build a world, not an audience — kening zhu

instead of “building an audience,” build a world. build a digital garden-ecosystem, that exists — first and primarily — for itself. a world that doesn’t need likes, traffic, subscribers, or clicks — in order to validate its existence.

build a world that the RIGHT people — your kindred people — will discover, will gravitate towards, and fall in love... See more

A better way to attract and build an audience is to create a world people want to inhabit .

It needs to be a space where you don’t measure your success by the metrics of more likes, more traffic — but by how deeply and truly you inhabit your own creative essence, in public.

If you write to please others, you are selling out. You are in the process of audience capture. This way of talking, which is how the fear in me talks, is common—as if writing for an audience and writing for yourself are at odds with each other. I really used to feel like that.

But I no longer think that it is quite right. The relationship between c... See more

when you build a world, your world is not begging your visitors to subscribe, download, or buy anything. A world that simply exists — for itself — is a world that needs nothing from you. And a world that needs nothing from you, but has everything to give — has magnetic power. It’s a place you want to spend time in, because it nourishes you.

a metaphor for this strategy

let me leave you with a metaphor to describe this way.

don’t be a hunter-gatherer in the wild, competing for food.

go build yourself a magical forest-farm, and grow your garden of nourishing things. and wait. trust that the right people will come.

when they do, be hospitable and kind to them. you will recognize them, an... See more