The BIG MISTAKE creators make…

I want to share something that I think is holding a lot of independent creators back, and I say this as somebody who’s been on both sides — music and comics. The same mistake keeps showing up in both spaces.
A lot of independent creators are making their work and marketing it as if their audience is other creators. The entire strategy is talking shop about the industry, leaning on credentialism, networking within the circle. And within that circle it feels productive. Other creators know who you are. But that circle is not your customer base.
The vast majority of the people who will actually buy your product are not fellow creators. They want to know what the story is about. They want to know how it’s going to make them feel. They don’t care who you used to work for. They’re looking at a cover and asking does this look cool. They’re reading a description and asking do I want to know what happens next. That’s the sale. Your resume might impress a fellow professional, but it doesn’t move units with a casual buyer. Peers make up a fraction of your customer base unless you’re a teacher.
I can speak to this directly. I know there are mainstream creators who look at me and the Rippaverse with their nose in the air wondering how somebody without the traditional credentials built what we’ve built. Over fifteen million in sales. No external investors. A growing catalog. The reason is simple — we focus on the general fan. My following helped get people in the door, absolutely. But our ambition and our dedication to the fan is what sustains it. We speak to customers, not to peers. That makes all the difference.
A lot of independent creators fall into this trap because they came from mainstream channels where they never had to think about marketing. When you’re working for a major publisher or a label, there’s an entire infrastructure handling that for you. But when you go independent, you’re responsible for every part of the process, including convincing a stranger to spend money on something they’ve never heard of. That requires a fundamentally different mindset than creating the work itself.
The independent landscape would improve dramatically if more creators internalized the difference between peers and customers. Those are two different audiences requiring two different approaches. The creators who figure that out build sustainable businesses. The ones who don’t keep getting praise from peers and wondering why the sales aren’t there