Pretentious

In order to be recognized as a serious poet, writer, or an artist or intellectual of any kind for that matter, pretentions often come into play. Is it a prerequisite to pretend at first, for example, and then to pursue the pretensions to be recognzied? Many people write or paint or "create" and may be quite good at it, I think, but remain unknown simply because they don't have the pretensions to pursue the identity, the image, the recognition. But is it pretentious to do so, or does it just appear that way at first, until the pretentions are justified? If not, I suppose we can just pretend, at least at the pretrial proceedings. In any case, pretentions become pretentious when they seem to be inflated.