Kevin Kelly is the founder of Wired and former editor and publisher of the Whole Earth Review as well as a thought leader who wrote the iconic essay titled “1,000 True Fans.“
“To be a successful creator you don’t need millions of dollars or millions of fans.
paraphrasing Kevin Kelly, “1,000 True Fans”
To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur or inventor
you need only thousands of true fans.“
What is a “True Fan”?
A “true fan” is someone who will buy anything (and everything) you release. A book, a coaching session, a digital course, a live event, a private membership, merchandise, etc. They can’t wait until you issue your next work. Kelly explains that you need to meet two criteria when you are building your true fans:
- Enough products
You have to create enough each year that you can earn, on average, $100 profit from each true fan. - Direct relationship with fans
You must have a direct relationship with your fans/audience so that you know who they are and can communicate directly.
Step 1: Products
You must have enough products for each true fan to spend ~$100 per year.
It is a good creative challenge, because it is always easier and better to give your existing customers more, than it is to find new fans.
$100 x 1,000 fans = $100,000 per year
If your monetary goals are higher, simply increase the $ amount that each fan spends.
How? Raise the price and/or the number of products you offer.
Step 2: Audience
You must be able to reach your fans directly, to ensure that the amount ($100) goes straight to you in full. Meaning there should be no 3rd party distributor taking a cut (like a book publisher, studio, retailer, etc.). How? This is possible thanks to the power of the internet, social media and low friction payment services.
Why Does this Work?
A thousand fans feels a lot more feasible than a million fans, right? Especially when you are starting out. A thousand fans is doable. You might even be able to remember a thousand names. If you added one new true fan per day, it would only take a few years to gain a thousand.
The goal is not to have e.g. as many Instagram/LinkedIn/X followers as possible. The goal is to have the right followers (who are willing to invest in your products).
For every true fan, you might have 2-3 regular fans. Think of it as concentric circles with true fans at the center, and a wider circle of regular fans around them. Such regular fans may buy your creations occasionally, or maybe only once. However, all their ordinary purchases expand your total income. Perhaps they contribute to an additional 30-50%? Still, you want to focus on the super fans because the enthusiasm of true fans can increase the patronage of regular fans. True fans are not only the direct source of your income, but also your chief marketing force for the ordinary fans.
Keep in mind that no matter how ridiculously niche your interests are, there are at least 1,000 other people in the world with those same exact interests. Think about it. Even if only 1 person in a million was interested in it, which is a really low bar, that’s still at least 7.9k people…
The trick is just in attracting them. That is where social media comes in. You don’t need to be a famous celebrity with millions of followers in order to earn a living as a creator. You don’t even need hundreds of thousands of followers. Just 1,000 true fans that buy and genuinely appreciate what you offer. You make a living instead of a fortune.
No matter how many true fans you actually succeed in gaining, you will be surrounded not by fleeting people looking for the new hype, but by genuine and true appreciation. That is a much saner outcome to aim for, and you are much more likely to arrive there.
If you’ve been thinking about growing your personal brand, this is your sign to start.
Short video on YouTube (5:56 min), in which Kevin Kelly discusses his legendary article “1,000 True Fans” with Tim Ferriss, on the The Tim Ferriss Show .
Slideshow version of How to Succeed as a Creator: the “1,000 True Fans” Method
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