Your work is done, evaluated, formatted, and sent for print. Now what? Before we conclude this year’s series of “Stages of Creation”, here’s a stage which I do feel needs to be worked at, even after your work is out and in the world - Personal Branding and Marketing. To be honest, this post itself can stretch to its own series, especially with the changing times and needs among various consumers nowadays. Regardless, something I’ve learnt over the last decade or so, was that despite the changing exteriors, there are key components that still remain evergreen: Proactiveness Be proactive - even with an agent or a publisher. Agents are rare in Singapore, mostly because we’re geographically small (together with our reading population). Therefore, should you get a publisher or an agent while being based in Singapore, it’s a foot in the door, but there’s still work to be done. Your products will sell better if their creators believe in and will push them. It’s the same even if you have an agent or publisher. Meeting or strategizing how to sell your stories with your publisher / agent on the regular not only shows your commitment to your work, but boosts confidence in the people tasked to selling your work. Engagement Be involved in the community or industry. No amount of marketing and strategizing will be better than being on the ground and talking to your audiences - both internal and external. I’m not telling you to spend your days at Forums or every launch you can get yourself to, but know yourself and your audience. You want to be in comics? Start going for comic workshops, panels, or sessions. You want to go into writing for games? Know what’s going on in the gaming industry - perhaps at your nearest game shop or community? And the most important point in engagement - Listen. In an age of disruption, it’s very easy to listen to argue, listen to reply. This also means that many creators miss out on a great opportunity to get feedback. “But what about trolls?! What about people who just attack me because they’re jealous?!!!” This is what we’ll be covering in the next section... Focus Be focussed in your personal brand. The next question would be how? Since half the people you know are artists in their own right, think subject matter, not format or genre. I wouldn’t say I can give you any answers for this, but here are a few suggestions:
Positioning yourself as an interested member in the subject matter of your choosing is just one of the ways you can keep your focus but also engage various audiences who are likely to be interested in your art. And now, I leave you with perhaps the most important piece of advice that I’ve ever gotten - You are not your work. (Even today, I still struggle with separating who I am with what I produce. It’s an arduous process, but a necessary one if you want to sustain yourself in the creative industry.) Thus, I wish all of you the best. (Or as what my Game Master once said - All the bestest!) # And that’s it for Stages of Creation for the year. Thank you all for your support and I hope this series has managed to help you in some way or another.
Until next time!
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