Fan envy is an easy trap to fall into. You see someone doing cool work and people seem to like it. Sometimes it might appear as though they love it. You want them to love what you’re working on too.
But here’s the thing. Each artist is different. The fans that they attracted were drawn by things far beyond the work. There was an energetic pull that resonated with them. They were on the same wavelength as that artist.
If you want to find your audience, you have to tell your own story. Not theirs.
The Work Is Not Everything
Just because you feel like your work is similar to another artist doesn’t mean that their fans are going to resonate with your art. The work might look the same, but much more goes into building a fan base than the final output.
At some level, fans are drawn to your story. To everything you lived that brought you to the moment where creating this art was the only thing you could do. There was something that you had to say.
Your fans will resonate with THAT message. The work is just the container. The message is what they’re really responding to. The technique can be copied. The lived experience cannot.
Finding Your Early Adopters
Early adopters are always the people who resonate with the idea behind the work. You’ll find your own early adopters. These will be the people that help you hone your craft, develop your voice, and frame your ideas for larger consumption.
They’re the people that lend energy to your ideas, so that momentum continues to build.
What these people are not: the other person’s fans. Sure, there might be some crossover, but they’ll find you in their own way. Your work will call to them.
It’s better this way. The difference between advertising and discovery is everything. Fans who discover you feel like they found a secret. Fans who were advertised to feel like they were sold something. One creates loyalty. The other creates transactions.
Building Your Tribe
Whether ten people or a thousand, your tribe is the group which knows you better than you, because you’ve shared so intimately with them. Grow and cultivate your tribe and then watch them take your message to the world.
What message has been building within you your entire life? What will make you explode if you don’t share it?
Tell that story. Tell it your way. The right people will find you. They’re already looking for someone exactly like you. Stop trying to be someone else so they can finally see you.
And for the record, we’re all artists. Every last one of us.
Want to express your ideas to a built-in audience?
Learn how to combine AI tools with bottom-of-funnel SEO to find readers who are already searching.