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I’ve worked with writers and creators full-time for the past 13 years. It is a joy and privilege to spend my time with those who create. The work we do focuses on practical outcomes: establishing and growing a writer’s platform, creating marketing campaigns, launching books, and more.

But I find this work also goes very deep. It’s common for a writer I’m working with to say, “this is like therapy.” Now, of course, it is not therapy, I have no credentials in that field. But I think I hear this so often because it is inherently difficult to put one’s creative work out there. To know how to talk about what you create and why, and to ensure it truly connects with others, goes to the depths of what it means to be human.

The benefits, of course, are huge. It opens up possibilities such as:

• Knowing exactly how to describe your creative work
• Having a clear sense of your ideal audience is and how to engage them
• Feeling total clarity on how to launch your book from start to finish

For those I work with, I bring a comprehensive system that we work through together step-by-step. Sometimes that has us ideating big bold ideas to engage readers. Other times, I am deep in the weeds of technical assistance.

The results? Here are what some writers have said recently about our work together:

“I began working with Dan almost two years after publishing my memoir. Working with him opened my eyes – and my curiosity – to all of the possible avenues to reaching my potential readers. He encouraged me to constantly think outside of the box by broadening the scope of the key messages in my story.” – Rachel Michelberg

“Dan was a beacon of kindness in an industry which is so often tough. His wealth of knowledge is exemplary, and he has a way of encouraging you to put yourself out there whilst holding your hand in his very own gentle, supportive way. It was such a comfort to have someone to brainstorm with and bounce ideas off, someone who was really, genuinely rooting for me and was in my corner. Dan truly cares. It’s like your book is his book, he’s truly invested, and he’s constantly working away for you behind the scenes.” – Ingrid J. Adams

“When I started working with Dan, I felt overwhelmed by all of the things I thought I should be doing to market my books. Dan helped me focus my energy and pinpoint what strategies would work best for me. He also gave me the confidence to pitch myself and my work in ways I might not have before. I now have tools I know I’ll use throughout my career.” – Kathryn Holmes Marshall

“Dan gave me a plan, helped me develop the key messages I wanted to share, and showed me all the aspects of marketing I needed to consider. Now I have a handle on what I’m doing and my confidence is soaring. I feel like I’m presenting my authentic self to my readers.” – Josephine DeFalco

“Dan provided a framework that demystified platform and social media, and helped me navigate this unfamiliar landscape. More importantly, his guidance empowered me to clarify my priorities, both as a writer and a human being. That clarity is essential to developing sustainable and effective marketing strategies. What I viewed as obstacles, I now see as opportunities for meaningful engagement with potential readers.” – Margaret Whitford

“Dan works his magic by shifting your mindset. When I first came to him, I had rather shapeless ideas of how to reach my audience. Dan was a wonderful teacher, not only guiding me on how to share my work with readers but, most importantly, encouraging me to home in on who my readers are and why I want to share my work. His patience, insights, kindness, and great sense of humor made our sessions a delight. Dan helped me understand the many tools to building a platform and taught me to approach each with focus and intention.” – Leah Redmond Chang

“Dan is an anchor in the sea of social media and marketing. He helped me change what I saw as tasks into the pleasure of sharing things that mean something to me. Working with Dan keeps me focused on connecting with others rather than checking boxes, which makes me feel grounded and keeps me calm. And, bonus, he loves what he does.” – Cynthia Newberry Martin

“Working with Dan provided a strategic point of view that goes beyond the obvious. By turning themes in my work into messaging, I’ve been able to connect with readers more organically. His approach really is a new and different way of facing the dreaded tasks of promoting and selling.” – Michael Mullin

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Of course, every engagement is unique and personalized to the goals, challenges, and styles of each individual writer. Let me take you behind the scenes in how this all works…

Who I Work With

It’s most common for someone to reach out to me when:

• They want to ensure they give their book the best possible chance to reach readers.
• They don’t want to struggle alone through a hodge-podge list of ideas on how to share their writing. They want a strategy and a collaborator.
• They want their writing to truly connect with readers, and have a positive impact on their lives. They aren’t looking for hollow vanity metrics.

I work with a wide range of writers. Each week I’m working with those who are pursing various publishing paths: traditional, hybrid, indie, and those who are not yet sure. I work with writers who are at different points on that path: still writing the book, looking for an agent, looking for a publisher, pre-book launch, book launch, and months/years after book launch. These people write fiction, memoir, nonfiction, poetry, essays, and so much else. I’ve worked with authors in seemingly every genre.

Does this sound too broad? Well, I grew up as the art kid. My life has been surrounded by creators. Even at home, my wife is an amazing artist. I believe that working across all areas of writing makes me better at helping each individual writer. There are ideas I will see in one area that can be applied to another. What I care most about is that the writer strongly believes in what they write. That is what lights me up, and why I love — LOVE — working with writers.

I tend to work with people as early as possible in their process. Why? Because to establish your platform, find your ideal readers, and ensure your work reaches them takes time. What we work on can deliver better results if you set the foundation right, then focus on effective communication, and developing trusting relationships around your creative work.

What I Do

I help writers develop their author platforms, launch their books, and create marketing strategies that work. I work collaboratively with writers, meaning that I’m in there doing the work with them. We work through my system together, and customize the strategy for each individual author.

So on a day to day basis, that can have me:

• Doing research to identify comparable authors
• Identifying which podcasts that author can pitch to become a guest
• Editing the author’s bio
• Developing the marketing section for a book proposal
• Creating a content strategy for a newsletter
• Digging into the backend of WordPress or Substack or Instagram ads a wide array of tools for the writer

… and so much else.

Having worked with thousands of writers, I specialize in developing clear strategies and giving writers a step-by-step process.

How I Work

So how do I collaborate with a writer to make it all happen? Several ways:

The first is that they receive access to my 15+ tab spreadsheet that outlines key aspects of my system. This is a shared document that we will be working in together. Step-by-step, we move through it, with clear instructions that lead to a solid game plan. This is a key deliverable that the writer gets to keep and use long after we stop working together. It is a living document that will comprise their messaging, audience research, marketing plans, book launch timeline, and so much else. By the time we are done, this document is packed with total clarity about how to reach their audience, and also streamlined so they know exactly what to work on, and when.

We have phone calls every other week, which are usually an hour long. I come in with an agenda, but we also talk about any questions or topics the author wants to dig into. So, even if we are working on podcast pitching and newsletters, if they have a question about TikTok or their book proposal or social media ads or anything — we dive into it.

Each call ends with a clear set of tasks that we will be working on. Sometimes they are shared tasks, other times tasks for just the author, other times tasks for me. The writer is never guessing what to be working on or where we are in the process.

Between calls, we are checking in via email. Writers have unlimited access to me via email. This is where we can share progress, get direction, ask for help, or explore new areas.

I will often reply back to an email with a video. Here the writer can see me work through problems, learn exactly how to do things by seeing and hearing me do it, and experience the collaboration in a new way.

I have honed this system over the course of 13 years. What it is optimized for is getting the work done, and feeling a sense of calm and clarity along the way. This, as opposed to what I want to avoid: just dumping information on a writer as many courses do, leaving them drowning in ideas that they don’t know how to execute. In working together, we get the work done and level up their career.

My Studio

I work out of a private studio here in New Jersey. I’ve ensured the place is two things: incredibly practical, and filled with beautiful things. Namely: books and typewriters. Here I am in the studio:

I have a pretty advanced technical setup so that I can easily create videos for the writers I work with, showing them exactly how to create marketing campaigns, newsletters, use social media, and so much else. They can see me, my screen, and anything else that is needed to illustrate how to get it done. Here is a behind the scenes photo you don’t often see:

What is in the photo:

1. Computer with multiple redundant backups. If the computer suddenly dies, I’ll be back up and running within minutes. If a tornado destroys the studio, I’ll be back up and running in 15 minutes.
2. Coffee. I mean, is there a more essential ingredient to creativity?
3. Video and audio controller.
4. Teleprompter with monitor.
5. Sony camera with ultra wide angle lens.
6. Overhead camera setup with a Canon camera and wide angle lens.
7. Microphone.
8. Compressor for audio.
9. Large display so I can monitor all video and audio feeds at once.
10. Studio lights.
11. Locked door. Every creator needs one of these!
12. Guitar amplifier so I can practice during my lunch break. (guitar is placed just behind my chair, out of frame)
13. I have redundant backups for everything. This is my backup mouse. If my mouse battery dies midway through a workshop, the backup is just inches away.
14. Sunscreen. SPF every day.
15. Vintage electronics remind me that all of these things are mere tools for creativity. The point is human connection. Here I have a 1972 Sony TV, an Atari 2600 videogame system I had when I was a kid, and a 1990’s component stereo system.
16. A chair to rest, read, and nap. Creative breaks are important.

My System

I have a system that I developed to help writers get clarity, identify their ideal audience, build their author platform, create compelling marketing campaigns, and launch their books. It’s called the Creative Success Pyramid. It is having a plan for what you will do, and when. It connects all of your actions to a cohesive whole. It also helps you determine what you won’t waste your time doing, thereby conserving your energy to just what matters to you.

See below, and click here to see this full-sized in a PDF:

It’s composed of seven basic parts, you start at the bottom and work your way to the top:

1. Define your identity for what you create and why.
2. Find your ideal audience.
3. Develop your channels, building the platform that opens pathways to your work.
4. Connect with your ideal audience.
5. Launch and market your work.
6. Establish systems to find more time and focus.
7. Find fulfillment and growth in your creative work.

How to Work With Me

You can learn more about working with me here.

Ready to take action? Questions? Email me directly at dan@wegrowmedia.com and let me know what you are working on, the big challenge you are facing, and how you hope I can help.

(Bonus points if you add the subject line: “Dan, I’m ready to get it done.”)

I will send you a 12 page PDF that outlines my consulting process.

If you are interested, we will schedule time to talk via phone and explore a customized plan for you.

I only work with a very limited number of clients per quarter. This is your chance to take meaningful action.

And of course, if working directly with me isn’t the right fit for you, I try to share free resources every week in the following places:

• My Substack newsletter
• My podcast, The Creative Shift
• My daily videos on Instagram
• Plus: 13 years of blog archives

Thanks!

-Dan

The more I see of it, the more I am understanding how AI (artificial intelligence) will change the fields of writing, art, and all creative fields in a profound way. I’ll share examples below of what I’ve been seeing, but my first goal today is to make this essay useful to you. If you are a writer or creator who already felt that it was difficult to thrive with your creative work, I want to share specific ways that I feel you can find success and connection with your audience, even as AI reshapes your field. Let’s dig into 8 steps to do so:

Step #1: Double-down on human connection.
For how you share what you create, instead of first focusing on content (a website, a video, a status update, an image), focus first on meaningful connections to other human beings. As AI makes content creation even easier, even terrifyingly easy at times, human connection is the thing that will still be slow, deeply meaningful, and last through a myriad of changes and disruptions. I mean, there are people on Facebook that I’m connected with that I haven’t seen in-person in 40 years, but I read every one of their updates, I donate to causes that matter to them, and I share words of celebration and compassion when needed. All because we sat next to each other in 3rd grade. Human-connections last.

Tip #2 Develop professional relationships.
You should have colleagues. People who do work similar to yours. If you don’t have three people in your life who you can text right now, who can relate to what it is like to create work similar to yours, then I encourage you to find those people. Why? Because it is difficult to create and share. Having someone you can text when you want to celebrate, when you want to cry, when you have questions, when you just want to not be so isolated — is life changing. These people don’t need to be your best friends. You don’t need to buy them birthday presents. These should be professional colleagues. When there is great change, it can be powerful to come together with others.

Tip #3 Develop the craft of communication and trust.
How we communicate is how we live, how we make up our days, how we relate to each other, how we feel heard, how we hear others. How we communicate is a craft. Actively work on developing this. What makes people remember you, follow you, pre-order your book, tell a friend? Trust. And trust takes time to develop. Start now.

Tip #4 Focus on empathy and outreach.
Maybe you feel you don’t have any professional relationships, and no access to anyone. Fine. We all start there. Reach out to those who inspire you. That can be a small moment via email, direct message, or comment. But it can also be bigger. What do you say? Start with empathy. Consider what they are sharing and why, and validate that. Show up for it. Let them know they are heard. For so many people, their biggest dream in life is to simply feel heard. You have the power to give them that gift. Use it.

Tip #5 Share the story behind the story.
Establishing personal boundaries in what you will share is critically important. But I find that too many writers and creators arbitrarily place a boundary at “I will just share book news” and nothing else. But people want to be a part of your journey. They want to understand what drives you. We see this all the time in what engages people. For example, when you watch the Olympics, there are all these little films illustrating the journey that got someone to the curling rink. It’s not only a professional story, it’s a personal story. Share the story behind what you create. The story behind AI is about technology. But your story can go to millions of other meaningful places. Leverage that.

Tip #6 Ignore trends and “best practices.”
Do you feel overwhelmed by trends and all the lists of things you are told you “have to” do? Ignore them. (well, ignore them all except this list.) Too many writers and creators play it safe, waiting until others have firmly established “best practices” for how to share about your creative work. The problem? By the time something is a “best practice,” it is being copied by thousands of people, usually in the most mediocre ways. What to do instead? Lean in to what makes you you. AI will surprise us in a myriad of ways. What if you surprised us too?

Tip #7 You can’t make everyone happy, don’t bother trying to.
I have found that possibilities open up, and anxiety is released when you stop trying to please everyone with what you create and how you share. Don’t measure your success by how many likes, how many followers, how many of anything you receive. The numbers game is difficult and fickle. Instead, go for depth. See if you can connect deeply with one person this week; inspire one person; or simply make one person feel seen.

Tip #8 Storytelling is a human-focused craft. Embrace it completely.
Not just in your fiction/memoir/nonfiction, but in how you share who you are. How you share your experiences in the world. How you share those who are a part of your life. How you share inspiration. There is a difference between saying, “Oh, I love the music of Prince” vs saying, “Want to know what drives me? Let me tell you about a day I had in sixth grade where everything went wrong. Wrong with friends, wrong at school, wrong with family, and where I felt truly alone in the world. But then this song came on by Price. What happened next changed me…”

I watched the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory with my 6 year old for the first time recently. In it, Willy Wonka quotes the poem “Ode” by Arthur O’Shaughnessy:

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams

I don’t know the full meaning of the entire poem, I’ve only read it a handful of times, but in rereading it now, I am drawn to the final lines:

You shall teach us your song’s new numbers,
And things that we dreamed not before:

Yea, in spite of a dreamer who slumbers,
And a singer who sings no more.

You are the music maker. AI is a tool that will exist and reshape creative fields whether you use them or not. But you — YOU — are the storyteller.

Of course, all of this is baked into how I view the ways that writers and creators share; why I use the phrase Human-Centered Marketing so much; why I have the Creative Success Pyramid as a model for creators to follow; and in how I work with writers and creators. But let’s talk more about the new reality that creative work will exist within because of AI…

Why AI Will Reshape Writing, Art, and Other Creative Fields

Every week I am seeing new examples of what AI can already do, with implications that reshape our understanding of how creative work can be made, shared, and sold. Below I will be referencing the AI writing tool called ChatGPT, and the AI image tool called Midjourney. Let’s start with writing:

• A literary writer I follow talked about using ChatGPT just to riff on ideas. Then does it again and again in order to push her ideas to new places.
• A writer told me that she was preparing the description for a conference workshop she was running, and used ChatGPT to outline some learning objectives it should include. Sure enough, it gave her lots of ideas to include and saved her a ton of time.
• People have used ChatGPT to create interactive stories, including this “interactive text adventure game” from Debbie Ridpath Ohi. If you haven’t yet used ChatGPT, one thing you may not realize is how you can ask it to pretend to be a person or to engage as if in a specific context. Then, you can have a conversation with it, with ChatGPT as the character or narrator. Imagine if you are writing historical fiction and Albert Einstein is a character, and you want help writing dialogue. If ChatGPT knows every published detail of Einstein’s life, could an interactive conversation help you come up with ideas for your book? Maybe.
• Ethan Mollick (who shares extensively about AI) talked about using ChatGPT’s ability to simulate a person in another way. He asked it to pretend it was a successful dentist, then interviewed it about challenges it faces on the job. I can instantly imagine so many ways a writer may do this with characters in their novels, or to understand different roles for nonfiction books they are writing. Would you want to fact check a lot of what the AI says? Of course. But imagine how this can change some of your writing sessions.
• A writer I know who has decades of experience in publicity had ChatGPT write a news release for something and was blown away at how good it was. And of course, how quickly it was created.
• One author told me that she asked ChatGPT to generate a list of topics that should be covered in a book on a theme that she is writing about. It suggested some topics that she had completely missed, so she added it to her outline.
• Author Hugh Howey was musing how we are not too far away from AI being able to write a script for a film, and completely finish the production of that film all within a single day.

What I’m illustrating here is not that AI will write the next bestselling literary fiction novel. It is that AI has the potential to reshape the process of writing in a myriad of nuanced ways, and in turn, reshape the marketplace around writing in profound ways.

In other creative fields, I am seeing even more compelling examples:

An original AI-created song (that people actually liked), which mimicked the voices of Drake and The Weeknd. I mean, just imagine sitting at home and creating 40 songs in an evening all in the style of The Beatles, with 100% convincing voices. Is it The Beatles? Nope. For a Beatles fan might it be fun? For a songwriter, might it be useful? Yes.

Someone shared this AI-generated paper art on the theme of the movie Nightmare Before Christmas:

I mean, I can easily see a fan of this movie buying prints of these to hang in their home. These were created in just a few seconds. Is that legal? Is that ethical? Um, no? But then I have no idea if other fan art that is sold at conventions are legal either. But it makes me consider: when AI can produce millions of these ideas in a day, how does that change the marketplace around fan art?

Here is another post someone shared where they concluded “product photography is dead”

Is that true? I don’t know. But I’m imagining how someone can easily create 100 different versions of a realistic brownie ice cream sundae within a half an hour, and get 90% of the way to what they want for common product photography needs. As AI evolves, I assume there will be a simple way to upload a photo of an actual product you created (like a book!) and create amazing and beautiful product photos in minutes.

One of the most fascinating aspects of what AI may change is the perception of creativity. In the official Midjourney Facebook group someone shared this: “I have never seen such intelligent and creative people in my life. All the art you are creating is amazing beyond my imagination.”

Of course, this is meant to be a compliment. But someone else commented: “This doesn’t require much creativity compared to the original works that Midjourney swipes from.”

Creators have always dealt with this to some degree. For instance: an artist who designs handmade mugs with floral designs, and over the course of years builds up a wonderful business around it. Then, one day she walks into a big box store and sees hundreds of similar knock-offs for sale for 1/16th the price she charges. But with AI, it takes that possibility much further.

I have followed artist Katie Daisy for years, and recently considered if I could recreate the general style of some of her illustrations in Midjourney. Just using prompts, it took awhile to understand how to best direct Midjourney on one component of the illustration or another. But when I simply typed in “illustrated flowers on a drawing of an old house in the style of katie daisy,” it gave me something vaguely similar. On the left is a print that Katie is selling, and on the right are four images Midjourney created based on the prompt:

Is it the same? No. Is it ethical? Maybe not? Does it exist? Yes.

It makes me consider: have you ever read a certain book or kind of story, and could never find another similar story? Maybe it is the context, the characters, the setting, the time period, the universe, the plot. Well, what if you could have AI create thousands of stories that are similar? What if that allowed you to immerse yourself in ideas and characters and worlds that you truly love?

I remember reading the 1970 science fiction book This Perfect Day. It never became a series (that I know of.) So I asked ChatGPT to “write a short story in the style of the book This Perfect Day, by Ira Levin.” In less than 20 seconds, it gave me a 5-paragraph short story that hits all the major beats of This Perfect Day, but with details changed. This is both impressive AND completely unimpressive at the same time. But what if I spent an hour honing this prompt? What if I could save characters, context, and storylines? What if this is a world I could co-create with AI (and Ira’s model for inspiration), and every night, I could create a new chapter to read, and day after day, month after month, it gets better and better?

This begs so many questions about ownership, about art and theft, about reading vs writing, and so much else. But it also illustrates how AI can be a creativity tool, and how lines we feel so comfortable with are blurring.

I do feel that AI will change the marketplace around creative work in big ways. The 8 steps I outlined above are meaningful ways that you can not lose site of what matters most to you, but also navigate changes so that your writing and creative work connects with real people far into the future.

I have written previously about how AI may change writing, art, and creativity here:

• How AI may change writing and creating
• Handcrafted vs AI writing and art

Thanks!

-Dan

If you are reading this, chances are you are a writer, illustrator, artist, or creator of some sort. You have embraced your creative craft, and work to develop it year after year.

I’ve always considered how we share to be a craft as well. How we show up. How we listen. How we connect. How we engage. How we celebrate others. How we communicate what drives us. How these things blend together to form aspects of our identity.

Often, a writer or creator will say they are “putting on their marketing hat” when they talk about their creative work. But I’ve never seen it that way. To me, art has always felt complete when it connects with someone. It is that blend between the intention of the person who created it, meeting up with the worldview and life experience of the person who engages with it. Thus…

How we share is a craft.

I think about this constantly. When I consider why 50,000 fans are crying at a concert for their favorite musical artist; Or why we share quotes from well-known writers, and someone replies: “THIS IS EVERYTHING.” Or why we listen to interviews with filmmakers. Or when we ask a performer about their process.

What I have been considering this week is whether someone views this craft of sharing as drudgery, or opportunity? Is it something that they do because they feel they “have to,” but are dismissive of? Or do they pine for the days where sharing was somehow someone else’s responsibility. EG: “Oh back in the day, your publisher did all the marketing, writers just wrote. I miss that.” Are they looking to do the absolute minimum of work in sharing, but with the maximum potential payoff? Do they negotiate with themselves about sharing what they create as one does standing nervously at the edge of a very high diving board: “Just take the step forward, do it once, get it over with, then it’s done. You will never climb up to this diving board again.”

I’ve spent a considerable part of the past week reviewing my blog archives: 13+ years of weekly essays. This started as routine website maintenance, but then I had noticed that in older posts, I had added images in an odd way. They were in this separate folder, and not fully integrated into my blog. So, when I run routine backups to my blog, they aren’t included. I decided to fix that.

How many images did I have to fix? 1,000 of them.

So that means I’m going through hundreds of blog posts, one by one, removing the old images, uploading the corrected image links, adding keywords to each, saving, and double checking. I’m also tracking all of this in a spreadsheet so I can easily spot any mistakes I made. So I’m not just taking 1,000 actions, I’m taking a multiple of that, something more like 10,000 actions just to fix this one thing that no one but me will ever truly notice.

I’m up to image #434 at the moment, and I recognized something — a feeling I was having. I was actually enjoying this work.

More than that, as I go through each and every blog post, I have found dozens upon dozens of other things that need to be fixed: removing an old email address that I no longer check which was present on hundreds of pages of my website; replacing old videos that were missing; removing ads for products I no longer sell; removing newsletter sign up forms to services I no longer use, etc. So now my spreadsheet has multiple tabs, each outlining different categories of things to fix beyond just the images. This work is slow and methodical, and the more I fix, the more I realize needs to be fixed. The list seems to only get longer.

It forced me to consider: what is so enjoyable about this?!?

Which brought me back to the concept of craft, and the craft of how we share our writing and what we create. Here are some reasons this process has felt good to me:

• I am clear about my mission. I deeply believe in the power of writing, art, and creativity. That when people share what they create, the world is a better place. People not only understand others better, but they understand themselves better. So these blog archives are 13+ years of me meditating on that, and encouraging people to share with more authenticity and success. This archive is my body of work. Attending to that feels good, just as a craft does. Curating and routine maintenance with this matters.
• I want my work to be useful and accessible. Cleaning up the archives means that if/when someone comes upon my website, that my advice is present. It is clear. It is organized. It is not filled with broken images, broken links, or missing information.
• I have these archives because I believe they are valuable. If I want them to exist 10 years from now, I need to do the maintenance work now. That means backing things up, removing things that shouldn’t be there, and ensuring everything is correctly mapped. The feeling of honoring my creative work in these archives has fueled me in this process.

Along the way, I have rediscovered essays I forgot I wrote, and even some that align with what I am writing here today. This is one post from 2011 which speaks to the value of backing up your creative work. One quote from that piece:

“The greatest threat to what we create is ourselves. That we don’t take basic measures to preserve what we create – to ensure it will be a lasting legacy, either personally or publicly.”

Here is another from 2012 even more aligned to my message today: Is Your Work Day Filled With Unwanted Obligation or a Burning Desire to Improve? It states: “If you are filled with a burning desire to improve, you will find fulfillment and opportunity. But if you view your craft as obligation, it will be a drudgery where you will find challenges and roadblocks where others find opportunity and serendipity.” That mindset shift is critical.

I often think about the movie Jiro Dreams of Sushi, which showcases Jiro Ono’s 70+ year history with making sushi. Today he is 97 years old, and he opened his restaurant back in 1965. To me, it highlights the highs and lows of focusing on craft. On the one hand, the pursuit of excellence provides experiences that are rare and beautiful. On the other, the film focuses on the thousands of hours of repetitive work required to try to do each task well in the restaurant. The years — decades — of sacrifice that comes with devotion to craft. It can be easy to celebrate someone who has reached the pinnacle of their craft, in this case, Jiro. But the film also focuses on those who work in the kitchen who are at the start of their careers, still uncertain, still struggling to perfect various aspects of their craft. To me, one of the many questions the film asks is: why would someone want to spend their entire lives in a small kitchen in one restaurant that exists in the hallway of a subway access tunnel, repeating the same actions every day, for decades?

Perhaps you feel that your craft — what you create and how you share it — is drudgery at times. That of course, is valid. I have recently shared my revised Creative Success Pyramid, the system I use to help writers share their work effectively and meaningfully. In conversation with a writer recently, she asked about times when one may feel crushed under the weight of the pyramid. That resonated, the idea that when you have a step-by-step process, that at times it can feel like too much. You feel the presence of every step at once, and it can begin to feel like an obligation.

But that is also why I believe in the power of having a plan and a process. Because this becomes a critical aspect of craft, and of honing it over time. Can you take breaks sometimes? Of course. But the progression allows you to know where you are, and what the next step is, without always falling right back to the start. But more, it allows you to consider with great depth, where you are going and the experiences and connections you hope to create along the way.

I’m curious: do you consider how you share to be a craft? If so, how do you attend to it?

Thanks.

-Dan

In 2005, I was working in a gray cubicle at a magazine publisher and media company on Park Avenue South in New York City. At the time I worked in the Corporate Communications department, and one of our big responsibilities was sending out an internal newsletter to thousands of employees every Tuesday.

I had become fascinated with social media, blogging, and how the internet was changing publishing. I primarily worked with writers at the time. To this day my work focuses on helping writers and creators share their work and connect with readers in a meaningful way.

At that time back in 2005, I asked my boss if I could write my own newsletter and send it out to anyone who wanted it every Friday. Surprisingly, she agreed. She and I still keep in touch, and I’ve always appreciated how that moment changed my career. I needed permission to start a newsletter back then.

I walked around to the desks of 9 people I knew inside the company and asked them if I could send them the first issue of my newsletter. They agreed, giving me the support I was so desperately looking for. Nowadays, people fret over how to grow their list, but I always remember that anything we do today is SO MUCH EASIER than having to physically walk up to someone to pitch your newsletter to them, then wait for their reply.

After I sent the first issue, one of my colleagues who received it suggested that I send it to the CEO. My colleague was a lawyer within the company, and super smart. But I told him “NO WAY.” The idea of pitching an idea to the CEO seemed to be more filled with potential loss, than potential gain to me. I just wanted to write my newsletter, fly under the radar, and let it organically move from person to person. Without batting an eye, he gave me an ultimatum: “If you don’t send it to him, I will.”

Ugh. Fine.

I asked my boss if I could tell the CEO about my newsletter, and she agreed. This is what happened next, the most harrowing few minutes of my career up to that point (and maybe since):

• I nervously forwarded my newsletter to the CEO, blaming the lawyer who suggested it as “Jeremy felt you would be interested…”
• A couple minutes later the CEO walked out of his office, past my cubicle, into my boss’s office, and shut the door.
• A few minutes later he left.
• My phone rings… it’s my boss. She says flatly, “Dan, can you come into my office?”

I’m not kidding, I was 100% convinced I was getting fired. At the time, I knew how delicate life can be in corporate culture. That you had to “innovate,” but also firmly fit in. This was years before social media would encourage everyone to share their “status.” I had a sinking feeling that my voice rising up from that gray cubicle in a newsletter that I alone controlled was a step too far.

When I sat down in my boss’s office though, I was floored. “The CEO loves your newsletter and thinks everyone in the company should subscribe. He’s forwarding it to the entire staff, encouraging them to do so.”

I mean, I am getting emotional just typing that. And here is why: I don’t take support for granted. I know many (most?) people don’t get support for the work that they love.

I remember talking to my dad at the time about the support I was getting at work, and he encouraged me to remember how lucky I was to be in that situation. He told me how I could be taking the same actions, but in a different company that didn’t value my ideas or independence, and I would find my career going in a much different direction. My dad had always been ridiculously supportive of me, and his reminder was meant in that manner. His most common advice he has ever given me is this: “Be aware of your surroundings.” He would tell me that in my teens and twenties when I would go out at night, and he meant the same thing here as it related to my career. Be aware of your surroundings, because that will protect you from harm, and allow you to find growth.

From the CEO’s email, I instantly gained around 700 subscribers, a huge leap from 9. Each week for the next several years, I sent out that newsletter. Inside the company, my profile was raised. Many people looked forward to my newsletter. But I’m not unaware that some people disliked me for it. Since my newsletter dealt with how the internet was changing the core business of our publishing company, there were plenty of employees who were NOT happy about this, and not appreciative of my upbeat missives on these changes. They also didn’t appreciate my independence to write and publish whatever I wanted. Some would have preferred if each issue of my newsletter would have been vetted by someone else in the company, to ensure every word aligned to existing company strategy.

But of course, there were benefits. I was recruited into a new role within the company, one that put me in charge of developing and managing a blogging strategy that would eventually include training hundreds of our reporters to blog, and another 100+ external industry experts to blog for our brands as well. I then did the same thing for the social media strategy across dozens of brands.

Then we heard that our company would be divested by our parent company. This process would end up taking years. I knew that my role would eventually be eliminated as the company itself went away, so I began creating a plan to bring my newsletter outside of the company. I did this slowly and carefully, over the course of many months. This included creating a blog presence, using social media, and then transferring my newsletter to a service that I managed.

At first I used Aweber as the hosting platform, then several years later moved to Convertkit. What drew me to Convertkit was the ability segment and tag email lists, to create automations, and other more advanced marketing tools. I would use some of these in the courses I ran over the years.

Every single week for more than 18 years, I have sent out this weekly newsletter. It has become such a core part of my life, living with that weekly deadline. It has always felt like an encouragement to write and publish. I can’t imagine a week without it, it gives me so much joy.

My newsletter has grown slowly over the years, and I have always been satisfied with Convertkit, just as I was with Aweber. But then came Substack.

What has been interesting about Substack that would make me want to switch? This:

• A sense of community among writers and readers. Substack has put a huge focus on this, encouraging people to not only share one newsletter, but others in the Substack ecosystem. This feels baked into the entire platform in a manner that I have’t seen other email services try, or be successful with.
• Substack’s focus on the biggest issue facing newsletters: growth. So they have developed a lot of tools to help spreads the word about someone’s newsletter through recommendations and other methods.
• This platform feels like a celebration of writing. Of course, this has always been the case with newsletters — they are based on writing — but Substack seems to really be recognizing the role of the writer in a bigger way, and that simply feels good.
• Promoting the idea that writers can get paid for their writing. This is one of the biggest shifts I have seen Substack have. Their system encourages readers to either pay for a newsletter via donation, or to pay for exclusive content or access. This is not some “advanced” feature that only “power users” are encouraged to use. When you sign up for a free account, right away new subscribers are asked if they want to donate money each month to support the newsletter.
• Of course, this is also Substack’s own business model. They don’t charge for their service with a monthly fee, instead they take a cut of revenue generated through paid newsletter subscriptions. I don’t know if that is better or not, but I find it fascinating that their success is reliant on writers’ success.
• They are building out an ecosystem very quickly, and rolling out new ideas one after another. For example, they recently launched their own social network called Notes. Does it feel “done” yet? Nope, it feels like a soft launch to a very basic product. But… has it also felt fun and refreshing? To me, it has. And it also encourages me to want to use Substack even more, because they are making it more social.
• Let’s face it, Substack has been a trend. People don’t say “I launched a newsletter.” They say, I launched a Substack.” That can have meaning in terms of how people talk about newsletter and spread the word.

I have also spent a long time working with writers on their Substack newsletters in the work I do every day. So I have helped set up many of them, and seen how their newsletters have gained traction, an audience, and revenue. It’s been nice seeing that from behind-the-scenes, not just flashy headlines.

But I hesitated in moving to Substack for quite awhile. Here’s why:

• The lack of total control of the newsletter template. I really like how simple Substack keeps their template. But, I tend to prefer a newsletter that is flush left on the page, looking more like a traditional email. This is a tiny point, but one that kept making me hesitate.
• The Substack newsletter would no longer come from my own email address (dan@wegrowmedia.com), and instead come from danblank@substack.com. Honestly, there could be many pros to this switch, but again, it simply made me hesitate.

As you can see, the pros far outweighed the cons, so I made the switch to Substack a couple weeks ago. You can see it here. So far, there have been zero negative surprises, and it has been a generally positive experience.

Since Substack encourages you to give your newsletter a title, I had to consider what mine would be, and what a logo for it would be. My newsletter hasn’t had a name in years. Instead of reinventing the wheel, I quickly whittled down the options for a name from two other names I had been using previously:

• The Creative Shift has long been the name of my podcast.
• Share Like it Matters was the name I was using for a program I had been beta testing and had mentioned publicly in the past.

I ran a poll to my newsletter subscribers asking their preference, and while it was close, The Creative Shift won out.

For creating a logo, I did a deep dive into the imagery that inspires me. Since I turned 50 this year, I have been thinking a lot about the era I grew up in. What imagery inspires me? Well, if I’m honest, this:

Yes, a 1970’s avocado colored kitchen like the one I grew up with. As I explored the colors I wanted to use for the logo, I would do research online, and created a series of 1970s living room images using AI:

When it came to the logo itself, I did keep it simple, just letters without images or graphics. This is the final logo:

If you aren’t already subscribed, please consider subscribing to my Substack newsletter, or sharing with with writers or creators who you feel would appreciate it. I look forward to another 18+ years of sending out weekly newsletters!

Thanks.

-Dan

After months of work, I’m excited to share with you the latest version of my Creative Success Pyramid. This is the exact system I use to help writers and creators get clarity in their work, develop an audience, and launch their work in a meaningful way.

As with all previous iterations of the pyramid, this version has been stress tested in my daily work with writers and creators. The goal of the pyramid is to give you a clear plan, to help you get from “I’m overwhelmed” to “I got this.”

I’ve used this pyramid for years, and have slowly honed it over that time. In my day to day work, each step of the pyramid has worksheets and highly evolved processes, which I then use to provide hands-on feedback and work at each step. I have a very detailed curriculum that this pyramid is based from, which I will be sharing more about soon.

You can download a free PDF of The Creative Success Pyramid here:

Let me take you through it…

How to Use the Pyramid

While everyone has their own unique path, the way to use the pyramid is to move from the bottom to the top. Each step of the pyramid are important strategies and tactics to consider. This is the pyramid from bottom to top:

Define Your Creative Identity:

• Clarity Cards
• Key Messages
• Craft Your Identity
• Content Strategy
• Editorial Management
• Models for Success
• Voice & Visual Style

Find Your Audience:

• Audience Personas
• Channel Selection
• Marketplace Research
• Social Confidence
• Audience Engagement
• Audience Growth

Develop Your Channels:

• Website
• Email Newsletter & Blogging
• Images & Videos
• Audio & Podcasts
• Social Media

Audience Outreach:

• Audience Outreach
• Community & Collabs
• Circle of Support
• Pitches & Publicity

Launch and Market Your Work:

• Marketing Plan
• Marketing Campaigns
• Launch Timeline

Systems and Productivity:

• More Creative Time and Focus
• Confidence in Your Creative Identity

Ultimate Goal:

• Fulfillment and Growth in Your Creative Work

This methodology is meant to tie together the many disparate aspects of what it means to share your work and engage an audience. But what’s more, it should feel authentic and meaningful to you as well.

Does every person need every step? Nope. Do you need to go through them all in a specific order? Nope. What I like about the pyramid is that you get to determine how you want to through it. For some clients I work with, we move through it in a linear progression. For others, we start where they are and move in a progression customized for them.

Here is a video of me walking you through this:

Clarity is Critical to Your Success

When considering the process you should take, I encourage you to challenge every assumption you have about what it means to share your work. That is what I did as I looked at the pyramid with fresh eyes. Even though I have used this model for years, I started from scratch a few months back.

While a lot is the same, a lot has changed. It took me months of analysis — and loads of work in spreadsheets — to ask myself difficult questions about every single step:

• Why is this here?
• What is the value to a writer or creator?
• Is it in the right place?
• Is it essential or a “nice to have.”
• What if I removed it?
• What am I missing?

This has me going back to the well of my inspiration, and considering my mission in helping writers and creators. It also has me immersed in considering the true goals that each of you have. My days are spent in conversation with writers, so that has informed every aspect of this.

The foundation is important, but never so important that it shouldn’t be questioned.

Here is a photo of this re-evaluation of the old version of the pyramid while I was working on it. The red dots are steps of the pyramid that I’m questioning and working on during that moment, along with new ideas:

That screenshot was taken probably 8 weeks into the process already when I had finalized so much else.

Along the way I rediscovered some great resources I have for writers that I forgot I created. This is typical for me since I have been doing this work full-time for 13 years, but it really helped me add a lot of amazing new resources to my work with writers. For example, years ago I used to teach a Mastermind group, which I loved. Turns out, that entire curriculum was just left in a drawer. Now I’m updating it and infusing it into the work I do with clients. And honestly, I’m sooooo excited about this.

The Changes I Made to the Pyramid

So what changed? Quite a bit.The old version is on the left, and the new on the right:

Now, does that mean the things that have X’s on them are suddenly not important? That isn’t the case. For some, they are simply revised and honed, with the goal of laser-focusing on what will help writers and creators the most.

I added a new layer for Systems and Productivity, which I help writers with all the time.

Also, I honed the colors I use in the pyramid, which was just for fun, but it made me enjoy the entire process even more. These colors are also aligned to the new logo I’ve created for my newsletter. The point is: when you can, try to make your work fun. It definitely helped motivate me to get this done.

In the end, I’m proud of how the revised Creative Success Pyramid reflects the actual work I do with writers and creators every day. What I’ve been working on since finishing this is ensuring that I provide my clients even better resources for each step in this process.

Thanks!
-Dan