How To Fail As An Artist, My Best Tips

Your Creativity Wants You Back

a book by Ela Thier

If you’ve walked away from your art – or you’re about to – you’re in good company. How to Fail as an Artist, My Best Tips is a raw, funny, honest pep talk disguised as a memoir about five decades of never getting a break – and doing it anyway – gatekeepers and inner critic be damned.

✦ Hardcover ✦ Paperback ✦ Ebook ✦ Audio book

Available at all book shops, worldwide

About the book

If you’ve walked away from your art, or feel like you’re about to, you’re in great company.

For decades, Ela Thier tried to “make it” as a filmmaker, only to discover that the real enemy wasn’t (only) industry gatekeepers and enough pass letters to wallpaper New York City. It’s also the foul-mouthed sock puppet named Mr. Stop who lives inside her head.

In this raw, hilarious, and compassionate memoir, Thier shares her lifelong relationship with failure, the painful pursuit of success, and the magic sauce that keeps bringing her back to the joy of doing the work.

Spanning each of the five decades of her life as an artist, each chapter reads like a confessional pep talk for anyone on the edge of giving up.

An anti-hustle manifesto, How to Fail as an Artist will help you quit seeking that “break”, and recover the joy of making stuff.

Perfect for fans of The Artist’s Way, Big Magic, and War of Art, this is the book you reach for when your creative spirit needs a laugh, a cry, and a flashlight.

About the author

Ela Thier has been writing screenplays for nearly 40 years, and receiving pass letters for about that long.

In carving her own path, she wrote, directed, produced, and sometimes performed, in her award-winning feature films, Foreign Letters and Tomorrow Ever After. In 2026 she’ll be releasing her new feature film, 109 Billion Followers, a comedy-drama co-starring J.K. Simmons and Nina Arianda.

She’s currently in development on feature films with notable attachments, has created numerous award-winning short films, and is the Founding Director of The Independent Film School. When she’s not working, she spends time with her nephew and pretends to be interested in baseball.

Pictured here: Writer-Director Ela Thier working with actor J.K. Simmons on the set of 109 BILLION FOLLOWERS.

Available at all book shops, worldwide

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