Everybody has to self-promote now. Nobody wants to
1–10 of 26 posts
Re: Everybody has to self-promote now. Nobody wants to
#2Surprised at the lack of discussion in the article around Patreon. Some of the points around the need to self-promote for artist are valid. But the popularity of funding individual(s) to produce niche content is now surprisingly mainstream.
The quote . . ." a loose collection of YouTubers and influencers who feed slop to their younger audiences." particularly sneering. There are many successful Youtube channels that produce long form quality content, but this probably applies to a lot of TikTok(?).
Anecdote - Discovered my parents, who are older, but not technologically inept, both have favorite youtube channels, Premium, and support their patreons. Which I thought was only something those of the internet generation would do.
Re: Everybody has to self-promote now. Nobody wants to
#3Surprised at the lack of discussion in the article around Patreon. Some of the points around the need to self-promote for artist are valid. But the popularity of funding individual(s) to produce niche content is now surprisingly mainstream. The quote . . ." a loose collection of YouTubers and influencers who feed slop to their younger audiences." particularly sneering. There are many successful Youtube channels that…
I agree - YouTube has been an incredible driver of bottom-up content, mostly unrestrained by the traditional gatekeepers. The article doesn't seem to be much of anything. A simplistic view of the past compared to a simplistic view of the present.
Re: Everybody has to self-promote now. Nobody wants to
#4I was a bit confused about how authors are supposed to bootstrap themselves into a following according to this article. Putting aside the long tail of book outcomes, do publishers really expect an author to already have a readership somehow?
I'm genuinely curious. I have no experience with this area outside of academics, which is a bit different. I guess a blog makes sense, and I've always been aware of marketing efforts, but the idea of expecting a new author to already have a readership seems like a chicken and egg problem.
Re: Everybody has to self-promote now. Nobody wants to
#5I was a bit confused about how authors are supposed to bootstrap themselves into a following according to this article. Putting aside the long tail of book outcomes, do publishers really expect an author to already have a readership somehow? I'm genuinely curious. I have no experience with this area outside of academics, which is a bit different. I guess a blog makes sense, and I've always been aware of marketing eff…
Like VCs: "It's not clear that your supposed market exists. Come back when you have traction". Later: "Sorry, we prefer to get in at an earlier stage than you are."
Re: Everybody has to self-promote now. Nobody wants to
#6Instead of relying heavily on self promotion one other obvious alternative is to to simply not make art your sole source of income. Many great writers came to writing from other careers (not surprising, given that it meant they actually had something to write about).
There's plenty of professional jobs in the creative industries themselves. Aspiring songwriters can work as studio musicians, a lot of voice actors do other commercial work on the side, and so on.
As long as you keep your income balanced you can slowly transition from salaried work to your own work and build an audience slowly, nobody desperately needs to make it big on TikTok.
Re: Everybody has to self-promote now. Nobody wants to
#7This misses the real problem of waste in winner-take-all markets.
For each football player or musician or influencer or artist who makes it big, there are thousands of people spending millions of hours who fail. The same is probably true for developers and entrepreneurs. That time and those lessons really can't be re-purposed, and have no economic value.
I don't think failure is only a lack of merit. probably many of the failures are just as good (or better, but not lucky). But with near-costless distribution of TV rights and the internet, winners drown out others.
When you're part of a company, there's some validation ) that you're doing something useful for others (however twisted and indirect the feedback from product/profit). Otherwise, it's a bit of a waste from the perspective of society.
Re: Everybody has to self-promote now. Nobody wants to
#8Surprised at the lack of discussion in the article around Patreon. Some of the points around the need to self-promote for artist are valid. But the popularity of funding individual(s) to produce niche content is now surprisingly mainstream. The quote . . ." a loose collection of YouTubers and influencers who feed slop to their younger audiences." particularly sneering. There are many successful Youtube channels that…
Patreon has been amazing for niche creators, it's way bigger than I thought it would be. There's a long tail of podcasts and YouTubers with 1000+ supporters, which is a respectable steady income for one person, or a great side gig for two or three.
Re: Everybody has to self-promote now. Nobody wants to
#9This misses the real problem of waste in winner-take-all markets. For each football player or musician or influencer or artist who makes it big, there are thousands of people spending millions of hours who fail. The same is probably true for developers and entrepreneurs. That time and those lessons really can't be re-purposed, and have no economic value. I don't think failure is only a lack of merit. probably many of…
Some of my favourite social media content comes from unsuccessful under your terms producers. It's adding a great amount to the culture and is producing some economic value. Failed musicians become teachers with experience. Failed pro football player might be a college grad because of football.
Re: Everybody has to self-promote now. Nobody wants to
#10This misses the real problem of waste in winner-take-all markets. For each football player or musician or influencer or artist who makes it big, there are thousands of people spending millions of hours who fail. The same is probably true for developers and entrepreneurs. That time and those lessons really can't be re-purposed, and have no economic value. I don't think failure is only a lack of merit. probably many of…
It’s worth noting many of those are people pursuing passions, the value of which is not necessarily amenable to being quantified in economic terms.