You've perfectly encapsulated my own experiences here on Subdtack and Twitter, too. Tweets I wrote in 10s are my most popular; an essay I wrote as a joke is my most popular. Thank you for putting this little essay into the world
I have to admit, I didn't read the weather post. It sat in my feed for several days, I guess I just didn't feel excited by the topic. I think maybe it's because a) I was under the impression that it was pretty well established that weather can affect mood, at least for some people (i.e. seasonal affective disorder) and b) I'm not one of those people, so I don't feel super invested in the question.
On the other hand, since you say that you did a lot of research for it and learned some new things, I begin to think I may have dismissed it too easily, so I'll go read it now. 😛
Good write up and I agree. Would also add the following: in the end what makes you a good writer (or whatever else creative thing one does) is putting the time and effort in. Making longer and bigger effort works is putting the time into it. So your writing becomes better, but you may, for whatever reason, not see it reflected directly in one specific post.
I guess it's a matter of how to distribute that time and effort. I agree with that anecdote about a pottery class that making 100 pots without caring about quality is better than spending the same amount of time crafting the perfect pot — but at some point you'll still want to make a high effort pot, and the results are never guaranteed.
It's easy to waste a lot of energy into fruitless endeavors, and it is hard to figure out what is worth pursuing a priori.
Possible solutions : Not putting all your eggs in the same basket, quickly getting a minimum viable "product" to evaluate the potential of a pursuit, feasibility analysis before big projects.
The most important thing is to keep moving and not getting stuck. Once it becomes clear something isn't worth it, don't get stuck into a sunk cost fallacy. If a few projects don't pan out in a row, don't get overly negative, at least you learned more then if you didn't try anything.
I can relate, often it feels off even tho in the long run all posts become the same and proverbial likes lose their meaning — when I look back, I don’t feel emotional attachment to them (which is another topic) as much as when I published them and was happy or disappointed by the metrics. It happens to me all the time when writing both fiction and non-fiction. I love your work and the variety of the topics you share, it always unexpected and unique, and I am sure it always hit the right readers regardless of the likes.
I get it and I agree, but I do think that my future appreciation of past work is colored to a significant extent by how much it was received at the time. If my currently most popular post hadn't been popular, I wouldn't see it as my best work, but as things stand, I can't deny it's a candidate, because it has numerical evidence.
Regardless, I do try to not pay attention to the popularity too much. I appreciate the kind words!
I totally agree. I use likes when I want to share “my most popular” work. It’s helpful for readers to get into your stuff easier—more universal appeal etc. It’s just emotionally hard to call something popular as my best work because I spent the least time on it 😂
What I noticed is there are groups of posts liked by different people. Often if something of mine is not popular and gets few likes, those likes are from people who usually do not “like”, and the realisation of it calms me down a bit.
I wrote this opinion to another substack writer a couple of months ago
Perhaps it's valid here also:
"Just keep on keeping on with what you like to do, what comes easiest, what feeds your joy. We readers beyond anything else want this newsletter to persist. For that to happen, you must love doing it. So dont cater to your readers, cater to your own enthusiasm and love of the topic. Good things will come from that and not feeling a crushing weight of feeling you have to provide some kind of "value" to recompense your reader/subscribers"
i think you're judging a bit prematurely here. i bookmarked your post because it's long and i intend to read it when i have time. it might still get more likes over time. sometimes high effort work gets results/recognition over time, which is probably why many artists and writers became famous posthumously
I feel you on this! When I get more views/likes on a one-minute short that I rambled off vs a 13-minute video that took me days to script, shoot, and write, it's enough to make you throw in the towel.
It's certainly true that high-effort work tends to be recognized more in the long run... or at least I hope it's true? Regardless, I'm going to pretend it's true.
Write what you find interesting and metrics be damned! Don’t be dispirited - strive for whatever you find interesting! We enjoy your writing :)
The words of encouragement are appreciated :)
Seconded!
You've perfectly encapsulated my own experiences here on Subdtack and Twitter, too. Tweets I wrote in 10s are my most popular; an essay I wrote as a joke is my most popular. Thank you for putting this little essay into the world
I have to admit, I didn't read the weather post. It sat in my feed for several days, I guess I just didn't feel excited by the topic. I think maybe it's because a) I was under the impression that it was pretty well established that weather can affect mood, at least for some people (i.e. seasonal affective disorder) and b) I'm not one of those people, so I don't feel super invested in the question.
On the other hand, since you say that you did a lot of research for it and learned some new things, I begin to think I may have dismissed it too easily, so I'll go read it now. 😛
In retrospect, the fact that I got super bored once while doing the literature review, before going back to it weeks later, was probably a sign!
Good write up and I agree. Would also add the following: in the end what makes you a good writer (or whatever else creative thing one does) is putting the time and effort in. Making longer and bigger effort works is putting the time into it. So your writing becomes better, but you may, for whatever reason, not see it reflected directly in one specific post.
I guess it's a matter of how to distribute that time and effort. I agree with that anecdote about a pottery class that making 100 pots without caring about quality is better than spending the same amount of time crafting the perfect pot — but at some point you'll still want to make a high effort pot, and the results are never guaranteed.
It's easy to waste a lot of energy into fruitless endeavors, and it is hard to figure out what is worth pursuing a priori.
Possible solutions : Not putting all your eggs in the same basket, quickly getting a minimum viable "product" to evaluate the potential of a pursuit, feasibility analysis before big projects.
The most important thing is to keep moving and not getting stuck. Once it becomes clear something isn't worth it, don't get stuck into a sunk cost fallacy. If a few projects don't pan out in a row, don't get overly negative, at least you learned more then if you didn't try anything.
All sound advice.
I can relate, often it feels off even tho in the long run all posts become the same and proverbial likes lose their meaning — when I look back, I don’t feel emotional attachment to them (which is another topic) as much as when I published them and was happy or disappointed by the metrics. It happens to me all the time when writing both fiction and non-fiction. I love your work and the variety of the topics you share, it always unexpected and unique, and I am sure it always hit the right readers regardless of the likes.
I get it and I agree, but I do think that my future appreciation of past work is colored to a significant extent by how much it was received at the time. If my currently most popular post hadn't been popular, I wouldn't see it as my best work, but as things stand, I can't deny it's a candidate, because it has numerical evidence.
Regardless, I do try to not pay attention to the popularity too much. I appreciate the kind words!
I totally agree. I use likes when I want to share “my most popular” work. It’s helpful for readers to get into your stuff easier—more universal appeal etc. It’s just emotionally hard to call something popular as my best work because I spent the least time on it 😂
What I noticed is there are groups of posts liked by different people. Often if something of mine is not popular and gets few likes, those likes are from people who usually do not “like”, and the realisation of it calms me down a bit.
I wrote this opinion to another substack writer a couple of months ago
Perhaps it's valid here also:
"Just keep on keeping on with what you like to do, what comes easiest, what feeds your joy. We readers beyond anything else want this newsletter to persist. For that to happen, you must love doing it. So dont cater to your readers, cater to your own enthusiasm and love of the topic. Good things will come from that and not feeling a crushing weight of feeling you have to provide some kind of "value" to recompense your reader/subscribers"
i think you're judging a bit prematurely here. i bookmarked your post because it's long and i intend to read it when i have time. it might still get more likes over time. sometimes high effort work gets results/recognition over time, which is probably why many artists and writers became famous posthumously
That's the hope! But delayed success is even less predictable than immediate success, I think.
I feel you on this! When I get more views/likes on a one-minute short that I rambled off vs a 13-minute video that took me days to script, shoot, and write, it's enough to make you throw in the towel.
I feel this. I’ve had the same experience with my own substack.
It's a real pleasure to read what you write. I am waiting for the next articles :)
It's certainly true that high-effort work tends to be recognized more in the long run... or at least I hope it's true? Regardless, I'm going to pretend it's true.