Amanda Palmer Wants Your Money: A Post-Mortem

She really hit the nail on the head re: the value of art in today's culture, and one of the commenters drove home that point in a beautiful way. He wanted to know why he should give money to AFP when there were starving children who could benefit from the donations, and why wasn't she working at McDonald's instead of begging for change that could go to the starving baybeez?

Art and artists have very little value in a production-oriented society. I mean, look at how we struggle with the idea that the only way you're valid as a writer is if you land a big book deal and make that magical transition from "writer" to "author" (I forgot who first stated that, but it cracked me up even as it made me think). I deal with it any time I try to sell my art, I've dealt with it as a writer -- there's this assumption that if it's not a means of production that involves paychecks and/or contracts, then it doesn't have any worth because ANYONE can do THAT.

*sigh*

Because yeah, all of us can write Strange Little Band or be Sarah Cloutier. (Or any of the hundreds of other writers and artists I know and do my best to support.)

Yeah, it was an awesome, righteous rant, but let's break it down. What has she done, what is she doing, and what can we learn from it?

I think the heart of it was to not be afraid to take people's money, and to be proud of being an artist and remember your art has worth. Kind of something to tape over your desk there.

A big part of AP's traveling gigs has been announcing it on Twitter a few hours or a day ahead of time and then seeing how many people show up wherever the event is. I'm mentioning this specifically because for ME, this is the least replicable. I don't have a big enough following to have 20 people show up if I decide to go to a park somewhere in a US major city. It also requires an in-person aspect that I'm not sure I could perform for, other than doing readings and answering questions. If I had a larger following, maybe? But I'm not a rock star, I'm a writer.

Amanda's done a lot with chats, though, especially webcasts. She's auctioned stuff live and interacted with fans. She's taken some risks there, not knowing how people would respond. She uses TwitPic a lot to take interactive pictures of herself - and not her cats. (You can DO that?) Again, this is a performance thing. Amanda has figured out how she can perform on a new medium, she has taken risks, she has made some good guesses and bad guesses. Most of her fame is gotten by what you might even call shock art. People watch because they don't know what she's going to do next.

I think the closest WebLit comparison we have to that is MCM, who wrote a novel in 3 days by interacting online via Twitter and such. He took prompts on the fly, took pictures of himself, and basically through the act of writing Typhoon became part of the spectacle himself. A lot of what Amanda is doing involves making a spectacle of herself. There's a lot of energy that it takes to do that, and, as I've said several times, a lot of bravery.

You can't really copy Amanda Palmer - what she does is not going to draw numbers by BEING copied, because its very appeal is based on being unpredictable. You can try to think like her, though, and be inspired by her. She's definitely a pioneer.

Now, aside from the performance art, AP also has Post War Trade: http://www.postwartrade.com/ which is an online merchandise shop that sells goods made by independent artists. Handmade-type stuff, very unique things like you'd find on Etsy. It's different than just running a Cafepress or Zazzle shop. This is where you can start to think about swag, and how creative you can make your swag. Time and ability/skill are both questions, but maybe you have a friend with an embroidery machine, or know someone that hand-screenprints. See if you can start up a relationship through that. People like supporting artists, and supporting a WebLit artist AND an indie crafter at the same time is a pretty magical formula.

"I don't have a big enough following to have 20 people show up if I decide to go to a park somewhere in a US major city"

I guarantee that if you showed up in a park in Ithaca, I could get 20+ people to show up. They might not know what they were showing up for...

What MCM does is probably more replicable, with the same caveat as AP - part of what makes him intriguing is that he's unique. If I, say, were to try to do my own novel in three days, not only would my husband and cat and job be very annoyed, but it wouldn't have nearly the flashbang that MCM did.

I've been thinking about how to utilize Twitter, etc, to draw more interest in my work. I think Zoe_E_W's backwards tweets have been the most effective tool I've seen aside from MCM's #3D1D.

/babble

"I guarantee that if you showed up in a park in Ithaca, I could get 20+ people to show up. They might not know what they were showing up for..."

rofl - very witty

*grins* But true! My WebHobo's ... call it an avocation... is meeting people. We haven't quite figured out how to turn this into more readers for Addergoole, but I'm certain we could get 20 people to Buttermilk Falls for Irk. Especially if we lied & said she was a girl

~Lyn

Lyn, I nearly spit my coconut water at the screen.

OK, focus, kids: What I'm hearing/seeing about AFP's method is the following:

-- Be fearless. Don't be afraid to show people who you are (says the pen name).

-- Be confident. Know that your work is worth financial support, and don't be shy about it.

-- Make yourself available. Come up with ways to interact with fans, as many as possible. We have an advantage in that what we do is intrinsically interactive in the most basic way: Our fans get to talk to us directly, ask us questions and so on, on our sites--if we're doing it right.

-- Embrace the swag, and think beyond Cafepress/Zazzle/Spreadshirt. I've got a few idears myself, but I'm the World's Worst Shipper, so we'll see about that.

Any other bullet points we can draw from her example?

@MeiLin If you prep it, I can do a swing-by and do shipping runs for you. Gives me an excuse to chat and possibly sneak in a scoop of gelato. :3

Yeah, you can print labels at home after buying postage online, so it should be pretty simple. Especially if you have a mail-compatible scale. USPS will mail you free Priority Mail boxes and you just turn em inside-out to use them for non-priority mail usage. (You laugh, but Central Park Media mailed me my Utena DVD box set this way.)

To make this on-topic: Amanda Palmer has energetic friends that she gives props to and that help her do her dirty work as well! It's all about co-conspirators.

Swag: to connect to the knitting world over there, is anyone else on Ravelry? The amount of fan knitting that happens is kind of extreme. Harry Potter, Dr. Who (of course), Twilight... Mario Brothers!

In my list of plans is a series of knitting patterns for Addergoole - because Ravelry is kind of huge, and it extends promoting to an entirely different audience.

Co-conspirators. That's a topic in and of itself: how do we best use our friends?

~Lyn

Lyn - Obviously Twitter is a GREAT way to use our friends. XD The networking abilities alone are amazing, really. (Also, pdxchar @ ravelry. <3)

Oh my, do you think promotion would work that way? I think I have a wicked idea... have Edie design a pattern in the story, then actually design the pattern myself and sell it...

It's worth a try! I'm trying to design a pattern for Shahin's wristwarmers & for Kailani's purse(. Life keeps getting in the way, though...

~Lyn

This entire site is about leveraging friendships and relationships.

I got a Cylon Centurion hat pattern from Ravelry. I've yet to try it out, though.

I can see that . But I meant our meat friends, not our digital friends.

I.e., how do I use my WebHobo's skill to meet people and make friends with them everywhere he goes to best promote my work? I've already put two friends obsessiveness and my husband's boredness to work - is this common? It seems like the small business model is most applicable here - the "family business" where everyone chips in, paid or unpaid.

This may need to go in a different thread; I'm all over the place today.

L

Awesome. Start one, it's a good topic: How to exploit leverage your family to promote your work.