and plan to do more soon (www.blurb.com).  I may join sites like Zazzle.com or Cafepress.com to sell T-shirts, note cards, and other items.  I have chosen to work in this fashion because I do not need to hold an inventory or be responsible for shipping.

This “business plan” will require selling in the sense of informing people of these websites.  New media will need to be utilized, but somehow this seems less intimidating.  For me, it may even be more “creative.”

I do need others to help out though.  And I am certainly open to any ideas about this approach or any experiences you have had selling your creative projects.

I realize that entering the market place does not resolve the tension between creativity and consumerism.  That will probably always be.  Maybe though by going public I am at least “in the game.”

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