Comments

1
Do musicians have to put up with this kind of undignified bullshit? Do painters?

Can't speak for musicians (although I suspect it's true there to), but painters --in fact, artists of all stripes-- get that kind of undignified bullshit all the fucking time!
2
Kind of a slap in the face to poets. Or, rather, "poets." Not to mention people who like to write and don't particularly wish to share it with paying customers.
3
So the work of the advertising salesforce that keeps you in print and pixels is undignified bullshit? Keep it classy, Stranger.
4
The sort of thing may not help anyone become a writer worth a damn, but I don't see how it's going to keep anyone from it either.
5
Ridiculous. A person who makes something and then tries to sell the thing they made has never been what "salesperson" means.
6
Interesting that he still refers to himself as an author in multiple places on his website.
7
Malcom Gladwell
8
What, you think the shit you write for The Stranger actually qualifies you as a "writer?" Boy, are you deluded.
9
Doesn't he have a point?
10
Tricky, this one. In an ideal world, no one would get paid for art, because we'd have no need to earn a living, and we could all just express ourselves willy-nilly all day and night, right...?

But this ain't that world. So unless you're independently wealthy, or willing to take on a job that pays money in tandem with doing your "real" thing, you're always thinking at some point in the process, "will this piece I'm working on put food on the table or not?"

I'm not saying that automatically means "they're all salespeople!" - but I think to wave away the comparison completely would be a mistake.
11
Jeffrey Koons seems to wholeheartedly embrace it.
12
I guess there's no point in telling a book know-it-all how many books have been written telling painters and musicians they need to become salesmen if they want to quit their day job.
13
Musicians are indeed advised by many to endlessly network, self-promote, cultivate fan-bases as personally as possible, constantly engage in social media, etc. I actually think it's a good idea for them to do so. But what if they're actually really blessed with making music, really fixated on that, but are classically shy or typically self-absorbed and simply don't have the relational skills necessary to play AND be "salesman"? I feel sorry for a lot of those artists. Even though all that "putting yourself out there" is arguably good advice, it's very hard for many and impossible for a few.
14
@5 - a "crafter" then perhaps?

also, i tend to agree with this quote wholeheartedly, especially in regard to painters. fucking hacks. get a real job.

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