Making hay while the sun shines
This email is one that could come back to haunt me, because I think I’ve hit a new high for being an independent, self-employed person.
This could be a painful thing to celebrate because, in this world, there’s so much seasonal variation in work, income and opportunity. For example last year, in September/October/November there were some really good sales. Yet December and January were completely barren - I think we sold something like 10 books over 9-10 weeks. Super slow.
But at the same time, a habitual caution and qualifying each win can rob me/you/everyone of some gratitude and joy. I do know some people who will say something like ‘this thing went really well, BUT maybe it will go badly again’ which, on one hand, is totally fair and I understand the need to temper our own expectations. And, on the other, it’s nice to bask in some pride for a bit.
This week’s email is my attempt to do the second, and say thanks for being here and letting me share the wins. However, I also am a bit worried that if I get too ahead of myself then the quiet periods may hurt that bit more. If, at the end of the year, I do have to go back to work, it will be harder if I’ve puffed myself up.
So - the experiment is going well, but it’s still an experiment.
I want to share five things that have gone well since leaving work in July. Some I’ve shared already but there are some new ones as well.
My project The Killing Sink is having something of a small renaissance. This work was published in 2021, and for about 5-6 months there was some really nice press and sales. I did some exhibitions that year and it was a good time. In the last 2-3 months three nice things have happened. One: a curator working on a book about bird photography asked to use some images in an upcoming Thames & Hudson book, small fee but nice. Two: a curator asked to use 4 prints in an exhibition in Normandy, a slightly larger fee for those. Third, a magazine based in Germany are writing about the crime that the project is about and are paying me quite a big fee for using the photos.
This is something I always share with people I mentor or at workshops - your art work, ideally, can have a life longer than the time it took you to make it. The Killing Sink took me three years to make, and now three years after publishing it there are still some nice opportunities.
I’d be surprised if there are any others this year or next, but it’s good work that can always find a new home and a new audience. The income is also great and helps me get towards a good place financially.
There are a lot of good opportunities with arts education. I’ve shared that I’ll be teaching in Western Australia (if you’re in Perth come to this workshop, if you’re in Kalgoorlie come to one of these). As these have come together there have been good opportunities to offer similar work to new areas, and also learn how to be of more value to different places.
I can see possibility next year of spending 2-3 weeks visiting rural arts centres and running comparable workshops. That’d be a lot of fun.
I’m also working on expanding what I do as an educator and the ideas that I have, which I’m not ready to share publicly, have had a warm reception to those I’ve shared them with. This is encouraging.
I believe my time in New Zealand has led to another paid opportunity, and it all adds up. These things are waiting to be confirmed, and may fall through, but that’s ok - that there’s conversation happening is one step further than 2-3-4 months ago.
My group of friends, supporters, peers, etc is growing. I recently spent a lot of time connecting with two new people. Both have been supportive and helped me a great deal.
In particular, one of the new people I met has been very helpful in suggesting ways to professionalise and grow Tall Poppy Press, and it’s been a really good series of conversations. I was looking for someone like him for a while - and it’s good to have found someone with a background in branding and design who is unfussy, supports good organisations and is down-to-earth.
The other has been a real supported of the inter-state work I do, and helped me set up a few nights in Perth that I’ll share next week. It’s good to have good people in my corner, and there are plenty of them.
Financially there have been a few unexpected windfalls. As I shared last week, NZ was a real boon for sales. Then this German magazine paid me for useage at a high price. Then my time in Kalgoorlie got extended and extra money was paid. I am not naive enough to expect these to be regular things, but making hay while the sun shines is important. I suspect September/October to be months I earn as much as I would have if I was working full time at a University, which is fairly immense.
Increasingly it feels like I’ll get to the end of the year and be in a position to keep working for myself. I think that I will need to do some casual teaching during the early parts of next year, however it seems like there is enough coming up, and enough ways to grow the pie, that it’ll be worth continuing and getting closer to my dream. Earlier this year I sketched out what a realistic good case would be - me making around $50,000 a year from art, education and publishing. This week I sketched out a ‘stretch goal’ - something that feels possible, but still a better case scenario. That was about $70,000 a year.
Like a lot of people I feel a bit awkward talking about money so specifically. However, it’s an important part of the journey. As a 35 year old, there are just some things that I need money for. If my car breaks down, for example, I do need to be in a financial position to replace it, not necessarily immediately, but sooner rather than later. Earning just enough to get by is a good achievement in the arts - but it’s not really responsible. Similarly, there are things that I feel I need to be able to afford. Our heating broke a few weeks ago and it’ll be about $4000 to replace it. Working for myself makes those expenses feel much more real - I can pay them now, but by paying them that’s money I don’t have to pay for products, flights, etc. It’s ok for these 6 months as I have good savings, but looking forward I do need to be aware of my earning, the padding it provides and what I feel I need to be easily responsible for. This is personal to everyone, of course, but for me these sorts of expenses are just part of life and I need to be able to foot them, on short notice, without there being some big stressors. If I can’t do that, then I can’t be a full time artist.
That’s the balance that I think about when I think about both celebrating and qualifying. It has been a good month, there’s so much to look forward to and I’ve never had more good news about my own little dreams. However, there are also real risks and things to be aware of.
It’s still an experiment :)