Selling is one of the most undervalued skills of any creative career.
In a perfect world, everyone would instantly recognize genius and no artist would need to sell their vision or work. Now I know this may come as a bit of a blow, but it’s not a perfect world. And the fact that it isn’t is in a way a spur to your creativity. But that’s a slightly different point.
The ability to sell a good idea is almost as important as having one. Capturing the essence of your work in one succinct sound bite is crucial to encouraging the person buying it and to helping the public understand it. Cubism, Surrealism, Pop Art, such labels are all attempts to capture the essence of an art movement and to help the public access and appreciate the many different works each one encompasses.
A great idea is only a great idea when you’ve shared it with the world. And to do that effectively you need to be able to define what it is you’ve created.
In the commercial world, this is called pitching an idea and mastering this art is essential. To an editor with a book to sell, a producer with a TV show to option, whatever, a strong and arresting presentation can be the difference between success and rejection.
When pitching an idea it’s important to keep it simple. Your goal should be to get the idea to open out inside the head of the person you’re pitching to. If brevity is the foundation of wit, so it is with a successful pitch.
Of course, you can always leave behind a body of work to be discovered after your death. But that’s not really all that satisfying. Sadly for many great artists their genius was only recognized after their death. It may sound flippant, but had they been a bit better at presenting, perhaps a few more of their groundbreaking works would have been recognized in their lifetimes.