Moving towards voice and face
It's unfortunate but true: pure words are dead. Time for the voice, and possibly the face.
When I started writing for fun at school there was a prospect, even if slight, that someone and hopefully me could earn a good living by writing. This is no longer the case, and has not been true for at least ten years.
Substack can shine a dim light on the written word, but you will notice that they have quietly transformed themselves from a straight email newsletter platform to something completely different. They have an app with features like every other social platform. It is excellent, and the quality of content is knock-out. But that’s how Twitter used to be before… well, before.
This whole community could go tits up at any moment. But I’m sticking with it… for now. There is no other product on the market that charges no up-front fee and lets you do YouTube, podcast audio and text, and even photography, all in the same amazing system. Its main problem will be that it is free to use, at least until you start taking money yourself. It means that any charlatan can just bob on here on a whim and cause mischief. The way writers can recommend each other here is not only kind but effective. Virtually all my new sign-ups come from other writers on Substack, and the stats show that many of you have signed up to some of my best writer friends here.
We’re just a couple of weeks now from my first extended interview with an expert on the Sophie Toscan du Plantier case.
is so interesting, opinionated, knowledgeable and just great that I can’t wait to talk to her properly. I have put the call in at 9pm so that we can talk all night if the mood takes us. We will need a good editor.Other people have suggested doing those awful camera up the nose video reel things. I have a face for radio, really I do. But that hasn’t stopped millions of others spouting off in front of a very poor camera. So watch out!
As well as Crime Guy I write Smart Talk, an AI ecosystem that is linked to my day job. This is a collab with the AI expert, the genius, the queen of the prompt,
who actually knows almost as much about AI as I do.Some of you know that when you subscribe here I also add you to my ranting artsy blog known simply as DETTMANN because I could not think of anything else. There has been quite a lot of action on there recently, and a whole new potential career direction. I find nothing more exciting than writing a profile about someone I think is beyond cool, and then for that person to really love the output. I thank
for unwittingly pointing me in that direction.In the very accurate words of Geraldine herself, my music stuff is better than Rolling Stone. I think she said that, but it was late. It could have been the Princess of Wales. It’s been that kind of week.
Not entirely sure how I managed to point you in any direction, Paul — my internal compass is questionable at best! But I’m glad if I helped in some small way. Always great working with you. BTW, that photograph is stunning.
Re writing as a career: I started in journalism when it was a stand-alone career, but now it's no longer enough to have writing, interviewing and research skills. In fact these skills are becoming obsolete, as people who are experts in the various other professions are simply using AI and Google Search to do the work of journalists. It's sobering to think that people who have decades of experience are basically unemployable unless they're willing to mix it up with other careers / McJobs / sponsorship / royalties from books.