Gatekeepers, Producers, and Professional Makers

This is a post from the now-retired Make & Meaning blog – though I changed the title, as the original title was rather lame on second reflection.

Image by Tipiro, via Flickr Creative Commons

It’s true that you can declare yourself an artist (crafter, writer, etc.) anytime you want.

But if you want to become a professional maker (that is to say, get paid for what you make), then you’ll have to get some other people to declare you an artist as well – and consent to pay you for your work.

What’s interesting these days is that, if you want a third party to declare you a professional maker, you can take two distinct approaches:

Approach #1: The Corporate Gatekeeper

For decades, we’ve lived in a system where a small number of people or institutions had the power to decide which makers would become professionals. There were people who decided whether your manuscript would be published or not. People who decided whether your paintings could hang in galleries or not. People who chose whether the songs you wrote would be played on the radio – or not.

Image by Sam Javanrouh, via Flickr Creative Commons

Approach #2: The Fan Base

Nowadays, we’re watching the influence of these corporate gatekeepers wane, as a new breed of makers begins to do that deciding for themselves. Thanks to the internet, you can self-publish that manuscript. Build an online gallery of your paintings. Share your own music via MySpace. All this requires is the focus necessary to hike whatever learning curves you need to in order to make it happen.

But you do still have to face a kind of gatekeeper in order to be paid for these efforts – in fact, a whole slew of individual gatekeepers. Now, instead of appealing to an editor or a corporate buyer, you have to develop and appeal to an audience. And not just an audience of blank-faced consumers, but an audience (and a community) of true fans.

Image by Dawn M. Armfield, via Flickr Creative Commons

Pros and Cons

You might think I’m about to say that the corporate gatekeeper is somehow evil, while the fans are the best audience for a true artist. Well, not quite.

I certainly do think that, if you produce your own work and actively build your own fan community, you get to enjoy a deep connection to the handful of people who really “get” what you do. That’s pure gold to makers.

The downside is, you have to work very hard to keep this kind of professional making viable. You have to wear lots of hats. You have to earn your fans’ support every single day – but you also can’t ask your community for money over and over. You have to keep seeking more and more fans, and diversifying your business efforts – and if your work isn’t very mainstream, this may be an uphill path.

Image by Grant MacDonald, via Flickr Creative Commons

Those corporate gatekeepers, on the other hand, often control access to much bigger audiences. If you can connect with the right gatekeepers, and convince them you’re worth letting in, theoretically at least, you can make much more income. (In some creative industries, of course, you can spend years knocking on doors, trying to find a gatekeeper who’ll say yes.)

Also (in some cases), if you seek a corporate partnership, you might have someone to handle the business end of things so you can focus more on making.

The trade-off? Well, the larger the audience you can reach through a corporate partner, the more bland and mainstream your work may need to be in order to appeal. This may mean compromising your creative vision, and it may mean producing work you aren’t in love with in order to make a buck.

Image by ladyvee9, via Flickr Creative Commons

Which to choose?

So, which kind of audience is best for makers? I’d definitely say, both. And start by appealing to those fans.

If I have one new year’s wish for makers everywhere, it’s that sometime in 2010, you’ll try being your own producer at least once. You can start small, too – make a zine, record a video, or start a blog. Just produce something on your own, and don’t wait for some outside influence to tell you whether you’re good enough to do it. You’ll learn a ton in the process, and you’ll begin to step into the shoes of a real 21st century maker.

…But eventually, if you aspire to larger levels of income, you may need to learn to dance with those corporate gatekeepers, too.

If you make things professionally, I’d love to hear about your experiences. Which approach do you find most satisfying?