This was a panel at #Nerdcon 2016.

John Scalzi (moderator), Joe DeGeorge, Saladin (sal-a-deen) Ahmed, MariNaomi, Sak Sally

Scalzi opens up with a #doctorow quote: "The biggest problem for creators is not something like piracy, but obscurity".

Scalzi: Is obscurity a problem?

Joe: Obscurity is great. It allows for devoted community, interested in a particular thing. I have obscure projects. I think a project is fine to exist. Just because a bunch of people are talking about it doesn't make a project more valid than an obscure one.

Saladin: I have a few thousand readers who REALLY like me.

Zak: I like the stuff that I have to look really hard for. Not the stuff everyone likes. But the stuff I have to try to find. Like weird zines.

Zak: The coolest thing is getting feedback. If I sell 200 copies and 25 people write me and get it, I'll still starve to death, but I'll starve happy.

"It's a kind of nourishment. It keeps me going. But not as much as the food thing."

Joe says some words about Universal Basic Income. He's wearing a multi-colored headband, and chooses his words deliberately.

Zak: Get behind your own work. Admit that it's good. YOU HAVE VALUE.

Promotion

==Scalzi: You can't just be like "Buy my book". You have to cultivate an online personality. People will unfollow you. You have to talk about things unrelated to your book, say goofy things.

Joe: The US doesn't have Universal health care. The only successful self-promotion things I see are gofundmes for sick people.

Zak: Kickstarter and Patreon make us into beggars, rattling our cups. It makes it seem like our work isn't worth the marketplace.