Had an amazing chat with artist David Speed on his Creative Rebels podcast:

“Navigating (social media) is hard, so I was so happy to chat with Seth Werkheiser who offers a bunch of alternative ways to connect with your audience. Ways that don’t involve spending six hours producing a video that won’t be shown to the people who have chosen to follow you!”

We end our chat talking about this post ‘Outdated expectations kill creative dreams,” which is about my dad, and I was surprised to find myself getting emotional talking about it, but that’s where the conversation went!

Give a listen to the full 57 minute interview on Substack or Apple Podcasts.

One of the best ways to start getting away from social media is to think about where we put our stuff. We’re so conditioned to upload a photo, a thought, a hot-take to social media because we know something will happen – likes, comments, shares, etc. It’s absolutely the slot machine at the casino – insert coin, pull the lever, and something will happen.

Instead of posting that photo for “everyone,” try sending it to a friend and see what happens. Send it to another, with a little note.

Maybe post that photo on your blog and write a bit about it, and send a newsletter later to let people know about it.

Instead of posting your “hot takes” and opinions and ideas onto a platform to be monetized by Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, use them elsewhere for your benefit.

As I wrote a year ago in ‘Practice leaving social media,’ “the spontaneous bits you’d post on social media can be the source material for your next newsletter, text to a pal, Discord group, or next live Zoom hangout with good people.”

We won’t get the same dopamine hit from these actions. They won’t go viral. But maybe they’re the start of something better, like deeper relationships, or strengthening friendships.

It’s hard to be good friends with 10 people in your life when you’re always trying to entertain 1,000 strangers.

One of the best ways to start getting away from social media is to think about where we put our stuff. We’re so conditioned to upload a photo, a thought, a hot-take to social media because we know something will happen – likes, comments, shares, etc. It’s absolutely the slot machine at the casino – insert coin, pull the lever, and something will happen.

Instead of posting that photo for “everyone,” try sending it to a friend and see what happens. Send it to another, with a little note.

Maybe post that photo on your blog and write a bit about it, and send a newsletter later to let people know about it.

Same with all our “hot takes” and opinions and ideas. Instead of posting them onto a platform to be monetized by Mark Zuckerburg and Elon Musk, put it on your website, use it as a prompt for your next Zoom call with friends, or email it to someone who would “get it” in your creative community.

We won’t get the same dopamine hit from these actions. They won’t go viral.

But maybe they’re the start of something better, like deeper relationships, or strengthening friendships.

It’s hard to be good friends with 10 people in your life when you’re always trying to entertain 1,000 strangers.

What’s your sense of the moment we’re living in now, in terms of art and communication, compared to a few years ago?

It’s probably biased, because I talk to a lot of people who are looking to get away from social media. But that’s okay, that’s who I want to talk to. I don’t want to talk to people about maximizing reach with paid ads on Facebook, I want to talk to people printing out their poetry and leaving copies around town.

Read more of this interview over at Soul Writer.

I told another photographer to set up their newsletter on Substack, and here’s why:

• It’s free. You don’t get charged for importing your list.
• It just feels better to write on the platform, versus services like Mailchimp with their BLOCKS.
• Getting people to sign up is easier – you don’t need to create landing pages (like with Mailchimp). Every post is its own landing page, which is handy because you can send a post to a former (or prospective) client, and they can see what your newsletter actually looks like before signing up.
• As more and more people are signed up for newsletters on Substack, their email address is already “on file,” which removes even more friction to getting someone to sign up.

Here’s some photographer’s I subscribe to via Substack:

Raf

If you’ve got a list of former clients and prospects, don’t just add them to your email list. That’s bad form. No one likes to be added to an email list they didn’t ask for.

(more…)

If you’re not on social media, what’s one thing you can do today that can help you get the word out?

Reframe the thinking of posting to everyone, and think of sharing with a few people.

Open your phone and send something to the people that are important enough to be in your phone.

How much energy could you gain by having a laugh with an old friend, or reconnecting with a colleague from a few years back?

Then, start finding the creative people outside of your orbit that are doing amazing work. Email them. Tell them. Not in a transactional networking kind of way. Do it from the heart.

Posting to everyone is a lottery ticket, but there’s a 50/50 chance someone replies to your email.

One of the biggest things I push is to backup your work on your own site, which means if you write on Substack, your work should be duplicated on your own site, which led to this question:

Q. Hi, I read something yesterday about search engines getting confused if you have the same article in two places. I’ve been copying my substack pieces across to an old blog but now am wondering… what do you think?

A. SEO advice is avoid duplicate content, as it upsets the algorithm. But I don’t work for the algorithm, I work for me, and serve my readers / subscribers first. If it means less random traffic from search engines im fine with that. My hope is that work is good enough that some of readers might tell a friend about it, which I find much more valuable.

It’s as if these social media platforms (including Substack Notes) are designed to instill feelings of “not doing enough” that pulls us closer to engaging with their bullshit games for bullshit prizes.

Your work isn’t meant for the carnival circuit – “step right up, spin the wheel!”

Your work is the quiet corner of a library or the small group Zoom calls. Your essays and poems bloom in time, right where they are.