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I recently shared a guest post for WriterUnboxed.com that discusses the value of adding more unstructured time to your life, and the value of rest. I call these types of actions “White Space”:

White Space is a place where we discuss the possibilities of what can be; where bad habits are negated; and where we honor the need for the space in between other things in our lives. That metaphor extends from your daily schedule – to your creative process – to the nuances of the work you create.

An example I share is of my habit of daily naps. Even saying that I take naps seems like something of a confession, because I find that there is a strange fixation in our culture of a certain kind of productivity. One where you have to be “always on,” always “crushing it,” always stressed, always available, always buried by email.

Read the full post here.

Thanks!
-Dan

You are a writer. You are an artist. You are an entrepreneur. You are a creative professional of some sort.

What is the goal of pursuing your work? What does this look like in real-life?

There could be many drivers for what you create, including validation, self-expression, helping others, adding more to the world than you took away from it, or so many other reasons. When considering how we represent “success”, we often assign placeholders; things such as bestseller lists, awards, or massive financial rewards to illustrate achievement.

But I saw a photo this week that perfectly embodies not just what we often hope to achieve, but how powerful this can be to those who experience your work:

Credit: Jimmy Franco of Grand Central Publishing

This is Amanda Palmer (left), meeting a fan of hers, Sarah Staalesen (right), at a book signing in New York City. This photo is engrossing to me in so many ways. The setting is typical for managing a large crowd who came to see a single person. There were loads of folks there to see Amanda at an event which was part of the launch of her book, The Art of Asking. You can see the white tape on the floor, the rope designed to create boundaries between people. There are handlers in the background trying to ensure books are placed correctly for signing, etc.

When I met J.K. Rowling at a similar event years ago, she had a bodyguard next to her. He wasn’t an especially large man, but his job was to stand just over her right shoulder and observe:

This video of Lady Gaga’s bodyguards identifying and “neutralizing” what they saw as a potential threat always stuck with me – that the casual man behind Ms. Rowling likely had skills I couldn’t imagine (and never want to witness.)

I find this image an interesting contrast to the photo of Amanda and Sarah. Sarah seems to have fallen to her knees. Amanda is out of her chair, leaning over the table, embracing Sarah’s arms, and looking intently into her eyes. She breaks all normal physical and emotional barriers in this process.

For the body of work that you are creating, this is the goal: a deep human connection between two people, the writer and the reader; the artist and the viewer; the musician and the listener; the designer and the user.

This is the effect you hope for after creating the work itself. After you write the book; after you put down your paint brush; after the gallery hangs your art.

Yes, I am always clear that creating a quality body of work is the most important step, and the first step. But after this happens, the focus often turns to connecting it to others.

I talk to a lot of writers and creative professionals, and occasionally run into someone who is 100% focused on submitting their work to awards I have never heard of. The idea is that the validation of these awards is fulfilling, and will ultimately encourage others to experience their work. It also provides the identity of “award-winning author.”

I also see folks who focus intently on gaming Amazon’s algorithms so that they can spend four minutes as the top spot on a sub-sub-sub bestseller list. This, provides the identity of “bestselling author.”

Now, winning awards and being on bestseller lists is really cool. I’m for these things. But they are not THE goal. They are merely stand-ins for the experience represented in the photo above.

The real goal is that moment when a fan connects so deeply with your work, that in the moment where they meet you, that it looks something like the photo above. It is a place where the boundary of artist and fan is broken, and you are two human beings sharing something unique together.

Sarah connected with me via email, and told me about her experience meeting Amanda:

“I nervously knelt down in front of the desk, lost for words as Amanda began speaking to me, complimenting my outfit and asking what my name was. Then there was hesitation, because I have always been very bad at answering that question.”

“I don’t like my name,” I quickly blurted. My face was tomato-red.”

“Why don’t you like your name?” Amanda was so gentle with her questions.”

“I was not able to give her a proper answer because that would take up way too much time, and I had already froze by then, and I didn’t want to have her waiting all night. I was silly to say anything in the first place. “It’s Sarah,” I was finally able to say after a lot of stammering.”

“Then, very suddenly, she leaned forward to look into my face & took my wrists into her hands, and of course I was speechless. She was seeing me. I don’t have a lot of experience with really being seen. It was breathtaking and shocking to be held by Amanda.”

“My face started to crumple. “I’m sorry, I can’t look at you without crying.”
“Just try to,” she answered.”

“As she saw me deeply, I saw her as well. No more words were exchanged. I couldn’t even remember to breathe. After the moment, she signed the books I brought and blew me a kiss goodbye. My heart was soaring & I was quick to blow one back, hurrying off the stage for the next fan, feeling light as air, and ready to have a happiness-induced breakdown.”

Now, I know that some of you reading this blog post, and may be cringing at the idea of needing to physical embrace those who read and experience your work. You expressly DON’T want to have to touch fans — you want the work itself to do that. I get this. And of course, you 100% get to choose what you create, how you create it, and how it connects with the world.

You don’t have to wear arm warmers as Amanda does, and you don’t have to reach across the table to embrace fans.

But Amanda chooses to. This choice is hers. This choice creates meaningful moments, and I have to say, it’s pretty inspiring. This is how she pitched her appearance in New York: “Just come and hang out. I will leave no human unhugged.”

Writers and other creative professionals are often overwhelmed with ideas for how to connect their work to the world. They may look for “marketing tactics that scale,” such as publicity, social media, getting reviews, blog tours, book tours, strategic partnerships, events, giveaways, bestseller lists, awards, and so much more.

Now, these things are good, and I work with authors every day on many of them. But I never lose sight of the goal: that real human connection between a writer and a reader, via their work. And that the 1:1 connection creates a powerful effect in the world.

I haven’t yet read Amanda’s new book The Art of Asking, but I will soon. In the meantime, this interview between her and Maria Popova is well worth your time.

How do you encourage one-to-one connections with those who experience the work you create?

Thank you.
-Dan

Today I want to share my experience working with an author whose book comes out in January. During this process, I have been reminded of the core things I love about books, and what truly builds “buzz” for one of them.

The author’s name is Christopher Scotton, and his debut novel is The Secret Wisdom of the Earth.

What builds buzz? Three things have stood out for me in working with Chris and his book:

• It begins with a great book. This comes down to the writing, story, and characters, and the deeply personal ways that these engage and connect with readers.
• The next thing that helps is a wonderful and enthusiastic team. You can define “team” in many ways. Chris is being published by Grand Central Publishing where he has an incredible team of people who have fallen in love with this book. But his team includes so many others, such as booksellers, agent, friends and family, and so on. I have worked closely with the marketing team at GCP, including Andrew Duncan and Brian McLendon, and am constantly hearing about how others throughout the organization are championing this book, including their sales team: Karen Torres, Mike Heuer, Chris Murphy, Rick Cobban.
• The third critical element has been reader support. The reaction from booksellers for Chris’s book has been amazing. This Publishers Weekly article by Rachel Deahl talks about the outreach that Chris and his team have done, and the incredible support they have received from booksellers. What is always critical to remember here is that people in publishing are READERS, that booksellers are READERS, that the sales team are READERS. Too often, I see people try to create “sides” within the publishing industry whereby people who publish or sell books are one type of person, and people who buy books are another. They aren’t. All are enthusiastic readers.

In my work with Chris, I am trying to create more opportunity around these three elements, while not getting in the way. The Publishers Weekly article mentions that Chris didn’t really come with a ready-made platform. This means that it’s not as though he is a known entity as a writer, or that he has spent years developing a readership. So a big part of my job was to help ensure that when people do read The Secret Wisdom of the Earth, Chris is present wherever they may be talking about the book.

As the book connects with readers, he should be ready – available on social media, comfortable with the process, and be set up to create moments of serendipity for those who connect with him.

Yes, so much of this is waiting for serendipity and being ready to fully embrace it when it happens. While we can’t plan for luck, we can prepare for it. Too many authors don’t prepare for these fleeting moments, and when one happens, they either freeze, or are not ready to really do anything with it. They lose opportunities because of that. A simple example: a reader recently Tweeted that she had read an early copy of The Secret Wisdom of the Earth, and then someone else replied that they can’t wait to read it. Chris saw that, and offered to send that woman a free advanced reader copy of the book. This was her reaction when she received it in the mail:

This is how you create special moments for readers outside of the book itself – one small moment at a time. The novel is clearly hitting a personal place for people. When they each out to Chris, he should be there, be ready.

I experienced the opposite with another author this week, someone I was trying to reach out to. I was shocked at how difficult this was. There was a standard “contact” form on his website, broken links to social media, no mailing address. I had to do multiple Google searches to find my way in to this author, and never really felt like I found the right connection point. Now, not every author wants to be contacted by people – but I kept thinking, “What if I were a reviewer or a journalist – how would I get in contact with this author?”

Too often, I think many writers and creative professionals view the idea of platform or marketing as creating something artificial: a “promotion” that is meant to interrupt someone’s day, go “viral,” and magically bring in new readers. That’s not how I view it.

When working with Chris, I have this overwhelming feeling of respect. Respect for the book, for the organic enthusiasm that is building for it, and for that personal experience that happens between a reader and the story.

To be honest: I don’t want to mess that up. This is not about shouting from the rooftops, it is about understanding the tone of the novel, and the tenor of that relationship a reader has with the book. The work I do is in service of Chris, the book, and his publisher; the key thing that must remain is respect and trust between them and the reader.

We are not “optimizing eyeballs,” we are not being insanely promotional. We are honoring that special moment when a book seems to really speak deeply to readers.

Chris’s own story is intriguing too. Again, from the Publishers Weekly article:

“At age 53, he was not the kind of debut novelist—read: young—that the industry tends to champion… [and enthusiasm from within Grand Central Publishing] spurred them to increase the novel’s first printing to 100,000 copies and bring its marketing budget to six figures.”

It’s easy to get distracted by the big numbers. But much like my experience working with author Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, the story of the book is, in many ways, the story of the author:

• Publishing is a Team Sport, With a Singular Black Hole In The Middle
• “New York Times Bestselling Author” (and other things you would like to have permanently attached to your name)

For Chris and The Secret Wisdom of the Earth, we are working to bring the story to readers, while never overshadowing how personal that connection is. So far,
on Goodreads, it has 55 reviews, 89 ratings, and more than 1,000 other “actions” such as someone who added the book to their “to read” list.

If you want to experience the book itself, the publisher is giving a free preview of the first four chapters. Grab them here:

• Medium.com
• Barnes & Noble
• iTunes
• Amazon Kindle

How does enthusiasm shape your experience with books: how you find out about them or how you share them with others?

Thanks.
-Dan

This year, I have completely reshaped how I use social media, and it has been an exploration. I’ve tried to share the journey so far:

• I Am Changing How I Use Social Media: MORE Social, LESS Media
• Attack of the Social Media Zombies
• The Mindless Robots of Social Media “Best Practices”

As the year comes to an end, I am reflecting on how social media has excited me this year, and how CARING seems to be the crux of how I want it to feel.

THE LEAST CROWDED CHANNEL

To me, Instagram feels the way Twitter used to feel: a smaller community of people who are sharing a lot of original content. This, as opposed to a firehouse of aggregated links, Retweets or reblogs of things others have shared or created.

To show up on Instagram is to share photos of your life. Compare my Twitter feed to my Instagram feed. There is a huge difference: Twitter focuses mostly on topics of being a creative professional, and Instagram focuses much more on what I experience day to day in the world around me.

Is one better than the other? Of course not. If you are a writer looking to glean tips for building your audience, seeing a photo on Instagram of me painting my porch will not be of much interest.

What I do find intriguing is between networks: on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, you get a more complete picture of me as a person. Each is used differently, the content I share on each network is unique, and for those using social media as a truly “social” purpose, this affords opportunities to develop relationships.

Let’s look at an example. I have written before about how author Rebecca Skloot helped her book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, succeed with years and years of hard work prior to publication. Now, on Twitter, Rebecca has 38,100 followers.

This summer, Rebecca started actively using Instagram. How many followers does she have there? 266.

What she shares on each platform is indeed distinct, though each offers a different nuance to the larger narrative of her life and her worldview. What is so compelling to me about Instagram is how quickly you see “the real person.” There is something that is always down to earth about Instagram because you aren’t as quickly judged only by professional headshots and one-line bios of bestsellerdom.

What if Rebecca’s work resonates with you, and you hope to consider her a colleague or a connection in some small way? Well, on Twitter she absolutely responds to lots of folks with @replies. But she also does so on Instagram, and let’s face it: there are WAY FEWER PEOPLE vying for her attention there.

She gets a dozen or two “hearts” for each photo she shares on Instagram, but few actually comment. For anyone hoping to engage with Rebecca, this is the least crowded channel, the place where you will most likely be seen and responded to. Is it the BEST channel for this? Perhaps not. But it is a lovely little corner of social media where she is sharing the things she experiences every day, and in a place that doesn’t feel like a crowded room of people.

QUANTITY MATTERS LESS THAN QUALITY

Throughout this year, I pulled back the most on Twitter. Perhaps this is because of my growing apathy around “social media automation,” where a “social media marketing strategy” includes scheduled and automated Tweets meant to attract the most attention. Or a system whereby one message is shared across several social networks at once.

At the same time, I have obsessed about Facebook. The thing about my use of Facebook is that it is a closed system where my attention goes to the 800 people I am “friends” with, who are usually people I have met or talked to at length before.

I also created a closed group on Facebook for writers about a year ago, which has 178 members. What has fascinated to me is that if I pose a question in two places:

• On Twitter, where I have 6,800 followers
• In the Facebook group, where I have 178 members

I get FAR more engagement in the Facebook group. This too has become a least crowded channel, but as members of that group have told me, it is a place filled with camaraderie. When I asked the group if I should make it an “open” group, the response was loud and clear: “If you do that Dan, you will take away everything that is special about this group.”

So of course, I kept it closed. (Though you are still invited to join us.)

What I tend to find in this group and elsewhere is that there is another opportunity for those who truly want to develop relationships via social media. That “merely” scheduling Tweets, ReTweeting, liking, favoriting, and starring is not the way to develop a relationship. Don’t get me wrong: these actions are good, and I do them ALL THE TIME.

But commenting stands out, especially long and thoughtful comments. Comments that turn into conversations. Comments that can’t help but engage people on a deeper level. On a network such as Facebook, you can even include a photo with a comment, which is yet another way to get attention and stand out.

My own exploration of social media continues. I am a huge fan of YouTube, vlogging, blogging and podcasting because they too focus on original content, and quite often, long-form content.

The big social network missing from this list? Tumblr. There is so much I appreciate about Tumblr, the biggest being how it is a network fueled by enthusiasm. The world needs more of that. Personally, I just haven’t found the right tenor to how to use Tumblr. Time will tell.

How do you use social media in a way that feels deeply meaningful, filled with caring and enthusiasm?

Thanks!
-Dan

This week, two articles I wrote were published:

On Risk and Writing

I wrote this essay – “On Risk and Writing” – for Compose Journal, which is probably the most personal piece I have ever written. It begins:

“Think about your family, you dolt.”

This is the kind of mean-spirited personal attack that every blogger dreads. It was left four years ago on a blog post I wrote about the risks my wife and I were taking when we decided that I would leave the corporate world and she would quit her teaching job so we could start a small business at the very same time we were starting a family, too.

The piece explores that lonely place of taking a risk to pursue your dream of being a creative professional. You can read the rest of it here.

It was a struggle to write this, and I was helped enormously by Jennie Nash during that process. In fact, this piece was the spark that has lead me to write a book, of which I have now written 60,000 words since September. Beginning November 1st, I have committed to a week-to-week editing process that lasts until mid-March.

Launching a Bestseller Without Selling Your Soul

The second piece published this week is an article I co-authored with Miranda Beverly-Whittemore for Poets & Writers magazine: Launching a Bestseller Without Selling Your Soul: The Rewards of Self-Promotion. It describes our process of working together for a year prior to the release of her novel Bittersweet.

This article also describes the many ways that Miranda took risks. The article begins:

Miranda Beverly-Whittemore was a failure, or at least she felt that way. Her first two novels—acquired in a six-figure two-book deal in the mid-2000s—had suffered disappointing sales, and two subsequent manuscripts were met with zero interest from publishers. So when an editor at Crown Publishing fell in love with her next book, Bittersweet, Miranda’s excitement was superseded by her pragmatism. Sure, Crown’s publicity and marketing departments seemed deeply engaged, and her editor was passionate. But Miranda knew this could be her last chance to prove her work had sales potential; for that reason, she wanted to do everything in her power to help find Bittersweet’s readership.

Miranda’s previous experience in self-promotion felt a lot like standing at the edge of a chasm, straining to hear her publisher’s expectations as it whispered from the other side. As founder of WeGrowMedia—a company that offers consulting, courses, and training for authors to find and connect with their readers—Dan Blank helps authors and publishers standing on either side of that promotional chasm build a bridge over it. Before working together, Miranda thought of the Internet as a mask to hide behind, but for Dan, social media, websites, blogs, and newsletters are simply extensions of the physical places where authors can engage genuinely, and generously, with others. In fact, what he believes is not unlike what Miranda was teaching her four-year-old: Be kind to others and they will reciprocate. True connection requires more than simply slapping up a website; you must understand who you are in order to know what you can—and want to—offer your readers.

Poets & Writers put this article in their “Practical Writer” section, which is perfect. My days are spent with writers & creative professionals in that messy “practical” place where they pursue their dreams while kids scream in the background, dishes overflow in the sink, their “real” job beckons with unanswered emails, and they just hit a roadblock with their latest book. That is the place I love being, where every act of pursuing their vision is an act of risk.

Read the full article here.

How does risk play into your life as a creative professional?

Thanks.
-Dan