Notes to a client whose body of work is moderately prolific, but way too general and vague to "catch" readers:
If you're talking about general ideas, you're competing against far more established voices who are also talking about general ideas. Can't win.
The way to compete with more established voices is to talk about specifics that those established voices are overlooking and omitting.
The way to compete with more established voices is to talk about specifics that those established voices are overlooking and omitting.
in a way this almost perfectly matches the problem that startups have when competing against megacorps. you don't have the same audience. you don't have the same reach. you can't compete by trying to sell the same thing. you have to sell a thing that's better in some dimension
you shouldn't be trying to appeal to a large demographic when nobody knows you yet, because lots of people kinda agreeing with you a little bit = no buzz
if you want buzz, you need a ~few~ people who think "HOLY SHIT THIS PERSON SAID IT, WHAT NOBODY ELSE IS SAYING"
if you want buzz, you need a ~few~ people who think "HOLY SHIT THIS PERSON SAID IT, WHAT NOBODY ELSE IS SAYING"
PG covered this pretty nicely: with the concept of "The Well". You can't compete on breadth, so you have to compete on depth.
Not everyone will care, but getting a few people to care strongly will unlock the attention and interest you need to level up
Not everyone will care, but getting a few people to care strongly will unlock the attention and interest you need to level up
people consistently forget that almost everything that huge today once started out doing something extremely specific extremely well
Jeff Amazon used to sell *only* books online, because selling obscure books was the one way he could use the Internet to outmaneuver bookstores
Jeff Amazon used to sell *only* books online, because selling obscure books was the one way he could use the Internet to outmaneuver bookstores
