“Expressing oneself in the world and creativity are the same. It may not be possible to know who you are without somehow expressing it.”
Rick Rubin, The Creative Act (p. 182)
If you’ve made it this far, thank you. As you read this, there’s a war waging for your attention, so I appreciate you giving me your time and attention.
Most of the noise on the internet is a hatchet job offering nothing new, nothing noteworthy, no novel ideas, angles, or perspectives. So I hope what you’ve read has given you something new to consider.
As sovereign creators, we can do better.
Linear funnels have their place in marketing, no question (something I’ll unpack in detail in a future piece). I’m not vilifying their function, only how they’re used as a blunt-force marketing tool, a weapon against real people.
The law of the hammer points to a cognitive bias involving over-reliance on a familiar tool. As the saying goes:
If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail.
The problem is when every individual you’re marketing to is treated like a nail, being battered down using traditional linear-only funnel-based marketing methods.
Which sucks ass for the people involved in the exchange.
Over the coming months (and for the foreseeable future), I’ll be writing about the intersection between ‘open world’ modern marketing, business, and the concept of ‘world building’ for sovereign creators and writers to attract and grow audiences that matter.
Tiny Digital Worlds exists here.
Sovereign creators, across all dimensions, use elements of Tiny Digital Worlds — Tokyo, 1000 True Fans, weirdness, and principles of storytelling and worldbuilding — to attract and serve audiences that support their work.
Tiny Digital Worlds dispense with over-engineered linear funnel-based coercion-driven marketing as wholesale entry points to capture prospects.
Tiny Digital Worlds is a mechanism for attracting better audiences of denizens who want to inhabit our Worlds.
Externalizing and expanding on the concepts, nuances, and principles of Tiny Digital Worlds is the work I’m doing here. I’m building a Tiny Digital World for you to explore. Much of it will be in the open for everyone.
In January 2024, I’ll open a paid membership level for serious Tiny Digital World Builders.
If this resonates with you, welcome home. I’ve been waiting for you. Together we can build a better internet experience for the audiences we serve.
I welcome you to come on this journey with me (and get on my email list to be notified when I publish new content).
André