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My days are spent talking with writers, and something I think about a lot are their goals. At what point will they feel a sense of fulfillment? What are the milestones they seek that drives all this effort? Earlier this week I asked writers on social media why they write, and these were some responses:

• “Because I love writing. It makes me happy.”
• “I write to satisfy my muse, Dan. She is a strong, vocal artist, and her only goal, to sum it up, is: “Trust me, I have a great story to tell you.”
• “A desire to make a positive impact on the world.”
• “To get my stories out into the world to help others, whether through fiction or memoir.”
• “I write because I want a voice. I have zero influence because I’m not a journalist or celebrity.”
• “To entertain readers: I write mysteries and romantic comedies for readers who want to laugh and escape. While life and circumstances change, human nature doesn’t. I explore universal themes like falling in love, finding friendship, and knowing oneself.”


I imagine that some of these may resonate with you, and it is by no means a comprehensive list. Some reasons are internal, to know oneself and the world in a deeper way. Others focus outward, on how writing may entertain or help others. We can measure success in sales, awards, esteem, and other overt milestones. And often, we create merely to create. The list of reasons goes on and on.

Recently I was listening to a long interview with Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins, and he said something that made me pause and replay that section again. The question he was asked got very specific into his creative process. At one point, Billy laughs in a bittersweet way and says:

“People used to ask me more about that in the beginning, when they were interested in my process. Back in the day, people would ask me all the time about these things, and at some point, they just stopped asking.”

Billy was reflecting on how so many fewer people care about his creative process today. I imagine that like many artists whose success came years ago, many fans look to him as something of a time machine, only interested in what his older music meant to them. They look to him to recreate their youth. Along the way, many stopped being interested in Billy the person, they stopped being interested in what he creates today, and they stopped being interested in his creative process. They just want the old stories, retold again and again.

This made me pause because Billy has experienced the absolute pinnacle of success in music. More than 30 million albums sold, legions of fans, two Grammy Awards, performing more than 1,500 concerts, and earning tens of millions of dollars. He is also held up as someone who has relished in creative freedom and been rewarded for it, something any creator may dream of.

You may not like the Smashing Pumpkins or Billy himself, but that isn’t why I’m mentioning him. When I consider the milestones that a writer hopes to reach, the goals they have, or their reason for writing, I want to consider their daily experience. If they feel a sense of personal fulfillment. If they feel ready to create. If they feel connected to those who inspire them. If they feel their work can reach their ideal readers. If their days are filled with moments and experiences that matter to them.

This always resonated with me about Dani Shapiro’s wonderful book, Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life. In it she shares a story from earlier in her life when her writing career was going well, but there was a period of time when it wasn’t enough to support her financially. She took some kind of corporate writing job for the money, and she didn’t feel great about that, so she hid it.

There is so much that we don’t often see in the lives of other writers: the compromises that are made, the shame that may be felt, the sense of lost opportunity, or lost interest.Why am I sharing these stories? I’m not trying to bum you out. I just think about all of this when I explore the idea of a writer reaching their goals, and feeling truly fulfilled. So often, we may consider our creative aspirations like this:

• Step 1: Write! Then publish!
• Step 2: ?????
• Step 3: Success!

So I simply want to encourage you to dive deeper into what success means to you. What fulfillment with your creative work would look like. How that may translate to how you spend your days and weeks, and perhaps even, who you spend them with as a writer. Once you do that, I find it is much easier to fill in those question marks in the middle.

I invite you to start 2023 with clarity in your creative work. Join me for an hourlong workshop where I will show you the model that I use:

Creative Clarity: Find More Time, Get More Done, and Live with More Confidence
Friday January 6th at 12:30pm ET.
A replay will be available to all who register.
Register here.

Thanks!
-Dan

It’s common for me to encourage a writer to begin working on their book launch a year or more ahead of time. Today I want to talk about why that is, and ways you can prepare now. Let’s dig in…

Have a Plan

Don’t wait for others to magically create a plan for you. I’ve heard many writers very logically assume that they should wait, saying “Oh, I’m sure my publisher will have a plan.” Or “I have a good friend who self-published before, and did really well. She’s going to meet with me sometime next year to tell me what to do.” But waiting can put a writer in the position of finding out — too late — that these collaborators may provide some resources, but not a comprehensive plan. Then, the author is forced to improvise at the last minute.

Other writers may avoid creating a book launch strategy because they are only focused on what “doesn’t work.” See my post from last week on this topic: Are newsletters, podcasts, and social media too crowded? They conclude that email, social media, podcasts, events, ads (and more!) are so crowded, that none of them will work to connect with readers. So they throw their hands up in frustration that it’s silly to even try.

Instead, I want to encourage you to create a plan. What might that look like? It could include:

1. A document that acts as a centerpiece to give your book launch clarity and organization. This is not a crowded notebook, or endless notes in a Word document. When I work with writers, I use a spreadsheet for this purpose, with each tab of it focused on a specific tactic or strategy. It isn’t just filled with ideas, it is a system for how to work.
2. Identify different categories of tasks you will focus on. At the start, you may feel overwhelmed, but the plan is meant to give you clarity on when you will you announce things, what channels will you use, what your existing network look like, who will you reach out to, how will you market the book, etc.
3. Double down on specific ideas that you will focus on. Then, ignore everything else. I find many truly great marketing ideas start very simply, and then you have to work through various permutations to figure out how to make them even more powerful. For instance, if I’m working with an author on a giveaway, we will consider how to make it bigger, make it feel authentic, how to involve others, how to ensure it may be shared, and of course, how it will spreads the word about their book. See a 2014 case study on this here.
4. Craft a progression of actions, so that you know what to do when. This removes the paralysis of feeling that you have to do EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW, or that you are stuck waiting and can’t take any action.
5. Establish a system to do any repeated actions, so that they take less mental energy and time each week. For instance: a system for how to update social media, send out a newsletter, pitch podcasts, etc.

I was chatting with one author I’m working with on her book launch, and she commented on the strategy document and process we have prepared and said: “This spreadsheet is my lifeline now.” Why? Because it doesn’t just capture all of the ideas for launch and research, but it puts it together within a clear plan. That’s different than having endless pages of notes, or a to-do list that feels overwhelming. A plan is meant for you to pop into, get clarity, know the next action to take, then leave so you can go do it.

Test Your Plan

Back in 2011 I wrote a post outlining how author Eric Ries spent an entire year planning for his book launch. At the time, he was a consultant, and he purposefully took no new paid clients that year in order to put his entire focus on the book launch. Eric would come up with an idea for what he thought would encourage pre-orders, run a test, and often found out that it didn’t do as well as he hoped. This allowed him to identify what did and didn’t work through experiments and real-world experience.

When you take the time to run a test, you challenge your assumptions. Too often we cling to narratives that “feel right.” Like, “Oh, my network of friends will come to support me when my book comes out, they have my back.” Now, I hope that is true. And that feels right. But I have spoken with countless authors who were in utter shock at how they were certain that specific people would support their book, but then didn’t.

It’s one thing to create a book launch plan that looks impressive, or feels reasonable. But until we test the ideas, we are just relying on assumptions. I would encourage you to find small ways to conduct tests. It is common for me to work with writers on mini-marketing campaigns way before launch. Or to begin taking out ads early as a test. Or pitch some podcasts way before you need to, in order to understand the process ahead of time. Or to conduct outreach to people influential to your readers, before you have a book to show them.

Let me give you a non-book launch example of testing. So, a week ago, my website went down after it was infected with malware. This happened earlier in the year as well, and in both cases I was able to get it back up very quickly. This time around I wasn’t panicked because I knew I had backups.

But I thought of something this week: “Have I tested these backups? What if my website goes down, and I go to upload the backup, and it doesn’t work. What will I do then?” Or “What if the backups don’t work the way I expect, and it takes 7 days for me to get them to work? What would the cost be to my business if writers who want to work with me can’t find my website?”

So I tested it. I went to a different web host and purchased a redundant web hosting plan. I uploaded the backup there and see if it worked, and if anything didn’t, then I would consider how I would fix it. In the end, I spent an entire day navigating technical issues and spending $100 to test this. But now I know that the backups work, and I have a fully redundant backup website ready to go if I need it. This also allowed me to navigate frustrating technical questions when I wasn’t in a panic that my website was down. I could take my time and do it knowing everything was okay.

Years ago when my work computer crashed, I did the same thing. I had a backup plan in place, but I never tested it. The plan at the time was “If my computer crashes, I have this backup file over here. I’ll just load it into the computer” But I didn’t factor in the fact that I may need to buy a new computer and wait for that backup to load, and that could take a day or two (or even longer.) How much work time would I lose?

So instead of just having a backup file, I now have a redundant backup computer. If my main computer goes down, I simply grab the backup computer and keep working. All of my files, emails, and programs are there ready to go at a moment’s notice.

If your book launch matters to you, then I would encourage you to have a plan and test that plan ahead of time.

Give Yourself the Gift of Time

Why not give yourself the gift of time in preparing for your book launch? To put a plan in place before you need it. To test it and make it better when you aren’t right up against the launch date. Giving yourself time allows you to hone and optimize your ideas. And when you test them, it allows you to get comfortable with the specific strategies and tactics you will employ. That is a skill and craft in and of itself. That time allows you to do these tasks frequently, and this encourages something we can all use more of in our book launch: luck.

This also gives you time to build a network of like-minded colleagues and supporters based on trust, rather than only reaching out to others just before your book is published, and every communication has the tone of: “I HAVE A BOOK TO PROMOTE RIGHT NOW, WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND?”

Giving yourself time also helps address the mental health aspects of what it means to share work in a manner that feels authentic and fulfilling. I want you to feel that you have given your book the best chance it has to reaching your ideal readers. (And if you want a partner in this process, you can learn more about working with me here.)

Thank you.

-Dan

It’s common for me to read a headline or social media post from someone positing things like:

• “Now that everyone is sending a newsletter, inboxes have reached a breaking point. If you are a writer, don’t bother starting one.”
• “With the podcast renaissance that started in 2012, we have now passed the peak of the podcast wave. They are simply less effective than they once were to promote a book, the marketplace is too crowded, and most people listen to the same huge podcasts that would be near impossible for you to be featured on.”
• “Everyone I know has left _____ social network. It’s not what it once was, I can’t recommend you use it anymore. I’ve left it myself.”
• “People are tired of Zoom, nobody wants to do online events anymore.”

These headlines will often be accompanied by some compelling data. “Did you know that the global newsletter unsubscribe rate is now 43%, the highest it’s been in 15 years?” Or “With 300,000 new bot accounts being created each day, one has to wonder, how on earth would you stand out on social media?”

All the stats and specific quotes above were totally made up by me, by the way, just to make a point. They sound compelling, right? Maybe as if, in your gut, they feel true. That social media has changed. That podcasts aren’t what they once were. That there are too many newsletters, and nobody likes email anyway. That Zoom was a fad.

Yet…

If you are someone who writes or creates, without these channels, how will your work reach people? I’m asking seriously. Because every additional answer has the same logical response of also being “over and done” or “too crowded,” such as:

• Print media (rapid decline in the past 5-10 years?)
• Radio (overtaken by streaming media?)
• TV (a fractured audience now that they compete with unlimited streaming channels dividing people’s attention?)
• In-person events at bookstores (“I heard no one goes to events anymore. I saw a Tweet about an author where only 2 people showed up.”)
• Advertising (“I’m tired of ads, and honestly, I think everyone is.”)
• Offline Retailers (“Stores won’t carry a book unless the author is famous or has a solid track record of thousands of sales.”)
• Online Retailers (“I heard 2,700 new books are published every day. How will I stand out on Amazon?”)

Again, the data/quotes above are made up, but I’ve heard similar reasoning over the years.

In some ways, it is rational and logical to feel that nothing works anymore. But to me, this is a totally freeing concept. Instead of fretting, “What is the exact right place to share about my book?!” you can instead stop worrying about trends. You can just share in a manner that feels reasonable and approachable to you.

I spend my days helping writers share their work and engage with readers. And what I see are counterexamples to every statement proclaiming a certain channel is no longer relevant. Let’s explore one: “social media doesn’t work to promote books.”

I want to share the story of one social media post that seems to have changed the trajectory of a writer’s career in a very positive way. If you have been online at all in the last week, I imagine you may have heard a version of this story already: first-time author Chelsea Banning posted a Tweet about how only 2 people showed up to a book signing, and then famous authors such as Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, Min Jin Lee and others responded. Her Tweet went viral.

Chelsea has been sharing the outcomes of this, and it’s really incredible. What she and her books have been experiencing since that December 4th Tweet:

• Obviously: receiving validation and a direct message from famous authors is just amazing.
• Lots of media featuring her or wanting to interview her, including NPR, Washington Post, The Guardian, People, Kirkus, CBS, CNN, and others. She even shared: “Ok, I’m getting emails for podcast and radio shows and how do I tell which one are legit or not? Help! Is there a certain I should go about this?”
• Book sales! After the Tweet she shared: “reporting 474 digital copies of my book sold so far in the last couple days. YOU ARE ALL SO AMAZING THANK YOU SO MUCH.” Also you can find Tweets like this from readers: “I shared your post the other day and my friend bought a copy right away.” She also sold out of her own personal stock of books that she was signing and has to order more.
• Book reviews. Here is one on Amazon that illustrates how the Tweet lead to a reader: “I just saw a tv news article about no one showing up at the author’s first book signing, and since I had my laptop on my lap, I logged in to Amazon and looked at the sample first few pages. (I do love that Amazon enables one to take a first look.) The first paragraph pulled me right in, I downloaded it, and I know what I’m doing for the rest of today. I don’t think she really needs to sit in bookstores to sell this book.”
• Bestseller rankings and Amazon algorithms: because people bought the book after the Tweet, this moved the book up into Amazon’s lists and algorithm. At the time of writing this, she is currently “Best Sellers Rank: #615 in Books,
  #3 in Arthurian Fantasy,
  #5 in Folklore,
  #6 in Historical Fantasy”
  
• Publisher interest: she self published this book, and then after the Tweet said: “I’m starting to get requests from pub houses. I’ve gotten one from Italy and one from Germany. Um. Help? Should I query for an agent now? Since I’m already (self) published, how does this work now?“
• A library in Kansas Tweeted that they now have Chelsea’s book on order, after they read about her Tweet going viral.
• Followers and subscribers. She now has 12,700 followers on Twitter. I don’t remember how many she had before this viral Tweet, but it was much less. She has also been encouraging people to subscribe to her email newsletter, which I imagine has seen dramatic growth.
• General awareness and SEO: Google her name or search for it on social media, and you will find so much now. One person shared: “Yep, here from Reddit. 27 thousand people up voted the post about you and about how some authors replied to ya.”
• A deep sense of personal fulfillment. When her book hit #1 in the Arthurian Fantasy category on Amazon after the Tweet went viral, she shared: “YA’LL YOU DID THIS!!! 😭😭😭😭 You made my lonely 14 year old day dreamer’s dream come true! I used to get a trouble in class for writing this story instead of paying attention and omg!!“
• A sense of connection to a supportive community and other human beings. She shared after things went viral: “I love the writing community so much.”

Are there many serious problems and concerns with social media? Yes. Does social media still “work” in the way we hope sometimes: that it connects writing and art to readers in a compelling manner, and can make a writer feel validated and successful too? Yes to that as well.

It’s difficult to know which path to take to share your writing and feel a part of a community of readers. Are newsletters, podcasts, and social media too crowded? Maybe. Does that mean you should ignore them? That’s for you to decide. But if you do, determine where you will put your energy to connect with readers instead. Find that path that is right for you. I encourage you to do a few things:

• Don’t worry if you read a headline or compelling statement from someone that some specific channel or marketing tactic is dead. I’ve sent out a weekly email newsletter for 15 years. I imagine I’ll do so for 15 more, even if newsletter become passé.
• Experiment. This week I was talking with a writer about Chelsea Tweet, and the writer mentioned that if only 2 people showed up to an event, they likely never would have posted about it on social media. Which is fine! Choose what works for you. But it’s a good lesson that we never know what will work in terms of capturing people’s attention around our creative work.
• Develop a plan so you don’t always feel like you are making up a strategy to share your writing day-by-day. If you don’t know where to begin, take a look at my Creative Success Pyramid or Human-Centered Marketing ethos.

Maybe you are reading this and thinking, “Dan, this is a one in a million feel good story. That’s great for Chelsea, but the odds of this happening to me are near impossible.” But if you look at some of the other Tweets Chelsea has been sharing recently, promoting the books of other authors, trying to give them attention. This, of course, is a power that you have too. To uplift others.

Thank you.

-Dan

Recently I have seen people begin using the word “brand” a lot more. The context being that you have to “define your author brand” or “establish yourself as a brand” if you want to get the attention of readers.

But you are not a brand. You are a person. Who you are and what you create is multifaceted. It will evolve and grow. At times, it may even seem like two opposite things at once. And that is okay.

Today I want to talk about why I think that is, and what I do feel is important in establishing your work in a manner that truly speaks to your ideal reader or audience. I also want to touch upon a new technology — art and writing created by artificial intelligence — that I think may completely change the marketplace for creative work.

Let’s dig in…

What is a Brand, Anyway?

This is not the definitive way to express what a brand is, but in general I would say branding is defining a recognizable set of features (or feelings or experiences) that someone else will associate with who you are or what you create. For example, we expect a Disney ride to be kind of wholesome and kind of magical. We expect a horror movie to surprise us, scare us, and maybe challenge boundaries.

Sometimes this “brand” is expressed as a visual style, but it can also be a narrative. For instance, how Nike tries to frame thousands of distinct shoes and clothes they produce each year, all as a celebration of sport. Or how Patagonia will encourage you to not buy new clothes because that is better for the planet, while they also do encourage you to buy new clothes.

Branding is Sometimes Meant as a Shorthand for Values

Defining a brand can sometimes be related to defining values.

Years ago I worked at a publisher in the communications department. The company had around 50 magazines I worked with (such as Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Interior Design, Variety, and many others specific to a niche market, such as American Metal Markets.) We had a parent company, and one day, they decided to create a set of “values” that would embody all of our brands.

I was part of the team that had to communicate this to our employees, and it was a complicated task. You see, each of these magazines had a long history. I mean, here are the archives of Library Journal that I visited that went back more than 125 years:

 

I took this photo in 2008, and showed a recent issue with the very first issue from 1876 from the archives:

 

Each publication had their own history, their own culture, their own leadership, and their own relationships to unique industries that were filled with people who spent their entire careers within them.

The values that our parent company defined were:

• Customer Focus
• Boundarylessness
• Valuing Our People
• Passion for Winning
• Innovation

The questions I always had about the Values were that they didn’t always help direct me because they would each potentially conflict with each other. If I have a task, do I:

• Try something new by Innovating, even if that meant there was a big risk because there was no track record?
• Or do I focus on Passion for Winning by doubling down on a tried and true strategy?
• Do I make decisions that put the well being of our employees first. Or do I focus on our customers first?
• Should I work across internal boundaries (Boundarylessness!) for the good of the company overall, or will doing so rub a lot of people the wrong way because I am not going through a proper chain of command, and potentially wasting resources across departments, or even making a redundant effort?

Then one day boxes of these arrived to hand out to all employees:

 

What are they? I guess they are paperweights. The top globe spins, and one of the ball bearings is a cream color, so you can move it to land on one value or another. The early 2000’s were a time of great changes in publishing, and many companies were going through rounds of layoffs every year. I know some employees felt that a lot of money was being spent on “values” while their colleagues could lose their jobs.

Now, I am not sharing this story to be negative. I loved working at that company and with my co-workers. I have wonderful memories and feel incredible gratitude. But I also want to pull important lessons from my experiences there. One thing I heard people expressing at the time was that values come from within, not from some committee. And that values are built on actions, on a history, on experiences. They aren’t just nice sounding words.

Branding and Visuals

Too often, branding is thought of exclusively as consistent visuals. And sure, sometimes it works. When we see a swoosh, we think of Nike. If you are in Target and someone is wearing a red polo shirt, you may think they are an employee. When a brown truck pulls up, you may think it is a UPS delivery.

But for you the writer, branding is not just picking a color palette or using one template on social media. A brand is what you and your work means to someone. And there are two sides to this: who you are and who they are.

At scale, this can seem obvious. “Bruce Springsteen is about….” Or “Tina Turner embodies…” But often the brand is an expression of the artist, and this changes over time. I was listening to an interview with Bruce recently where he talked about how many of his fans bemoan the fact that he grew artistically over the years. He said the biggest insult someone can get in rock and roll is: “You changed! Why did you change?!” His reply, “Yes, I did change. Why didn’t you?” Yet, even as he changed, one could argue that there are elements of who he is and what he creates that are a constant. That is what one may term his “brand.” It’s not the style of shirt he wears, it’s the deeper purpose that drives his music.

And while branding is a thing that we can talk about, sometimes it is really just our way of trying to define an obvious pattern to something more complex.

Your Human Qualities Matter More than Ever

You are not a brand, you are a person. And that will have dramatically more value in your creative career in the near future. If you aren’t aware, AI Art and AI Writing (work created by artificial intelligence or computer algorithms) are reaching levels that may convincingly mimic what a human can create. I’m not debating all the nuances of that today. But let me illustrate the point. I used a popular AI Art generator, and input this simple prompt:

“customers buy in the bookstore photorealistic, book store, cinematic lighting, ultra realistic, highly detailed, 3d, postprocessing, hyperrealistic, HDR, 8k –ar 3:2”

Within a minute, it created these four images:

I then had the program enhance the one in the lower right. A minute later this popped out:

Then I asked it to create variations on that image. Within a minute, it gave me these:

If you look at details, you can find a lot that is wrong. But you can also find a lot that is right, such as a consistent light source and how it would reflect on different surfaces. And what astounds me is the variation among the photos. How in each image, it changed moldings, or a book, or the shape of the glass case, or something very subtle.

Of course, AI is also being developed in writing with similar effects, but I’m not getting into that topic today. Maybe you are saying to yourself that AI Art wouldn’t effect you, because you are a writer. But… what if you could use a program like this to create character sketches, to illustrate virtual paintings of scenes, if you could use it to create a book trailer, a book cover, or social media content to communicate what your book is about, or even use it to help “sell” a concept to an agent or publisher?

The point I want to make is this:

• Computer generated creative work will change some aspects of the marketplace for creative work.
• Writers, artists, and creators will likely feel challenged that a book may take them 3 years to write, and a computer can pop out a book on the same topic, of the same length, in minutes. I’m not implying the books will be comparable, I’m simply pointing out that the very notion of it could create complicated emotions in creators.
• I hear writers and creators bemoan how “crowded the marketplace is” all the time. Computer generated writing and art will only expand that sense a thousandfold.

A few years back, I interviewed artist Jake Parker. Recently he made a video sharing recommendations for how working artists can continue to have a viable career as AI Art becomes more accessible and accepted. His advice:

• Define your competition
• Master your craft
• Embrace consistency
• Build your community

In some ways, this is stuff I talk about all the time because it is the foundation for putting writing at the center of your focus, and how you share as a meaningful next step. In the video he also makes the point of owning your platform, and how most social media channels are constantly shifting their algorithms. What is owning your platform? Having a website, having an email newsletter list, and having multiple ways to reach your audience.

Branding vs Being a Brand

So are you a brand? Or are you just using elements of “branding” to define a consistent style and ethos that is memorable to those who experience what you create?

What you are trying to convey to others are the key elements of how you want your creative work to be known and remembered. It is trying to give a shorthand for the themes that drive you to create, and how it may impact your readers.

Thank you.

-Dan

I had been working on two different essays to potentially send out today, but then I saw something this week that really moved me. I want to share what that is today, and encourage you to do something that I think could have a powerful — and positive — impact on the life of another writer or creator.

This is a headline that I saw this week:

“Director Albert Pyun Wants to Hear From Fans in His Last Days.”

Now, I had never heard of Albert Pyun before, I’ve never watched one of his movies, and to be honest, I probably never will. But I do watch a lot of movie review channels on YouTube and I noticed that one of them which has 1.4 million subscribers did an hour-long episode celebrating Albert’s movies. They had seen the headline, were fans of his, and decided to respond.

That video has 346,000 views so far, 16,000 Likes, and 1,895 comments. The video made me appreciate his craft, and why he has such a large fanbase. It turns out, his wife has been sharing updates on Albert’s health via her Facebook page. This is the update that caught the attention of the YouTube movie reviewers:

 

That post has 1,000 comments from fans, and she is sharing this phase of his life regularly on Facebook, as well as reflections on his love of moviemaking. Evidently Albert had been trying to complete the final two films in a trilogy, when his health made that impossible. His wife said that it is her goal to finish the movies for him.

If there is a writer, artist, or creator that you admire, I simply want to encourage you to celebrate them and their work. This can be a gratitude email, a social media post, or even something bigger. Just something that would get them to realize that their work matters to you. And perhaps in doing so, awareness of their work will grow to others.

Thank you for being here with me, I can’t express how much that means to me.

-Dan