Interesting. The comment about people not wanting to read gets to me. Unlike them, I only read. I refuse to consume audio and video content - I don't have time for it. I can read at my own speed. Audio and video content force me to consume at broadcast speed. This may change in the near future when I can feed the media into a LLM and transcribe it. What I really want is for the LLM to map the transcript to a recursive presentation deck that is linked to the transcript so that I can dive into the detain that is of interest to me.
I have received so much “good advice” on how to create “good content” for marketing and I was always miserable trying to do that on social, but when I write what I really write, I feel so much more alive and I know that’s the place to work from.
Like Steve Martin said in answer to the question, “how do you become a famous banjo player?” “Become famous first.”
I had not thought about the Cargo Cult aspect of celebrity emulation; I like that a lot.
This one hit me. I’m early in my Substack journey, and your clarity cuts through a lot of the noise in this space.
As an entrepreneur turned writer, I keep seeing that meme about “authors can’t sell,” and it always makes me laugh — because writing finally feels like a place where all my years of selling and building actually matter.
I hear this is much the same for musicians now, who have to bring their own following to get record deals. The way to build that following is on social media. One artist I like tells ghost stories on TikTok because that's what she found makes people hit the Follow button. You do what you have to do.
I've blogged for almost 19 years and have built a following of about 5,000. I've self-published a few books of my stories and essays and they have sold extremely modestly. I have a separate career that pays the bills, thank heavens.
Amazing. You've nailed what it takes to survive and thrive in the attention economy. And not only as a writer. In virtually any direct-to-consumer field. Restacking.
I'm sure everything you say is true, but for someone like me, and 83-year-old man, is completely impossible. Instead I must depend upon readers like you to promote my book, which can be looked at in any number of ways.
The ideal critic, to take just one example, will see that in it I've drawn a picture, not only of what the highest and final form of capitalist development is going to look like (which turns out to be a form of socialism in all but name only; see chapter two, note v) but of what can justly be described as the apotheosis of the entire Judeo-Christian project out of which capitalism emerged, the overarching theme of which is the long human struggle from servitude to freedom.
Interesting. The comment about people not wanting to read gets to me. Unlike them, I only read. I refuse to consume audio and video content - I don't have time for it. I can read at my own speed. Audio and video content force me to consume at broadcast speed. This may change in the near future when I can feed the media into a LLM and transcribe it. What I really want is for the LLM to map the transcript to a recursive presentation deck that is linked to the transcript so that I can dive into the detain that is of interest to me.
I have received so much “good advice” on how to create “good content” for marketing and I was always miserable trying to do that on social, but when I write what I really write, I feel so much more alive and I know that’s the place to work from.
Like Steve Martin said in answer to the question, “how do you become a famous banjo player?” “Become famous first.”
I had not thought about the Cargo Cult aspect of celebrity emulation; I like that a lot.
Awesome as always Rob. Appreciate what you put out into the world.
This one hit me. I’m early in my Substack journey, and your clarity cuts through a lot of the noise in this space.
As an entrepreneur turned writer, I keep seeing that meme about “authors can’t sell,” and it always makes me laugh — because writing finally feels like a place where all my years of selling and building actually matter.
Thanks for sharpening my craft today.
—David (Gut Check Guy)
I hear this is much the same for musicians now, who have to bring their own following to get record deals. The way to build that following is on social media. One artist I like tells ghost stories on TikTok because that's what she found makes people hit the Follow button. You do what you have to do.
I've blogged for almost 19 years and have built a following of about 5,000. I've self-published a few books of my stories and essays and they have sold extremely modestly. I have a separate career that pays the bills, thank heavens.
Amazing. You've nailed what it takes to survive and thrive in the attention economy. And not only as a writer. In virtually any direct-to-consumer field. Restacking.
I read it until the end.
I'm sure everything you say is true, but for someone like me, and 83-year-old man, is completely impossible. Instead I must depend upon readers like you to promote my book, which can be looked at in any number of ways.
The ideal critic, to take just one example, will see that in it I've drawn a picture, not only of what the highest and final form of capitalist development is going to look like (which turns out to be a form of socialism in all but name only; see chapter two, note v) but of what can justly be described as the apotheosis of the entire Judeo-Christian project out of which capitalism emerged, the overarching theme of which is the long human struggle from servitude to freedom.
See the Epilogue (from A to Z) for 25 additional ways to look at this book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U0C9HKW