When I talk to comedians about the state of their career and how they can take it to the next level, one of the first things I try to assess is why they’re struggling to get where they want to go.

In many cases, they need a better understanding of how to use all the tools at their disposal to grow their fanbase and further their career – something I’m always happy to help with.

But too often, what they need goes beyond a business and marketing strategy. What they actually need, first and foremost, is to conquer the fear of failure that prevents them from success.

It’s incredibly easy to paralyze your career with your own fear of failure. I see it happen all the time – your fear of failure prevents you from doing the things you ultimately need to do to succeed.

Have you ever heard comics say things like this?

“I don’t write a blog because nobody’s going to read it anyway.”

“I don’t want to put any videos on YouTube, because what if it makes me look bad?”

“I block all the negative comments on my videos and website, because I don’t want other people to see bad things about me.”

“I quit Twitter because it’s too tough to deal with all the haters on there.” (see: Jay Mohr)

“I don’t want to produce my own live show, because what if nobody comes?”

These comments (and countless others like them) are made by people whose fear of failure is dictating their career.

Who cares if “nobody” reads your blog initially? The only way to guarantee that nobody reads your blog is to not write one.

You’re not going to put something you don’t think is funny on YouTube, so why would you let your fear of a negative comment prevent you from sharing material that you truly believe is funny? And can you ever really know if something is funny if you don’t put it out there?

You can never know if a joke actually works until you tell it to a crowd – would you not tell it because you’re afraid people will think you’re bad if you do?

Comedy is inherently subjective – the chances are there will be just as many people that don’t like what you do as there are that enjoy it. Not everybody loves Chris Rock. And not everybody hates Dane Cook.

A fear of failure also extends to the promotion of your creations. The vast majority of comedians I know do little to nothing when it comes to promoting their creations (beyond the occasional Facebook or Twitter update), and they actively try to avoid promoting their work because they mistakenly believe that “promoting” somehow makes them less of an “artist.”

This isn’t remotely true. If you hate promoting yourself and your work it’s not because you’re an artist, it’s because you’re afraid.

When you create something as a comedian, you do so because you believe other people will be entertained by it, will relate to it, or will be engaged by it. You inherently believe that your creations provide value to people.

Therefore, you would think you would want to expose as many people as possible to your creation – not for your own benefit, but for theirs. You created something of value, and you want to share that value with them. This is what promotion is – you just probably don’t think of it that way.

So, assuming you believe your creations have value, then why do you refuse (or avoid) trying to share that value with an audience?

It’s likely because your fear of failure is once again getting in the way.

Do questions like these sound familiar?

“What if people don’t like my video?”

“Won’t I seem like a spammer if I’m promoting my stuff?”

“If it’s good, people will just find it on their own, won’t they?”

“Don’t lots of comics make it without ever promoting their own stuff?”

“Can’t I just be a comedian? Why do I have to be a businessman?”

These questions are excuses to justify not promoting your creations because you’re afraid that people may not enjoy what you created. Sure, not everybody is going to see the value you hoped to create, but it’s likely that some people will – and those are the people you should care about.

You shouldn’t create anything you don’t believe is good. And you shouldn’t be afraid to tell the world about something you created that is good. Because if you don’t work to make sure as many people as possible are exposed to it, you’re not going to have a career.

Don’t let your fear of failure prevent you from having the career you desire. Unfortunately, too many comedians do.

By now, I’m sure you know I’m a big believer in the importance of building and maintaining an email list to keep connected to your fans. Because there’s so much obsession with social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, my belief in old-fashioned email mailing lists tends to generate a lot of questions from comedians who don’t necessarily believe in their value.

A conversation yesterday over in the Connected Comedy Forum brought to my attention that one of the reasons you may question the relevance of email lists is because there’s probably some basic misunderstandings about what you should do with your mailing list if you have one.

To help clarify how I think you should be approaching your mailing list, here’s a breakdown of three basic concepts I think will help you better understand how you can make your mailing list an effective asset.

1. The more value you provide to your mailing list subscribers, the more comfortable you’ll feel about promoting it.

One of the most common things I hear from comedians who have a mailing list (but don’t have many subscribers) is that they feel awkward about asking people to subscribe – either in person or on their website or social media networks. I understand why you may feel uncomfortable doing this, but I think the real reason behind it is because you know you’re not providing any value to your subscribers.

If you’re solely using your mailing list to promote your own appearances, merchandise, and other stuff you’re asking your subscribers to do for you, then no wonder you feel awkward about asking people to sign up for it. Basically, you’re asking people for permission to spam them. Of course, the flipside is also true and that’s why…

2. Your mailing list should provide more value to your subscribers than it does to you.

There’s nothing wrong with occasionally promoting your stuff to your mailing list subscribers, but that’s NOT the main purpose of your mailing list. The purpose of your list should be to provide value to your subscribers and if you do that, you’ll feel much better about asking people to subscribe and they’ll be much more likely to do so.

Look for creative ways you can provide value to your subscribers – maybe it’s exclusive content, or special offers, or giving them special access to something they care about. Maybe it’s using your list as a way to curate other great things they’ll be interested in (as I’ve discussed before), or maybe it’s something else all together.

The point is that the vast majority of what your subscribers get should provide value for them and not just be something you’re asking them to do for you.

3. Don’t think of your mailing list as a promotional tool, think of it as a way to deliver content.

Just like with your website or social media accounts, you’ll find that your mailing list will be much more effective if you employ it as a way to deliver content as opposed to as just a way to promote yourself.

You can use Twitter to constantly blast out tweets asking people to come to your next show, or you can (and should) use it to connect and interact with your followers in a genuine way. The same is true for your email list – think of it as a tool to deliver content as opposed to just a promotional tool.

Again, it’s easy to fall into the trap of assuming your mailing list is just another way to promote your stuff, but if you follow these three suggestions and consider your mailing list instead as a tool to provide value to your fans, I think you’ll find it much more effective.

Yesterday marked three months since I first launched my Connected Comedy Tumblr page. Since I previously wrote a post explaining why I joined Tumblr, today I’d like to update you about how it’s going and what I’ve learned so far.

Overall, my Tumblr experiment has been pretty successful despite the fact that I haven’t put all that much time and effort into it since the main focus of my content is still this website (which is powered by WordPress by the way). Still, I’ve found Tumblr to be well worth the time I’ve put into it and here’s why…

1. It’s Not (Too) Hard To Build A Following

In the course of the first three months, my Connected Comedy Tumblr page has attracted 130 followers and generated almost 5,000 page views – which I know because I installed Google Analytics on the site (something I’d recommend you do as well in order to track your audience growth). I should also note that most people who “follow” you on Tumblr likely read your content in their Dashboard as opposed to actually visiting your site, so that means the page views number is probably significantly lower than the number of people actually reading your content on the site.

Most importantly, for my purposes, my followers on Tumblr are almost all comedians. This is my target audience, so it’s encouraging to see that Tumblr is allowing me to connect with the people I want to connect with.

As far as how I have grown my following so far, it’s primarily come as a result of people discovering me when other people have shared or reblogged my content on Tumblr. There have been a few people who I followed that then followed me back, but primarily it’s come as a result of my content getting shared.

One of the best things that’s happened is that several other Tumblrs that have lots of comedians as followers – including Carolines comedy club, The Comedy Store, and The Comedy Bureau among others – have shared my content with their followers which helped people discover me.

Another thing I’ve found effective when it comes to getting new followers is that I’ve usually followed people who have “liked” my posts. It’s interesting to me that lots of people would “Like” my posts, but not follow me. However, if I took a moment to follow them after seeing that they liked my post, they almost always follow me back.

2. It Helps Promote My Content

Besides the original content I post on Tumblr, I often post links to my bigger articles hosted on this site and I’ve found that Tumblr has been helpful in driving traffic to my main site. Specifically, my Tumblr page has driven more than 600 visits to my main site in the last three months, which is pretty good considering the size of the audience I have on Tumblr at the moment.

I’ve also learned that I’m able to drive a lot more traffic when I include some teaser text along with the link to the article I post on Tumblr as opposed to just posting the link. I think this is because a couple paragraphs of the article gives people a better idea what it’s about, and hopefully hooks them in to wanting to read the article even if the headline didn’t.

Here’s an example of a recent link I shared – you’ll notice that I also included a link at the end of the teaser text to make sure that readers understand there’s more to read if they click.

3. It’s A Great Outlet For A Different Kind Of Content

I come across a lot of interesting videos, quotes, and articles which don’t necessarily warrant a full article on this site, but still have value for my audience. I’ve found that my Tumblr page is a perfect outlet for this content and, unlike just posting it on Twitter, it creates a sort of permanent archive of these things and brings new readers into the Connected Comedy world.

To give you an idea of what’s worked best for me on Tumblr, here’s my five most popular posts on the site so far:

• A Reminder That The Words You Choose Matter (video)

• I’m Guessing This Wasn’t Authorized By Wal-Mart (video)

• Weed Card (video)

• This Is How You Turn A Simple Twitter Search Into Traffic (picture)

• A Bizarre Presentation (video – reblogged from another Tumblr)

4. Tags Help Get You Traffic

It may seem like the tags you can add to your posts on Tumblr are meaningless, but they’re actually very important because they can really help you attract new readers. I see a lot of comedians on Tumblr ignoring the tags and not bothering to include them on their posts, but I think that’s a big missed opportunity.

There are lots of Tumblr users who are either searching for content based on tags or have actually subscribed to “track tags” that are of interest to them. This means that if you tag your posts with something they are tracking or looking for, they’ll be introduced to your content and potentially share it.

Keeping that in mind, I’d recommend using tags that you feel like a lot of people may be following or looking for – for example, almost every post I do is tagged video, or photo, or quote, or funny, or YouTube, or comedy, etc. I use big, broad tags based on what I think is relevant to  the post and (just as importantly) what people are likely to be searching for. It’s a great way to get new people to discover your Tumblr.

Obviously, three months is way too early to really judge how this Tumblr experiment will turn out for me, but so far it’s been well worth the time I’ve put into it. If you’re on Tumblr I encourage you to follow my page and I’d love to hear from you in the comments on this post about any things you’ve learned from your experience on Tumblr so far…

Every once in a while over on the Connected Comedy Facebook page I ask readers what topics they’d like to see me discuss in an article. Typically, about 70% of the comics who respond want to know more about how to get booked more and how to deal with comedy bookers.

It’s become abundantly clear to me that the vast majority of comedians out there are completely obsessed with the booking process and see it as the key to growing their career.

But here’s the thing: I think they’re wrong.

Not only do I think they’ve completely overrated the importance getting booked in growing their careers, I think their obsession with getting booked is actually having a negative impact on their career growth. Here’s why:

You’re Chasing Validation From The Wrong People

Comedy is a tough business and it’s filled with rejection so it’s easy to understand why comedians are hungry for validation that they’re talented, funny, and on the right track with their act. It’s also easy to see how getting booked by an industry “expert,” in the form of a booker, would validate your career progress and convince you that you’re “good enough” to be a pro.

But the problem is that a booker’s interests don’t necessarily merge with yours as a comedian – sure, they want you to be funny, but the booker’s real goal in most cases is to put somebody on stage that will help pack the room with paying customers and not piss any of those customers off. Bookers don’t really have a vested interest in you actually growing a meaningful fanbase, pushing the envelope, or developing a unique appeal.

They just want you to be funny enough and not rock the boat while they sell nachos and overpriced drinks.

I’m not knocking them for that – it’s their job. But when that’s who you look to for validation, what does that validation actually mean?

This is why you often see comics get that validation, but then plateau and become “stuck” at a specific level in their career (and that level is usually not where they want it to be). Seeking validation from people who don’t ultimately have the best interests of your career at heart is a trap that it’s easy to fall into.

Instead of seeking validation from bookers, you should seek validation from fans. My guess is that if comedians spent as much time worrying about how to attract and connect with fans as they did with bookers, they’d wind up with much more successful careers in the long run.

You’re Tricking Yourself Into Thinking It’s An Easier Way To Grow Your Fanbase

Even if you buy into my argument that validation from bookers is overrated, you’re likely to point out that in order to grow a fanbase you need to get booked by bookers in order to be exposed to crowds. This is another popular misconception.

There are “crowds” everywhere you look. Every organization, bar, restaurant, hotel, church, coffee shop, and busy street is packed with potential crowds. And the Internet allows you to literally reach a crowd that consists of the entire world. It’s not hard to find a crowd if you look.

But the reason you likely obsess with bookers is because you think it’s easier to find a crowd at a booked venue than it is to find your own crowd. I don’t necessarily think that’s true.

If you think about all the time you spend trying to capture the attention of bookers, doing open mics, and begging for stage times, you’ll probably find that it really adds up to a significant time investment. If you were to put that time into creating your own show or finding a different way to reach a crowd, I bet you’d be every bit as successful and probably more so.

The most likely reason you think going through bookers is an easier way to reach a crowd is because you haven’t tried it the other way and you haven’t stopped to think about how much time you spend trying to go the booker route.

It Gives You A Scapegoat For Your Own Shortcomings

Here’s another bit of pop psychology for you – it’s always going to be easier to blame somebody else for your failures than to accept the responsibility yourself.

When I talk to comedians and their career isn’t where they’d like it to be, they almost always reference that their failure is in large part due to their inability to get bookers, agents, or managers to pay attention to them.

I’m not saying there aren’t cases where that is a factor, but it’s also way too easy to use bookers as a scapegoat for the lack of momentum in your career. As I mentioned before, there are potential fans everywhere and now thanks to new technology you have more opportunities than ever before to reach them. You don’t need a booker to give you a career and it’s not the booker’s fault that your career is stalled. It’s your own.

I’m not saying that to suggest you beat yourself up about it, I’m suggesting you take a moment to be honest with yourself and think about if you’re really doing everything you can to grow your career.

It’s not a booker’s fault you’re not creating content online. It’s not a booker’s fault you can’t be bothered to produce your own live show. And it’s not a booker’s fault that when you did get booked and “killed” in front of 300 people you did nothing to capture an email address or connection to any of them and let 300 would-be fans walk right out the door.

It’s easy to blame bookers for the status of your career, but it’s rarely accurate. Or productive.

You Think Bookers Will Make You More Money

The final reason I think comics get so obsessed with bookers is because they think getting booked is the key to making money in this business. I couldn’t disagree more.

Yes, you will make more money from getting booked than you will from not doing anything at all, but the financial breakdown of what you get paid to perform as opposed to the actual money being generated from your performance is a terrible deal from a financial perspective.

For example, let’s say you perform in a booked venue that sells 100 tickets at $10 a ticket and that each of those people buy two drinks at $5 a drink. That show has generated $2,000 in revenue and I’m guessing that you’ll be paid an incredibly small portion of that amount.

If you produced and promoted the same show yourself in a venue of your choosing, you would be able to retain a much higher portion of the revenue.

Sure, it’s easier to perform in a booked venue because there’s less you have to worry about, but that’s not what I’m talking about right now – I’m talking about the financial side of things. If you’re concentrating on making more money as a comedian, then obsessing over bookers is a complete waste of your time.

You’ll make more money obsessing over an audience you can control and monetize yourself.

And if it’s really money you’re after, there’s tons of other ways you can make money from comedy that have nothing to do with bookers at all. For example, maybe you should take a break from worrying about bookers and spend that time instead figuring out how to make $11,000 a month on YouTube?

To wrap up, I’m not ripping bookers and I’m not saying they don’t have a place in the business and in your career. They’re important and can be very helpful to you.

But it’s easy to get sucked into thinking they’re all that matters and when that happens, you wind up doing yourself more harm than good.

I’ve met comedian Steve Hofstetter a couple times over the years, but I don’t know him that well and I’ve never worked with him personally. But I do know that he’s a hustler who has always worked hard at marketing himself which is why I decided to check out his website yesterday and see what he’s up to.

What I found was more than a few clever features, which I thought it would be helpful to share with you today. Here’s some things on his site that jumped out at me that may also inspire you.

1. His “Million Free Downloads” Album Gimmick

The first thing that jumped out at me on his site was the prominent link that reads “We’re giving away one million free downloads of Dark Side of the Room,” which is basically a plug to get visitors to download a free copy of his album. Now, I have no idea if he’ll actually be able to give away that many copies of the album, but it’s a really clever approach for a couple reasons.

First of all, to the average person visiting his site it conveys that there’s a lot of other people who are already downloading this album. It makes it seem very popular (even if it’s not), and psychologically reinforces that this is something worth checking out and being a part of much more so than if it was written as a plea “begging” people to download the album.

The second reason why this seems very smart to me is because it sets the table for a great PR hook to get press for Hofstetter and his album. Assuming he manages to give away the million downloads – and I’m guessing he’ll figure out a way to make it happen – then he’ll be able to reach out to the press and get stories written about the comic who gave away a million albums. It’s a great hook for an article and I’m sure he’d get some free attention for it.

2. His College Rep Program

Hofstetter plays a lot of college shows and he’s clearly made a serious effort to embrace that crowd and build his fanbase on campuses to generate even more gigs. He’s gone so far as to create his own College Rep program, through which he encourages students to spread the word about him. He’s turned promoting him and his work into a giant contest where he will reward his best promoter with an all expenses paid trip to New York or Los Angeles at the end of the year.

As you can see on the page, Hofstetter has laid out lots of ways that his “reps” can earn points ranging from very simple things (mention him in a tweet) to much more complicated tasks (get him booked on your campus). He also features a list of people who have taken on the challenge of becoming his rep at their various schools, which again conveys that this is something people view as worth doing. Even though Hofstetter’s doing this will colleges, I think just about anybody could do something similar with their own fans.

3. He Invites His Fans To Play Poker With Him

Mixed in amongst his typical social media accounts, Hofstetter includes his online poker username and invites people to seek him out and play poker with him online. This is a brilliant way to connect with fans and engage with them. It also shows how literally every thing you do and every interest you have can be turned into an opportunity to connect with and grow your fanbase.

Hofstetter even takes it one step further on his poker page by referencing that he plays exclusively at Full Tilt Poker. I wouldn’t be surprised if he reached out to them and got them to do some kind of sponsorship deal – after all, he can say that he’s got a lot of fans who will want to play where he plays and that could be valuable promotion for him. If that’s the case, his poker playing now becomes great for fan engagement and an opportunity to monetize, even while he’s just doing something he would do anyway.

4. His Email Signup Is Prominently Displayed

I keep telling people how important it is to build your mailing list, but people still have their doubts about the power of email. Hofstetter clearly does not. His email signup form is prominently displayed in his header and there’s other opportunities for you to get on his mailing list throughout his site – for example, if you want to download his free album you have to give up your email address. Speaking of which…

5. He Understands The Value Of Data About His Fans

Not only does Hofstetter clearly make an effort to capture email addresses on his website, he also tries to capture other valuable data about his fans as well. For example, when you go to download his free album, you hit this page which asks you to declare if you’re a college student or not.

Once you’ve answered that question, you get taken to a page where you fill out your name, zip code, graduation year and school (if you’re a college student) in order to download the album. This means that Hofstetter has a ton of information about the people who have downloaded his album – he not only knows where they live, but has a sense of their age, and even knows how many students who may have seen him at a college this year will still be in school when he comes back next year. Really powerful stuff.

Of course, I’m not saying that you need to do everything that Hofstetter is doing – what’s right for him may not be right for you. But I hope that checking out some of the creative things he is doing will inspire you to think about how you can get the most out of your own website.

It used to be that the comedy “game” could only really be played one way – in order to succeed you needed to win over the gatekeepers (Hollywood executives, comedy club owners, etc.) and convince them to give you a career.

This was extremely difficult of course, but you could take some level of comfort in its simplicity – there was a clear map to success and understandable rules of the game.

But now, as the comedy business has been disrupted by technology in recent years, the game has changed and you’re forced to figure out for yourself what game you actually want to play.

This is a tremendous opportunity of course, but many comedians don’t see it as such. It’s easier to get frustrated and confused. To get bitter as your peers figure out ways to succeed by playing a game that you didn’t even know existed.

In comedy, just like in life, some people embrace disruptions while others run from them. But nothing good ever comes from running from a disruption.

So faced with this comedy disruption, here’s a question to ask yourself:

Are you playing a game you can win?

Let me explain. Most comedians I talk to have set goals for themselves that literally can’t be achieved. They’ve framed their entire career around a mission they can never accomplish regardless of how hard they work, how talented they are, or how many breaks they get.

They’re essentially playing a game they can’t win, and that’s why they often wind up frustrated with the results.

For example, here’s a common phrase I hear from comedians when they talk about their career goals.

“I want to be a great comedian.”

What does that really mean? You want to be talented? You want to be famous? You want to be memorable? You want to sell lots of tickets? You want to impact people’s views? And who defines what makes a comedian “great?”

Were George Carlin and Richard Pryor great? Lots of people think so, and lots of others don’t. Is Dane Cook great?

When you set out to become a “great comedian,” you’re playing a game you can’t win. You’ll never achieve an intangible goal like that, and you’ll likely wind up frustrated at some point despite whatever level of success you do manage to attain.

And, more importantly, how do you come up with a plan of action to become “great?”

It’s important to frame your career in a way that allows you to be successful. There’s literally thousands of comedians out there trying to “win” at comedy by doing the exact same things – performing at the same clubs, following the same “rules,” chasing the same agents/managers/bookers, telling jokes about the same stuff to the same audiences, and waiting for Hollywood to discover them and make them a winner.

Why would you choose to play that game? Why be just another comic playing the same game?

Instead, why not increase your chances of success by creating your own game to play? One where you establish the rules, where you define victory, where you don’t have all that competition, and one where you have a competitive advantage based on your own particular strengths and skill set?

I know this all may seem a little philosophical, but here’s a few concrete examples of comedians who have played and won their own game in the comedy industry.

• Bo Burnham now headlines clubs, but not because he spent years playing the open mic game. Instead, he created his own comedy game by building his own fanbase for the funny songs he created in his bedroom and posted on YouTube. And he won.

• Justin Halpern was a struggling comedy screenwriter who worked as a writer for Maxim and had connections to lots of comedy blogs. He played his own game by creating the Shit My Dad Says twitter account, using his knowledge and connections to the Internet comedy community to promote it, and wound up “winning” himself a major TV deal for a show based on the account.

• Marc Maron was a relatively successful comedian who spent decades playing the traditional comedy game. But his career jumped to an entire new level when he started playing his own game by creating a new venue for his talents with his popular WTF podcast. How many other established comedians could have done that had they just taken the initiative to do so when Marc did? They’re all trying to play Marc’s game now, but that’s the point – there’s a huge advantage to being the first to play a new game. Everybody else is just trying to play catch up.

So, as you continue to move your career forward I encourage you to take a moment to stop thinking about how you’re going to succeed in the comedy game and think first about what game you actually want to play.

One of the biggest happenings in the comedy business over the past couple years has been the rising popularity of podcasts by comedians. At this point, it seems like just about every comedian – from beginners to established stars – has a podcast and collectively millions of comedy fans are regularly (and in some cases, obsessively) listening to them.

But with so many people flocking to create and listen to podcasts, what impact will it have on the business and creation of traditional comedy albums? Here’s a few thoughts I have about the new opportunities and challenges that the rise of podcasts present for comedy albums.

The More Free Content Is Out There, The More Difficult It Is To Charge People For It

Before the podcast boom, the only way you could listen to funny audio (other than on the radio) was to buy a comedy album. Sure, you could illegally download tracks, but there wasn’t nearly as much free comedy audio available as there is now in the form of podcasts. This means that when you release a comedy album now, you’re not only competing for comedy fans’ attention against every other comedy album out there but also against every comedy podcast out there – and most of those podcasts are free!

I don’t have any stats about comedy album sales handy, but I’m guessing that they’ve dropped significantly since the rise of podcasts. People who want to listen to funny stuff simply have so many free options at their disposal now that it makes them much less likely to consider paying for audio content. Yes, I’m sure there are people that will still pay to listen to new albums from their favorite established comics, but they will be a lot less likely to take a chance on a newcomer than they used to be.

The “Topical” Content On Your Album Is Going To Seem More Dated

If you’re planning to put out an album that includes a lot of bits based on “current events,” the chances are that by the time you get around to releasing your album that material is going to seem much more dated than it would have in the pre-podcast era.

Thanks to the Internet and podcasts, there’s a flood of comics out there talking tomorrow about what happened today. If your take on today’s events doesn’t come out for six months, it’s likely going to seem like really old news to your audience who has probably already heard plenty of comedian takes on the subject if they’re a podcast listener – or for that matter, even if they follow comedians on Twitter or other social media sites.

Podcasts May Redefine What A Comedy Album Can Be

The rise of podcasts isn’t all bad news for the comedy album business. I believe that the many forms that podcasts have taken on will also help to broaden comedians’ concepts of what a comedy album can be. As people push the boundaries of podcast format, we’re learning that there are audiences interested in listening to a lot more forms of funny audio beyond just recordings of a comic telling jokes in a comedy club.

I think (and hope) that some comedians will see the opportunity to release different kinds of albums, which in turn will reinvigorate the album format and bring us some cool new genres of albums.

Why Not Release Your Album As A Podcast?

Here’s something I haven’t seen anybody do yet, but seems like a good idea to me. Instead of recording an album and trying to sell it as a one-off product, why not release your album as a serialized podcast? Comedy fans have proven they like the podcast format and enjoy the ease of subscribing to podcasts and getting fresh audio regularly downloaded to them. So, why not take the audio you were going to release as an album, chop it up into smaller bits, and release a new part every week – either as a paid podcast or (even better) for free?

If you did this, you would not only probably get more people to check out your album, but you’d also wind up with subscribers who you could reach with future content or things you wanted to promote. And if you offered the album for free, you could allow listeners, who would hopefully be hooked after several episodes, to donate money to fund more episodes beyond the initial ones you recorded. So basically, you’ve managed to get your audience to pay for your next “album” in advance by drawing them into your first album by releasing it as a podcast.

It’s too early to tell exactly what impact podcasts will ultimately have on comedy albums, but I think it’s a question worth considering. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below…

Just about every comedian I talk to always asks me the same question – “How do I get more followers?”

Whether they’re referncing Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, or their own website or mailing list, everybody wants more people to follow them and their activities. There’s no simple answer to this question, though obviously lots of the content on this site touches on different strategies that can help (including this post about why people should follow you).

But yesterday I read this recent post from music industry guru Bob Lefsetz and came across the following line: “Be happy, be equitable, be a leader. And then you’ll have followers.”

That sentence sparked a realization for me that the vast majority of the comedians who are asking me how to get more followers are not doing anything to be a leader.

By definition, a follower has to have a leader and that leader has to take them somewhere – literally or figuratively. But most comedians don’t think of themselves as leaders – instead, they spend most of their time being followers.

They follow bookers, comedy clubs, and other industry gatekeepers, hoping those people will lead them to a career, as opposed to figuring out how they can lead fans someplace they want to go.

If you do more following than leading, why should you expect people to follow you? People don’t follow other followers – they follow leaders.

Think about who you follow in your life. I don’t mean who you follow on Twitter or Facebook, but who do you actually care enough to really follow and why? I bet the people you truly follow are not just entertaining you, but they’re leading you somewhere…even if they’re entertainers.

Do you just follow other comedians who are funny or do you follow comedians who inspire you because of their style, career, or work?

Do you feel closer to people that are blazing a trail or those that are just doing what everybody else does?

Don’t you prefer to follow people that are taking you somewhere? That are leading you to a better future?

If you follow Connected Comedy I’m guessing it’s because I’m trying to lead you somewhere – to a more successful career, to a different way of thinking about the opportunities you have, to a place that you want to go.

Not every comedian will want to go where I’m trying to lead them, but that’s ok. The ones who do will be true followers and will wind up helping to define the journey as we take it. Just because I’m the leader, doesn’t mean I’m the sole owner of the journey.

So where are you trying to lead people with your comedy? Do you know? Have you ever thought about it?

The more clearly you define for yourself where you want to lead people, the more likely you will be to get followed.

You may not think of entertainers as leading people anywhere, but there’s examples all around you of comedians who have succeeded in doing just that.

People didn’t just follow George Carlin because he was funny. They followed him because he led them down a path of criticizing societal and cultural norms.

People didn’t just follow Chris Rock because he was funny. They followed him because he led them to a place where they could speak truths that most people weren’t willing to say.

People didn’t just follow Kathy Griffin because she was funny. They followed her because she led them behind the scenes of life on the Hollywood D-list.

Like Seth Godin once said about the Beatles rise to fame, “The Beatles didn’t invent teenagers. They just decided to lead them.”

I can’t tell you where you should lead people – you’re going to have to figure that out for yourself based on where you want to go. But I can tell you that there’s thousands of people out there that would also like to go where you want to take them.

It’s up to you to decide to be a leader. And once you do…then you’ll get those followers you’re looking for.