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Just putting it out there

Publish your weird ideas in public. You never know who’s listening. Back in May 2021, I posted this idea about a guitar design to Twitter, tagging EVH guitars: I asked EVH for a Nuno-style version of the guitar (which is a natural-finish ash or swamp ash guitar body with

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Having trouble starting your next thing?

Make a list of writers, podcasters, and YouTubers who are consistently pushing out great stuff – in the ugliest ways. Refer to it often. I love slap-dash creators! I won’t name names here, but they’re not hard to find. From the CEO who records videos on his morning walks

Having trouble starting your next thing?
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You are more interesting than you think.

I’m guessing you’re a generalist, because most people are. But the online content-consumption machine seems to reward those who make their personalities all about one thing. I believe that’s a distracting, unhelpful remnant of the first 29-ish years of the web — minus the first five years. Why

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Be everywhere. But be your best here.

The biggest trend in branding this year appears to be one of the oldest trends — signature models. From shoes to guitars, old-school brands are flooding the market with products stamped with a creator’s personal brand. A “brand” is just a “reputation.” The bigger you get as a company, the

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Ghosting to Improve Relationships

This post is my first on my new host, Ghost. They were kind enough to port my 15+ years worth of blog posts and newsletters over to kick the tires. My former host, Squarespace, was built up by word-of-mouth during the second golden age of blogging, and evangelized by bloggers

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Practical Ways to Post Something Every Day

I create the equivalent of at least 1 book worth of writing per week. Most of my work ends up in newsletters, websites, and marketing campaigns for companies you know very well. You won’t see my name, but you’re probably reading my stuff all the time. On good

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Experiments Check-In 2

I have a few updates since my last 2021 experiments update [https://www.cjchilvers.com/experiments-check-in/]. I do these mostly for myself, but I figure they may help others on similar journeys. The Good * Readership and follows are still going up across all platforms, but especially the newsletter [https://www.

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A Good Philosophy for Personal Publishing

From Om Malik [https://om.co/2021/05/31/some-changes-2/]: > “I have often lamented that the ‘why’ of blogging got overtaken by the ‘what’ and the ‘how,’ with the tools and format becoming the primary focus. Ironically I made the same mistake with my newsletter. I don’t work for

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Ghost Resurrects, Haunts Substack

Ghost has doubled its revenue this year, by focusing on reader/creator experience. From founder John O'Nolan [https://www.indiehackers.com/post/whats-new-nonprofit-blogging-platform-ghost-hits-3-3m-arr-48787565ad] : > “Nobody needs to know what Ghost is. I want people to know the creators that we power, instead.” This is what platforms like Substack don’t understand.

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My Personal Publishing Principles for 2021

It’s a semi-annual tradition around here to summarize all the knowledge I gather, and link to, in simple, general statements that can be applied across all the topics covered. This year is a little different. I’ve started giving these summaries their own pages to be continually updated. I