This article is extremely thought-provoking. "Learning how to solicit healthy, useful, unbiased feedback from an audience without subjecting yourself to the toxic stew that threatens to overwhelm every online creator" is indeed difficult!! This is one reason why every thoughtful marketing expert who understands the creator economy recommends newsletters over social media. Yes, it's true that the size of your newsletter subscribership will never be close to the size of your social media following -- but what's important is not the NUMBER of subscribers; it's WHO is subscribing. The people who subscribe to your mailing list are generally the people who care the most about you and your work and therefore will give you both more positive and (when you're lucky) more constructive feedback. And I think it's not just feedback, but also *creative momentum,* that comes from sharing your work with a self-selected, targeted audience.
This article is extremely thought-provoking. "Learning how to solicit healthy, useful, unbiased feedback from an audience without subjecting yourself to the toxic stew that threatens to overwhelm every online creator" is indeed difficult!! This is one reason why every thoughtful marketing expert who understands the creator economy recommends newsletters over social media. Yes, it's true that the size of your newsletter subscribership will never be close to the size of your social media following -- but what's important is not the NUMBER of subscribers; it's WHO is subscribing. The people who subscribe to your mailing list are generally the people who care the most about you and your work and therefore will give you both more positive and (when you're lucky) more constructive feedback. And I think it's not just feedback, but also *creative momentum,* that comes from sharing your work with a self-selected, targeted audience.
Fascinating , David—some terrific (and, as you say, counterintuitive) insights here. Really enjoyed this.
Thanks, Dan!