Thanks, Paul, for the great examples and the metaphor of the planes. Very informative and helpful article. And I can think of a number of Substacks that are fan favorites, but (in my mind) utterly puerile. Many that are terrific, but with few followers. Success is subjective.
So true, Paul, of Substack writers sharing their success stories. The Substack publications that succeed have a few key ingredients in common, but are often vastly different. The ones that fail have a thousand different traits (and perhaps less well-armoured fuselages)?
PS, as I was just further noodling on my dog walk… too TOO rare that we don’t actively share our failures, pursuant to this exact advantage for others…
Thanks, Paul, for the great examples and the metaphor of the planes. Very informative and helpful article. And I can think of a number of Substacks that are fan favorites, but (in my mind) utterly puerile. Many that are terrific, but with few followers. Success is subjective.
For sure, Mary. Great perspective!
So true, Paul, of Substack writers sharing their success stories. The Substack publications that succeed have a few key ingredients in common, but are often vastly different. The ones that fail have a thousand different traits (and perhaps less well-armoured fuselages)?
Perfect comment, Karen. Thanks!
I’m so glad you wrote on this, Paul! I only just recently learned about this phenomenon myself, from Jono Hey and his awesome site Sketchplanations…
https://sketchplanations.com/survivorship-bias-silent-evidence
We’re missing the most instructive bits by only looking at the markers for success v. failure. TRUTH!!
👍Agree!
PS, as I was just further noodling on my dog walk… too TOO rare that we don’t actively share our failures, pursuant to this exact advantage for others…
Those are some serious bullet holes! Keep playing that guitar!
Thanks, James!
Great article! I watched a YouTube video recently by Mary Spender talking about a similar angle on being an independent musician today, v interesting…
https://youtu.be/E36Ku6MvaFY?si=ocAsWM8mQ-scEngM
Thanks, Nic!