One thing readers might not know is that a vast majority of books—90-95% or more—sell less than 10,000 copies. Most even less than that. There are high profile books with good reviews and awards that sell less than 10,000 copies.
A powerful, insightful essay, Sam, that covers the problems of pursuing the arts.
I plan to post the following thoughts in future work here. But I'd like to share my thinking with you here along with a quote: In a workshop, I try to talk about the story I have in hand in terms of the elements of craft that I know I can teach, discuss objectively. I try to do this with a continuing understanding that we are dealing with art or what we hope will become art. “Art”—what an elusive word. Let me try to make that word concrete with a quote from Lewis Hyde whose book The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property I recommend to understand how or why one might spend what’s left of one’s life trying to do this work that rarely if ever sees the light of day and has no hope to make one rich. Indeed, great art (Van Gogh’s paintings, Joyce’s Ulysses) does not lie easy in the world.
Lewis Hyde says: “I think, a gift—and particularly an inner gift, a talent—is a mystery. We know what giftedness is for having been gifted, or for having known a gifted man or woman. We know that art is a gift for having had the experience of art. We cannot know these things by way of economic, psychological, or aesthetic theories. Where an inner gift comes from, what obligations of reciprocity it brings with it, how and toward whom our gratitude should be discharged, to what degree we must leave a gift alone and to what degree we must discipline it, how we’re to feel its spirit and preserve its vitality—these and all other questions raised by a gift can only be answered by telling Just So stories. As Whitman says, ‘the talkers talking their talk’ cannot explain these things; we learn by ‘faint clues and indirections.’”
As you develop your thinking, think about the distinction between being a part of an artistic industry and being creative. More people than we sometimes imagine make their livings in artistic industries, many are middle-class, and receive great satisfaction from what they do. Whether or not many of these jobs are “creative” is another question, but not necessarily decisive. A friend from high-school became a violin stringer, that job is in the arts but more artisan than creative. Another became a Hollywood lawyer but also played French Horn in bands making commercials. Definitely part of the art world, but not necessarily a creator of art.
Chartes cathedral, one of the great Western works of art, were the people working on that creative? They were certainly engaged in the production of art.
I would submit that to improve our society we would be better off having more people involved in the arts, and able to make a reasonable living, a competency in the American tradition. That is a question of where our society wants to spend its money.
"Simply put, art as it is is too intertwined with narcissism." I think this line, more than any other in this killer essay, is the real rub: can we unstick ourselves from the commodification of the personality that is creating the art? I believe yes, especially because Substack and reading writers like you is so inspiring. But of course humility and success tend to be inversely proportional, so it may only be a matter of time before you or I am selling Instant Waffles for a Snapchat Channel b/c someone offered us $10,000 to use our "brand image." And then we'd have a stomach ache. Because of the waffles.
One thing readers might not know is that a vast majority of books—90-95% or more—sell less than 10,000 copies. Most even less than that. There are high profile books with good reviews and awards that sell less than 10,000 copies.
A powerful, insightful essay, Sam, that covers the problems of pursuing the arts.
I plan to post the following thoughts in future work here. But I'd like to share my thinking with you here along with a quote: In a workshop, I try to talk about the story I have in hand in terms of the elements of craft that I know I can teach, discuss objectively. I try to do this with a continuing understanding that we are dealing with art or what we hope will become art. “Art”—what an elusive word. Let me try to make that word concrete with a quote from Lewis Hyde whose book The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property I recommend to understand how or why one might spend what’s left of one’s life trying to do this work that rarely if ever sees the light of day and has no hope to make one rich. Indeed, great art (Van Gogh’s paintings, Joyce’s Ulysses) does not lie easy in the world.
Lewis Hyde says: “I think, a gift—and particularly an inner gift, a talent—is a mystery. We know what giftedness is for having been gifted, or for having known a gifted man or woman. We know that art is a gift for having had the experience of art. We cannot know these things by way of economic, psychological, or aesthetic theories. Where an inner gift comes from, what obligations of reciprocity it brings with it, how and toward whom our gratitude should be discharged, to what degree we must leave a gift alone and to what degree we must discipline it, how we’re to feel its spirit and preserve its vitality—these and all other questions raised by a gift can only be answered by telling Just So stories. As Whitman says, ‘the talkers talking their talk’ cannot explain these things; we learn by ‘faint clues and indirections.’”
Love your writing, as ever --Mary
As you develop your thinking, think about the distinction between being a part of an artistic industry and being creative. More people than we sometimes imagine make their livings in artistic industries, many are middle-class, and receive great satisfaction from what they do. Whether or not many of these jobs are “creative” is another question, but not necessarily decisive. A friend from high-school became a violin stringer, that job is in the arts but more artisan than creative. Another became a Hollywood lawyer but also played French Horn in bands making commercials. Definitely part of the art world, but not necessarily a creator of art.
Chartes cathedral, one of the great Western works of art, were the people working on that creative? They were certainly engaged in the production of art.
I would submit that to improve our society we would be better off having more people involved in the arts, and able to make a reasonable living, a competency in the American tradition. That is a question of where our society wants to spend its money.
"Simply put, art as it is is too intertwined with narcissism." I think this line, more than any other in this killer essay, is the real rub: can we unstick ourselves from the commodification of the personality that is creating the art? I believe yes, especially because Substack and reading writers like you is so inspiring. But of course humility and success tend to be inversely proportional, so it may only be a matter of time before you or I am selling Instant Waffles for a Snapchat Channel b/c someone offered us $10,000 to use our "brand image." And then we'd have a stomach ache. Because of the waffles.