an artist I've admired for 6 years reposted my painting and I got 40 new followers and zero emails
ok so this happened tuesday and I'm still weirdly annoyed about it.
There's this watercolorist I've followed since like 2019, I have her book, I've basically studied her washes. She reposted one of my gouache pieces to her story. I sat there refreshing like a maniac. 40 new followers in two days, which is more than I usually get in a month, and I was SO sure this was it, this was the breakthrough, I'd finally have to figure out how to do a mailing list properly.
Two people emailed me. One of them asked if I could paint a portrait of their dog for $60 because "it's just a small one." The other was a company asking if I'd do a free piece in exchange for exposure.
Meanwhile the thing that's actually kept me fed since I quit the café is a 3-person email list (ok slight exaggeration, it's 91 people) where I send a photo of whatever's on the easel and a paragraph about how it's going, and I sell something almost every time. It's ugly and unglamorous and I keep trying to make it prettier than it needs to be.
I think I've been chasing the wrong number this whole time and I don't totally know how to stop. Followers feel like a scoreboard. They're not.
Anyway if you have a mailing list, what actually goes in it? Because mine is basically a group text at this point and I'm not sure if that's the secret or if I'm just getting lucky with 91 very patient people.
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honestly 40 followers is the worst outcome because it's just enough to make you believe the algorithm noticed you. bigger accounts repost is basically a vibe check, not a lead gen event. i had a piece go mildly viral once and got like 300 new followers and roughly zero of them ever interacted again, it's all spectators.
the dog portrait for $60 is the real content though. "it's just a small one" is doing so much work there, like size is the cost driver and not the fact that it's a painting of a living creature you have to get right. i've started quoting a flat "i don't do pets" number and it's honestly saved me.
"it's just a small one" is the same as folks wanting a baby quilt for the price of a dish towel. honey, the small ones take just as long or longer, and a dog's face, mm-mm, if you get that eye wrong the whole thing is wrong. I don't blame you one bit for having a pets number. I finally started telling people my price is my price, and the ones meant to have the quilt will pay it.
the dish towel is EXACTLY it, and the eye thing, you get it. I did one dog last year and I redid that eye four times and the guy was like "it's a bit small" and I just stood there. and honestly "the ones meant to have the quilt will pay it" is going straight into my brain, that's such a calmer way to hold it than what I've been doing, which is agonizing over every single inquiry like it's the one. I've been quoting a pets number and then panicking that it's too high and quietly lowering it. I have to stop doing that. how long did it take you to actually say the price out loud without flinching?
"just enough to make you believe the algorithm noticed you" is genuinely the most accurate thing anyone has said to me all week, thank you for the reality check haha. and 300 followers with zero interaction after is brutal, like at least my 40 are... 40. I did get a handful of actual nice comments so I'll take it.
but ok the "i don't do pets" number. tell me more because I've been doing this dance where I say a real number and then immediately apologize for it and offer to "work something out," which I know is the worst possible move. what's the number? do you just say it flat and let the silence sit there? because I think my problem is I fill the silence and negotiate against myself.