I was speaking to a writer the other day about how she hates to have to market her work. It’s not a new complaint. I’ve heard it from writers, painters, musicians and film makers for years now. I’ve echoed the same complaint myself. It’s a perennial artist’s complaint. Generally from an artist’s perspective his or her job is to do the work, write the novel, paint the painting, record the song, etc. The marketing should be done separately and, more importantly, should be done for them.
I’ve written articles in the past explaining how, from my perspective, marketing and PR are integral parts of the job description when it comes to art. It always has been and it always will be. But here I want to address how the art of marketing can actually shift and morph the nature of art itself.
Several years ago when my novel, Bang! A Love Story was published, I was scheduled to do book readings. Those aren’t my forte. There are writers who are amazing readers. They are entertainers, performers; they bring their stories to life. Then there are writers who simply read their works. Sadly, I fall into the latter category. I knew it then and I wanted to come up with a solution that would help mitigate the problem of me simply being another writer giving yet another boring reading. I came up with an idea I dubbed, Novel Acts. These would begin as traditional readings. I would read for about two or three minutes and then, at a specific cue, I would stop and actors would take over performing the work as a theatrical performance. It wasn’t exactly a reading, nor was it strictly theatre. It was a hybrid and it was created as a way to help market the novel. . Since readings and appearances are all PR and marketing-driven, it was a marketing decision. It was thinking from a PR perspective that led me to this approach.
I’m not saying this was my invention, but it was definitely a new approach for me. The audience was given much more than ten or fifteen minutes of me nervously reading from my book, they were given an experience. Novel Acts worked from both from performance and a marketing perspective. But more than that, it changed the very direction of my writing. I fell in love with watching my characters come to life. It was the Novel Acts approach that convinced me to adapt my book as a play. The play was produced and I went on to write four more plays which were also produced. I had never thought of myself as a playwright. I had only wanted to write novels, but the experience of Novel Acts (which again, I emphasize was a marketing driven decision) shifted the very essence of my writing. The marketing and PR approach intrinsically informed and altered my artistic process.
So, this time, when my producer contacted me about putting up my newest play. I thought instead I’d try adapting it as a web series. Again, this is primarily a marketing-oriented decision. I want to present it in a new and different format. We’ll see where that goes.
Marketing and public relations are not only defined by media placement, ads, commercials, or social media outreach, they have to do with presentation, developing a specific approach, and the intricacies involved in the creation of a brand. As is generally the case, it is a hell of a lot easier for me to market clients than it is to market my own works. I need to give myself the same speech I give to clients on a regular basis. But the longer I’ve done it, the more I’ve realized that, if done correctly, PR can not only be an art; it can at times inform the nature of art.
Copyright © Anthony Mora Communications 2014