Amanda Palmer is a rock star. She is also a writer, a speaker, a stripper, a mime, and a human statue -or at least she has been each of those things at some point, and they are all a part of her now.

The Art of Asking

I would have told you a week ago that I'm not one of Amanda Palmer's big fans, but reading her book The Art of Asking has turned me into one. I don't have as much time as I would like to sit down with a book, so I actually listened to the audiobook version, which is read by Amanda herself and is interspersed with segments of her music.

Amanda Palmer defies convention in many ways, musically and socially, but what she is most recognized for is her somehow unconventional means of supporting herself and her art - by asking her audience to support her. She was the lead singer of the Dresden Dolls before striking out as a solo act.

I didn't entirely fall in love with Amanda's musical catalog, though the music is what first drew me to her. One day, on the radio somewhere, I heard her song "Do It With a Rockstar" - I thought it was brilliant. I later found the video. You can watch it now if you want:

(fair warning, while this article is perfectly SFW, the video is barely not)

So that's how I found her, and once I did, I started to notice her popping up in news articles. They talked about how she was changing the way music was made and the way audiences were treated. She did that by talking to people in ways that you and I take for granted now, and probably would have even back then - email lists, Twitter feeds, website updates... the internet.

Apparently even in 2006, things like talking to your fans were downright rebellious in the world of industrial music labels. Amanda built and cultivated her following through personal contact with her fans. When her label stood in the way, she found her way off the label. Going beyond internet intimacy, she is well-known for frequent couch surfing with fans who are otherwise strangers. The experience has been almost entirely positive for her, with any inconveniences more than balanced out with the stronger personal connections that inevitably result.

It wasn't long before I heard about Amanda's TED talk. I still hear about this as one of the best TED talks out there. I love it, and she touches on a lot of the same themes in her book because her career - her conception of what it means to be an artist - comes down to asking, and receiving with gratitude.

The Exchange Principle

In the process of asking, the artist gives things away as well.

The most obvious thing the artist gives is the art itself. The art is shared somehow, often even before any sales are made. But as an artist continues, their audience becomes more and more willing to support them - to support their work - trusting that the next thing you create will be similarly worthy of attention, if not necessarily the same.

Amanda tells some very personal stories of her adventures in trusting the crowd. She talks about the shame that sometimes goes along with being the recipient of charity, whether too proud to accept help or unsure about asking too much.

Every Contact Leaves a Trace

Direct contact between an artist and their audience, and direct support from that audience, can make the difference in whether an artist can continue to create the art - music, writing, video, whatever - that their audience loves. While the label wanted "a hit", Amanda's fans wanted more of the quirky, genre-defying work they first fell in love with. Direct contact with your audience makes that possible for you.

You don't need to be a rock star to have an audience. Whatever the reach of your current platform, the way you can increase the size of your audience is to truly value each audience member that you already have. Instead of being upset that you have 'only' 200 views on your last article or video, appreciate that you had 200 people decide to look at your content. If any of them ask a question or leave a comment, answer them. Appreciate your audience and they will stick around. Even better, they will spread the word.

Steemit is a perfect outlet for direct contact. Blogging on Steemit a platform with readers checking every day to see what other people have to share, so share what's going on in your life. You can keep in contact in the comments section or even carry the conversation to more direct communication like email or chat.

As Much As You Can Bare

In turn, Amanda says, the more personal an artist gets with their audience, the more the artist is willing to share, means the more that an audience of true fans will be willing to support the artist for the art they've created, and in creating more art. That means trusting your audience and being willing to reveal yourself to them. Your weaknesses AND your strengths.

Your success as an artist in getting support from your audience is directly tied to your willingness to make yourself available to your audience. What's true for rock stars is true for writers, or for any other creative endeavor.

For Amanda's act, being available meant taking the time to sign CDs or T-shirts or whatever after the show - and taking time to care about anyone who told her about a special good or bad thing going on in their lives. It meant posting on Twitter and talking back to her fans. It meant playing shows at houses in back yards. It meant a lot of tiny actions that each built or strengthened a relationship - a real, human relationship.

Artists can now, more than ever, communicate directly with their audience without intermediaries, and through small support levels from a wide variety of sources those artists can cobble together enough to actually support themselves and keeping making the art that their fan base likes, whether that art will ever "go platinum" or not.

Trusting Your Own Audience

As long as you approach your audience with sincerity, thinking of the audience's needs and desires - what they want from their interaction with you, you can trust them to return. With enough true fans, you can trust them with much more.

The book is filled with stories of artist friends who tell Amanda that they could "never" try her techniques. Somehow her audience is different, they say. But the problem is simpler. It's fear, and it comes from a lack of trust - in their audience, and themselves.

I think this book offers some great insights into the relationship between artist and audience, writer and reader. The Art of Asking will give you a new perspective on your role as what is so blandly referred to as a "content creator." Your ability to survive as a creative professional depends on support from people who like what you create.

All art is asking.

You put your art in the world and ask the world to care. Your audience is there because they like what you have to offer, whatever that may be. Talk to them; listen to them.

Keep it coming, and they will keep rewarding you with their attention. When you nurture that relationship by treating your audience as people instead of numbers, you turn attention into connection and build true fans.

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