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Are you Selling or are you Making a Contribution? It’s all in your head.
“When you sell a man a book, you don’t sell him 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue. You sell him a whole new life.” Christopher Morley
Are you just selling your work, or are you making a contribution?
There’s a difference between the two, but only in your mind.
You can be really great at singing or writing or photography, but if you don’t make your talent available to the world, than you’re depriving mankind of it.
The way that you share your talent is by making it available to others. This is done through sales.
You sell your screenplay to a production company, you sell your paintings to a collector and you sell your sculpture to a city.
Some of us cringe at the word “selling” as though it’s dirty. Just the thought of the act of selling can take the art out of ART. It goes hand in hand with the business of art – it doesn’t come naturally to creative people.
But what if we look at SELLING in a different way?
What if we SHIFT our thinking and instead of calling it “selling” we call it “making a contribution?”
Let me explain.
The word “selling” conjures up images of a pesky person going door to door trying to sell something that someone doesn’t want. It brings up fears of rejection and the worry of becoming a nuisance and the unpleasant thought of shoving your ideas down someone else’s throat.
But what if you are solving someone’s problem with your talent?
Here are a few examples:
The City of Redondo Beach wants a tribute to surfing that will draw tourist to their town. A sculptor proposes (sells the idea of) a large bronze statue of a famous surfer. The sculptor creates a beautiful piece of art for the community and makes the city look good.
A painter hesitantly calls on an interior designer asking to show her landscape paintings. The interior designer is delighted, because it’s just what she’s been looking for.
You wrote a book that shows how to easily make mosaic tables from scrap materials. There are thousands of people in the world that would love to learn this, and now you’ve given them a tool that makes it easy. Thanks to you, they now enjoy the art of mosaics, too.
You could look at this in another way – the sculptor went to several cities with his idea. It didn’t work for all, but for Redondo Beach, it was a huge problem solver. The painter called on many interior designers. Not all of them were looking for landscapes, but one of them needed it badly.
Think about where we would be if Thomas Edison didn’t share his light bulb invention and instead kept it to himself. We’d still be reading by candlelight, or worse, by the glow of our cell phones.
Where would we be in society if artists didn’t share their creations with anyone but themselves: Do you realize that every single product we enjoy, from clothing to food to furniture, would be boring, plain and downright ordinary? There would be no music to listen to. There would be no plays or movies to watch. The world would be just bland.
Every musician that you listen to had to sell someone on their talent so that eventually albums could be made and sold for you to buy. Every screenplay writer had to sell their writing to an executive before we were able to watch their brilliance in a film. Every single piece of artwork that we see on every product imaginable had to be sold first.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that there is no such thing as selling when it comes to art.
There’s only the making of a contribution. If someone needs what you have than you are making an important contribution to that person. And that’s something to feel good about.
The next time you are nervous about selling your art, remember this: someone needs it. You are solving that need. Now go out into the world and make a contribution with your creations!
Maria xxoo
PS: Please comment on this article – I’d love to hear what your thoughts are on selling vs. making a contribution!
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- Commit to your Craft
- Why Artists Should (Not) Be Paid for Their Artwork
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Tags: business of art, making a contribution, Philosophy, selling art, selling vs. making a contribution
Lisa McClure
09. Mar, 2010
Great post Maria. Why is it that artists are so quick to devalue their contribution?
I really like this Emerson quote:
“Money, which represents the prose of life, and which is hardly spoken of in parlors without an apology, is, in its effects and laws, as beautiful as roses.”
The effects and laws are of course are the “universal mathematics” of contributing value by developing yourself and your talents. Who does that more so than the artist?
deni
09. Mar, 2010
Great advice as always, Maria. It reminded me of my history studies, and how whole cities were spared in WWII because of their artistic treasures – things which both sides agreed to protect, even in the midst of war. Art is valued, and needed, and necessary for any civilization. Without it, life becomes very Orwellian.
Maria Brophy
09. Mar, 2010
Orwellian – I like that! Thanks, Lisa and Deni both for your comments. When you think about it, art is EVERYWHERE!
Roberta
09. Mar, 2010
I am trying to make contributions to the walls and beautification of people’s homes around the world, but I need to find more people that need their walls adorned and homes beautified!
Archan Mehta
10. Mar, 2010
Maria:
Yes, we need a paradigm shift.
You are correct in pointing this out, to be sure.
Especially this is true where art is concerned,and artists need to keep that in mind.
Artist want to create a masterpiece, but are not good at marketing. So, they suffer because they believe that selling is distasteful.
Selling is the ugly duckling of the family. Avoidable, unpopular.
By creating art, however, we are making a contribution.
We are “adding value” to the lives of people, not just to customers/clients.
Great art is directed toward common weal–toward human welfare–and it then becomes a public good for the commons.
So many people stand to benefit from it.
I think, therefore, that artists need to have a more positive attitude; more energy to create art.
And more avenues to market that art, so everybody benefits.
Even today, Pablo Neruda’s poems, I have heard, are celebrated in the cathedrals of South America, especially in Chile.
Neruda’s poetry was so inspirational that it was converted into a movie, El Postino (The Postman).
Please check it out, if you get the chance. It moved me.
Artists like Neruda are so good, and quite rare, that you can immediately relate to and identify with what they are writing about.
Your post reminded me of that fact: it had a humanizing influence.
Thanks for that and keep on contributing. Cheers to you!
MADART
10. Mar, 2010
You hit the nail on the head with this one Maria!!
My husband and I were JUST talking about this the other day. I have some very talented artists/writers/photographers in my family, a genetic gift
And most of them never do anything with it, and it’s so sad 
A lot of it because they are afraid of “selling out”. But as you so perfectly said it’s not selling out it’s contributing to society and if you have a gift, it’s your obligation to share it with other’s!!
LOVE this article!!
Jesse
10. Mar, 2010
I am not an artist, but have successfully sold art for 18 years – mostly in fine art galleries. There are a few artists, who for whatever reason, would be the wrong person to present their art to a gallery. But if it is just fear that stops you – fear is fun after you take the ride! Be aware however – selling is a skill set, just like painting. As far as getting into galleries goes – walking into a gallery on a busy weekend with your art under your arm and talking to a salesperson is the wrong way to do it. First, find out via phone or Internet who you need to be talking to – the decision maker – and approach them professionally. Make an appointment. Otherwise you will very likely hear “oh, we aren’t taking any new artists right now”. The sales staff is there to make a living – they usually take turns talking to people, and you just took their turn away from them. Frankly, they see you as a nuisance. They do not want to see your art, a hundred artists may have interrupted them this month. It is rare to succeed in anything by sheer luck. Read Maria’s extraordinary blog, buy a book about selling art, do your homework. Then you will avoid much of the rejection that hurts your belief in yourself as an artist. Wanna be a pro artist? Be a pro salesperson or find one to help you. Otherwise, you will join the long trail of artists who have gone forth expectantly only to return home discouraged for no good reason. Bless you for your talent and creativity – the world is hungry for beauty and inspiration. Go for it!
Sue Allemand
11. Mar, 2010
LOVE this post Maria! You put it so wonderfully! I was having one of those — just get it done days, where you don’t really feel like working, but you know you need to make some progress, but you just wanna lay out in the sun and sleep? (blah! is the word! hehe) – and you picked up my attitude! You are DEFINITELY making a CONTRIBUTION to all of us! Thank you for being our cheerleader and motivational speaker!
You keep me inspired – and that’s not easy for us work alone artists! Please keep it up!
Daina Scarola
20. Mar, 2010
Wow, I needed that Maria, thank you. This is exactly how I need to see things, in a new perspective. Being someone who is naturally shy, the few times I’ve put myself out there and gone for what I wanted I got it. But sometimes the rejections, years of rejections, can really batter the spirit. I’m going in a good direction though now, with big goals and determined to work toward them. Who knows, maybe I will be the next big ‘surf artist’!!
Eight Things You Must Do When you Sell An Artwork | Art Marketing - Maria Brophy
04. Aug, 2010
[...] There are a few steps to take when you’ve made a sale of your artwork. The most important is to make a meaningful connection with your new collector. After all, the collectors are your supporters who enable you to live a creative life. And living a creative life enables you to make important contributions to the world. [...]
Christine
12. Jul, 2011
Excellent article and a great way to inspire and motivate artists to share their work with others.