The Deeper You Go, The Fewer People Follow
The deeper you go into expertise, the smaller your audience becomes — but the more engaged they are. A reality check on niche content versus mass appeal.
Blogging Outside Format. Manifesto, post #11/14
When I started, simple ideas drove me. Basic advice, obvious things that somehow nobody was saying out loud. There was an audience for that — people shared the excitement of something clear and straightforward.
Then I started going deeper. I actually want to understand things, not fake it. The deeper I went — the better I got. And the less the general reader cared. Basic posts got read. Deep breakdowns got silence.
The depth paradox
This isn't a bug. It's a law. The deeper you go into your craft, the fewer people want to follow. And they're right not to. You don't follow other people into the depths of their fields either.
The people who actually want depth number under a thousand. By media standards, that's nothing. By human standards — that's a room full of people who genuinely give a damn.
Niche writing gets 60-70% higher engagement than mass-market content. Long pieces — 2,000 words and up — hold attention better than short ones. "Power readers" — the ones who actually read — spend 105 minutes a day with text. They exist. There aren't many of them. But they're real.
Pop content as the intake valve
Making money from an audience requires a constant flow of new people from the mass market. Even if you have paid products — sustainable income only works if you're continuously pulling in fresh readers from the "outer ring." That means some level of pop content.
I don't do that. Find me if you find me. Don't — I don't care. But I might change. I might want money someday. Or the subscription revenue might just show up on its own. I'm human. I change. Any person who actually thinks and reflects is allowed to change.
A blog for self-expression ≠ a blog for income
The money side is a grind. Managing course sales and ad placements is a royal pain in the ass. Your day job will feel like a spa by comparison. But if you set it up right, you can earn multiples more — that part is true.
The idea that you'll start a channel and money will rain down in exchange for smart thoughts — that's a fairy tale. If you need money, treat the blog like a job. If the blog is for figuring yourself out — don't expect it to pay like one.
Adjust your expectations. Then decide what actually matters to you.
