4 ms·

You’re talking about financial success, or something akin to that. I’m talking about personal development. Writing is nothing like an ecommerce store to me. It

You’re talking about financial success, or something akin to that. I’m talking about personal development. Writing is nothing like an ecommerce store to me. It is to you. Thus, my suggestions are not only irrelevant to you, they may be counterproductive for what you think is important.

julianeon 6y ago
They're more alike than you might think. Amazon seeks marketshare, and a writer seeks mindshare. Personal development, in that sense, runs on parallel tracks as financial success. As an example: Who enjoys writing something that nobody reads? Who wants to write a tutorial for JavaScript, that's on page 1,000 of the Google search results, and only gets ready by 4 people? They may diverge at a certain point: maybe you're OK with your writing on VM's to only get read by 3000 people, even if a comparable JavaScript tutorial would get read by 100000 people. But you'd still like for 3000 people to read your VM tutorial. Your writing has to reach an audience to make a difference, to effectively communicate. On today's Internet, with no strategic thinking, no SEO whatsoever, there's a real risk that the VM article you spent 20 hours developing will only get read by 3 people. That's a depressing outcome, whether your goal is financial or personal. To be clear, I feel like I have skin in the game here. I write partly for personal development, partly for financial success. But regardless, I still dislike it when I put a lot of work into something and nobody cares. If you truly don't care if 0 people read what you write, we are definitely in different camps. If you want your reading to be read - if you want mindshare - then you really do have to be mindful of this stuff.
- braythwayt 6y ago
  Shrug. I am not Amazon, and I question that as an example. They sell a lot of terrible but popular stuff. If they were a writer, it’d be clickbait and advertising chum 24/7/365. I have no interest in writing about “one weird trick to prove that arbitrary Collatz problems are undecidable.” I like it better when my posts get read, but not because of mindshare, but because I get better feedback, which leads to better personal development. But I would never write for mindshare at the expense of personal development. The two are in tension more often than may seem obvious. For example, releasing early and often, even before a post is finished, means less mindshare, but can result in critical feedback earlier in the process, and helps me avoid “over-polishing a turd.” We each are out for our own thing. You be you, I’ll be me. My advice reflects my goals, which I’m perfectly comfortable sharing. You have different goals, that’s fine too. But your goals are not universal any more than mine are.

julianeon 6y ago

They're more alike than you might think. Amazon seeks marketshare, and a writer seeks mindshare. Personal development, in that sense, runs on parallel tracks as financial success. As an example: Who enjoys writing something that nobody reads? Who wants to write a tutorial for JavaScript, that's on page 1,000 of the Google search results, and only gets ready by 4 people? They may diverge at a certain point: maybe you're OK with your writing on VM's to only get read by 3000 people, even if a comparable JavaScript tutorial would get read by 100000 people. But you'd still like for 3000 people to read your VM tutorial. Your writing has to reach an audience to make a difference, to effectively communicate. On today's Internet, with no strategic thinking, no SEO whatsoever, there's a real risk that the VM article you spent 20 hours developing will only get read by 3 people. That's a depressing outcome, whether your goal is financial or personal. To be clear, I feel like I have skin in the game here. I write partly for personal development, partly for financial success. But regardless, I still dislike it when I put a lot of work into something and nobody cares. If you truly don't care if 0 people read what you write, we are definitely in different camps. If you want your reading to be read - if you want mindshare - then you really do have to be mindful of this stuff.

braythwayt 6y ago
Shrug. I am not Amazon, and I question that as an example. They sell a lot of terrible but popular stuff. If they were a writer, it’d be clickbait and advertising chum 24/7/365. I have no interest in writing about “one weird trick to prove that arbitrary Collatz problems are undecidable.” I like it better when my posts get read, but not because of mindshare, but because I get better feedback, which leads to better personal development. But I would never write for mindshare at the expense of personal development. The two are in tension more often than may seem obvious. For example, releasing early and often, even before a post is finished, means less mindshare, but can result in critical feedback earlier in the process, and helps me avoid “over-polishing a turd.” We each are out for our own thing. You be you, I’ll be me. My advice reflects my goals, which I’m perfectly comfortable sharing. You have different goals, that’s fine too. But your goals are not universal any more than mine are.