I'm sorry, but why doesn't he just admit it: the "prestigious" publishers of the time were getting greedy and selling out by failing to focus on literary merit and instead focusing on genres like comedic cookbooks, so he decided to sell out too, but went with the infinitely more moronic "s*x sells" idea, thereby furthering the dumbing down of our culture so endemic at the time by creating a dumb "smut" website. Sorry Rufus--smut is smut, even if you have "intelligent," prestigious, "award-winning" people involved in your site. I'm an Xennial, and I REMEMBER (and deeply RESENT) the relentless dumbing down of that era. And I hold the people who ran the mainstream media (including some publishers, but especially TV and movies) responsible for that.
Ok, this gave me anxiety. Do less, but consider these 400 extra things including podcasts and hybrid publishing (what?!). As a relative newbie without a team, I'm drowning out here in advice and speculation while 'just' working to create a quality weekly newsletter. The final sentences about long tail work gave me my first deep breath in the hour.
The part that gave me anxiety is that he seems to be conceding that AI will, for the most part, take over writing and that the parts of a writer's life that will survive are public speaking, live events, and awkward writing. It sounds like a bit of a death knell for those of us actually writing without AI! Sarah, you've been saying otherwise--please tell us how this isn't the case!!!
I appreciate how he explained that not everyone fits a specific mold, one size does not fit all. This perspective has definitely changed the way I think about pursuing traditional publishing. I really enjoyed listening to the live session. Thank you, Sarah and Rufus!
I'm sorry, but why doesn't he just admit it: the "prestigious" publishers of the time were getting greedy and selling out by failing to focus on literary merit and instead focusing on genres like comedic cookbooks, so he decided to sell out too, but went with the infinitely more moronic "s*x sells" idea, thereby furthering the dumbing down of our culture so endemic at the time by creating a dumb "smut" website. Sorry Rufus--smut is smut, even if you have "intelligent," prestigious, "award-winning" people involved in your site. I'm an Xennial, and I REMEMBER (and deeply RESENT) the relentless dumbing down of that era. And I hold the people who ran the mainstream media (including some publishers, but especially TV and movies) responsible for that.
Sorry for the typo--I fixed it.
Valid point. I wasn't in the Nerve.com scene. I don't remember the site.
Ok, this gave me anxiety. Do less, but consider these 400 extra things including podcasts and hybrid publishing (what?!). As a relative newbie without a team, I'm drowning out here in advice and speculation while 'just' working to create a quality weekly newsletter. The final sentences about long tail work gave me my first deep breath in the hour.
Oh, no! Talk of podcasts gives me panic attacks too. Totally. Do what Cal Newport says: Pick one platform/thing and do it really well.
Well, Substack it is. For now. ;)
The part that gave me anxiety is that he seems to be conceding that AI will, for the most part, take over writing and that the parts of a writer's life that will survive are public speaking, live events, and awkward writing. It sounds like a bit of a death knell for those of us actually writing without AI! Sarah, you've been saying otherwise--please tell us how this isn't the case!!!
@sarahfay
Wow! This was so informative. Thank you 😊
I appreciate how he explained that not everyone fits a specific mold, one size does not fit all. This perspective has definitely changed the way I think about pursuing traditional publishing. I really enjoyed listening to the live session. Thank you, Sarah and Rufus!
❤️❤️❤️loving this. I agree 100 that writing the newsletter and readership IS THE DEAL.
Omg I have a spark file with thousands of notes and ideas so I could feed those to AI and have it sort of collate them.
I didn’t see where to become a founder.
Superb convo. So inspired and exactly what I needed on my one year Subtackaversary!
I do get subscribers from Facebook - a few a month.
Looking for link for 25% off?
Hi good morning
New to substack. This was helpful.