Statistics for this week’s Men in Gorilla Suits podcast about reality television are already good…even before my partner, Shawn Kupfer, has shared it with his followers. A recent podcast about movies was one of our most listened to shows to date. It seems clear people would rather listen to podcasts about television and movies vs. podcasts about health and things more philosophical.
Many would look at the stats and say, “Must make more shows about movies and television!” But there are already plenty of podcasts out there focused on movies and television, and we like talking about a wide range of topics.
It’s more important for us to do the show we like best — not the show that would get us the most listeners by chasing what’s more popular.
The Offer
I’m fortunate enough to know people who make a living doing the creative things they always dreamed of doing. Most of these people create comic books, video games, or work in book publishing. One of these friends offered to pass along my writing to editors he knows, except I don’t write the kind of stories this friend deals with (genre fiction).
Many people would hear about the offer and say, “Write a genre series, then! Duh!” but it’s more important to me to write the novels I like best — not chase after a possibility.
Chasing Things
I understand the logic behind chasing the thing that has the best chance of selling
. Success often leads to more success, and we should consider ourselves lucky to have any kind of opening to better things, even if it means not doing what we want to do. But when I think about the creators I like the best — when I think about some of the most revered creators of all time — they are the people who did their own things.
They didn’t chase what sold, and because of that, they became much more than a trend.
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