Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts

Our goal here is to make something that people rave about, that becomes part of their lives. The buried insights found in those other great works were not put there on the first pass. Work is unlikely to be layered if it is written in a single stream of consciousness. No. Deep, complex work is built through a relentless, repetitive process of revis

Almost every industry is facing the same reality, which is why you have to subject yourself to that same scrutiny: Do I have the reach to pull this off? Is my platform big enough for me to launch yet? What investments can I make now that will lengthen my career by strengthening my audience and fan base? No matter what you’re selling, a platform is

masters.” “I do not like the modern school,” he says, expressing his disdain for the popular work of the day (which, as it happens, was early-nineteenth-century Parisian art). To which the sarcastic Monte Cristo replies, “You are quite right, Monsieur. On the whole, they have one great shortcoming, which is that they have not yet had the time to be

What if we start by just trying to make something that lasts longer than average?

Creating is often a solitary experience. Yet work made entirely in isolation is usually doomed to remain lonely.

Most people want instant gratification, debut bestseller status, a launch that puts them in the pantheon right away. Let’s call that strategy what it is: a wild sprint. The reality is that the race to creative success today is really a marathon. Barbara Hendricks explains to authors how misguided their timelines often are: “I urge authors to consid

You can give your work the same amount of time to get its legs as you would a toddler, right?

advises creatives, “or nothing at all is happening.”

In my definition, a platform is the combination of the tools, relationships, access, and audience that you have to bear on spreading your creative work—not just once, but over the course of a career.