Based on this post I saw the other day, saying that “my audience told me the direction I was supposed to go” is exactly what a creative (and a firm) is supposed to do.
Saddington breaks down how to build a community step by step.
He says (my paraphrasing, of course):
- Talk about your idea to people that might care
- Ask people that care to follow along
- Interview followers for feedback
- Build a minimum viable product (MVP)
- Offer your MVP to your followers
- Rinse and repeat
It’s about finding out what people want before you spend too long spinning your wheels.
Makes sense to me.
But by the fall of 1985 we were getting calls from teachers and librarians: “Our children are bringing these Hank the Cowdog books to school, and they’re passing them around. What is Hank the Cowdog and who is John Erickson, and does he ever do programs in schools?” And that’s how I learned that I had become an author of children’s books. My audience told me what I was supposed to be doing.
-John Erickson, Story Craft (Amazon)