Improving the Odds

July 25, 2025

Improving the odds of your work being seen, appreciated, and valued as an artist begins in the most personal, quiet place, within you. Before algorithms, galleries, followers, and even before the brush hits the canvas, there must be belief. Not vague, abstract belief, but a solid, lived-in conviction that what you’re making has weight, has meaning, and deserves to be seen. This is not ego. This is foundation. Without it, you will find yourself whispering into a windstorm, hoping someone hears, unsure if you should have spoken at all. The moment you start truly believing in the worth of your work, you carry it differently. You share it with a posture of assurance, not apology. That difference is subtle but undeniable, people feel it. And that’s where the odds begin to tip.

Belief turns into action. You start putting your work in the world more often, more confidently. Maybe it’s through posting consistently on social media, not for trends, not for likes, but as a practice of visibility. Maybe it’s submitting to open calls, even the small ones, or showing up to events, connecting with other artists, talking about your work in the light instead of hiding it in the dark. Each action you take plants a seed. Some sprout. Some don’t. But over time, the field grows. The myth is that visibility is luck. Sometimes it is. But more often, it’s the result of a thousand small decisions made by an artist who refused to disappear.

Improving your odds also means learning. Not just about your craft, though that matters deeply, but about how the world of art and audience actually works. Understand how people find art, what draws their attention, how value is perceived. No, you don’t have to play the game. But you do have to know the rules if you want to bend or break them effectively. Presentation matters. Context matters. Your bio, your website, your ability to speak clearly about your own work, these aren’t afterthoughts. They’re tools. And when you wield them with intention, your work stands out not just for what it is, but for how it enters the room.

Most importantly, improving the odds is not about chasing what’s popular, but clarifying what’s true. People are drawn to authenticity like moths to flame. If your work reflects something real, whether it’s beauty, rage, memory, longing, chaos, quiet, it will find resonance. But you have to stand by it long enough, loud enough, and with enough unwavering presence that others have time to notice.

So yes, the odds can be improved. Not overnight. Not without effort. But always beginning with you. Not the idealized you, not the one with the polished CV or massive following, but the artist you already are, sitting in the messy middle of it, still making, still believing, still pushing your work into the world like a message in a bottle. Because someone out there needs it. And the odds get better the moment you decide it's worth it.