How to Support Your Favorite Artist.

The Tale of Two Headlines.

You probably don’t know that for most of my pieces, I have two headlines: the real headline, and the one I accept that I’ll need to put on it to please the algorithms at Facebook, Twitter and Google.

For example, “The Times Your Heart Breaks So Far Open You Befriend Even Ants” nobody will see. “10 things I learned in Thailand’s Temples” everyone will see.

That’s bullshit - but there’s no choice in it. The Algorithm rules all, sees all, decides what it is that You want to See. But there is a way for you to fight back: directly subscribe to the artists you like. Get on their newsletters. Add their RSS feeds. Take that one extra step to give them a clear channel to communicate with you.

A few short months ago, I was shy about promoting my work. I was saying things like, “Hey, so I wrote this thing, and maybe if you want to read more stuff I write maybe I kind of have this email thing I do buried somewhere on my website..”

These days, I’m done with that.

The final straw was the egg piece. A good piece of writing, probably my best in months, that landed in front of nobody because The Algorithm decided that pictures of inflammatory comments on the internet or the bitching from someone you barely know was more likely to keep your eyes glued to their site, watching ads. That’s ridiculous, disrespectful to you and to me.

So let’s break that cycle.

If you like the writing I do, please sign up for my email. It’s once a week, hand-crafted by a person, not an algorithm, and contains both my writing and links to the most stunning, beautiful things I’ve come across in the past week.

It’s not only (I think) a pretty lovely email to receive, it also means that you’re supporting an actual artist, instead of a massive corporation.

Seriously, sign up right now - it’ll take 10 seconds, and you can unsubscribe if you don’t dig it.
I’ll wait. :)

Thanks. That means the world.

Please also do this with the other artists you support - favorite bands and writers and painters and dancers. I promise you all of them have email lists or ways they’ve chosen you can follow.

Pick your favorite few, and go subscribe now.

The most valuable thing any artist has is their work, and their audience - specifically, an audience they’re able to connect with. By hopping on a mailing list, you’re directly supporting the artists you like, giving them a real way to communicate with you, instead of having to go through (or bribe) the magical gatekeeper algorithm.

Art only survives and thrives with your support. Thank you for taking a couple minutes to directly support the art you care about.

Our world is a bit better because of it.