publishing
Algorithm vs. Audience
From Rene Ritchie [https://twitter.com/reneritchie/status/1387781270344699905] (who recently went from employee to independent publisher): > “Replace ‘algorithm’ with ‘audience’ and it’s 900x better for your mental health. From powerless to empowered. You’re the one at bat, picking the swings. You won’t connect every time.
Put relationships first.
This has been the conclusion I’ve reached at middle age as well — about marketing, publishing, business, parenting, everything. We’re hardwired for this. That’s why it’s so prominent in my personal publishing principles [https://www.cjchilvers.com/personal-publishing-principles/]. From Cal Newport via Lex Fridman [https://youtu.be/
Audience First Vs. Product First
Every year (maybe six months lately), creators post about why you should create a products, then build an audience for the product; or build an audience first and create products based on their needs. It’s a false choice. Reject this premise. You need both. Both need constant attention. Both
Experiments Check In
A few of you wrote to me to ask about how my year of experiments is going. To refresh everyone, for 2021, I changed personal websites, started blogging daily again, changed book publishing models, moved to a new newsletter host, and tried to fix an old guitar with my son
Get Your Ass Kicked
From Brené Brown [https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9855106-if-you-are-not-in-the-arena-getting-your-ass] via Weekly Thing [https://weekly.thingelstad.com/]: > “If you are not in the arena getting your ass kicked on occasion, I am not interested in or open to your feedback. There are a million cheap seats in the world today
Experiment 1: Sivers Style
The reason I moved my personal site was to start some experiments — to see what I liked to publish and what my readers liked too. The first experiment was to implement the same idea Derek Sivers had last year with his books. I think it’s genius. The idea he
It’s Time to Get Personal
The personal website seems to making a comeback. Why? When social networks fail, we return to the hub: the place you own, the place where you control the experience. It's where you're indexed for life, if you're lucky. It's where you'
9 Lessons on Landing Pages
I just spent 3 months in meetings and writing sessions helping to create a landing page and content strategy for a new product that I can’t tell you about — you’re not in the product’s audience anyway, so it doesn’t matter. What I can tell you, now