Why are people buying my very average art and not my above average writing? I’ve been pondering this.

I’m a mediocre watercolor and ink artist. I don’t mean that negatively; it’s just the truth. I make the kind of art that looks nice, but an experienced eye can see lots of room for improvement. Honestly, I’m quite pleased to have reached mediocrity from the place I started. I’ll just as happily agknowledge that I’m above average with words. I’ll not be getting any notions of greatness about either any time soon, but writing is something I’m passionate about, people have noticed my “way with words” from a young age and for the past five years or so I’ve really buckled down to hone my craft. But let’s take a look at the nubmers, shall we?

(Besides ministry tools) books sold to date: 0
Art & art products sold to date (including current commissions):79

Interesting right?

I’m definitely not complaining, but I often wonder about this. I’ve come with a couple of reasons art sales are happening and publishing is not so much.

First of all, art in general is easy to share and especially easier for me than writing. In a visual, instant gratification society, a picture of my latest scribble is simple to share and easy to consume.

Art isn’t something I feel pressure to excel in. It’s restful creativity for me. Writing is too, but painting rests me for the writing. I like to say I was born with FOMO. So I want to learn to do nearly all the things. In that sense, yes I want to continue to paint and get better at it. But much like knitting, spinning, singing and the myriad of instruments I play, also with mediocrity, I’m here to enjoy the process and the creation.

Writing, on the other hand, is my passion. Failiure is unacceptable. If I felt I had a calling in this world, it would be to love people by creating sacred space for them and writing.

I think the combination of words taking more effort to share and consume in addition to feeling personally riskier makes it more difficult to “get it out there” so to speak.

Spurring and confirming this thought is the performance of my serial fiction The Shantyman. With each episode of season one, readership went up, up, up. I’m super pleased! But also, season one was only six episodes long. I’ve been drafting season two, but life is already full and much of the time I’ve set aside for writing has to go to my main projects headed for publication. It’s just a lot harder to “throw some writing” onto the internet than it is to create a painting and snap a picture.

Maybe this deserves a post of it’s own, but you can see the value our society places on visual vs literary creativity in the price we’re willing to pay. Most authors would be hard pressed to tell you how many hours went into their book. Full time professional authors are expected to publish one per year, and many of them get burnt at that rate.

It takes me anywhere from one to twelve hours to complete a painting. Many artist take much longer. Artists rarely sell originals for less than $100. (Unless you’re like me and struggle to charge that and take less on a regular basis.) Often, prints go for many hundreds and originals for thousands. I haven’t run across one that took a solid year. And yet, books (think of them as prints) that take a year or five to write sell for $7-$30. Impressions and quotes from a good book hang on the walls of our mind forever, just as timeless as any painting.

I digress. Why are people buying my art and not my books? Ease of access, I guess. The book market is flooded with authors. Small presses are popping up like weeds in July to meet the demand and even more are turning to self-publishing. In both art and books, marketing wins. I hate marketing, especially my writing that feels precious and sacred. But I don’t mind throwing my doodles out into the world for you to love or hate.

If you have more insight, please comment your thoughts below! Here’s a gallery of recent art and (since we’re on the topic of putting writing out there) a link to The Shantyman. Consume my creative works at your leisure. May you leave enchanted and open to the beautiful gifts God gives.