💌 Why I don't call myself a content creator

On trying on a new identity + this week's Time Well Spent round-up

Hi Friends,

I tried on a new identity when introducing myself to a neighbor the other day.

“What do you do?” they asked, feigning interest in the answer.

I love replying with something different every time I answer this question. Nobody understands what most of us location-independent business owners do all day anyway.

Sometimes I’ll say, “I run a Delightfully Tiny media company,” but that sounds too pretentious at this moment. So I reply, “I’m an author, podcaster, and Substacker.”

Substacker?! Where did that come from? It used to be blogger, then writer, then author. Nowadays, “the kids” seem to consolidate all these into one: creator.

But there is one thing I refuse to call myself: a content creator.

Patrick Willems did a great YouTube piece on how corporate interests corrupted this term; ney, created it in the first place with their cannibalization of prestige TV into mass “good enough” mediocre content blasted out via firehose to feed the hungry ghost of streaming and social media platforms.

“We actually compete with sleep,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings famously said in 2017. “And we’re winning.”

Barf.

Patrick takes issue with what the term content creator represents, saying “content is a state of mind,” and not in a good way. Its widespread embrace comes preloaded with implications that foment a toxic mindset for creativity.

In a related New Yorker Talk of the Town bit, reporter Sheila Yasmin Marikar pokes fun at “content” corp-speak. She is reporting from Netflix Bites, a newly opened eatery in Los Angeles (where else) with the streaming platform’s celebrity chefs.

Marikar quotes Greg Lombardo, Netflix’s head of experiences (emphasis mine):

He went on, “Look, we’re hopeful that the strike is resolved. We want it to end fairly for everybody. This is a way for us to connect with members where they are, in between content windows, when there’s not new content for them to enjoy. This is a great way to remind them that they love that content.”

At Netflix Bites, content was distributed in a sun-splashed courtyard. Cocktails with such ingredients as Hellfire bitters and “salt air” made the rounds.

—Sheila Yasmin Marikar, Someone’s In the Kitchen with Ted Sarandos

In between content windows? We love that content?

Only when it’s good, my friend.

Or at least so bad it’s good.

Now let’s get to the rest of today’s content round-up! Plus extra goodies for paying subscribers over the paywall rainbow at the end . . . :)

📆 Upcoming Event

🥂 Last Call for Business Bestie Brunch + Q4 Pop-up Mastermind! Now with Virtual Option — the deadline to apply is coming up on Sept. 15 :)

We would love to have you join us!

⚙️ Tips & Tools

If you’re Substack-curious, I just hosted a private workshop yesterday for the BFF Community (aka Founding Members in Substack terminology) with

Linda @ Substack

from the writer outreach team.

She generously covered every detail large and small for business owners considering the transition:

1. Substack’s goals as a company, and the types of writers and creators they are most interested in working with

2. Monetization strategies that are working best for writers

3. How to import existing assets (and when not to)

4. Ideas to leverage their network and community to grow your platform

5. . . . and so much more!

Join us as a paid or founding member to get access to the full recording on Sunday. Free subscribers will get a 15-minute preview, which will still be helpful! :)

I am also enjoying restacking other writers’ essays in Notes, even if I don’t always feel like adding something brilliant (or even coherent). Sometimes I restack with just a simple emoji or two: 💯🔥 — or nothing at all.

Even if you’re not publishing on Substack, you can set up a profile (your @ handle) and join the conversation. Here’s mine as an example:

❤️ Jenny Blake

.

On a writing-related note, I enjoyed the MasterClass where Dan Brown Teaches How to Write Thrillers. I picked up many tips for making personal writing more exciting, starting with the three C’s anatomy of a thriller:

• Contract: Promise you’re making

• Clock: Ticking clock, time pressure

• Crucible: Don’t let your characters run away; holds things together, doesn’t let them escape. Give your hero one path, and it’s full of challenges.

🎉 Featured

Big thanks to

Paul Millerd

for having me on his podcast The Pathless Path in July to talk about saying “no” to something good. I also enjoyed his recent essay on There are No Gatekeepers.

📣 Brought To You By

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💬 Quote

“All of the challenges you face will shape you into a better artist—and a better human being—with even more to say and share. Nobody ever wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir about a perfect life with zero challenges.

Pain can make you smarter, funnier, more compassionate and more interesting.
Rejection can test your faith and help you decide, ‘Do I really want this or not?’
Criticism can unlock the greatest idea you’ve ever had.

All of these uncomfortable emotions and experiences—it’s all fuel for your career. It’s all fodder for your next book. It’s all valuable and useful—if you decide to see it that way.”
—Alexandra Franzen, You’re Going to Survive

💭 Question

What next steps are you avoiding out of fear of failure? What’s the worst that can happen, even if you “fail”?

A personal example: I was so afraid of making subscribers (you!) mad when I moved everything to Substack last week. Don’t ask me why! Then I realized: What’s the worst that would happen, even if 99% unsubscribed? I would just keep going, keep building, keep adjusting little by little. I did make mistakes with the big list migration, but none were the end of the world—and no angry missives landed in my inbox (yet) as I feared.

📝 Permission

To make improvements in your business operations even when it seems like no one solution is perfect, and you know you’ll break 100 things in the process.

🎙 Recent Episodes

Free Time:

• 222: Why I migrated my three email lists to Substack (BFF Bonus Replay)

• 221: Publishing and Personal Writing Pointers with Jennie Nash

• 220: The One Thing You Should Do Now for Next Summer

• Subscribe wherever you listen here »

Pivot:

• 339: Moneyzen: The Cult of More with Manisha Thakor

• 338: Is Midlife Messing with Your Enoughness? with Mandy Lehto

• Subscribe wherever you listen here »

Thank you for being here reading and listening!

❤️ With Gratitude,

---

P.S. Extra Goodies Over the Paywall Rainbow 🌈💰

🔐 Thank you to our generous paying subscribers who help sustain Time Well Spent! Upgrade to unlock this week’s make-you-smile memes as a token of my gratitude ☺️