I was enamoured by a beautiful voice.
It came from a lovely brunette performing at a festival in downtown Toronto.
I wrote down her name, determined to find out more about her when I got home.
To my dismay, when I went on Spotify, I discovered there were over 20 artists that went by the same first name!
I attempted to look her up online – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter – anywhere I could gather clues to narrow down who it was with the angelic voice and the guitar. Alas, I came up fruitless.
I share this mini-anecdote not to highlight my tendency for online creeping individuals (Hey! Who doesn’t nowadays?), but to emphasize the importance of properly marketing oneself to an engaged audience.
Had I successfully located this mystery artist, I would have saved her entire album and given it a chance. I may have even purchased one of her songs to use as a ringtone.
But because I struggled to find the very person whose music had entranced me, I shrugged it off as not meant to be – a missed opportunity where I chose instead to populate a playlist with other artists’ songs for an upcoming half-marathon.
The lesson here for writers? STAND OUT. Promote yourself, no matter how small you may be, no matter if you are just starting out, because you never know when your next biggest fan might discover you.
Take celebrities Lady Gaga, the Weekend, and Nicki Minaj, for instance. All three stars are household names, but it took some strategic positioning to establish their brand and make them recognized the world over.
HAVE A GIMMICK
With Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga, it was their audacious style and wacky music videos. With The Weeknd, it was his crazy, funky hair.
Okay – I get it, some people may bristle at the thought of creating a gimmick to stand out, that it may be perceived as inauthentic.
The cold, hard truth is that sometimes it takes a quirky thing like a gimmick to stand out amongst a sea of other incredibly talented, gifted artists. Then once you’re established, you can dial back the crazy and people can see you for who you really are, not just for the wigs and haute couture made of cow flesh.
Front-Load Your Appeal
Despite that, a gimmick will only take you so far.
The first time I heard a Lady Gaga song, it was in a crowded concert venue over the loudspeaker, as filler music to get people pumped for the main act. But after the concert I wasn’t looking for details about the artist I just saw; I was frantically searching for the singer of “Just Dance”.
Have faith; if you have talent it will shine through the superficial. No amount of butt injections, fake eyelashes, or model girlfriends will distract people from the realization.
Likewise, if you have a talent for writing, keep soldiering on! You may be a nobody now, but people will take notice if you have something of value to offer. And on that note…
Stay in the Public Consciousness
A few years ago you couldn’t get away from Lady Gaga! She was everywhere – from music videos, to fashion, even to questionable perfumes. But she was also constantly producing music, with back-to-back studio releases of Fame (reissued as The Fame Monster), Born This Way and Artpop in the span of 5 years.
Don’t forget a strong online presence – that means Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter. Take a page from those on top: If you want to be seen as a writer you have to write.
Talent + determination + CONSISTENCY (there’s that word again!) + a little bit of luck equals results.
So back to my mystery artist (for the purpose of this post, we’ll call her “Vanessa”).
I wish her all the success in the world. Hell, she might already be super-popular already and didn’t need the gig to bolster her social proof (doubtful, because at the end of the day I still don’t know who she is).
I hope my tweet somehow reaches her, just like my post reaches new writers – artists of the written word.
Your first goal in your path to writing greatness is to create. Your second, once you’ve achieved that greatness is to PROMOTE.
Don’t hesitate. The world is waiting to discover you.
What do you think? Do you agree with my words of wisdom? Is it necessary to promote oneself as a writer, or should the writing do all the heavy lifting and speak for itself? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!