A Path Forward

For the past week, I’ve been trying to imagine a way forward. What kind of future do I want to make for myself?

I was drawing a blank.

I want to continue to write. That’s simple enough. And ideally, in this imagined life, I would be some kind of visual artist, maybe eventually making a graphic novel.

The problem: I couldn’t realistically picture a reality where I could support myself with my art without working myself to death, which kind of ruins the dream.

I listened to some podcasts and audiobooks. I read some blog posts and newsletter articles. I watched too many YouTube videos.

The future seems to be a pretty big unknown for every writer and artist. Part of that is AI and the rapidly changing publishing industry. Part of that is the general state of the world. Writers and other artists are feeling the weight of late-stage capitalism now more than ever.

How can I imagine my happy artistic future in all that mess?

Maybe it’s simple.

This is an old idea, but everything old is new again: my goal is to earn 1,000 true fans.

You can read more about the idea in Kevin Kelly’s essay 1,000 True Fans, but the concept is that it’s not about marketing or getting the book deal or selling a million eBooks; it’s about making connections, one fan at a time, and producing premium art for those people to treasure.

Getting 1,000 fans seems doable, right? It’s not superstar level or anything. It’s just a thriving life as an artist.

If you have enough true fans, you can do a successful Kickstarter, you can make direct sales, you can stay your strange self, and you can compete with the AI deluge that is coming. You can stay human. We’ll all need that quality going forward if we want to stand out.

I think the most direct way to do this is to become an artist that deserves 1,000 true fans and to document the journey. It’s the simple Show Your Work that Austin Kleon talks about.

At this point, I’m not really sure where this journey will go. But that’s part of the fun. All I need to do is start with the basics and grow from there.