All you need are 1,000 true fans | Hacker News Reader

All you need are 1,000 true fans

kk.org

35 pointsvpdn10 comments

Followup: http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/04/the_reality_o...

Some nagging details: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/03/12/the-nagging-details-ab...

Robert Rich wrote a long reply to this: http://robertrich.com/1000-true-fans-an-answer/

It's been 2 years since I read it but if I recall correctly it was worth it.

> The sort of artist who survives at the long tail is the sort who would be happy doing nothing else, who willingly sacrifices security and comfort for the chance to communicate something meaningful, hoping to catch the attention of those few in the world who seek what they also find meaningful. It’s a somewhat solitary existence, a bit like a lighthouse keeper throwing a beam out into the darkness, in faith that this action might help someone unseen.

Wow. Best essay on honesty in passion vs life I've read in a long time. Thank you for posting this!

So did John Scalzi.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/03/12/the-nagging-details-ab...

Not remotely news. I appreciate the sentiment, but this is a two year old article from someone who has been heavily linked to on HN. I've been seeing a lot of this sort of thing lately and it's really starting to get on my wick - this isn't nearly as egregious as links to 30+ year old hacker folklore, but I still find it irksome.

Until there is a "Hacker Canon" site to collect these links, people will keep posting them here.

This has been done on the Ask HN front: http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/startupswiki/Ask_YC_Archive .. But having a large, tagged groups of HN-posted "must reads"/reference library would be cool.

You're absolutely right. In the spirit of HN, I'll build just that. No idea what such a site should look like, but I guess I'll start with a wiki and go from there.

"...the point of this strategy is to say that you don't need a hit to survive. You don't need to aim for the short head of best-sellerdom to escape the long tail. There is a place in the middle, that is not very far away from the tail, where you can at least make a living [..] It's a much saner destination to hope for."

The message I got from this was: find a niche and deliver a great product for it.

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