Sometimes we don’t want to put our art out there for fear of it being rejected.
That was the case with Jeff Kinney.
He is the author and creator of the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series of bestselling books.
After a successful stint at drawing a comic strip for his college newspaper he found he could not find a publisher for his work. So, he took a job working on video games. While he was working that job be continued to work on his passion project. He worked on it for eight years. He never gave up, but he did Prolong the Rejection.
Perhaps it was tied to a fear that if his art was rejected it meant he was rejected. Which is perfectly normal and natural fear.
He persevered and continued to work on his passion project and continued to push his art out into the world. Eventually a potential publisher saw it and immediately envisioned his art as being for a different audience than he had envisioned.
Don’t Let Your Vision Get In The Way of Your Success
He had a vision that his book (his art), which was 1300 pages now, was for an adult market. His new publisher had a different idea. And, they were right. They envisioned his book for an audience of kids. Now, after over 150 million books in print it seems his art was great, but his vision was a little off.
Would his art have succeeded in the adult market? That’s hard to say. However, we do know that kids loved it and became raving fans.
Question: What’s the difference between an opportunity and a roadblock?
Answer: Perspective
The point is … Fight for your art. Fight to get it out there. But, let other experts weigh in on distribution and other aspects. You never know when they might have a great idea that you might have overlooked.
Don’t prolong the rejection … real or imagined.
If You Are Afraid of the Answer … Ask the question
Don’t be afraid to put your art out there. Don’t be afraid to ask the questions that scare you. Don’t be afraid to put it all on the line.
But first, put your best effort forward. Put your best work into your art. Then … Prepare, Prepare, Prepare.
And finally … Ship It!
You may be denied the dream you’ve gone after. Or you may find that the dream you thought you wanted could be improved with some guidance from other experts that may have a flair for a different kind of art. In Jeff Kinney’s case that flair was identifying the right market.
What does this mean for you?
Careers are the art most of us put forth every day. Putting our best art out there takes practice. It takes preparation. It also takes listening and asking those hard questions. Standing out in our careers is a goal everyone has. No matter what form that career takes. Asking the hard questions. Really listening for the answers and taking action on them is both hard and required. Even though you may not want to put it out there it’s critical that you do. Don’t prolong the rejection. Ship your art!
In the end you’ll be glad you did. As hard is it may seem at the time. You know you need to ship your art. You know you want to ship your art.
Don’t Deny The Dream You Want To Go After. Ship your Art!
