MS07: Telling your story, and learning to build context
Alternatively: "Why would people care about me when I'm a smaller creator?"
This week’s newsletter is going to be a bit loose and free, mostly because I’m writing it at 3AM as I try to tackle my ongoing sleep issues.
I’ve been thinking (and talking) a lot about individual creation lately with a couple friends, as we’re seeing the opportunity to continue to build our fundamentals and grow our fanbases. One of the more common questions I see is “how do I get people to care when I’m not already successful?”
This kind of makes sense, mostly because Twitch and other platforms will emphasize bigger channels when it comes to discoverability, and people tend to congregate where they’re already most comfortable. To many creators, it’s a daunting task to provide value because there’s a second part of the act of doing it: you also have to present it in a way that people know.
A couple years ago I wrote out a sample content plan based around building a narrative around yourself and your content, and I think it’s especially relevant to answering this question. For many people, the connect they want to build with creators is not necessarily a straight “I want to see an expert and learn from them”, even though that can be a major factor.
I feel that at the end of the day, most viewers just want to see their investment of time be rewarded, and even if you’re not the best player in the world or the biggest person in your field, you can definitely do that with creative planning.
I implemented this plan in a blog project I called BetterDota; despite not being pro (and being nowhere near pro), I wanted to turn my journey at getting better at the game into something that people could identify with.
I pitched the project to my dad using a running analogy, since he does triathlons.
“What if someone could create a way for you to follow their running journey from their very first run, all the way through to their first 5K? Even if they failed, and even if they hated that first little bit, you would be able to identify with the same struggles you’ve shared, and if you were new at running yourself, you’d be able to identify with the same feelings and growth.
Even if you never talked to this person, would you not cheer on their progress? Would you not empathize with their failing that 5k? Would you not feel some kind of catharsis seeing them finish on their next attempt, having been with them the whole time?”
A lot of the difficulty that I’m seeing for people is tracking that progress; being able to reward continual attention onto your project and story means that the investment of time is “worth it”. I also find this conflicts with the presumption that smaller creators need to “earn” the respect that allows them to display their accomplishments in plain language.
Being able to say that you’ve accomplished X milestone in-game (or out) allows you to provide context for the people who might not be able to show up every time. Being able to make easy templates for social media means that you can track things like win-loss records on a stream-by-stream basis, and give people things to look up if the game has independent stat-tracking sites like OpenDota.
Hell, it might even give people a reason to go back and watch Twitch/YouTube archives of streams, which can be notoriously low-trafficked.
I find that looking at the question of “what can I do to help people follow my story?” both gives you a way of continuing to provide value, but also helping you gain confidence and self-esteem. Having these things makes it much easier to command a position that onboards new people; you’re more comfortable being able to (metaphorically) say “hey, I’m worth keeping tabs on, because you’re going to see some valuable stuff, here.”
A lot of this is armchair psychology, but I find that the points are common depending on the creator’s level of popularity and what their goals truly are. Being realistic about these things allows you to discuss your work (both with yourself and others) on a level playing field, without pretense; it’s better to be true to yourself then attempt to live a lie.
If you want to make money, be honest about yourself with that fact. If you’re half-invested, be honest about whether you’d like to change that. It makes it a lot easier to relate to yourself, and then reflect that in the narrative you’re building for your fans.
Housekeeping and Updates
I’ve published something new and extensive about Yakuza: Like a Dragon, a recent release for PC, PS4/5, and Xbox. I was a bit nervous about writing it because I didn’t want to fall into the trap of writing something too general. Instead, I focused very hard on whether it delivered on its promise of transitioning the game to a drastically new genre.
I’ll be taking a bit of a step away from social media and tech in general next week, as I’m planning to do a bit of a technology fast. I think I’m going to be going “no phone, no Internet” in an effort to learn to be more present with the forms of enrichment that I want to pursue more, and establish some healthier routines for myself. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Otherwise, thank you so much for the positive feedback for the newsletter. If you’d like, consider leaving a comment.