The results are in

And it's not what I expected

Before I jump in, I want to make sure that if you ever want to reach back out to me on any of these updates, you can either reply directly from the email itself, or you can follow the link below to interact with the comments. The reason I’m sharing this upfront will make more sense as you get to the end.

Oh, and you may have noticed that I changed the name of this newsletter from Dave Makes Things to The Hungry Artist. The details on that are below as well.

Finally, this one may end up being a bit long in form because of the visuals attached. It may read better on the blog.

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I asked and you answered

In my last update, I asked you to help me with a few simple questions and the results were a bit surprising. For instance, I asked which other types of media content would you like me to share here.

Most of this I assumed, but the fact that almost a 1/4th of you said neither video or podcast was shocking since most people on this list either found me through my videos or previous podcasts I created.

Still though, more than 75% of you said you wanted to see more multimedia content, so you can bet that I will be sharing that in the future.

I also asked if you wanted to see more of my storytelling, or more curated links and information, which most of you said a mix of both, which played out pretty much how I thought.

The Free Stuff question made perfect sense, but I’m a little blown away that more than 10% of you don’t want to hear about freebies. A bit weird, but ok.

And finally, I asked what type of content, giveaways, etc., would inspire you to become one of the Makers and the results here are the most eye-opening because it shows that I was going about the process all wrong.

You don’t want the digital goods, at least not in the way I was giving them. Exclusive content and special deals are way more appealing to the majority of you.

Message received and I’m executing on all of this new information, but are two other aspects to this specific question that has me perplexed.

First, if you look at the number of people who voted in this question, it’s considerably less than the previous questions, and I’m not sure how to read that.

Second, 16% responded with “Other” but none of them shared in the comments or with me directly about their preference. Unless someone speaks up, I guess I’ll be tossing those votes out, but here’s your chance to get your opinion heard.

If you were one of the “Other” voters, leave a comment on this post, or you can email me directly.

Now What?

First, about the name change. Because I’m making changes throughout, I decided I wanted this newsletter/blog/thing to feel less me focused, and make it more we focused. The Hungry Artist is a sentiment I’ve used for many years now to push back against the starving artist stigma.

A starving artist starves. A hungry artist eats!

I’ve already started working on a new content template for the Friday posts which you’ll start seeing next week. I’m keeping the changes simple for now and over time will add little bits that help make this publication more useful, thought-provoking, and entertaining.

I want The Hungry Artist to be something you love so much that you share with friends. If you want to go ahead and get a jump on that now, I’m totally ok with that.

As far as the Makers are concerned, I’ll still share some of the digital freebies when they happen, and I’ll be adding exclusive video updates and early release and discount opportunities on future art and product offerings, and if you upgrade to Maker status before the end of January, you’ll get in on the best current price.

Starting in February and throughout the rest of the year, not only will I be posting and sharing LOTS of new items to my shop, but I’m going to bring straight gold-nugget wisdom to Maker-ville.

I love you all, but Uncle Dave’s gotta get paid, and I promise to make it well worth the cost of admission.

Have a great weekend and I’ll see you next time.

Dave