You don't always have to publish
Showing a bit of restraint is a lost art
“Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even more admired. You must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity.”
—Robert Greene
To win in the internet age, you must first compound an audience.
In simple terms: you need a steadily increasing number of people who have granted you permission to share things with, and also have anticipation for when you do. That’s the game. Whether you’re a solo creator, startup or a multinational publisher, this is the fundamental mechanic: attention, permission, expectation. Create that, and you’ve got the proper bones of something that can grow.
Naturally, the temptation is to scale the supply side of the equation. More content. More posts. More podcasts, videos, reels, blogs, newsletters, whatever the medium, the math feels intuitive: more output equals more chances to be discovered. It’s not entirely wrong. I’m sure I’ve told people to do this before, but I also assumed they weren’t morons or lazy in what they make. The general logic is sound though, every asset you publish is another node for discovery via search, through social shares, email forwards and algorithmic roulette.
You’re showing up, that matters. Until it doesn’t, because the rules have changed.
There’s a litany of now defunct (but previously popular) brands that built fast/cheap internet empires using this strategy. BuzzFeed, eHow, Bored Panda, Mashable and many other names you’ve heard before followed this path. I’m pretty sure many of these things still exist as chumbucket content mills. But they’re not exactly serious publications or brands anyone wakes up and thinks about (as much as they ever achieved this, or perhaps were always just remoras leeching on Facebook, opportunists of a certain time and place). If you’re not rich from one of these things by now, you missed. The window of that particular strategy has closed.
I’ve not seen anything from these sites or others like them in years that’s been anything a chatbot couldn’t do better. At least BuzzFeed tried to also do serious reporting for a bit, but most of their talented writers (like my friend Alex) have fled elsewhere or were sadly lost to layoffs. But I don’t think this wave of internet brands ever were going to make it to become generational institutions. How could they?
The internet was essentially infinite before AI. Now, it’s a larger infinity. Anyone with a few prompts and some passable taste can produce a constant stream of semi-coherent artifacts and have their own listicle brand sharing daily gems like ‘17 weird sea creatures you didn’t know existed.’ The friction is gone. The cost is zero.
Yet still today, the instinct of a certain breed of human is to publish constantly to keep feeding the machine. It’s understandable. The anxiety of not publishing is real. But it can quickly become compulsive, and now you’re just following what led the last cohort of digital media brands to slaughter. Worse of all, it makes you forget the power of not publishing all the time.
Because here’s the truth: it’s actually what you don’t publish that defines your brand.
Restraint isn’t just a matter of taste, it’s a strategy. It shapes your voice. It creates your boundaries. It protects your coherence. Choosing not to hit "send" or "post" or "upload" is an editorial decision. And like all good editing, it strengthens what remains.
People notice. Even if they never say anything to you, they feel it. A publication that’s thoughtful and occasional builds more trust than one that’s frantic and full. An artist who resists the algorithm feels far more like a proper creative. A brand that doesn’t always have something to say says more when it actually speaks.
There’s a difference between being prolific and being undisciplined. Between output and impact. Between sharing something with meaning, and sharing because you think you have to.
So yes, compound your audience. But remember that compounding only works now when paired with focus and intent.
You don’t have to publish. You have to matter. And those two things are not the same.
"You don’t have to publish. You have to matter. And those two things are not the same."
This right here is the juice. Thanks for sharing, Man.
“Because here’s the truth: it’s actually what you don’t publish that defines your brand.”
This is the art of storytelling. It’s not what we say as much as what we decide to not say. Cutting is the art.