I've been reading an interesting book by Japanese author Haruki Murakami about his experiences as a writer and as a runner, entitled, not surprisingly, "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running".
A lot of what Murakami writes resonates with me, especially in how lessons learned in the physical activity (in his case, running, in my case...well, not running at this point) inform work in the writing sphere, and vice versa.
This passage struck a chord as I continue thinking towards the panel discussion on the Metrics of Success at Podcamp Toronto 2009:
"I felt that the indispensable relationship I should build in my life was not with a specific person, but with an unspecified number of readers. As long as I got my day-to-day life set so that each work was an improvement over the last, then many of my readers would welcome whatever life I chose for myself. Shouldn't this be my duty as a novelist, and my top priority? My opinion hasn't changed over the years. I can't see my readers' faces, so in a sense it's a conceptual type of human relationship, but I've consistently considered this invisible, conceptual relationship to be the most important thing in my life.
In other words, you can't please everybody.
Even when I ran my bar I followed the same policy. A lot of customers came to the bar. If one out of ten enjoyed the place and said he'd come again, that was enough. If one out of ten was a repeat customer, then the business would survive. To put it the other way, it didn't matter if nine out of ten didn't like my bar. This realization lifted a weight off my shoulders. Still, I had to make sure that the one person who did like the place really liked it. In order to make sure he did, I had to make my philosophy and stance clear-cut, and patiently maintain that stance no matter what. This is what I learned through running a business." (pp. 37-38)
Murakami notes that he writes, and continues to write, with this same attitude he developed as a bar owner, and found that with each work he created, his readership increased. He had the writer's equivalent of that one-in-ten customer, a devoted readership that really loved his works, and, most importantly, which formed enough of a a book buying base that he was able to earn a living, AND allowed him to continue writing what he wanted, the way he wanted to.
I can't help think about those folks in new/social media/podcasting who focus very hard on the numbers and how they define success, and on folks willing to change what they do in order just to make those numbers increase. Instead, I would argue for Murakami's example: define what you want out of life, what you want out of your creative process, first, and don't compromise what you want or what you're aiming for just for the sake of the numbers. Make sure you love what you're doing, and make sure that whomever comes to listen really, really likes it, too.
And for those who don't like it?
There's a whole other world of podcasts out there. There's got to be something else out there for them, too.
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