Every once in a while, I like to lower the velvet rope and give regular readers a sample of my premium material. Today’s post previously appeared as a Patreon and SubscribeStar exclusive. If you like it, please consider subscribing. My cherished neopatrons and I were discussing how corporate studios’ refusal to make products normal people like is black pilling the masses.
> So, the old way was trying to get in front of as many eyeballs as possible to make the maximum number of people want to buy the art you (or your handlers) wanted to make.
> That’s less feasible by the day. There’s no more Elvis money.
This is the normal state of things. Mega stars like Elvis were a historical aberration.
Thank you for the run down. I can see parts of it with the rise of REAM, Vella, Wattpad, Locals, Patreon, etc. And the push for direct sales from your own website. But it comes back to marketing. You can be amazing at your art/writing/music, etc, making all the things that people "want" to see...but if you can't get eyes on it, there will be no word of mouth, there will be no sales. And I think that is frustrating for the "masses" too, because they can't find the thing that they want (like cable with 600 stations!), so they go back to what's easy (corporate studios), even if they don't really like it, because it "appears" that there is nothing else.
The driver of the neopatronage paradigm is what author and editor Jeff Duntemann calls microcelebrity. It's not about writing to market and striving to get 10 million eyeballs on your product. It's about cultivating a core group of 1000 patrons who'll each pay you $100 a year to produce entertainment they want.
A "1000 true-fans" paradigm. I've heard a bit about it in the past few years, but no one seems to explain how to work it. I guess I need to research more.
That's a frustration I used to share. Authors and Twitter gurus would make sweeping statements, but when I tried to pin them down on details, they'd give circular advice like "Spend $5K a month in AMS ads, and make it up in sellthrough" or "Find the right sales keywords by looking for the best keywords to sell your book."
Then I decided to try a different model - one artists of all kinds had used for centuries. And now I make my living 100% from indie publishing.
My motto is "Always have one hand reaching up for the prize with the other hand reaching down to help the next person up." If you want more actionable audience-building strategies, email me at soulcyclebooks@gmail.com.
I'm going to keep the invitation and the email. And work first on the Number one thing...Having something to actually sell. I'm at 3 half-finished novels, 2 short stories and 4 1/2 kids books. Need to get those novels finished. But, I am interested.
> So, the old way was trying to get in front of as many eyeballs as possible to make the maximum number of people want to buy the art you (or your handlers) wanted to make.
> That’s less feasible by the day. There’s no more Elvis money.
This is the normal state of things. Mega stars like Elvis were a historical aberration.
Bingo. The postwar bottleneck created by gatekeeping media cartels is over. Nature is healing.
Thank you for the run down. I can see parts of it with the rise of REAM, Vella, Wattpad, Locals, Patreon, etc. And the push for direct sales from your own website. But it comes back to marketing. You can be amazing at your art/writing/music, etc, making all the things that people "want" to see...but if you can't get eyes on it, there will be no word of mouth, there will be no sales. And I think that is frustrating for the "masses" too, because they can't find the thing that they want (like cable with 600 stations!), so they go back to what's easy (corporate studios), even if they don't really like it, because it "appears" that there is nothing else.
The driver of the neopatronage paradigm is what author and editor Jeff Duntemann calls microcelebrity. It's not about writing to market and striving to get 10 million eyeballs on your product. It's about cultivating a core group of 1000 patrons who'll each pay you $100 a year to produce entertainment they want.
A "1000 true-fans" paradigm. I've heard a bit about it in the past few years, but no one seems to explain how to work it. I guess I need to research more.
Thank you for your post.
That's a frustration I used to share. Authors and Twitter gurus would make sweeping statements, but when I tried to pin them down on details, they'd give circular advice like "Spend $5K a month in AMS ads, and make it up in sellthrough" or "Find the right sales keywords by looking for the best keywords to sell your book."
Then I decided to try a different model - one artists of all kinds had used for centuries. And now I make my living 100% from indie publishing.
My motto is "Always have one hand reaching up for the prize with the other hand reaching down to help the next person up." If you want more actionable audience-building strategies, email me at soulcyclebooks@gmail.com.
I'm going to keep the invitation and the email. And work first on the Number one thing...Having something to actually sell. I'm at 3 half-finished novels, 2 short stories and 4 1/2 kids books. Need to get those novels finished. But, I am interested.
Godspeed! o7