This is not meant as hard and fast advice, but something to chew on:

Be yourself, and don’t confuse the market.

The simpler and more direct I can make my branding, the more genuine it will feel. Ultimately all I need to do is be true to myself (sometimes this is hard to do though!).

Read more: https://tomcritchlow.com/2016/08/01/brand

It don’t have to be pretty, it just had to be done.

I’m setting up at a the Lehigh Valley Punk Rock Flea Market this weekend with a friend, and I’ll be selling some musical equipment and records and Star Wars books.

Date: Saturday, September 6, 2025
Vendor Time: 10 AM – 4 PM
Live Music Time: 4:30 – 7:30 PM
Location: The Ice House, 56 River St, Bethlehem, PA 18018

I made a few of these for curious onlookers to pick up and discover the magic of Social Media Escape Club because there’s a great big world out there that might never know about this community!

The text, “Maybe centralized kingdoms of power and influence aren’t the answer,” is from a 2024 post titled “It’s time to do whatever we want.”

As in, we can spend a couple of bucks at a local print shop and make something like this, instead of paying Meta or Twitter to “boost” our posts for absolutely nobody to see.

At least this way maybe three people discover my work, right? And maybe one becomes a member?

Plus, I’ll be having a great day hanging out with my BFF as we try to unload gear we don’t use anymore. I’m forecasting a great return on investment.

Social media is all smoke and mirrors:

Adam Mosseri (head of Instagram) testified that the company has “invested hundreds of millions, maybe a billion or two, over the course of my tenure” on creators.

These platforms subsidizing the work of “creators” is the classic “big teddy bear at the carnival” tactics (via Cory Doctorow). Build the illusion by making “successful” contestants, hoping people believe that they can achieve the same thing:

“No one wins a giant teddy bear unless the carny wants them to win it. Why did the carny let the sucker win the giant teddy bear? So that he’d carry it around all day, convincing other suckers to put down five bucks for their chance to win one.

The carny allocated a giant teddy bear to that poor sucker the way that platforms allocate surpluses to key performers — as a convincer in a “Big Store” con, a way to rope in other suckers who’ll make content for the platform, anchoring themselves and their audiences to it.

Sure, you can stick around on social media and play the game, and maybe someday you’ll hit the algorithmic lottery, but please don’t let that become your long term strategy. Lottery tickets make horrible retirement plans.

I didn’t leave social media because I listened to the OFF THE GRID podcast and Amelia Hruby, PHD told me step by step how to delete my accounts, or give me steps 1-10 how I’d find work if I don’t have a LinkedIn account.

I left the social media platforms because Amelia showed that it was possible.

Artist Edgar Fabián Frías, from a recent Off The Grid episode, on leaving social media:

“It’s like we’re all starting to reorient and move in a different direction. And of course it’s gonna take, you know, a lot of different shapes and forms.

But I am just so excited to see like how we start to innovate, ’cause we’re all so creative and, and you know, there’s so many geniuses in our networks that I’m thrilled to see what happens when we start to kind of put our energy in this direction.”

If there’s a map, there’d be no magic to it because it takes away the tension. When there’s no tension, it’s just color by numbers, something to follow, and if it doesn’t work out, you can point your finger and say, “see? I knew it wouldn’t work.”

A new way is possible, and it’s gonna require some work, magic, and community to figure it all out.

We’ll find the new way together, when dipping our feet into a creek, or during the conversation on a long drive home after a show.

I didn’t leave social media because I listened to the OFF THE GRID podcast and Amelia Hruby, PHD told me step by step how to delete my accounts, or give me steps 1-10 how I’d find work if I don’t have a LinkedIn account.

I left the social media platforms because Amelia showed that it was possible.

Artist Edgar Fabián Frías, from a recent Off The Grid episode:

“It happened because she showed that it was possible.  It’s like we’re all starting to reorient and move in a different direction. And of course it’s gonna take, you know, a lot of different shapes and forms.

But I am just so excited to see like how we start to innovate, ’cause we’re all so creative and, and you know, there’s so many geniuses in our networks that I’m thrilled to see what happens when we start to kind of put our energy in this direction.”

If there’s a map, there’d be no magic to it because it takes away the tension. When there’s no tension, it’s just color by numbers, something to follow, and if it doesn’t work out, you can point your finger and say, “see? I knew it wouldn’t work.”

A new way is possible, and it’s gonna require some work, magic, and community to figure it all out.

We’ll find the new way together, when dipping our feet into a creek, or during the conversation on a long drive home after a show.

Amelia Hruby, PHD is a guest on next week’s Escape Pod Zoom call.

Solid advice from Manuel Moreale:

If you feel even the slightest of temptations to quit some of those stupid apps and sites, here’s my advice for you: do it. Don’t overthink it. Just delete your account, delete the apps from your phone, and start living a better life without them. And if you miss your friends, do something radical: pick up the phone you likely have in your pocket and give them a call. Or send them a text. Or go meet them in person if you can.

Read more: https://manuelmoreale.com/you-will-not-believe-what-i-just-wrote

Instead of posting 10 things on social media today, email 10 people you’ve never talked to before.

Hop on a Zoom call, swap ideas, ask questions, tell them you like their work.

What if just one of those people included your work in their next email? Or mentioned you on their podcast?

Posting into the void lets us off the hook. “Well, I tried!” we can say.

There’s tension involved in writing to 10 people directly, know that one person will most definitely read your email, and they just might respond.

I get this question a lot. The short answer: it depends, but probably yes.

(This text taken from my recent Substack Live, then cleaned and edited for readability.)

You wouldn’t buy concert tickets for a band you’ve never heard. You don’t buy a car without a test drive. So why would someone subscribe to your newsletter if they can’t see what it looks like first? Substack makes that possible. Every newsletter is live on the open web, easy to read before committing. It’s like a magazine stand for your work.

Another big factor is friction. On Substack, if someone already subscribes to other newsletters, their info is already filled in. That means all they have to do is click once to subscribe to yours. It seems small, but every bit of reduced friction matters.

Another advantage is shareability. Every post you publish on Substack has its own URL. That link can travel anywhere—text messages, group chats, Discords, blogs, other newsletters. When someone shares your work, it doesn’t just stop like it does with a closed system like Mailchimp. It keeps moving. Each post becomes its own landing page with a simple subscribe button right there.

Yes, that are limits, of course. If you need automations o tagging, Substack probably ain’t the right fit. But if your goal is to publish consistently, be seen, and make it easy for readers to subscribe, moving your list to Substack is a solid move.