Category: CommunityCategory: Community

On Monday’s Escape Pod Zoom call we dared to believe that we could put work into the world without bowing to the algorithm gods. That our work could stand on its own, and build a sturdy foundation for what’s ahead.

In our workshop on Wednesday we shared stories of grounding our projects in local communities, with real people, and working through procrastination. We also got talking about Patreon and “extra offerings,” and a member mentioned this:

“In the UK, people really love to visit gardens and houses, and they’re just so happy. They will pay the ticket, and they’ll wander around, and they’ll stare at things. And it’s because, you know, it’s not a house that they could own, or a garden that they could have. So, if you’re a creative person making stuff, that’s super interesting to people who don’t. Is there a way that I could just provide a window to my world? You pay your entrance fee, you come and look around a bit, and I don’t have to do anything extra—just share some of what I’m already doing.”

AI was definitely the theme of our Thursday Escape Pod Zoom call. I don’t think we really “figured out” how we’re gonna beat it, but I bet adding more of our own humanity to the work we’re making will probably help.

Max Pete and I had a nice talk about chasing tech dreams, the rise (or comeback?) of offline community, and how creatives can find balance between being seen online and actually living their lives.

Some solid quotes from Max during this talk:

“The tech dream is a nightmare… more people I talk to that are in this industry want to leave and do something else—like work at the coffee shop, work at Trader Joe’s—but don’t know how to do that or feel like they can’t.”

“As a community professional, we often put ourselves on the back burner… it leads to burnout. My next talk will be about how to take care of yourself while taking care of others.”

It’s okay to be forgotten and not know everything or everyone. You don’t need to be famous or popular or known by everyone to do good work.

Hardly anyone knows about your latest project, let alone something you did three weeks ago (or three years).

Send a link to three people and let them know about it. Doing this takes minutes and is probably more effective than posting on socials for 95% of your audience to miss. Send via email, text, or DM. Just be cool about it.

I got this question from Leslie recently:

I recently started on Substack after being inspired by Mad Records’ experiment of releasing music outside Spotify. I have a small following and want to build a community I can keep, even if I eventually move platforms. Connection is important to me, but I’m unsure how to offer value or grow my audience. As I explore Substack through tutorials, I’m seeing a lot of concern about the platform shifting towards social media-style features (ads, algorithms, etc.) that may not be ideal for creatives. I’m feeling discouraged. Do you think Substack is still worth the effort for building a community?

First off, as an artist, you are not offering value or growing an audience, you’re making magic and pulling people into your creative orbit.

Second, yes, Substack is veering into social media territory for sure. But right now it’s an effective tool for letting curious visitors sign up for your email list.

So, all that said, time spent on Substack doing anything to attract any amount of readers is time well spent. Finding fans is one thing, but being able to reach those fans is another. If Substack allows you to build an email list of 10 people, well, you get the email those 10 people for the next several years. Every bit of effort here is worth it because of the foundation you build with an email list.

This week on our weekly Escape Pods, we kicked things off on Monday by talking about letting go of misaligned content and making space for better signals. We explored the tension between short-term platform growth and long-term creative sustainability, and how even small changes (like a new name or format) can breathe life back into stalled projects.

On Thursday, we were joined by my friend and Peabody Award–winning producer Sean Cannon, who traced his path from my little music blog to AOL Music chaos to deep-dive investigative podcasting. We talked about chasing weird stories (Run the Jewels + cat rap, and boxing Ted Leo), and how getting just 5% better each time can transform your work.

Then on Saturday’s Escape Pod Mini, we brought things back to the local level, like flyers on bulletin boards, in-person readings, and rebuilding creative energy offline. We talked about the sting of unsubscribes, the strange dance of asking friends and family for support, and how renaming your newsletter or project might be exactly what opens our next chapter.

If you’d like join our Zoom calls, sign up for a 30 day trial here. That’ll give you time to sit in on a few calls, and even get two free replies of my Email Guidance offering.