If the publishing industry is dying, then the publishing industry must have been the wall between artist and consumer that is currently crumbling.
Chad Cooper: Flickr Creative Commons
There is tons of talk equating the decentralization of publishing with the death of publishing. The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Huffington Post and many other news sources have all called it the “death” of “publishing as we know it.”
But this death is a new birth for artists and consumers of art. One of the primary reasons the publishing industry came do exist as it did was the simple fact that printing presses used to cost millions of dollars and no one had one in their pocket. Now they cost nothing (print on demand) and everyone has them (in the cloud).
Regarding the “death of publishing,” volumes have been written in tones ranging from elation to panic. Too little has been written about what a great time it is to be a consumer of creativity—a fan. If the publishing industry is dying, then the publishing industry must have been the wall between artist and consumer that is currently crumbling.
The former artistic model for success depended on finding the right guy in a business suit to believe in you. Now the artist’s job is to create and convince people to believe in those creations, one person at a time.
Be A Fan. Consume Great Works Of Art.
If you live in an apartment in, say, The Mckibbins Lofts of Brooklyn—then odds are Hemmingway is living in the loft, Picasso in the basement, Dali has rigged up a tent on the roof, The Beetles practice in the furnace room, T.S. Eliot is selling his chapbook in the foyer, Bob Dylan is busking out front and Van Gogh is in the alley making horrible life decisions.
Art is happening everywhere and as fans of art, we have the ability to consume more than content that someone else (usually in a suit) thinks we should like. You have the chance to get to know the artists you support and help them achieve their artistic dreams by consuming their creations and “spreading the word.”
As consumers of art—paintings, music, books, or Internet content—your vote of confidence, who you like and how you tell people about it decides which artists will be able to make a living off their art in today’s world. That seems as fair and democratic a system as can exist.
The unbounded world of artistic creating is blooming and you get to walk around the garden and smell the flowers before deciding which to take home.
I think most expats in Antigua, Guatemala hope that one day Ishto Jueves will represent our community in international music festivals. But in the meantime, we’re glad he plays at our favorite hole-in-the-wall bars.
I’m sure one day I’ll be a marginally successful author who sits at the bar and tells about how he used to chill with musicians Julianne Mason and Tom Hoy. If the singer songwriter I met in Iceland, HEK doesn’t get hit by a car for not looking both ways, I think your kids might not just listen to him, but read about him like we read about Bob Dylan.
Be Biased
Obviously, I am biased. These are my friends. But that’s the beauty of it. Be biased about what you value and spread that value around the world.
I am very excited to read independent author Jonathan Kendell’s “The Evolution of Stran
gers” because my friend Chelsey was quite biased when she told me what a great book it was and how cool the author (her friend) was. I was sold after watching the trailer and plan to get it for my sister for her upcoming birthday (so, you know, I can read it first).
The world can feel like a small place, and it turns out Jonathan is friends with quite a number of my expat friends loosely basing out of Antigua, Guatemala.
As someone who is both a fan of independent artists and one myself, I’m overjoyed with the current creative times. While I’m as eager to “sell-out” as soon as a publishing executive rings me, I also feel that even if that never happens, I can continue to do what I love on my own without needing an “industry.” I just need enough people who know about what I am doing and value it.
So it’s not really the death of publishing. It’s more like fans are rising up and deciding what they like on their own.
Maybe we should stop calling them “fans” in favor of “dream enablers.”
If you are reading this blog, well, then you are supporting me (thank you for that). Thank you for being a dream enabler. Please click on the ad (:
