Happy anniversary to me!
Believe it or not, I’ve been publishing this newsletter regularly for 12 months!! How time flies.
I was waiting for Substack to send me an anniversary message, but I suspect I’ll be waiting for that until hell freezes over.
I was never really into blogging. I tried to launch a blog through my own website, but felt very self-conscious about having nothing to say. Some of you may argue that I still don’t have anything to say. You might be right. The difference now is that I’ve stopped worrying about it. I just figure it out. That’s what creators do.
Focus was - and remains - a key challenge for me.
I have a lot of diverse interests, and that definitely counts against you if you’re trying to engage a community of like-minded folks. So when I decided I was going to try to post on a weekly schedule, I needed to try and narrow my focus. I knew I wanted to write about what I was working on, but also wanted to expand on my interests relating to the use of data to support creative decision-making.
But I quickly realized I didn’t have the time for this. I have a day job and a family, and barely any time for creative writing, let alone writing an in-depth weekly missive. Instead, I created a podcast (reading some of my older posts), and also published the 3 cool things piece on a monthly basis.
However, even that was challenging and in recent months, my output here began to tail off. That, coupled with other reflections, led me to bifurcate this email/newsletter, with the creative updates in the (imaginatively titled) “John Ward’s Newsletter” with the data and science updates remaining under “Creative Praxis.”
Now I aim to post here every other week rather than weekly, as I believe this is the best way to continue writing articles that have (some nominal) value.
What have I learned?
Everyone tells me to use Notes, and I really don’t know how to do it. Sure, I share my posts there when they come out, but aside from that I really struggle to get into conversations.
I also realized the stats say I’ve published 90 posts to date. If I rank them by open rate, then these are the top five:
Holiday presents? - 61% open rate
Stocking stuffers - 53%
Does being a horror fan make you more resilient? - 48%
How string theory explains the Arrow-verse - 47%
Observational Learning and Crowdfunding Campaigns - 46%
What’s interesting to me about this ranking, is that of the top five posts, only one of them is about Crowdfunding and data; the others are an eclectic mix. I think the lesson for me here is that it’s important to mix things up, and not be so singular in what I share. It’s certainly what I’m hoping to do going forwards.
What’s new?
The digital edition of The Science of Crowdfunding is now available through Crowdfundr, so if you fancy reading a collected version of my essays and articles, you should click on the link below.
One of the great things about Crowdfundr is that it makes digital fulfillment simple, meaning you can download your digital version of the book straight away. No waiting. No fuss. For less than the price of a coffee, you can help me purchase a coffee!
The other news to share is that the next instalment of the Virtual Creator Con is scheduled for November 2-3, 2024.
I originally wanted to launch in September, but life got busy for me in July and August, and I wasn’t able to dedicate enough time to planning and promotion. Although it was a tough decision, I realized moving it to November would be a much better option.
Stay tuned for programming updates. In the meantime, you can visit the site - which is currently a WIP - and download a calendar reminder (if nothing else).
What you may have missed?
If you didn’t sign up for my creative newsletter, you probably missed my recent post on process. Fear not, you can check it out below.
Until next time…
Thanks for sticking with this anniversary post. I’ll catch up with you again in two weeks time!
Cheers
John
Congratulations on one year!! 🥳 I’ll be on vacation in November for Virtual Creator Con, but I’ll be sure to spread the word!
I totally get wanting to cover diverse topics. I was tempted to start a 2nd Substack for that reason -- then realized that's what the Notes are for after all! I can still talk about diverse topics, though not as in long of a form, without the burden of keeping another weekly newsletter populated.