0013: Start with the Thumbnail
If they don’t click, they don’t read.
If you’re not familiar, the thumbnail is the visual representation of your thing. People discover this blog on social media and decide to read it 80% before of the thumbnail and 20% because of the content. These are not real stats, except, that’s how I decide what I read.
I watched a video some weeks ago, maybe it was a podcast, maybe both. It was Mr. Beast. (Top YouTuber)talking about some of his process, and one thing he said struck me.
“If I can’t think of a good thumbnail, I don’t even bother to make the video, because if they don’t click, they won’t watch” - Mr.Beast
One thing I struggle with with this newsletter is the images.
I’m here to write. But I write about illustration, so there is a pressure to illustrate everything I write. Once I’ve finished a piece, it feels like such a drag to have to illustrate it, I mean I already have illustration as my day job.
But what if I turned the process on its head, what if I took Mr. Beast’s advice and create the thumbnail first, then write about it. That way the thumbnail could be anything.
It could be play.
It could be art.
And it reflects the reality of putting anything on the internet. If they don’t click they don’t watch read.
If they don’t click, they won’t read.
I look at the data of my posts, and the thing that strikes me is, the writing hardly matter, the posts with illustrations do better than the posts without illustrations - like 10x better.
If you’re an illustrator thinking about writing a Substack but don’t know what to write about, maybe you don’t need something to write about. Start with an image, then write about that.
I think it’s time to stop thinking of illustration as the accompaniment, but rather the opening act, and maybe even the headliner.
Do you resonate with the value of Thumbnail images? How do thumbnails affect you as a creator or consumer? What makes a great thumbnail image?
Pro Tip, I always think of my illustration as thumbnail images.
FYI, There’s a summer sale for new subscribers to this Substack through to the end of the month.
Oooh. Very interesting idea. I am frequently finding myself making a hand-lettered version of the title. Today's post I dropped a few bits of old work in that was relevant to particular paragraphs. But I still made a title graphic. And lots of hand-lettered headings. I am interested in the idea of flipping it and using existing pieces (or even bits from existing pieces, because pretty much everything I do is layered, so I can grab a sofa or houseplant or cat from one piece and make them into a new piece, or into individual spot illustrations).
And I definitely really like it as an idea for framing daily writing. So I may steal your idea!
Thumbnail images are a big pull for me, for sure. But the reality is that I have always thought about it as an "accompaniment" to my own content. This idea of flipping the process around is fun. I'm going to give it a try.