Thursday March 18th, 2021

“Work To Publish!” – Getting Things Done

“Work to Publish!”

Jack Conte

For all of you who have lots of ideas and at the same time are frustrated because you don’t get them done, or don’t get them done perfectly, two important messages:

You are not alone. 

And:

There is help. 

While I’ m no longer the big fan of Scary Pockets that I used to be, I think they’ re still very very good. World class still is “Creep”:

Scary Pockets are a product of the internet economy. Each week they release a (cover) song, usually in great quality with great musicians. All of this, of course, “for free”, though backed up by everything it takes: donation appeals, merchandising and all kinds of bonus material that can be had for a small fee.

The head of the project is Jack Conte. Conte is one of the founders of the platform Patreon.com, which allows artists and their projects to be funded through their fanbase.

Jack Conte has a lot of projects going on (e.g. Pomplamoose, also pretty cool). He clearly is a creativity-driven man.

Often and very authentically, he expresses his intention to express himself as an artist and to also enable others to do likewise. Related to this, he addresses general questions around the challenges that creative professionals face: How to handle them well?

Conte’s work and activities should certainly be viewed critically. A professional band project, for example, that exclusively publishes covers, seems to me to be less authentic and a bit too much of a freeriding.

Nonetheless, it should be acknowledged that Jack Conte is doing really successful work – both as an artist and as a businessman. And not only for himself, but also for others.

What I find particularly great is that Conte makes no secret of it all. He shares his knowledge.

For example, in his inspiring talk “Work to Publish“, in which he speaks about a problem that seems quite familiar at least to me: procrastinating, spending too long on the perfect result, not daring to show what you have worked on.

My Personal Take-Aways from Conte’s Talk

  • Don’t work to finish. But to show, help or delight
  • So: Don’t wait until it’s perfect. It will never be.
  • So publish as soon as there is a certain maturity.
  • Whether and how good something is does not lie in your hands alone. Your audience is the main judge of that.
  • Improve afterwards, if possible and necessary.
  • And this one I find particularly good: “You can’t choose what you are famous for.”   

What Else Comes to My Mind