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Please join me next week for a free workshop: Define Your Identity and Creative Voice: Share Who You Are and What You Create with a Sense of Authenticity and Confidence! In this hourlong webinar, I’ll be sharing ways to feel comfortable in developing your public voice as a writer/creator online, and how this becomes the foundation for effectively sharing your work with others. I’ll also be answering your questions in a live Q&A. Friday April 14th at 12:30pm ET. Register here. (If you can’t make the live call, register anyway and you will receive access to a video recording of the workshop.)

Today I want to share what I learned in recording and posting an Instagram Reel every day for 30 days. What is an Instagram Reel? It’s just a 1 minute video. This is what they look like (you can see them all here):

 

So each day, I would:

1. Think of a topic
2. Write a brief script
3. Turn on my studio lights and camera
4. Record the video
5. Do light editing on the video
6. Create the cover image with a title
7. Transfer the video to my phone
8. Upload it to Instagram
9. Edit the transcript and write out the title
10. Post it to Instagram Reels, the main feed, and the Stories feed

If you are a reasonable person, you may be thinking, “Dan, I don’t have time to do this every day. Please… PLEASE… don’t encourage me to do this every day.” I won’t. But I do think there are important things to learn from the process of sharing every day. Here is what I learned along the way:

From Impossible to Easy
At first it felt impossibly difficult to create short content that was meaningful. But after a week, it felt possible. After two weeks, it felt easy. Now, feeling “easy” doesn’t mean it isn’t also item #34 in a busy morning for me. But I really appreciated how quickly this process went from arduous to accessible. In the process, I feel like I unlocked another form of expression and creativity.

Finding My Voice Made the Process Feel Relaxing, Not Angsty
There are a million things I can talk about each day, which can create angst as I consider what I should share. But after about a week, I began to realize that I enjoyed using these videos to talk about creative process and mindset, which is a much smaller subset of all the things I could possibly talk about. Once I limited the focus of the videos into these subtopics, I felt like I had a blue ocean of new ideas to play with. But more, I relaxed about the whole process, instead of worrying, “Oh, what will I share today?” Nowadays, I actually pick the topic for the video as I am turning on my studio lights to record it. It feels more playful than like work.

Repeating a Process Streamlines It
When I first started these, it would take 25 minutes from start to finish. After about a week or two, that time was sliced to about 5-10 minutes. Besides that being a huge reduction in time, the entire prospect became more approachable, because it was easier for me to say, “I have a spare 10 minutes” rather than “Do I really have a spare half hour?!” Also, because of the repetition, there was less decision-making along the way. I knew exactly what to do and it became autopilot after awhile.

Small Details Helped Me Reach More People
The first videos I did were more off the cuff and I just tried to share them without thinking too much. That was a nice way to get into the habit. But I quickly started realizing there were small things I could do that would help ensure the video reached more people, and truly serve those who were interested in it. One is to be sure to include a transcript so people could consume the video without turning on the volume. It’s common for someone to be looking at Instagram in public, or around family, and not want others to hear. Instagram provides a free transcript almost immediately, and I made sure to place it so it wouldn’t get in the way of any other buttons on the screen. I also began taking the time to review and edit the transcript. For some reason, Instagram always spells “want to” as “wantto” when I say it. Not a big deal, and I could ignore that, but I decided it was worth my time to review the transcript word by word. I also realized that by posting these videos every day, they began to all look the same in my feed, and someone wouldn’t have any idea what topic I’m talking about unless they clicked on it. So I added the cover image with a specific title for each video. It took me a day to realize that the placement of this title matters too. At first I placed it too low, so it would get cut off on Instagrams main feed.

The Videos Provided a Welcome Creative Outlet
The prompt to record a 1 minute video each day gave me an outlet to express what I’m thinking about each day. I love the work that I do, and it’s common for me to have lots of experiences or insights during the week, as days are spent talking to writers and creators. Not everything has to be a 1,500 word essay that I send out in a newsletter once a week. The daily videos provided me a new outlet to share things that otherwise would have gone unsaid. The result felt good inside. But it was also really fulfilling to see that the videos were helpful and inspiring to others.

Some of the Simplest Ideas Got the Most Engagement
This is a lesson I learned years ago with my newsletter, but it never stops surprising me. Some of the ideas that feel almost too simple to create a video about, ended up being some of the most popular. It’s a wonderful reminder to not overcomplicate things and simply share what resonates.

Instagram’s Algorithm Shares Reels to More People
This is another things I “knew” before I started, but it was fascinating to see it in action. Instagram has been encouraging people to share more Reels in order to compete with TikTok. One way that is encouraged is by ensuring that Reels are seen by more people. So if I looked at the stats for what I share in Instagram’s other feeds (the main grid, and the Stories feed), most of the people who see those posts already follow me. But for the Reels, it was different. Something like 40% of the people who saw them were not followers, meaning I am potentially reaching new people and expanding my reach/audience.

Creating Constraints Turned a Big Project Into Something Reasonable
I’ve always said that creative work thrives with boundaries, and this was a good example of that. There were a number of constraints in place that turned this otherwise big idea “record and share a video every day for 30 days” into something that felt much more approachable. The daily deadline is one. The fact that these videos can only be one minute is another. Limiting it to just a 30-day challenge was a way for me to approach the concept, without feeling I was making too big of a commitment. All of this limited the potential feeling of overwhelm in the process.

It’s Funny How Quickly A “Challenge” Becomes a “Habit”
After a few days, perhaps a week, creating a video every day became a habit like any other in my life. I don’t worry about a “30 day teethbrushing challenge!” I just brush my teeth every day. Creating a video just kind of snugly fit into my daily life very quickly.

This Was Another Reminder That Creative Energy is My Biggest Creative Barrier, Not Time
Looking back at the videos I created in the last month is a great reminder that I do have the time to create more, as long as I give myself a solid plan. My youngest was sick nearly every week this month (which has been the norm for him since last September), and it’s been a busy month physically and emotionally. Yet, on top of my normal set of responsibilities, I also did these 30 videos. If you would ask me on any given day, “Dan, do you have time to do a video every day?” I would reasonably reply, “Um, no. I’m swamped.” Yet here we are with 30+ videos done, and a new daily habit fully formed.

The Videos Solved a Lingering “Problem” With My Newsletter
When I launched my newsletter 17 years ago, there was a bonus section at the bottom titled “Meal of the Week.” Yep, I shared a photo of one meal I ate from the past week. This was before Instagram and sharing photos of food online because the norm. As I got older, my diet became more… well, boring. The photos of the meals no longer seemed interesting. So I changed that section to “Inspiration of the Week,” and to be honest, it was always a mixed bag. But once I started doing these daily videos, I realized that sharing a recap of them as the newsletter “Inspiration of the Week” served a true purpose that aligns with my mission. That part of the newsletter now feels really authentic to me, and is hopefully inspiring some people!

The Videos Gave My Subscribers a Clear Reason to Follow Me on Instagram
By sharing these videos in my newsletter, lots of email subscribers are now following me on Instagram. It turns out, in the past I have vaguely mentioned my Instagram in the newsletter, but rarely giving people a true reason to go follow me there.

A Big Archive Can Be Created Very Quickly
Seeing the 30+ videos posted shows me how a wonderful archive of material can be created very quickly. It’s a great reminder that small actions each day can add up to something that feels bigger and more cohesive.

I’m going to keep sharing new videos every day. You can see them each day by following me on Instagram.

Oh, and you can sign up for next week’s workshop here: Define Your Identity and Creative Voice: Share Who You Are and What You Create with a Sense of Authenticity and Confidence. Friday April 14th at 12:30pm ET.

Thanks!

-Dan

Last week I wrote about the potential impact that artificial intelligence will have on writing, art, and creative work. Today, I want to focus on the opposite: the value of handcrafted creative work (writing, art, etc.), that by their nature are limited edition and deeply personal. What I will cover today:

• Why one writer and artist is investing in handcrafted work (this is a super inspiring story)
• How handcrafted is a power you have that is very accessible to you (if you dare)
• Handcrafted vs AI (who will win?! Sentient robots or funky writers and artists? Read on to find out!)

Okay, let’s dig in…

How Meera Lee Patel is Embracing Handcrafted Work

Meera Lee Patel is a successful writer and artist who I’ve worked with, and featured a few times in my blog/podcast (here, here, and here.) She has 50,000+ followers on Instagram, has published 5 (wonderful) books, and has earned a living as a writer and artist for years. But recently, she’s been changing direction. Her latest project is a handcrafted accordion book that she made only 50 copies of, and is selling for $20 each. Here is my copy which arrived in the mail the other day:

 

It consists of a beautiful illustration, moving prose, and was literally glued together by Meera. I texted Meera earlier this week to ask if she could chat via phone and talk about this. What she shared was soooooo inspiring.

The context for my questions was this: here she is finishing up grad school, preparing to defend her thesis; she has a new book coming out in May; she is expecting her second child soon; she is so busy with life — so why spend all this time creating and printing and selling and gluing and mailing an accordion book? To the right is a photo Meera shared of herself this week.

Her answer is so moving:

“I feel like I’m finally putting into motion what you and I talked about over a year and a half ago. I’ve been trying to figure out for a long time how to get back to myself. I want to pay attention to the artist in me, and the creativity in me, which took a back seat to the business of being a brand and artist.”

She shared how her success as a writer and artist had a personal downside:

“When I started out, I made what I wanted because it brought me joy. I would make limited copies, and every time someone bought one, it was unbelievable that someone would spend $20 on a thing I made. When I quit my job, and it had to be a sustainbale business, the numbers became so important. You can’t live on $20. When you work with a big publisher, 10 isn’t enough, 30,000 isn’t enough. I became super jaded. Doing this accordion book brings back a lot of the humanity to the art I’m interested in making next.”

I asked her about the process, which she addressed with such honesty:

“Yes, it is work. I’m not making any money on it, putting these book together while my daughter is napping. The money is not the important thing, and that feels good. It is about the art and heart and not the money. I do make money in my business in other ways, which allows me to do this personal work that gives me emotional and mental sustenance. I’m learning to find a balance between the work that pays me, and the work that encourages me to keep making.”

How does she do it all? I love her answer:

“Something has to go. I can’t tell you the last time I cleaned the house. I said to my husband: “I’m not cleaning anymore. I’d rather make this book than clean the house.”

I mean, I think that should be a t-shirt that people can buy:

Meera continued:

“Do I love having a dirty and messy house? No. But it’s a compromise I get to make to do something I want more. I don’t have a lot of time at all to work, so I make the most of the time I do have. It’s a lot of nights when when daughter is asleep. I’m putting less pressure on myself and that makes everything more enjoyable. To see myself as a person again, and not a company.”

I mean, that is the crux of it right there, the concept of handcrafted vs technology. Neither is inherently good or bad, it is how they create meaning in our lives. And Meera’s example is infinitely inspiring in this regard.

She summarizes what this all means to her, what is wrapped up in this edition of 50 handcrafted books:

“The biggest thing that changed is that it is important for me as an artist to be of service. The reason I make things is to find connection with myself, with other people, and within our larger world. But the way my career has been so far, I was just offering value to other people. In doing so, I’ve lost that connection to myself. In this new chapter, I’m focusing more on honoring and fostering a connection with myself — the stories I want to tell — and hoping that will still resonate with readers and offer them connection and comfort. I’m changing the question from: “What does someone need from me?” to “What do I need from me?” I’m putting myself first, which is something I haven’t done in a long time. I’m devoting myself to it. I’m going to make it no matter what.”

There are a few copies of her amazing accordion book left. You can see behind the scenes of the making of the book here. And you can find all things Meera on her website.

Handcrafted is a Power You Have

Handcrafted takes longer. It is oftentimes more expensive. It has less immediate reach. Yet, it is a power you have. Often people bemoan the fall of handcrafted — “I miss when, to make art, it meant you had to touch a brush to canvas. Nowadays it’s all just pixels and screens.” or “Oh, I remember the clack clack sound of a typewriter! I miss the days of writing longhand on a notepad.” But here’s the thing: these options are still available to you. My home is filled with traditional art supplies because my wife is an artist. I own 10+ typewriters, most of which work just fine. You have never had more access to amazing pens and beautiful paper.

Often, we dismiss handcrafted because it takes longer. It is simply much easier to use digital. To feel that the only way to create and to share is to “give in” to massive technology companies and distributors. I’m not judging that as a negative path, I simply want to highlight that you have the same options we had decades ago. In the 1990s I created a handmade zine where I interviewed and wrote about alternative music, indie bands, and Britpop. Along the way, I got to interview Oasis, Blur, and many of my musical heroes at the time. It was a long process, requiring long hours in the print shop, then piecing together the zine, then getting on my bike to deliver them to stores. Printing this zine put me thousands of dollars in debt at a time when I was earning minimum wage, and working three jobs at a time to ensure I could work almost every single shift in given week. Here I am with an issue being laid out on my bed:

 

Here I am writing, publishing, and distributing all on my own. It was amazing! Would I do this way today? Well, if you are reading this, you are doing so via my email newsletter or blog, so there is your answer. I’ve made the choice to write and publish and distribute and share in a different manner. Of course, the writing is still what I would call handcrafted. AI didn’t help me write this.

You get to choose how you create. How you publish. How you share. And like Meera, you can choose a mix of options, and those can change over time.

Handcrafted vs AI

The next few years will be filled with dramatic headlines of how AI is reshaping industry after industry. Instead of taking a stance for or against it, or preparing hundreds of responses of shock and dismay that will appear in social media feeds, I want to encourage you to focus your energy on creating and sharing.

Let’s just assume that AI will be a viable technology that will be integrated into everything. Yes, there will be compelling debates about if and how it should be regulated. About whether it is ethical. About how it is impacting real people’s lives as it potentially reshapes entire industries. These will be compelling debates. But I want to encourage you to not get sidetracked by it all too much. And instead fully embrace the creative work that you love, that you are capable of, and that real people will embrace. So that every ounce of your energy is focused on growing your creative work.

If you do this, handcrafted wins.

Handcrafted is thriving in the marketplace today in so many compelling ways, and I think it will do so even more in the future. Let me give you an example: Rhett Shull and Tilly Shull are a married couple in their early 30s, earning a living in the creative fields of music and photography.

Rhett is guitarist who lives in Atlanta and also spends a lot of time in Nashville. Like many musicians, his original trajectory was to earn a living a a session guitarist, member of a band, playing gigs and recording music. But something funny happened along the way: his YouTube channel became really big, with more than 500,000 subscribers. Now what is his actual career? YouTuber. Even though he still plays a lot of shows, and records a lot of music, his income is directly and indirectly now happening because of YouTube. So here is someone doing something handcrafted (making music on old-fashioned guitars and tube amps), but thriving in the marketplace due to new technology in a non-traditional way.

His wife Tilly has only recently launched her YouTube channel. Her focus? Film photography. Yep. Will she develop her career by shooting weddings and family portraits? Likely not. Even though she has embraced a style of handcrafted art that is now far outside the mainstream, her career will also likely grow due to how online media provides unique opportunities for her.

Receiving Meera’s accordion book, hearing her story, seeing people like Rhett and Tilly and so many other creators online reminds me of how there are a myriad of ways that creativity is thriving. What I hope for you is this: that you define a path that works for you. That you are open to changing that path when you feel like it. And that most of all: you create what is in your heart, and share it with those who will appreciate it.

Thanks!

-Dan

Maybe you may have seen a lot of headlines recently about artificial intelligence (AI) writing or art. Recently, I’ve seen things with both that are giving me pause. Today I want to share three things:

• Why artificial intelligence in creative work is compelling
• Why AI is likely to create a crisis in creative fields, and how it may affect you
• How to consider ways to thrive as a creator as these changes happen

If you are feeling you don’t understand or care for AI, I want to encourage you to read this post anyway. The speed of changes that I’m seeing are unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I grew up as “the art kid,” all of my friends over the years were the “weirdo creators and performers,” my wife is an amazing artist, and I spend my days talking to writers. But in those 50 years, I don’t think I’ve seen anything else that will potentially change the creative world as completely or rapidly as AI.

Okay, let’s dig in…

Why AI Writing and Art Is So Compelling

I know many writers and artists dismiss AI outright, saying things like, “Oh, I would never read a book written by AI.” Or “AI art is unethical, it is a machine stealing from artists.” Or “I prefer work that is crafted by a human being with a heart.” Now, these statements resonate with me. But recently a popular AI writing program called ChatGPT released a new version, as did an AI art program called Midjourney. The writing and art coming out of them is not just astounding, but already changing how creators work:

• Author Hugh Howey shared an example where AI was asked to make an argument in the style of his writing. His conclusion: “AI writes better than me. It nails the argument I would have made.” If you aren’t familiar with Hugh, he has had incredible success with his novels, which are now being turned into TV series.
• Set designer Gary McCann shared some images he created with an AI art generator, saying “Midjourney is revolutionizing my job as a set designer.” I looked him up, his credentials as a set and costume designer for opera and musicals are inspiring.
• I saw someone ask a writing AI to create a prompt for multiple sneaker campaigns, and then the person put that prompt into an AI art program. Within minutes, this person had created ad copy and images for an entire sneaker campaign. They called it “fully automated advertising.” If I showed you 10 ad campaigns for sneakers, and asked you to identify which one was created by AI, you likely would not be able to tell.
• A professor at The Wharton School used AI to get unstuck in the writing process. He gave it a piece of his writing and asked it: “Give me 10 different ways to finish this paragraph.” He even said: “The answers don’t even have to be good to help. Just getting something is often enough to overcome the tyranny of the blank page.”

To my surprise, two of my clients already started using AI in our work together! One used it to get ideas for writing their mission statement. They input a bio we created together, then used AI to get ideas in summarizing that to a single line. Another client used AI to help create a description of their ideal reader, and they were really happy with the results, noting how AI added in some details that weren’t in their original prompt, but added more realistic depth to the person they were describing.

The decisions we make about engaging with AI will likely not be as simple as “AI vs no AI,” or “I would never read an AI-written book.” Chances are, very soon, AI may be part of how someone writes or edits a book in ways that you would never know. In the same way that some email service providers make suggestions as you write email, or how spell check auto-corrects words for you. These tools may become a more nuanced part of a larger human-driven creative process.

I made casual mention above of how impressive the work coming out of AI is. I’m going to share photos in this post instead of writing because it’s easier to illustrate what I mean more quickly. I’m seeing thousands of examples online, but here is a simple one. I wanted to see if I could recreate a similar photo based on a real one. Below on the left is a real photo from inside a pizza shop at 191 East Houston Street in New York, in 1965. The man in the photo is named Salvatore Bartolomeo, and he was 18 years old at the time. On the right is an AI generated photo that was created after I put in some prompts to try to create something with a similar vibe:

 

Is the AI generated photo exactly like the original? Nope. Are there some details in the AI generated photo that aren’t accurate? Sure. But it’s worth noting that it gets a lot right, the person looks pretty realistic to me, and it took mere seconds to create. I did modify the final image a bit: I added some digital noise to give it more film grain, and I blurred it a bit because the original photo I was mimicking is so blurry. But here’s the thing, in just a few seconds, the AI also created many other possible images, as I honed the prompts to get something more like what I wanted:

 

By just playing with these AI art and writing generators, I’m becoming more aware of their myriad of uses, and they are surprising me again and again in unexpected ways. Is it a good thing that these AI generators exist? I don’t know. But I know they do exist, and that they are rapidly being infused into all kinds of technology and processes.

I was listening to a professional photographer the other day who was reminiscing about how many in the photography world scoffed at the notion of digital photography back in the year 2000. Now, except for a hobbyist community, most photos are digital photos. We don’t even question it anymore. And as someone who does still shoot on film every now and again, I can tell you that film is both AMAZING, but also a more laborious and expensive process compared to digital. Today, we don’t even consider the photos we take to be “digital photos.” They are just “photos.”

One user of Midjourney shared how much AI art has evolved in the past year, by sharing results from the same prompt through each version of the program. Just consider if this is the progress within a year, how much better will it be a year from now? Or five years from now?

 

Why AI May Create a Crisis in Many Creative Fields

It’s not difficult to imagine in the near future, someone who needs a photo of someone in a mid-century diner for a campaign of some sort, now just using AI to create the photo, or to at least ideate what the final image should look like. Just look at the images above. When you can generate such variety so quickly, one can ask who gets cut out in this process: a creative team that is sourcing reference material, a set designer, set builders, lighting specialists, models, costume designers, digital editors, and more. Now, that doesn’t mean these people will get cut out of the process, but their roles may change.

Looking at the wide range of images people are creating through AI, I began wondering: I saw that someone had created a bunch of very realistic AI-generated images of “people at a 1960’s music festival.” The image looked very real. How long will it be before the internet has more fake images of AI-generated photos of people at a 1960’s music festival, than real images? How will we be able to tell without detailed sourcing information? And of course: how will this change our perception of real events from the past?

Which brings us to the crisis that many creators are worried about now: that inner fear that what already felt like a difficult field to succeed in (writing, art, photography, illustration, etc.) will now be more crowded, and therefore, even more difficult to find success in. An illustrator in the year 2022 may feel that there are hundreds of people in their specific niche, and thousands of others vying for attention in illustration in general. It’s hard to stand out and catch a break that leads to opportunities or attention.

But what may that look like in 2024? Or 2028? When now people can create thousands upon thousands of AI-generated images each day. Is it human? Nope. Is it stealing? Maybe. But is it happening? Definitely.

And there will be a new generation of creators who thrive because of AI. I saw a guy on Instagram (of course, now I can’t remember his name) who now has hundreds of thousands of followers who are loving his AI-generated images. He was already an artist before AI, but when you compare the feedback he received before and after his AI images, it is night and day. He is taking his already existing artistic skill, and now using AI to enhance it. And his fanbase has grown exponentially because of it.

All of this, to me, sparks the imagination. Is ultra realistic AI-generated video next? Or what about AI-generated animation? How will this discourage some people from entering creative fields? Or encourage others to start creating who wouldn’t feel it is accessible without AI? Perhaps in the same way that 30 years ago, a person might not have entered into the field of photography because the tools and film processing were expensive, but today they would enter the field because the wonderful cameras in their phones allowed them to become very good hobbyists before deciding to make it a profession.

Honestly, the crisis I’m worried most of is the psychological and emotional crisis that AI may create within writers, artists, and creators. That it will enhance their doubts about the possibility of their creative work finding an audience. Or the idea that the marketplace is so crowded, that they shouldn’t bother. Or the new technology is so complicated, that they will never understand it or catch up. Or that everything in the arts today is so… unfamiliar… that they just choose to sit out.

I do the work I do believe I believe deeply in the power of creative work to change our lives for the better. I am infinitely inspired by those who create. When I consider all the possible outcomes AI may have on our world, what I worry about most is not a dystopian future where AI takes over the world. I worry about someone sitting alone in their home, feeling they have something to create and share, but not doing so.

As you navigate your creative work moving forward, I just want to encourage you to not allow any changes in the marketplace to make you stop. To not have all of this add stress to the process.

How to Thrive as a Writer/Artist/Creator Amidst These Changes

If these changes are so big, what can one individual writer or artist do to feel they are growing amidst these massive shifts? Quite a lot, I think. So here is what I have been doing personally, and what may be useful for you:

• I’m doubling down on human connections. People are hardwired to respond to faces, voices, and human emotions. I mean, I’ve never heard so many friends say they cried watching the Academy Awards as I have this year, because of how touching and emotional the speeches were from the many winners from the cast of Everything Everywhere All At Once. The power of that human connection won’t change.
• I feel human-centered marketing is more relevant than ever when you consider how you share what you create. People want to hear the backstory of how something is made, and how that work comes from a deeply human place. Embrace that.
• I’m keeping an open mind when it comes to AI. I’m trying not to dismiss it outright, embrace it outright, or get caught up in a singular view of it. I think with AI, multiple things can be true at once. It’s entirely possible that AI is “stealing from artists” and also “creating new tools for artists.”
• I’m experimenting with AI tools in small ways. I’ve never considered myself an early adopter, but I’ve been playing with Midjourney and ChatGPT, and looking at experiments others are doing. I’ll get a random idea, then try it out, and learn something. I want to encourage you to not just rely on pithy examples created by others, such as: “Oh, I saw someone ask ChatGPT to write a poem, and it was horrible. I’m not worried.” Try it yourself.
• I’m listening to others who are using these tools. There are plenty in the Facebook Group for Midjourney and creators on Twitter who are sharing lots of compelling examples of uses of AI for creators, as well as powerful warnings.
• I’m considering where in a creative workflow these tools could become useful, even in small ways. As someone who collects typewriters, I love old fashioned-things that were used in the creative process. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth considering how AI could be useful for some aspects of ideation in the creative process.
• I’m also embracing traditional tools of craft. Writing in a basic text document, pen and paper, typewriters, film cameras, acoustic guitars, and many tools of arts and crafts.

You get to choose the path you take. And it’s worth noting that I can’t predict the future, and there is more that I don’t know about AI generated art and writing, than what I do know. So this analysis above could be wildly incomplete, inaccurate, and could even be moot in a few days time when things change yet again. But then, isn’t that the practice of being someone who creates? To try to match the world that is in your heart and mind with the world that actually exists outside our front door? The work you create becomes the gateway that opens up new ideas and stories for those who are moved by your work.

Thanks!

Earlier this week, I saw a post on Instagram from an author and creator I follow where she said:

“Last summer I decided if I was going to stay on this app, I was going to have fun on this app. I ignored all the “rules” and started posting way more. It’s been THE MOST FUN.”

I’ve interviewed Elise Blaha Cripe twice before (here and here), and have followed her work years prior and since on her Instagram account. I do remember her talking about this last summer, and have watched her change how she uses Instagram since then. What I have seen can be described in one word: joy. Elise is sharing her joy every week on Instagram.

So what does “fun” look like for Elise? Well, I suppose if someone had to describe her in one word, it might be that she is a maker. She does these incredible projects, one after another, sometimes on top of one another! Want an example? A few weeks back, she decided to learn how to reupholster a chair on her own, from scratch. In the 70 posts she has shared since then on this project, she has shown every step of the process via photos and videos:

 

Now, maybe you think reupholstering is fun, maybe you don’t. But what I have found on the internet is that so many people (me included) feel a sense of curiosity and satisfaction in watching people take on big projects, and working toward their completion. Elise started out blogging in 2005, you can still see her first posts here. In that time, she has developed and honed her communication skills through writing, photos, and videos. Plus, she published a book along the way!

But since last summer when she made that decision to have fun, I’ve seen her show up more on Instagram, not less. She has been fully showing up in embracing her projects and sharing the details of them. I haven’t tracked her “follower growth” or “audience engagement,” but I’ve seen her express personal fulfillment over these months, which she was reflecting on this week as well. The other day, she sat in her car and talked in amazement about how the tools she has today have made it so easy — and so fun — for her to share. Tools she didn’t have years ago:

“I can’t stop thinking about this, how much easier it is to create content in 2023, than in 2005. I couldn’t even begin to share the way that I share now, back then. It would have taken days to create these little videos. The editing, the music. Not to mention that my [back then] camera was so bad. I just want to acknowledge how much more fun it is to make content now… I’m grateful to have this excitement about making stuff, and sharing it on the internet.”

 

I mean, look how happy she is! This is something I have been considering for myself. On a whim, I decided to create one Instagram Reel every day for 30 days. Now, I’ve done plenty of Reels before, which are one-minute videos, but I never fully embraced them. I was curious what I would learn if I did one a day for awhile. In truth: I’m learning a lot!

At first, it felt difficult to teach a concept within 60 seconds. But after a week or so, I find that has become dramatically easier. Day by day, I’ve honed a style that works for me, which means my process from ideation, to recording, to posting has gotten way quicker in the last week or two. I’m also making small improvements here or there, adding a cover slide with a clear title, and knowing exactly where to position that title so that it shows up well in my feed. Day by day, I’ve gone from questioning: “Is it really worth my time to do Reels?” to instead feeling: “This is fun!”

 

But of course, the best part is the comments from writers who are finding them helpful. That is my mission, and it’s nice to embrace a new way to live that mission through these daily one-minute videos.

If you are hoping to make social media more fun for yourself, here are some tips:

• Stop worrying about the algorithm. Why create an adversary over something you can’t see, you can’t have a relationship with, and promises that it will change unexpectedly at any moment. Don’t try to game the system, or find “maximum ROI (return on investment)”, or spend hours discovering “best practices.” Focus instead on what you love doing and who you love connecting with.
• Forget about trends. Just focus on what gives you joy. To me, this is one of the big positive lessons of the social media age. Some of my favorite people to follow have these very niche interests, but they believe in them passionately. It’s a real joy to follow them.
• Share frequently. Show up in the lives of your readers. People feel a connection to those who show up in their lives often. This happens in the workplace, and in the communities we live. It happens online too. Oh, and this may ask challenging questions about how we show up for our craft. For instance: if I want to be known as a writer, it the concept of sharing frequently begs the question: how often do I write? How often do I work on my craft? Once I answer that, I can consider easy and fun ways to share that.
• Be focused on one topic, or a small range of topics. Double down on what you are truly passionate about and do all the time.
• Set boundaries: you don’t have to share everything! You don’t have to share your outfits or your kids or your home or your meals. Share what you want to share.
• Be helpful. Or be fun. Or be inspiring. Consider the feeling you want people to have when they see what you share, and how what you share would truly make someone’s day, or be a small respite within it.
• Find small moments of engagement or connection with real people. Don’t worry about the numbers.

Thanks!

-Dan

Today I want to share details on how one writer I’m working with is selling more books, getting rapid growth in her audience, and increasing the revenue she earns from her writing. Melinda Wenner Moyer is a science journalist and author of the book How to Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes. She and I began working together more than two years ago, first preparing for the launch of her book. So often, writers consider that opportunities around their book happen only at launch, but what I’m going to share below illustrates that this is just the beginning. Your book can have an amazing life and impact well after launch.

When I worked in a big media company years ago, executives would talk about the dream of “hockey stick growth.” This is basically a chart showing steady growth at first, then rapid upwards spike of audience, sales, or some other metric. Imagine a hockey stick laying down on the ground, with the end of it pointing towards the sky. So I was reviewing Melinda’s newsletter data the other day, and I saw exactly that, hockey stick growth:

 

That screenshot was taken on February 24th. Since that time, she has added an additional 1,000+ subscribers to her newsletter. Now, maybe you are a writer thinking, “Oh Dan, already you are talking about newsletters. I don’t want a newsletter, I just want to sell books.” Well, this is a Tweet that Melinda shared in early February:

 

What we have been finding is that the more Melinda doubled down on her newsletter, social media, and strategically showing up for her ideal audience, the more it has led to book sales.

Melinda sends out three emails per week. I have spoken to many writers who shudder at the idea of sending a newsletter any more frequently than once a month. They justify that they don’t like newsletters, and therefore nobody likes newsletters. They worry that by sending an email to someone who has requested you email them — that you are somehow bugging them. Or, they worry that they couldn’t possibly have anything to say as frequently as once a month. But as you will see, it is possible to share more than you think, and for people to absolutely love it.

Melinda sends out one newsletter per week to her free subscribers, and two additional messages to her paid subscribers. Oh, that’s right, Melinda also has hundreds of paid subscribers who want to support her writing and become part of her community. She started the paid version of her newsletter about a year and a half ago, and will now earn around $40,000 per year from her existing subscribers. But of course, since she is always writing and sharing, that isn’t a fixed number. Just look at the rapid growth in revenue from her newsletter:

 

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post that shared the advice “We don’t know what works, but doing stuff works.” In working with Melinda, it has been incredible to be a part of the process of brainstorming ideas, creating long-term strategies, analyzing opportunities, testing new things, and finding the path that truly feels right for Melinda.

For instance, for the past couple of months, Melinda has been considering rebranding her newsletter. We have had so many discussions and text messages bouncing ideas back and forth, mocking up potential logos, getting feedback from her (wonderful) network, and starting again fresh. She wrote about the process in detail in a recent newsletter. When you look at the reality of the process, there are so many times everything feels set to go in one direction, only for us to pause on it because something suddenly feels off. That is the work, that is the creative process, and in the end, Melinda has to love what she does.

So much planning goes into this, but those plans can always change. We had been preparing to launch her rebranded newsletter a couple weeks back, just a day away, when I suggested she pause. That particular week, she was getting a lot of publicity for her newsletter, and I became concerned that it would be very confusing for her to have one newsletter name on a Monday, and a different one on the Tuesday, all while thousands of new people were learning about her work. I imagine that to those on the outside, her success may seem “easy,” because it can be whittled down to simple quotes or questions like: “Melinda, tell us the three tactics that lead to your biggest growth…” But missing from that are the hundreds of small things she has tried or developed or nixed at the last moment.

Critical to her success has been her ability to make meaningful connections with other writers and experts who inspire her. Melinda is incredibly generous, and it has been amazing to see other writers embrace her work and recommend it to their audiences. In the charts above, if you zoom in, you can seem many periods of very slow growth. When you see a sudden jump upwards, that is often because someone else featured Melinda’s work, or begin recommending her newsletter to their readers.

In the past few months, Melinda and I have been discussing her next book. It should be noted that this book is not fully defined just yet, but in order to ensure her platform is moving towards it, we begin discussing it early. This is another area that will look “obvious” to people three years from now, perhaps saying, “Oh, of course her second book was about ______.” But I can tell you she has been moving through several ideas, letting go of some, developing others, and talking to trusted friends and colleagues along the way to get feedback.

It is a process. And an amazing one at that. Melinda has said of our work together:

“I started working with Dan Blank in the months leading up to my book launch, as I had no idea what I was doing or where to focus my energy. Dan quickly centered me and helped me identify, connect with and build my audience. But more than that, he helped me figure out *myself* — what I stand for and why and how to share my core messages and values with others. Every time I connect with Dan, I learn from him and grow as a writer, which is why I have continued to work with him — for nearly two years. He has helped me understand and embrace social media, grow my newsletter and my brand, and even develop a second book idea. I am constantly recommending him to other writers I know, as he is a wealth of wisdom and a joy to work with.”

I’ve talked previously about The Creative Success Pyramid, which is the model I use when working with writers. What I love about Melinda’s comments is that it encompasses so much of it, including the ultimate goal: to feel a sense of personal fulfillment and strategic growth in doing this work. If you are curious about this for yourself, you can learn more about working with me here.

You can also see my first case study with Melinda from January 2022 here.

Thanks!

-Dan