Attention isn't the goal. Depth of connection is.

How writers with small audiences still sell books and build careers

Ever feel like our culture is on a treadmill, asking for more, more, more? That if you want to reach your ideal readers as a writer, you have to hop on that treadmill yourself?

In this process, I worry that writers are encouraged to focus on the wrong goals:

• Posting more content, just for the sake of it. That success is measured by how much is shared.

• Attention is the goal. Your credentials are based on going viral and getting the attention of someone prominent.

• Gaining followers and subscribers is how we measure progress. More always equals better.

But I don’t think any of these things are true. What really matters is different.

I was talking to a writer recently who was focused on achieving a goal of gaining followers by any (ethical) means necessary. I explained why some of the tactics they were curious about were hollow. That they may end up with a large audience on paper (25,000, 50,000, 100,000, 150,000 followers), but that it wouldn’t lead them to their goals. That the number was just that: a number. They wouldn’t be engaged followers who would support their work, buy their books, and become a community around their creative work.

I’m a big believer in the value of sharing what you create and why, because this honors that deep creative vision you have. It normalizes conversations around the themes we care to write about, and builds pathways to readers and what resonates with them.

But I worry that writers are told to focus on the wrong things. And this can corrupt not only their unique creative voice, but their ability to feel a sense of meaning and fulfillment in how they share their creative work.

Depth with the Right Readers Outperforms Visibility with the Wrong Audience.

You can find the success you dream about with a dramatically smaller audience than you may imagine. Yes, it’s nice to consider having a massive audience because not only is it validating, it feels self-sustaining. That if a million people follow you, then 100,000 of them may buy your book, and all this attention will create a momentum that will drive your success forward from year to year. It is indeed nice when it happens, but that is not the only path.

I have worked with many authors who earn a full-time living, or significant portion of it, with a smaller audience than you might expect. Yet too often, writers and creators are told to seek out any kind of visibility with any kind of audience. This can be a massive distraction. It also warps our own sense of knowing how to show up, and whether this is leading anywhere.

For instance, perhaps you share a photo of your adorable dog, and people love it, and before you know it, you share 90% about your dog because it feels like you are really reaching people. You can see all the numbers going up in your social media, and that feels nice. And it is nice!

But maybe in the process, you begin silencing the part of you that is a novelist. You share less and less about the themes you explore in your novels, your writing process, and how literature inspires you. Is it a surprise to later learn that when people introduce you, they never say “novelist,” or “writer”?

(For the record: I’m 100% supportive of you sharing photos of your adorable dog. Just don’t forget to also share about your writing!)

Likewise, I have spoken with writers who have a big audience, yet they feel lost and even trapped. They are not sure how to please such a wide ranging audience, they feel boxed in by expectations, and they have little sense of who their true fans are. The result? They share less, they share what gets the most likes, and have a difficult time converting casual followers into dedicated fans. They have “eyeballs,” but no sense of real community or connection.

Can any audience be “wrong?” That’s for you to decide. But consider how vying to reach people for the sake of likes may be costing you precious resources: your time, attention, money, etc. that would be better spent focused on your creative goals, not just what reaches the widest number of people. Or how one strategy may leave you feeling hollow, and if another would fill you with a sense of hope, connection, and fulfillment.

Less Content. More Presence.

Focus less on just shoveling content online, and more on having a presence. Where it feels focused on what you create and why, and in a manner that connect to what inspires your ideal readers.

That is how we move away from content, noise, and slop. Of sharing just for the sake of sharing. Your work embodies something they deeply want in your life. Your ideal readers want that too.

How can you share what feels authentic to your creative process and goals? Where you can share your deep “why,” explore the themes that you are immensely curious about, where your craft becomes what you share, and conversations with like-minded people how you measure success.

In my book, Be the Gateway, I talk about this through a metaphor (as well as practical advice) of a gateway that you venture out from, looking for paths that lead you to your ideal readers, and them back to your work. This is where what you share can embody what your audience is searching for in their lives. What they want to see when they open up their social media feed or email inbox.

There is a difference between content and presence. Where the latter is where people feel you showing up in an authentic manner, and where they feel themselves showing up as well. To where it fuels them throughout the day, instead of sucking away their finite time and energy through an endless scroll.

How you share and how others engage should feel refreshing to each of you. Consider the presence it creates. How it forges moments and experiences that become the fabric of our creative lives.

Don’t be afraid to share your creative process, what inspires you, the roadblocks you face, the first steps you take, and the little curiosities along the way. To where others feel they are on the path of exploration with you, diving deep into the themes you write about, and what that is like.

Give Yourself Permission

It’s not uncommon for me to talk with a writer who wants to share their work and engage an audience, but worries, “Who am I to have a newsletter or share on these topics?” They are concerned that they don’t have the right credentials.

Instead, I encourage you to consider this: how does your passion and curiosity make you the perfect person to share about this topic. Not as you grandstanding as an expert, but as someone who is deeply curious, and exploring from a place of authenticity.

Where you can write about your work with honesty, share your process, and live a life of someone who focuses on craft.

The other day, I saw my friend Meera Lee Patel had a Note on Substack go viral: 2,000+ likes and 65+ reshares. What was it? A tiny book of trees:

Soon after, she shared this, reflecting on the purpose of her newsletter Dear Somebody:

I love how her tiny book is infused in her deeply personal creative process — focusing on where she wants to go as an artist, not just copying a copy of what others are copying. And how her newsletter explores the nuances of her life as a writer and artist.

Meera may be a model for success for you — someone who inspires you to create and share in a manner that highlights your unique creative voice, that focuses on texture and depth, where it is meant to connect readers with her words and art in a deeply meaningful manner.

Or it may be someone else. I encourage you to find that person. Look for someone who has gone all-in on sharing in a manner that creates something special. Resist the urge to just follow someone wildly famous who barely shares, justifying, “Their art speaks for itself.” Refer to my post last week for more context on that.

I remember talking with my wife about Tasha Tudor years ago. Tasha was the author and illustrator of nearly 100 books. After her massive success, around 1970, she moved to Vermont, and built a home that had very limited running water, plumbing, and electricity. That is where she lived until her death in 2008.

Her career continued throughout this time, evolving as she did. She lived how she wanted, intentionally, and engaged in her career as she chose.

You get to make that choice for yourself, whatever that might be. I encourage you to lean into what you write and why. To share not out of obligation or vying for external validation and false metrics — but because it connects your work to humanity in deep and meaningful ways. Where it fills your days with inspiration, reflection, and fulfillment. And it does the same for those who experience what you share.

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If you want to explore working with me, there are two ways I collaborate with writers and creators:

1. One-on-one consulting

2. My Creative Shift Mastermind. Learn about it here.

As always, thank you so much for being here with me.
-Dan

Kids of the Week: brothers:

Picking out a book to read before bed (Spoiler alert: it’s often Peanuts):

I put this small table in his room just for an hour while I moved things around in another room, and before I knew it, he had already organized his papers and typing supplies on it.

Painting a butterfly: