{"id":44713,"date":"2016-10-27T21:30:55","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T05:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=44713"},"modified":"2017-05-27T08:47:43","modified_gmt":"2017-05-27T16:47:43","slug":"why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Choosing Yourself Is The Best Choice Of All"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

<\/p>\n

It’s time\u00a0to take\u00a0control of your creative career.<\/p>\n

We live in a judgmental society. People judge us by our looks, our clothes, our pedigrees, our homes, even our pets. There\u2019s no end to keeping up with the Joneses. Whether you\u2019re looking for a job, submitting art to a gallery, trying to get a poem published, auditioning for a play, or seeking a business deal, you have to get by the gatekeepers.<\/p>\n

Gatekeepers are just normal people, but they have been assigned to protect a turf. You may have the greatest novel in the world, but if it doesn\u2019t fit into some kind of marketing plan that can raise lots of profits, it\u2019s toast. You may feel so frustrated you want to give up.<\/p>\n

With the Internet, it’s now possible for you to choose yourself and your audience. You may have thought about this, but aren’t sure it’s any easier than getting past the gatekeepers. Rather than one fell swoop, think of it as as series of small steps. Sure, it\u2019s not easy to self-publish and sell a lot of books, or upload fine art prints and sell a lot of those. And some unsavory characters have gamed the systems, making it even harder for honest, hardworking creatives.<\/p>\n

But the fact is, the opportunities are out there. And the Internet has merely brought back the way things once were\u2014in the 19th and earlier part of the 20th century, it was common to self-publish or partner with a publisher. Dostoyevsky, Twain, Hemingway and Lewis Carroll all had to finance some of their own works.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you\u2019ve taken a stab at doing it on your own, and it hasn\u2019t worked out. What\u2019s great is you can reinvent yourself and keep going. You can test what works and what doesn\u2019t. You can aim your work at the whole world or at your immediate groups.<\/p>\n

Study what has done well. You\u2019ll probably find it\u2019s not the most intellectual, not the most creative, and certainly not the most obscure works. It\u2019s those that reach out emotionally to an audience that\u2019s well understood by the author. Did you know that Julia Cameron\u2019s landmark book The Artist\u2019s Way<\/em> started out as a self-published book? It was called Healing the Artist Within<\/em>. It didn\u2019t get past the gatekeepers. But once it was out there in the world, the gatekeepers took notice and turned it into a best-seller.<\/p>\n

Could it have done just as well without gatekeepers? Well, gatekeepers do have their advantages. They do marketing and distribution\u2014but ask any author and you\u2019ll realize that author is responsible for a lot of her own marketing, even with traditional publishers.<\/p>\n

Some best-selling authors are doing it entirely on their own. You can make digital products or paper ones. You can free yourself of all printing and fulfillment duties, or, have your work printed and sell it yourself. You have a greater chance of climbing the success ladder by approaching smaller gatekeepers, such as libraries and bookstores.<\/p>\n

The main thing to stick to it regularly, and keep up your confidence. You\u2019re now writer, artist, publisher, gallery, and bookstore (or some of those, anyway). Keep a sense of humor and be patient. Reach out to others, but don\u2019t spend all your time on social media. There\u2019s no substitute for pounding the pavement. One vital thing that all publishers know is to know and understand your target market. Choose your audience.<\/p>\n

Give back to your community<\/p>\n

One artist just painted dozens of portraits of people in his Brooklyn, NY community. The portraits culminated in a parade, a museum show, and a ton of free publicity. Not only did he bring the community together, he gave them the gift of being immortalized in art, and did his career an enormous favor. That\u2019s classic choosing yourself. Did he sit around and scheme? No, he truly wanted to give back to his neighborhood.<\/p>\n

In many non-Western cultures, art is woven into the fabric of life. It\u2019s not stuck in museums, it\u2019s lived, in textiles, dance, language, food, and ritual. When you think about it, that way of living is truly giving back, rather than being fixated on impressing the suits. It\u2019s joyful. It\u2019s what art\u2019s about.<\/p>\n

Choosing yourself will\u00a0increase your gutsiness in all areas. You might just take to it like a bird to flight.<\/p>\n

\n

Vicky Young is a\u00a0writer\u00a0and and illustrator. She works in traditional and digital art, and has a masters in art education. She blogs at Tablets for Artists<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s time to take control of your creative career.<\/p>\n

We live in a judgmental society. People judge us by our looks, our clothes, our pedigrees, our homes, even our pets. There\u2019s no end to keeping up with the Joneses. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11786,"featured_media":45170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[205,45,32,6],"tags":[5581,4653,5582,2099,4641,4629],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Choosing Yourself Is The Best Choice Of All<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's time to take control of your creative career. We live in a judgmental society. People judge us by our looks, our clothes, our pedigrees, our homes, even our pets. There\u2019s no end to keeping up with the Joneses.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Choosing Yourself Is The Best Choice Of All\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It's time to take control of your creative career. We live in a judgmental society. People judge us by our looks, our clothes, our pedigrees, our homes, even our pets. There\u2019s no end to keeping up with the Joneses.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-28T05:30:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-27T16:47:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Screen-Shot-2016-10-27-at-6.03.58-PM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"485\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"drawnwiththewind\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Screen-Shot-2016-10-27-at-6.03.58-PM.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Screen-Shot-2016-10-27-at-6.03.58-PM.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":485,\"caption\":\"Why Choosing Yourself Is The Best Choice Of All\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/\",\"name\":\"Why Choosing Yourself Is The Best Choice Of All\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-28T05:30:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-27T16:47:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1f4d0dcbccd9448da714da50d5f8849b\"},\"description\":\"It's time to take control of your creative career. We live in a judgmental society. People judge us by our looks, our clothes, our pedigrees, our homes, even our pets. There\u2019s no end to keeping up with the Joneses.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Choosing Yourself Is The Best Choice Of All\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1f4d0dcbccd9448da714da50d5f8849b\",\"name\":\"drawnwiththewind\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0809a2f94c1a429acb7b80286fc631e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0809a2f94c1a429acb7b80286fc631e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"drawnwiththewind\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/drawnwiththewind\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Choosing Yourself Is The Best Choice Of All","description":"It's time to take control of your creative career. We live in a judgmental society. People judge us by our looks, our clothes, our pedigrees, our homes, even our pets. There\u2019s no end to keeping up with the Joneses.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Choosing Yourself Is The Best Choice Of All","og_description":"It's time to take control of your creative career. We live in a judgmental society. People judge us by our looks, our clothes, our pedigrees, our homes, even our pets. There\u2019s no end to keeping up with the Joneses.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/","og_site_name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain","article_published_time":"2016-10-28T05:30:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-05-27T16:47:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":485,"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Screen-Shot-2016-10-27-at-6.03.58-PM.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_creator":"@pickthebrain","twitter_site":"@pickthebrain","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"drawnwiththewind","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/","name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Screen-Shot-2016-10-27-at-6.03.58-PM.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Screen-Shot-2016-10-27-at-6.03.58-PM.png","width":696,"height":485,"caption":"Why Choosing Yourself Is The Best Choice Of All"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/","name":"Why Choosing Yourself Is The Best Choice Of All","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2016-10-28T05:30:55+00:00","dateModified":"2017-05-27T16:47:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1f4d0dcbccd9448da714da50d5f8849b"},"description":"It's time to take control of your creative career. We live in a judgmental society. People judge us by our looks, our clothes, our pedigrees, our homes, even our pets. There\u2019s no end to keeping up with the Joneses.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-choosing-yourself-is-the-best-choice-of-all\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Choosing Yourself Is The Best Choice Of All"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1f4d0dcbccd9448da714da50d5f8849b","name":"drawnwiththewind","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0809a2f94c1a429acb7b80286fc631e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0809a2f94c1a429acb7b80286fc631e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"drawnwiththewind"},"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/drawnwiththewind\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44713"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11786"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}