New Comment Tool and the Value of In-Person Events

Friday, August 28th was the second evening of the Friday Night Market experience in Arcata, California. There were some really great bands playing live, and four streets full of vendors and food. The week prior, Duane Flame's El Pulpo Magnifico put in an appearance that turned the event into a sort of rave (kinda) but it wasn't much less crowded last night. There were still lots of people. 

It's hard to articulate the joy that comes from directly interacting with folks who are seeing my work. Compared to being on social media platforms, it's like night and day. So much of the sharing I do online simply gets silence in return, and it's rather demoralizing in the end. The platforms seem to require an "all or nothing" approach that I struggle with committing to, because I post randomly and inconsistently. I'm not convinced playing the algorithm game is useful, though, because it seems most folks aren't getting the eyes they used to anymore no matter what they do...

So selling in person is a real joy for me. It's my happy place. It's exhausting and requires a lot of energy and presence, but I'm personally the most happy putting myself and my work out into the real world instead of posting it in a virtual one. 

Top that end, I installed a new extension app to my Shopify website: a commenting tool on my blogs that notifies posters when others reply to their comments on the blog and nests all the conversations visually in cascading branches.

Combined with an RSS reader like InoReader or Feedly for PC, or Reeder or Readkit for Mac, it's possible to follow/subscribe to my blogs and never need to even go on social media at all. 

I figured that instead of just putting my work out in social media "cafeteria" spaces, I'd put signs on the buffet stations pointing to my work that I keep at my own table. That way, if people are interested in it they can get it directly from me, instead of my needing to give it up to the pile of other dishes that are so easily targeted by scrapers. Creating a little "friction" in the process of seeing my work is a step most of those knuckle-draggers won't bother navigating through. And yes, I may lose some impulse "shoppers" but they weren't there to begin with. That's the key: they weren't there to begin with. 

My in-person vending events are important to me. I've got more lined up for the rest of the year: 

• Friday Night Market: September 4th and 11th
• North Country Fair: September 19th and 20th
• Fig Twig: November 13th and 14th
• Arcata Holiday Fair: December 12th and 13th

I'm pretty sure this "grand experiment" of sharing my work in through links on the various social media platforms instead of the actual digital image itself (Glazed and Nightshaded) will make an impact on the little amount of engagement I already get there. I'm not naive. 

But the in-person folks who go to my website, sign up to my newsletter, and take the time to browse my work will find opportunities to engage with me there instead. And maybe they will, maybe they won't. Maybe they'll come back and want to strike up a brief chat with me at an event. But it's worth giving it a try. And it will make me feel better.

And I'll be able to concentrate on making art for my neighbors and community and friends.