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Sometimes the creative process can feel like a total mess. So can your efforts to share your writing with others. Today I want to share a case study about that, with the hopes that it gives you a sense of permission to keep going, even if you feel that how you create and share lacks the clarity and structure you hope for.

A few months ago, I wrote a post on 23 lessons to learn from The Beatles about the creative process. Today I want to do a similar case study, but with a creator who is not nearly as famous as The Beatles. I had written about this person a year ago when he released a comedy special on Netflix. It was an hour-long video filmed in one room by himself during the pandemic.

Well, he recently released another video that shows behind-the-scenes outtakes from creating his comedy special. I want to talk bout that today. Even though he focuses on songs, comedy skits, and video, I think this example is applicable to someone who is writing a novel, or trying to grow their author platform via a newsletter. Deep down, the creative process and our ability to market our work to others is less about the specific medium, and more about the human-centered process of creating art and having that impact the lives of others.

There are so many ways the creative process can be messy: how you land on the idea of a book you want to write, how you get the words down on the page, and how you get to a finished piece you are proud of. In the work I do with writers and creators, I help provide a system for how to share what you create with a sense of authenticity and strategy. We create a step-by-step plan that fits within their otherwise busy lives. We focus on clear goals, but also a fulfilling experience.

But, just like the creative process, sometimes the sharing process is messy. And that’s okay. Today I want to explore why that can be useful to you. If you feel like so often you feel like you have no idea what you are doing and your “strategy” is a disaster, maybe that’s good!

(Oh wait, one big caveat first: the video I’m talking about is by Bo Burnham, who is a comedian. He intentionally crosses lines in his comedy and presents skits as characters. Honestly, aspects of his comedy will likely offend you. So I’m not even going to link to it. I will write the piece below without you needing to watch his videos or like his comedy. If you do want to see the videos, you can search for “Bo Burnham Inside” or “Bo Burnham Inside Outtakes” in a search engine. I’m not here advocating for or against his content. I’m featuring it because it is an instructive look at the creative process.)

If you are wondering why I’m focusing on this guy and this video, its worth noting that his comedy special did pretty well:

• It won him a Grammy award.
• It has been the #1 selling comedy album on the Billboard charts for an entire year.
• Songs from this special have tens of millions of views on YouTube.

In other words: this comedy special was ridiculously successful. Even though in every screenshot I share below, it likely won’t look that way. It will look like some random guy sitting in a room by himself. Which is exactly why I thought this was a great example for how we can all feel as we create and share our writing and art. Okay, let’s dig in…

“Trying to create while stuck in a room.”

“Trying to be funny while stuck in a room…” is the theme of one of the songs Bo sings in the special, ruminating on feeling isolation while creating. That’s what all writers and creators do. To create something magical from quiet solitude, and perhaps even, boredom.

He recorded this in one room. From what I can tell, it a small building in his backyard, that consists of one big room, a small kitchen, and a bathroom.

As the video progresses in his hour-long comedy special, you see time moving as his hair getting longer
the mess growing around him. At the start, he has short hair and he has some beard stubble. By the end, his hair is down to his shoulders, with a long beard.

There are many shots from the outtakes where Bo seems to intentionally want to make himself look pathetic as he tries to create. Shot after shot of him in a messy room, looking bored, and then another shot that just holds on him doing something ridiculous. Or a shot of him checking his phone, because he forgot to stop filming. Here is an example, two back to back shots, one in the day, one in the night, with him doing the same thing: checking his computer as he prepares to film something:

 

 

What I see here is that, in trying to create something that we feel speaks to who we are, that we hope truly brings joy to others, can be a long process of us sitting alone in a room. Not knowing if our ideas will work. Where we may even feel unable to reach the level of craft that we dream of.

Yet, this is the work of what it means to create something meaningful.

Sharing Takes Effort To Present Your Ideas and Yourself

When we try to share our creative work, there is a similar challenge. We try to follow the “best practices” of sharing often, with authenticity, feeling like you have some great system, and that it all results in a sense of confidence and fulfillment.

But, it doesn’t often feel that way.

In Bo’s video, he shares the behind the scenes of how he is sharing. You will see him walking from the camera after clicking ‘record’ or walking to it in order to stop recording. This is the work of sharing. It isn’t just a charismatic person capturing a natural moment. It takes effort to present your ideas and yourself.

Bo’s original comedy special was filled with songs and skits. In the outtakes, I see so many entire lighting effects or shots or ideas that never made it into the final video. Ideas he clearly spent hours on, testing and performing. And it ended up on the cutting room floor.

To a creator who is trying to share effectively, this can be discouraging. So many times over the years I’ve heard a writer say, “I just wasted three hours on my newsletter, trying to fix something.Ugh!!!!!” That’s unfortunate, and it’s easy to think, “Oh, these other successful writers don’t waste their days on technical issues with a newsletter. I’m pathetic. I’m doing it wrong. This is a waste. Why do I even need a newsletter?”

But again, this is the work. Why I’m writing an entire piece about Bo is to illustrate that. Here is someone who is very successful creating a video that will be very successful. And the entire process — to him– is filled with uncertainty, dead ends, and frustration. Is that the only way to create? Nope! Is it common if you experience it. Yep. So don’t feel bad about that.

In the outtakes, Bo shares entire segments of him just moving furniture to setup a shot. Even the framing is something he thought about here. My interpretation: “This is me setting up a shot for how you will see me, for how I will share.” Which is why the camera shows him in the background, and a video monitor in the foreground:

 

Progress Always Feels Distant

In the outtakes, Bo shares a scene where he addresses the camera directly: “I’ve been filming for a month now, and don’t have anything that is even close to usable yet.” But little by little, he created songs and skits he was satisfied with. Progress sneaks up on you. There is rarely a one-to-one ratio of “I tried something and I’m instantly rewarded with a sense of progress!” Return on investment for our time in creating and sharing is slow. It can take weeks, months, or years. But it is there.

You see the passing of time with quick cuts of him with short hair, then long.

Near the end of the outtakes, Bo addresses the camera again: “I’ve decided I’m going to stop doing this. I’ve been trying to finish this special for many months now. I keep thinking that I’m done, I’ll write an ending and I’ll film an ending, then I’ll edit it and I’ll watch it, and I’ll feel like I’m not done, I have to do something else. I feel like I’m waiting for some big idea that will tie it all together and make sense of it and satisfy me. But I don’t think that’s going to happen. And the more I wait for it, the more [expletive] I feel, and look. I realized the only way this thing is going to stop is if I stop doing it. Goodbye.”

 

How You Create is a Craft. So Is How You Share

Throughout the outtakes, you see Bo testing the effects that will later appear in the final special. You see the ridiculous number of takes he has to do for each shot, but also setups: unique lighting, camera angles, etc.

Here is a montage that encapsulates so much about the craft of how we create and share. Here Bo is holding up colored lighting filters to see how they look in the room. In the first two, his hair is shorter. In the next two his hair is long. This is the boring work of craft. Here he is 10+ years into a successful career, at some odd hour of night still deciding: “purple or blue?” Then choice to show himself doing it with the longer hair illustrates: this work is never done. You always have to spend time on the details of craft. In your writing, you could be 12 books into your career and still struggle with basic dialogue, character development, book structure, or rewrite a sentence 100 times and still feel it isn’t right. In a newsletter, it could be draft after draft before you click “send.” This is the work.

 

At one point, he shows behind the scenes of filming that don’t include the songs that these images are meant to be a part of. Watching someone performing like this (without the music) really shows the inner workings of the creative process, and how it can just look desperate when piecing it together. Just a guy fake laughing by himself in a messy room, take after take after take:

 

Later, he shares multiple takes of the exact same portion of a song. Of course, in the end, most nearly all of these shots weren’t used. For his art, this is both the creation of his work, but also the sharing of it. The songs are already recorded, so his performance is how he will share it. He could have just released an album with no video.

So if we consider a writer who wants to share a video on Instagram, they may do multiple takes too. But they may think, “Is this self-involved? Shouldn’t it just be natural? Shouldn’t I just be writing? Is this all for silly likes and gaming an algorithm?” Yet, much like Bo, it can be an essential part of the craft of how we share. These are all different takes for the same moment in each song. Doing the same thing again and again and again to get it good enough:

 

 

 

Finding Your Public Identity Is Difficult

Much of Bo’s performance feels personal, where you see him obviously performing in some sketches, then supposedly seeing the “real” Bo behind the scenes. But in truth, it is never clear if the real Bo shows up in any of this. Is the behind the scenes a performance too? Is everything Bo shares in character? Or, characters? Is that the point he is making? He presents shots like this, which look more impromptu in his kitchen, looking directly at the camera, and making seemingly confessional personal reflections:

 

Yet, it is never clear if he is playing a character. I feel like he is. But it’s easy to conclude the opposite.

So many writers struggle with this to. How to present themselves online in a way that feels cohesive and approachable, but not in a fake and premeditated way. Bo started his career sharing videos from his bedroom as a 16 year old, back in 2006. I think more than most, he has evolved his sense of what needs to remain personal and what can be public.

Bo doesn’t do a lot of interviews or publicity anymore. I think he presents the work as the art, and his personal thoughts and experiences as private. Many of us would like to choose that same avenue. “Shouldn’t the work just speak for itself?” we may ask. But I don’t want to ignore the work he did to gain his initial audience. to sustain it. To give himself a platform and career. And how much of himself he put into creating these new videos.

Of course, to create and share your work, you take on many roles. In one skit, Bo takes on the role of a talkshow host, interviewing the entire creative team of the video he’s making. All of the roles are played by Bo because he created this award-winning comedy special by himself:

• Director
• Writer
• Editor
• Cinematographer
• Composer
• Producer
• Hair and makeup artist
• Star

 

And this is something that many writers and creators bemoan. That they are expected to do so much. The flipside of how to look at this is that we get to do so much. Years ago Bo would have had to wait years to produce this. It would have required a dramatically bigger budget. It would never have turned out the way it did. Is that better? Worse? Well, it’s art, so who can say.

But Bo found himself on lockdown in 2020, and made this. It won him a Grammy award. It is the bestselling comedy album. I don’t know how many times the entire video special was streamed or how much he was paid. But on YouTube, one song has 81 million views. Another, 33 million views. Another, 25 million views.

It’s easy to look at someone like this and just say, “Oh, Bo is just massively talented. He would be successful no matter what.” Yet what he shares here is the work involved. He showcased the mess and uncertainty that many of us feel as we create. And to me, that feels welcome.

Ever feel like a mess in how you create and share?

Thanks.

-Dan

Today I want to discuss the value of embracing your creative boundaries. And how boundaries actually make better art, and help you get better at sharing what you create. Let’s dig in…

Limits Help Art

I’m reading Keith Richards’ autobiography, and when he discusses making the Rolling Stones’ most successful albums, he talks about how limits make the process much better from an artistic standpoint. Keith embraces two different creative limits:

1. He’s a guitarist and songwriter. A guitar has six strings. Keith removes one of them. So here is a guy writing music for a famous rock band, which would traditionally want the biggest sound possible, and he’s removing the low E string. Which string is this? Well, in my experience, this is the string that many rock musicians rely on most. It’s a deeper sound and packs a big punch. Keith literally removes it from his guitars.
2. In recording albums, he prefers to use an 8 track recorder. What this means is that to record a full band, each sound would have it’s own track that would then get mixed down to the song. So maybe drums on one track, lead vocal on another, etc. Nowadays, you can really just have unlimited tracks during recording. He put his preference for the 8 track limit this way: “[Using] sixteen and twenty-four tracks.. made it much more difficult to make records. The canvas becomes enormous and it becomes much harder to focus.” For Keith, less is more.

I spend so much time researching how successful writers, artists, and creators have found their version of success. What do I find time and time again? Their art took a massive leap forward when they faced creative boundaries. When they didn’t have access to seemingly essential tools. When they lost what felt like an essential ingredient to their process. When they had a ridiculous time limit. Or some other barrier that easily could have caused them to stop.

But they didn’t. They thrived. That limit was what they needed for a massive leap forward.

We All Have Boundaries

This applies to how we share as well. We all have boundaries. We all have preferences that feel like they are rules set in stone. E.G.: “Oh, I would never talk about myself on social media, that’s so gauche.” Or, “Everyone I know hates email. Sending a newsletter would only annoy people. I won’t do it.”

The one I run into most often is this: “I have a hard time sharing because I’m an introvert. Marketing just isn’t for me.”

Now, I will say this up front: every one of us is unique. Only you can determine what you are comfortable doing. I’m encouraging you to be open minded, but in the end, I respect that you have to do what feels right to you. That said, I would encourage you to embrace your boundaries. And in doing so, find a way to move towards your creative goals even with those boundaries.

I am a massive introvert. Much of my day is spent either:

• Locked in a room by myself.
• Locked in a house with three other people who I love dearly.

And I thrive like this. I’ve heard the introvert thing summarized like this: “introverts are depleted by social interactions, extroverts are filled up by them.” For myself, I do find that after I give a big online presentation or have a series of back to back phone calls, I need to take a nap. Yes, I’m a napper. Every day, for well more than a decade. I love naps.

But of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t like people. I love people! And I actually love connecting and having deep conversations. I mean, if you have ever met me, seen one of my workshops, or listened to my podcast, you hopefully get a sense that I love talking with people and am incredibly passionate about the connecting with writers, artists, and those who create.

It would be easy for me to say: “I’m an introvert, therefore I can’t put myself out there on Instagram.” But three thousand posts later, clearly I can. Or to say, “Do not ask me to be on video, I’m more comfortable in real-life conversations.” Yet I have recorded and shared thousands of videos over the years. And, I really like it, here’s one. I’ve made my own version of introversion work for me. I have embraced my boundaries, and in doing so, use them to ensure I can still create and share.

My boundaries are not meant to limit my life, but allow me to show up more fully to what matters most.

These limits have allowed me to show up with total presence and authenticity. You have your own version of all of this. I’m sharing my experience simply to illustrate that one can have serious preferences and still thrive in how they share and connect. My entire week is spent chatting with writers! I meet new people all the time! And I’ve developed ways to do it that feel comfortable for me.

Embracing Your Boundaries Helps You Share With Authenticity

To share with a sense of authenticity, I would encourage you to impose limits. This helps stave off a sense of feeling overwhelmed. I have this conversation with writers all the time, that in embracing how to share their writing, they are trying to master so many skills at once. It’s a lot. Take it one step at a time. Sometimes I think of it as a literacy… learning how to communicate what you create and why, learning how to write a newsletter (and how to send it), how to share on Instagram, how to send an email to a podcaster, how to ask for a book blurb, etc. The potential list of tasks for developing your platform as an author can be long.

The solution? Do less. Consider how you share as a craft that you develop. So perhaps instead of being active on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and a newsletter, you pick just one of those to focus on for awhile. But then, you show up all the way. You view it as a craft, not a tasks you do begrudgingly.

Or perhaps you flip how you think about social media, Instead of thinking of it as a way to gain attention for your writing, you view it as a tool to celebrate the creative work of others. So you promote other writers, you reply back to them in supportive ways, and you wake up each day considering how you can truly make a writer or reader feel seen today.

Recently I wrote about this topic in a post titled: Want to grow your platform? Do less. It’s applicable here. I also recorded a podcast version of that, so you can hear me talk about it. Then I recorded a video of that:

 

Yep, that’s me the introvert sharing via text, audio, and video. And loving it. I respect my boundaries and preferences. But when I consider how I want to spend my days — supporting writers and creators — I find ways to still create and share even with those boundaries.

As you consider your own goals in how you share what you create, I would simply encourage you to explore this for yourself.

Thanks.

-Dan

I was watching a video from a gardener the other day who has 56,000 subscribers on YouTube, and 11,200 subscribers on Instagram when she dropped a huge piece of marketing advice. She was putting out bouquets of flowers to sell at her farm stand, when she said:

“I take a picture of all my flowers, and immediately post on Facebook and Instagram. I used to post on my professional pages. Then I started posting that I was open on my personal pages, and that REALLY helped me out so much. It was that realization that the people buying my flowers are really my friends and neighbors. So getting it there on my personal pages really helps me out.”

 

This is the lesson that many writers and artists miss. Why? Well, often when we dream of developing an audience, we picture this:

STRANGERS.

I’ve asked this question to writers many many times: “Would you prefer people you know buy your book, or strangers.” Their face lights up with unquestioning certainty: “STRANGERS!”

Of course, every one of us only knows a small number of people, so we want strangers because that means there is a wider potential audience for what we write. But there are many writers I’ve spoken with who literally hide their creative work from friends and colleagues. And not because they find the subject matter to be embarrassing, or they feel it will negatively impact their job or friendships or anything. There can be a wide range of reasons:

• They just don’t want the judgement from those they know.
• They want to “make it” on their own, without feeling their friends and family were goaded into helping out. Or like they were calling in favors, and people were taking pity on them.
• They don’t feel those they know will buy or like their book.
• They don’t want to try on a new identity of “writer” to those who already know them in other roles (mother, sister, co-worker, accountant, etc.)

But what I often find is that to build momentum in how your creative work is shared, it starts with those you already have a connection with. Publishers know this. That is why if you sign with a traditional publisher, one of the first things they will do in terms of marketing is send you an “author questionnaire.” This document asks you to list out everyone who knows you. They want to know if you were in a sorority 30 years ago, what companies you worked for 15 years ago, and so on. Why do they care about every single person you know? Because that is where they will start with their marketing. They will look for opportunities within your existing network, because they know that people who already feel connected with you are more likely to purchase the book, or amplify it to others.

We all start with zero platform. My first email newsletter was sent to 9 people I worked with. I went office to office, asking permission to send it to them. Could I have dreamed that one day strangers would receive it? Sure. But I started with those who already knew me, and trusted me. I say this all the time, but your author platform is two things:

1. Your ability to effectively communicate what you create and why
2. Establishing a sense of trust with those you hope to reach

More than 15 years later, this newsletter does reach thousands of people. Are many of them people I have never spoken with directly? Sure. But many of them are people I know from my workshops, from social media, from a wide range of interactions and conversations. And that feels amazing.

If you don’t learn how to talk about your writing with those you already know, how will you ever know how to share it effectively with strangers?

I’ve been redoing my Key Messages, the core beliefs that drive what I create. What this has me doing is a deep dive inward about why I do the work I do. But it also has me in conversation with people, considering what language really speaks to people. I would encourage you to do that same thing. Learn how to talk about your creative work in a way that gets people to lean into those conversations, instead of turning away. One where it grows your identity as a writer or creator.

Some of your biggest and most unexpected “wins” as an author will come through your network. The distant cousin who learns of your book, and recommends it to someone he knows, who then invites you to their book club. Or the old friend who knows someone who runs a big podcast and invites you on as a guest.

Of course, over time, your work will reach strangers. But those strangers will also become acquaintances, repeating the cycle.

When they were just starting out, The Beatles dreamed of wider success. But their first audience was Paul’s dad in the other room. John and Paul were writing music in one room, and just finished creating “She Loves You.” Then, they walked into the next room and played it for Paul’s dad.

This is where sharing begins. Where we are. With what we have. With those we know. I’m not encouraging you to do anything that makes you seriously uncomfortable, but I don’t want you to overlook the value of sharing what you create with those around you. You never know the magical places it may lead.

Thanks.

-Dan

Next week I’m teaching a class that Jane Friedman is hosting! The title: “I Hate Social Media–Now What? How to develop word-of-mouth marketing, and get the publicity you want, with or without social media.” There is a $25 fee, and it will be a fun class. I prepared a brand new presentation just for this session. Register here.

Okay, onto today’s post…

So I saw this the other day, a new video from someone I follow on YouTube:

 

That is Rick Beato. In the past few years, has quickly amassed almost 3 million subscribers, creating videos analyzing music. With his newfound fame, he’s been landing in-depth interviews with Sting, Peter Frampton, Brian May and may others. In the video above, Rick is using his platform to give attention to a musician he greatly admires, but who hasn’t amassed much of a following online.

What Rick is doing here is shining a light on someone with generosity. His 11 minute video discusses why this other musician is so good, and encourages viewers to follow that musician on Spotify, YouTube, etc.

I love this.

Of course, the value of this kind of generosity is easy to see when it’s Rick with his 3 million followers. But you have this same power. You have the power to shine a light on writers, artists, and creators who inspire you. Your platform as a writer can be infused with generosity. In many ways, amplifying others is built into social media, via the “like” and “reshare” buttons. But what Rick is doing here is next level. I challenge you to do the same. And to be honest, I’m challenging myself to do the same.

Instead of just recommending a book here and there, instead of just doing a #FollowFriday on Twitter, instead of just linking to someone, what if you gushed about them? What if you celebrated them in a big way? What if you honored what they create? What could you do that would make their week, their month, or even their year. (Yes, I lifted that from the Friends theme song.)

What if you took on the role of someone who shares with ridiculous generosity? Back in December on my podcast, I did a profile on Zibby Owens titled, “What Zibby Owens Can Teach Us About Establishing Your Platform.” When she started her podcast interviewing authors, she didn’t just do one a month or one a week. At first it was one every 4-5 days. But then quickly it was one every 3 days. Then one every single day. Seriously, go look at her archive of podcast episodes, scroll alllllllll the way back to the beginning, then just look at the dates as you move forward in the list.

This is what generosity looks like.

It’s also what building a truly astounding career looks like. Every time I look, Zibby seems to be launching some huge new venture. It’s just amazing. I don’t have a way to characterize what she is achieving beyond how she describes herself on her homepage: “Zibby Owens. Author, Podcaster, Publisher, Entrepreneur, Book-fluencer, and Mother of 4.”

Why do this? Why focus on generosity when you may be approaching the idea of developing an author platform specifically to focus people on your writing? Well, for one, it feels good. I mean, the world is a complex place, if you can create a little bit of good in the world, that is a very — VERY — welcome thing.

So much of what it means to develop a platform is to not only grow awareness with what you create, but a sense of trust with readers and those who may share about your work. What gets people’s attention? To be seen. To be recognized. To feel an authentic connection. Of course, you want that for your work. But what if you initiated? What if you modeled the behavior you hope from others?

Want others to notice you? Notice them first.

What if you:

• Identified other writers that your ideal readers may know.
• Were then ridiculously generous in promoting their work.
• Used that as an excuse to make a personal connection to the writer. And maybe even the readers.

This is work. It requires you to consider what other books your ideal readers already like. So many authors struggle with this. Then, it requires you to consider a critical question: what would truly support this author? I mean, beyond a retweet. Is it to give away their book? Promote their newsletter? Get people to an upcoming event?

Empathy is key here. To consider a metric that would really matter to this author. Something that would grab their attention. Some ideas:

• Can you promote a book from someone that has been out for a year. Can you spend a week doing it? Like, you give the week a theme, you create a virtual party, you have some friends help you out.
• Could you bake a cake with an authors book cover on it? Or better… bake cupcakes, but decorate each one as a different character from the book. Then share that on social media, maybe send them to the author.
• Could you send the author a letter, written with a fountain pen, just gushing about their book? Seal the letter with wax, send them a photo of their book in a prime place on your bookshelf.
• Could you organize 20 people to show up for an author event — all in costume from the book?

Are these ideas bonkers? Yep. Would every one of them get the attention of the author. OH YES. And of course, I’m just brainstorming here, there are thousands of other ideas. My point is this: don’t do the obvious easy thing. Go overboard. For writing. For art. For readers. For supporting the things you want to see more of in this world.

Oh, and this is applicable for reaching influencers too. But you don’t have to start there. Find a writer whose book could use some love. Then, deliver it.

Thanks.

-Dan

Today I want to discuss two strategies for effectively marketing your writing that may seem to conflict with each other. Yet, both are essential. Here they are:

1. Consistency Matters
2. Delight and Surprise Your Audience

Let’s look at an example. This is a chart showing the growth in subscribers to an email newsletter. It’s similar to what a writer I’m working with is experiencing:

 

The line going from the lower left to upper right represents the number of newsletter subscribers. So you see two things here. The first is the big jumps, where there is a steep incline illustrating rapid subscriber growth. These were moments when something that the writer shared went mini-viral, or where they were featured by someone else who has a large audience. They are moments of “delight and surprise” where you message resonates and spreads rapidly.

Then you see the periods in between those moments, where there is slow but steady growth incrementally, one subscriber at a time. It is not as dramatic, but that is the difference between ending the week with 10 new subscribers than when you started. This is the value of consistency. Of sharing regularly, connecting often. That between periods of viral growth is steady growth.

Okay, let’s dig in to both strategies:

Consistency Matters

Last week I talked about understanding your goals as a writer to grow your platform, and focusing on conversion. So of course, this could be milestones such as book sales, book reviews on Amazon, newsletter subscribers, speaking invites, Instagram followers, etc. When you know the actions you want people to take, and you consistently focus on encouraging those actions, you will likely experience growth towards your goals.

So: just be consistent.

The other day I was reading an article about the advice that a leader in the technology space was giving to the many companies they work with. The context was how to plan for surviving an economic downturn. Among their advice:

“You can often pick up significant market share in an economic downturn by just staying alive.”

My translation: just focusing on the basics can ensure that your vision lasts and grows, even as others stumble in a difficult market. There is that famous quote that “80 percent of success is just showing up.” I’m simply encouraging you to consistently:

1. Share your voice.
2. Show up in the lives of your ideal readers.

Focus on the basics and do them well. This doesn’t sound difficult, but so many writers miss it. Whenever I’m helping an author create or optimize their website, we will look around at websites from comparable authors. What do we often find? That it’s easier than you think to create a great author website, because so many others seem to be filled with errors or missed opportunities.I am not trying to be judgemental or negative here. But what we often find on websites:

• A contact form that gives an error when you try to use it.
• A bio that is wildly outdated. It ends with something like, “I’m looking forward to good things to come in 2016!”
• Banners on the homepage that are outdated: “Pre-order my book now! Publication date: September 2019.”
• Dead ends: they still link to their Google+ account (this entire social network no longer exists) and to their Tumblr account, which they last updated in 2014.
• Missing information: They don’t mention their new book, where they are speaking, or even the link to their Instagram account where they show up every day.

So just getting the basics right — accurate and updated information — will make your website be more effective than others.I’ve said this many times, but your platform as an author is about communication and trust. Your ability to share what you care about in a meaningful way, and to develop a sense of awareness and trust with those you do connect with. Consistency does that. What is the opposite? The old expression: “fly-by-night.” Someone who drops in when they have a book to sell, then disappears until they have another book to sell you years later. When you only show up in the lives of your readers when you want a transaction, it is no surprise that the readers feel that their connection to you is “transactional,” based on what you want from them.

When working with my writing clients, we develop an entire system to stay consistent in how they share. We develop their messaging, editorial calendar, schedule, and so much else. This doesn’t have to be complicated. Consider: how can you share your voice once a week? How can you show up in the lives of your readers once a week? Start there.

Delight and Surprise

What do your readers really want? From your books? From your appearances at book readings? From your sessions at a literary festival? From the essay you publish in a major publication? From your email newsletters? From your social media? They want to be delighted and perhaps surprised. This can happen in many ways:

• The memoir reader who is surprised to finally feel seen in your story. They are shocked that someone put into words what they have felt their entire lives. It is a respite during a difficult year, the rare moment of delight.
• The nonfiction reader who was surprised to find a truly compelling new way to approach a topic. And one that empowers them to take practical steps forward in a way that feels totally doable. For the first time in a long time, they feel delight in approaching this topic in a meaningful way.
• The fiction reader who wants a story to grab them in an unexpected way. They want to read long into the night, and find that your book has allowed them to enter a compelling new world that sets their imagination on fire.

Yes, this can happen in a Tweet. An Instagram post. An email newsletter. It is common for someone to spend their day under the weight of responsibility. To their job. Their family. Their obligations. They look at social media hoping for something to pause on. Something that will delight and surprise them. They look to their email, to events, to essays for the same reason.

The “social” aspect of social media allows them to find this by seeing what others are talking about. To feel a part of this discovery process, and the conversation and reactions that happen because of it. Just like, decades ago, you would go to the office or show up somewhere, and everyone was talking about some TV show from the night before. You wanted to be a part of it.

The people who follow your work want a meaningful experience. That can be deep. It can be fun. It can be somewhere within the full range of human emotions. Create experiences for those you connect with. Delight and surprise them.

I spend a ridiculous amount of time on YouTube. What is the biggest thing on that platform? Reaction videos. These can be many things across a wide range of topics:

• Unboxing video
• Video game reactions
• Song reaction videos, where someone listens to a classic song for the first time
• Trick shot videos where it takes thousands of tries to get it right
• Yard sale hunts and hauls
• Yard cleanups
• Building things, which covers a wide range of industries, from cement contractors to cobblers

I went to YouTube just now and immediately saw these three videos being recommended to me, all of which focus on reactions:

 

What will she think of Pulp Fiction? What did that person find at a yard sale? What will the woman’s reaction be to the yard cleanup? With a simple thumbnail and headline, they tease delight and surprise. Why are reaction videos so big? Because they promise the unexpected. They promise a real human moment. There is anticipation built in, and then… WOAH!!!! SOMETHING TOTALLY UNEXPECTED! SURPRISE! And… delight.

When working with writers, we focus on identifying their ideal audience with a great deal of specificity. We then conduct marketplace research to identify where those readers show up and what engages them. In doing so, we gain a lot of insight for how to come up with messaging, a content strategy, and marketing that can help reach their readers.

You may be looking at that chart at the top of this email and thinking, “Hmmm, it seems that ‘delight and surprise’ is where most of the growth comes from. Why not just focus on that, and not worry about consistency and systems?” And there is definitely a logic to that. The issue I have found is that consistency creates the opportunities to delight and surprise. It pushes you to create and share more often, increasing the likelihood of something delighting and surprising. You don’t always know what will go viral. But showing up to create and share consistently ensures you will find something… eventually. And in the meantime, you are sharing your voice and growing your audience. One day at a time, one person at a time.

And isn’t that the life of the writer and artist?

Thanks.
-Dan