The “Create For Yourself” Fallacy

It’s almost as if you are looking at the audience for some kind of acknowledgement but to be honest with you people will give you advice they think you need and even though it’s not something that could necessarily help you that’s the advice they believe will help you.

To be honest it’s all up to you to take it with a grain of salt. I was in your position once. Despite not getting the answers I felt I needed I decided to do something about it. I personally stoped my old comic and story and started a new.

People will tell you you are doing art for your self and even though that may be true to some degree, no one wants to put endless effort and not see a gain or some kind of progress from their viewership. So I understand. But that is also where you make a choice.

Sometimes it’s good to drop old ideas and story’s and start a new. People won’t have the advice you are looking for. It’s just up to you to make a decision on what’s worth your time.

I don’t create for just myself. I create for everyone too. So if I have a “cool”, idea and for some reason no one gives a crap to look at it? I rethink my story and work on a new one. That’s just me tho. Hope this helps.

Being offended at a lack of response...is unlikely to win people over. Sometimes when people say 'create for yourself', they're trying to politely tell you that you're not getting attention because your art/writing isn't interesting. If that's the case, you have the option of working hard to get better, or accepting that your passion project may never have a wide release. That said, if you don't enjoy what you're doing, which is another way of understanding the phrase 'create for yourself', you're not going to be doing your best work. Make sure you're in the right line of work to begin with.

I think what is also fatal about this advice is that often times, it isn't taken into consideration that creators may have different goals. Especially in a place as diverse as the forums. If drawing/writing is just a hobby for somebody, then sure, 'create for yourself' can be a way to go about it. Numbers aren't anything more than some additional validation I guess. But if the person in question wants to make creating their job, then a sudden lack of response from the audience would be alarming and an ongoing lack of response might be the end of that person's dream. So telling that person they should create for themselves is like trampling on that dream. I'd call that a tad insensitive at least.

As for my own way of dealing with not getting a response, well, I do believe that you sometimes have to sit things out and I believe in my ability to create fast I don't drop novels so even if I wouldn't get any response for one of them, I'd still finish the thing. Although I might pick up another project on the side in the hope of that getting a bit more of a reaction or maybe even getting readers to click on the other one while the readers wait for updates.
So far, that approach has worked for me. Even one of my projects that had no comments for about a hundred chapters or so (on another site btw, I almost never get comments on Tapas to this day) picked up sometime after I hit like 400 or 450 chapters? So I guess being persistent can help even if it's sometimes hard to bear while you're staring in the void.

You don’t sound rude you just sound frustrated and that’s understandable I get it. I don’t know all that you have done but I gave you advice based on “my” own experience. I did the best I could with promotion. I also searched for places online to where I can post and promote my work. Then if that doesn’t help, rethink your story, try to make some changes, if you feel like you have done that an all, ask your readers for advice, maybe bring in a writer to assist you. Look into popular genres.
Don’t be afraid to be cliche. A lot of ppl thing being cliche is a bad thing, but it’s really not. Like I said before, I’m speaking on personal experiences. The first comic I had here in Tapas had only 500 readers and I felt I was putting in so much work and nothing was getting better. I worked on a different story and now I’m sitting on 3.9k almost 4k.

What is my point? Well, do all that you can. And make a decision. Best of luck.

The last time someone used this expression, he was burying a subordinate in concrete.

I'm glad you posted this for the wider audience of "art" beyond comics because I feel like every creature on the planet is currently attempting to pen the next "great novel". It's unbelievably competitive and hard to garner attention, not to mention we are creating in an age when the format for storytelling is rapidly evolving into many different digital forms and it's challenging to figure out what avenue to plod to try to find an audience. I'm certain this frustration applies to indie and upstart artists of all kinds (illustrators, writers, film makers, musicians, etc).

I’m guilty of telling people to “create for themselves” who aren’t getting the audience attention they’re seeking. In no way had I meant for it to be more offensive.
I mean it more like you (“you” being a general term for all creators) should continue with your original idea and carry on with your work, and see if maybe the traction will come later on. And to not give up on your work because the numbers aren’t what you’re expecting right away. It’s likely that your story matters to you or you wouldn’t be working on it. But I guess this can just be my mentality since I create as a hobby.
And sometimes I guess it just comes down to finding all the ways to self-promote on different platforms. Or finding ways to engage with your audience in each chapter you put out so it’s more interactive.
It’s hard to gain traction and it can be disheartening and unmovingating when you are excited to share your work to, what feels like, no avail.
But I think people mean best when they are encouraging people to create for themselves.

All the work I do for myself I just don’t post. I probably have 400 pages of unpublished comics and definitely more illustrations than that.

Some of the work I keep for myself are projects I started and tried to test the waters with friends or online real quick but didn’t land as well as I wanted them too but finished them privately on my own time for fun OR I’ve been toying with finishing a project in its entirety before doing anything with it.

The obsession with posting everything online is definitely unhealthy and I think that constant dopamine rush isn’t good for anyone and people shouldn’t ignore the research. I think people really need to think about how and why they’re using social media and maybe take a real long break and practice making work without that incentive.

Ah yes...I'm familiar with this...

I feel like the true argument here isn't Creating for Oneself vs. Creating for Others and deciding which one is the superior mindset. I think the point is that 'just create for yourself' as a response to someone's struggles is not only unoriginal, it's rather insensitive.

Basically, I see the situation this way:

A: "Hey so I'm having a hard time gaining an audience for my work; I don't want much, just for some people to like and pay attention to what I do from time to time, and it's really frustrating that I can't have that"

B: "Okay...well, you wouldn't feel frustrated if you'd just stop wanting that"

A: "OmG ThAnK YoU sO mUcH I'm CuReD"

...That's basically what's happening, IMO. ^^; It's in the same vein as telling a depressed person "just cheer up" or telling someone mourning the death of their loved one "just stop thinking about them". Like seriously?? Your silence would be preferable to a suggestion like that...if you can't offer help, at least offer understanding, rather than dismissal.

It sounds like they are mixing do something for your enjoyment and receiving feedback.

So there are four ways:

• You enjoyed the work and want some appreciation.
• You enjoyed the work and don't want feedback (usually here, you don't post it).
• You didn't enjoy the work, you just want appreciation.
• You didn't enjoy the work nor want feedback (usually here you burn, shred or bury the piece in a stormy night without moon).

People saying that sentence you quoted is putting you in the third point and don't consider the existence of the first.

So it would be great to let them know that you and the big majority of human beings, like to do what they enjoy, share it with others and receive feedback for it, because our social nature calls for social acceptance and support

It'll blow their mind

This is something that really burst my tits.
The problem I've found with webcomic communities is that a lot of creators think they are artists, and by that I mean, what they imagine an artist is. So many believe that they are creating magic by shooting fairy dust out of their arses.

I know a few artists, not some guy with a webcomic, but people who have exhibitions and make a living with their art. They are not under any allusion that they are making magic or food for the soul (or whatever other rubbish people think they do). It's work, and with all work, a pay off is expected.
Art is a product, whether you like it or not. Sure, you can make things for yourself but frankly, comics, are made for mass consumption. It's a communication tool.You have every right to want people to read it and appreciate it. In fact, you have every rights to want thousands of readers.

So how do you deal with people not reading?
You change, improve and adapt. Find out what your strengths are and build on them. This is how you don't lose hope, keep looking for a formula that works, because it's somewhere out there and you just need to find it.