Tweet of the Day: Why do literary novelist love dystopias?
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A successful artist is successful because they have…a fandom.
Be it an individual fan or a group of them, it can be extremely rewarding and downright scary dealing with fans. Nothing boosts the artist ego than to be told, yes, this work of yours is great. Nothing fattens the artist wallet like the fans hard earned cash. They can also be creepy stalkers who fantasize about paring your characters in ways neither God or Man ever intended.
No, that thing doesn’t go anywhere near that eleven year….
Wait, I threw up a little….
Deep breaths….
You get both sides of the coin, rolled up in deep fried batter of the interwebs. Of course, these are the people who pay for your success (for whatever value of success you claim or is claimed on your behalf) which opens a whole can of worms about ownership. It gets worse when fractures in the fandom appear, each clique claiming to be the “true” followers.
Reminds me of religion, but with (so far) less public stoning.
An artist does not operate in a vacuum. Thus he/she needs an audience to support the work. Keeping the audience happy brings all of the above in to the forefront. Ignoring the fandom or abusing their trust can tank any career. In the end it is up to each artist to come to grips with the fans, and for each fan to decide how much energy to invest in the fandom.
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Neither Here nor There.... 