I mean, realistically -- a lot of what it means to be mainstream isn't just solely about the work.
It's how you sell it.
How many times have any of us bought something we really didn't need or we really didn't end up liking but we bought it anyway because the advertisement was stellar?
And let's not forget about connections, the ability to hype up your audience, putting yourself out there so people know who you are.
If you're just working in a bubble and not really actively trying to promote yourself or sell your story, people are not going to know what your story is and they're kinda not gonna care.
Here's a good example of a indie artist who's getting more mainstream: Tame Impala.
He did his own thing with psychedelic music and sounds, experimenting and enjoying his work, and people who liked him sought out to find more from him. He had a niche feel, yeah, and based on mainstream music that's popular (so says the media), he's not very big.
Just last month, this guy appeared on SNL live to preform his new song "Borderline"
He's getting out there just doing his own thing. It's not impossible.
Just -- there's more to getting out there than the actual work. It's the engagement to the audience, how you present yourself as a creator, and anything else people talk about.
Sides -- "Mainstream" is so vague. As @colinmooredraws What exactly do you mean by that? Because I can tell you there's a lot of Mainstream stuff I view myself that show up in some way in my work. We can and are influenced by the previous art we see -- whether that's Indie or Mainstream. I personally feel no one's work is that niche.
My personal advice is to just work on what you have now and work on promotion. If you're only active on one social media platform, branch out into other spaces. If you're not really engaging in the creator community, branch out and offer your own experiences to new comers.
It can also help to learn some marketing and managing skills. A lot of creators can fall into the pitfall of thinking just following the trends and their work alone helps them. No -- you need to become a creator salesperson. Pitch yourself like any good salesperson. Be your own Billy Mays.
See -- it's the little things that help rank up work, not just the work itself. Because as many of us have said before -- those popular creators had comics before that tanked. They had worked before that wasn't seen. We have to look further than face value and just understand that this is an over-saturated field and that trends come and go.
It can help to look at them, but depending on them will kill your work and your drive in the long run.