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I do think that even if someone is not looking to create the next Vickie, they need to think about marketing, promotion etc. That’s not to deny the virtues you’ve outlined. I just think that however much success you reach through the Costner model, a bit of Don Draper probably wouldn’t hurt – if the figure looks like Christina Hendricks, even better. It seems like whenever this subject comes up, some (not you I imagine), see any mention of marketing as a heinous attempt at stifling artistic creativity or ignoring the self evident excellence of whatever they’re doing, rather than just a nod to reality. For the record, while I’ve managed to forgive the adults who dragooned me into selling candy as a child, I’m no great advocate of capitalist orthodoxy, but as H.L. said, “The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's how the smart money bets.”

 

Yes, marketing is a huge aspect of it, but again it doesn't take a lot of money to advertise a quality product. There's plenty of ways to market a quality figure for free.

Everyone that uses your figure in their renderings and posts those renders on any public forum or gallery is helping to advertise it and get the word out, whether they realise it or not, cause even if they don't state what model it is they're using, someone is bound to ask them about it eventually.

Plenty of ways to advertise it yourself, just by posting your own images on various sites, like here and DA, for example. Blogs, YouTube, etc.

It helps to already have content out there that people like, cause if anything, Poser users have proven that if they like your work they'll come back for more.

With some creative brainstorming and perserverance there are plenty of other ways to advertise for free or virtually free.

Keeping everything quiet until a day or two before you're ready to release it is really more detrimental than beneficial too. People are so afraid someone might steal their ideas and go do their own thing with it, so they don't say anything. But if you don't say anything then how is anyone going to know your model exists? Certain aspects can be kept confidential if needed, like the inner workings of how you got this or that to function, but still be demonstrated as features. For no-name artists without big company money behind them, the best thing to do is show off your work in as many venues as you can possibly find (so long as you're not spamming and being annoying about it of course). 

As all that grows, money can eventually be set asside for more aggressive ad campaigns.

It's really just common sense. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. 

And if all that doesn't seem like something you're capable of or willing to do, it's too hard or too time consuming or whatever other lame excuse one might dream up, then building your own business as a figure creator probably isn't as important to you as you innitially thought. 

 

~Shane