Design Marshall
1,000 True Fans
2009-05-25 19:42:24
I'm certainly not the first to comment, and definitely won't be the last, but I had to post something about one of Kevin Kelly's best articles to date. If you're not familiar, Kevin Kelly is a badass. He helped launched Wired magazine back in '93, is now an editor-at-large, and maintains their 'Cool Tools' site. You can read more about him here.
In general the 1,000 true fans is a simple goal, which presents very real challenges to small & large groups. For the small, it's a solid foundation for building your audience; whereas for the large, is a great way of finding your voice.
From the horses mouth:
"A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.
To raise your sales out of the flatline of the long tail you need to connect with your True Fans directly. Another way to state this is, you need to convert a thousand Lesser Fans into a thousand True Fans.
Assume conservatively that your True Fans will each spend one day's wages per year in support of what you do. That "one-day-wage" is an average, because of course your truest fans will spend a lot more than that. Let's peg that per diem each True Fan spends at $100 per year. If you have 1,000 fans that sums up to $100,000 per year, which minus some modest expenses, is a living for most folks.
One thousand is a feasible number. You could count to 1,000. If you added one fan a day, it would take only three years. True Fanship is doable. Pleasing a True Fan is pleasurable, and invigorating. It rewards the artist to remain true, to focus on the unique aspects of their work, the qualities that True Fans appreciate..."
Read the rest of 1,000 True Fans at Kevin Kelly's website
