What the “1,000 True Fans” Concept Is Really About

Hint: not attracting 1,000 followers

Most content creators are familiar with Kevin Kelly’s classical “1,000 True Fans” concept. Yet, most people get it wrong.

I’ve recently been reading about Substack — a platform that allows writers to easily create and monetize newsletters — and stumbled upon one writer’s definition of it: “Substack embodies Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 true fans concept…” meaning, that if you have an X number of subscribers, you make $100 times X dollars per year.

That may be true, and you definitely can use Substack to monetize your audience by charging money for your newsletter. But I don’t think that’s what Kevin Kelly had in mind.

The Most Important Asset

As a content creator (e.g., writer, podcaster, blogger), your main asset is not content, nor your audience. It’s the relationship you build with people. It’s trust. Or, if we use the offline terms, it’s the reputation you have.

If you think about it, a “personal brand” is nothing grander than having enough people trust you to give you external benefits (such as clients for your company or willingness to pay for extra content).

When Kevin Kelly talked about “1,000 True Fans,” he meant that in the world of instant connectivity, creators would be able to source fans from different parts of the world — and build genuine relationships with them. Do everything right, and these people will become your fans for life.

But building relationships is not the same as “attracting an audience” or “building a newsletter.”

Redefining Blogging

There are two types of bloggers:

1. Marketers — those who use content creation as a tactic (to drive sales to their business or to make money). Someone like Gary Vaynerchuk.

2. Artists — those who create content because they feel an urge to, or because they’re in love with the process. Someone like Casey Neistat.

There’s nothing wrong with being the first type. In that case, you’re essentially a media executive, using content creation as a tool to create value. The problem comes when the two types of bloggers mix up — when a marketer behaves as if they were an artist.

There’s a big difference between creating content, building a strong relationship with your readers, and using that as an enrichment tactic.

My readers on Medium and the people subscribed to my newsletter are my friends. I talk with them, I consult with them, and I ask them questions on what they like about my content. They respond, and we’re having a good time.

The only reason my readers trust me is that they know I won’t be trying to take advantage of that trust if my readers buy my work (e.g., my books) that’s always a benefit. And if — in a few years — I have 1,000 people who trust me to the point that they buy everything I produce, then I’ll succeed at the “1,000 True Fans” model. But that’s not the point.

The “1,000 True Fans” concept — like all concepts — is not a panacea. And it works, if you don’t overuse it.

Give and Take

The Internet is a network comprised of networks. Medium is a network. YouTube is a network. Your Instagram account is a network, which you are a leader of.

When you’re a part of the big network (such as the Web or YouTube), the value of the network expands as more people come into it. This is called Metcalfe’s Law.

“Metcalfe’s law states the effect of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system,” says Wikipedia.

Networks created a new type of economy. This new economy is the opposite of the industrial zero-sum, dog-eat-dog economy. In the old economy, you took what you could — and you protected what you had. You had scarcity.

In the new economy created by the Internet, you don’t care about any of that because the rules are different. It’s not zero-sum. The more you give, the more you get.

By Metcalfe’s law, if you join the network, everyone benefits. 1+1 = 3. At the same time, when you give value to the network, everyone benefits. If you don’t give value, everyone suffers because we miss out.

As an artist and blogger, focus on what you can give to the network. Don’t leave anything to yourself. Show us your gifts. If you focus on providing, the taking (money, followers, fame) will take care of itself.

Trust Is Built Slowly

If you have 1,000 subscribers on Medium or Substack — it doesn’t mean that you’ve achieved 1,000 true fans. Your follower number is just that — a number — whereas fans can’t be lured or bought. Trust is built over a long period.

If you’re a content creator, you can’t expect to set up a newsletter, drive traffic from Facebook Ads and have “1,000 true fans” at some point. People’s trust is not something that can be quantified and put in a “funnel.”

So — whenever you see Kevin Kelly’s concept, remember that — just as having 1,000 friends on Facebook is not the same as having 1,000 real friends — building trust takes work, and time (a lot of it).

The concept works for artists, not for marketers.

If you want to build a living for yourself as a creator using the “1,000 true fans” model, you’ve got to expect to put in the hours, be honest, human, personal, generous, serve your audience without expectation or agenda, be patient and show up daily.

See you in four years.