Thank you, Adam, for the reminder to write for the 0.1%. I found myself wrestling a lot with the question of quality vs. quantity when blogging and it's true: Some people only post infrequently, but when they do, it's almost always a must-read. Your blog is one of the most unique corners of the internet I have subscribed to - so unique in fact, that I am regularly tempted to skip a post when it invariably gets convoluted - but I have yet to regret reading them through to the end. Thank you for your fresh perspectives and all the best in 2025.
"But when you’re writing for that beautiful, tiny fraction, you can care a lot. I want to give those folks something good. I want to write them the post they bring up on their second date, the post they forward to their grandpa, the post they listen to on a road trip."
May I ask why you don't think your posts are not good enough for a first date? :)
I agree with your point about frequency of publishing on Substack. A regular schedule may be best for those who write about current events - and that's a big portion of this platform, and so may skew results - but for other topics I think quality beats frequency, and that one will lose one's audience (either through unsubscribed or unopends) if one publishes second-rate content just to fulfill a schedule.
Excellent, and thoroughly entertaining piece. It's interesting that very few of us would question why we don't like everyone and everything out there and yet we're perplexed and *personally attacked* when not everyone likes us or our work. Self-selection is a wonderful thing. And it's not just haters vs. fans, it's more often about people who get you vs people who don't. Just like it's people who we get, and people who perplex us.
I love that you only publish every other week; it means that I am delighted to get your email in my inbox instead of being overwhelmed by just one more thing to read.
Hopefully you don’t get the cliched remark about “When you are taking flak, then you are over the target!” because not only would that mean you are being adversarial even if you are dropping truth bombs on people but you honestly attempt to land a valuable (or at least comically insightful) cargo of information to your readers waiting at the airport. Besides, I had a psychologist about 38 years ago l, Dr. John Salazar, who had been a B-17 pilot and he had flown missions over Nazi Germany so the expression involving flak would have been a painful remembrance. He helped me handle PTSD after being shot while working at McDonalds but by using difficult and adversarial situations as a springboard for recovery, even though I am more spongy than springy.
1) Jake Paul - this guy built a career off haters' attention. For example, his cringey song "It's Everyday Bro" blew up partly because many YouTubers gave it attention when they were trying to dunk on Jake about it
2) Kevin Kelly's 1000 True Fans blog - https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/. "If you lived in any of the 2 million small towns on Earth you might be the only one in your town to crave death metal music, or get turned on by whispering, or want a left-handed fishing reel. Before the web you’d never be able to satisfy that desire. You’d be alone in your fascination. But now satisfaction is only one click away. Whatever your interests as a creator are, your 1,000 true fans are one click from you. As far as I can tell there is nothing — no product, no idea, no desire — without a fan base on the internet. Every thing made, or thought of, can interest at least one person in a million — it’s a low bar. Yet if even only one out of million people were interested, that’s potentially 7,000 people on the planet. That means that any 1-in-a-million appeal can find 1,000 true fans. The trick is to practically find those fans, or more accurately, to have them find you."
Your strategy works, Adam. I always look forward to Experimental History posts because I always learn something in a very surprising way. You put a lot of my unformed thoughts into words. Good luck on the book!
I (in Ireland) found this weirdly inspirational <3
Reader from Ireland 🇮🇪 😀 here!
Thank you, Adam, for the reminder to write for the 0.1%. I found myself wrestling a lot with the question of quality vs. quantity when blogging and it's true: Some people only post infrequently, but when they do, it's almost always a must-read. Your blog is one of the most unique corners of the internet I have subscribed to - so unique in fact, that I am regularly tempted to skip a post when it invariably gets convoluted - but I have yet to regret reading them through to the end. Thank you for your fresh perspectives and all the best in 2025.
Reader from Uruguay here!
There is something I don't understand:
"But when you’re writing for that beautiful, tiny fraction, you can care a lot. I want to give those folks something good. I want to write them the post they bring up on their second date, the post they forward to their grandpa, the post they listen to on a road trip."
May I ask why you don't think your posts are not good enough for a first date? :)
Just don't want to intrude 🙂
I agree with your point about frequency of publishing on Substack. A regular schedule may be best for those who write about current events - and that's a big portion of this platform, and so may skew results - but for other topics I think quality beats frequency, and that one will lose one's audience (either through unsubscribed or unopends) if one publishes second-rate content just to fulfill a schedule.
Excellent, and thoroughly entertaining piece. It's interesting that very few of us would question why we don't like everyone and everything out there and yet we're perplexed and *personally attacked* when not everyone likes us or our work. Self-selection is a wonderful thing. And it's not just haters vs. fans, it's more often about people who get you vs people who don't. Just like it's people who we get, and people who perplex us.
I love that you only publish every other week; it means that I am delighted to get your email in my inbox instead of being overwhelmed by just one more thing to read.
100%. I regularly unsub from creators who publish 2x a week. Like sheesh guys. This was supposed to be fun. Why you giving me homework?
Hopefully you don’t get the cliched remark about “When you are taking flak, then you are over the target!” because not only would that mean you are being adversarial even if you are dropping truth bombs on people but you honestly attempt to land a valuable (or at least comically insightful) cargo of information to your readers waiting at the airport. Besides, I had a psychologist about 38 years ago l, Dr. John Salazar, who had been a B-17 pilot and he had flown missions over Nazi Germany so the expression involving flak would have been a painful remembrance. He helped me handle PTSD after being shot while working at McDonalds but by using difficult and adversarial situations as a springboard for recovery, even though I am more spongy than springy.
I liked this post cuz your writing a book,I hope it goes well
This reminds me of two things:
1) Jake Paul - this guy built a career off haters' attention. For example, his cringey song "It's Everyday Bro" blew up partly because many YouTubers gave it attention when they were trying to dunk on Jake about it
2) Kevin Kelly's 1000 True Fans blog - https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/. "If you lived in any of the 2 million small towns on Earth you might be the only one in your town to crave death metal music, or get turned on by whispering, or want a left-handed fishing reel. Before the web you’d never be able to satisfy that desire. You’d be alone in your fascination. But now satisfaction is only one click away. Whatever your interests as a creator are, your 1,000 true fans are one click from you. As far as I can tell there is nothing — no product, no idea, no desire — without a fan base on the internet. Every thing made, or thought of, can interest at least one person in a million — it’s a low bar. Yet if even only one out of million people were interested, that’s potentially 7,000 people on the planet. That means that any 1-in-a-million appeal can find 1,000 true fans. The trick is to practically find those fans, or more accurately, to have them find you."
A classic!
Reader meet-up in the Bay Area would be sweet!!!
Next time I'm out there!
Can’t wait!
And in a fun twist of coincidence, my best friend from undergrad (in Ireland) introduced me to your blog.
Happy Trails...Godspeed!
Thanks for this. Very encouraging on this the day of putting my first newsletter up on Substack. I now can't wait for my first hater!
Your strategy works, Adam. I always look forward to Experimental History posts because I always learn something in a very surprising way. You put a lot of my unformed thoughts into words. Good luck on the book!
I really enjoy your work Adam. Good luck with your book - so exciting!
Somehow, this reminds me of a quote by Drake: "People like you more when you are working towards something, not when you have it.”
Very true