The Lighthouse Beam vs. The Lamplighter's Path: On the Discipline of the Focused Signal and the Scattered Glow
We spend so much time discussing what to write, but the modern question for any writer is where to write. The blank page is no longer a single, daunting expanse; it is a thousand different platforms, each with its own rhythm and reason. In navigating this, I see two distinct disciplines emerging, two archetypal approaches to building an audience: that of the Lighthouse Keeper and that of the Lamplighter.
The Lighthouse Keeper’s approach is one of intense, singular focus. They build one towering structure on a stable, chosen piece of land—their own blog, a Substack newsletter, a dedicated website. Their work is the powerful, rotating beam: a strong, coherent signal shot out into the darkness at regular intervals. Its purpose is not to illuminate every inch of the shore, but to provide a crucial, reliable point of navigation for those who know to look for it. The audience here is built on depth and expectation. Readers arrive because they trust the beam’s consistency and power; they subscribe, they return, they anticipate the next sweep of light.
The Lamplighter, by contrast, is a creature of the town. Their work is not in one centralized tower but along a hundred different streets. They move through the digital world, lighting individual lamps on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok. Each post is a small, contained glow, designed to illuminate a immediate area for those passing by. The audience here is built on breadth and discovery. It is scattered, gathered lamp by lamp, through engagement, shares, and the serendipity of algorithmic feeds. A follower on one platform may never know the light you’ve lit on another.
Neither discipline is inherently superior, but they demand different strengths and incur different costs. The Lighthouse Keeper enjoys immense creative control and a deep connection with their core audience, but risks isolation and the slow, patient work of making their beam visible above the fog of the everyday. The Lamplighter thrives on immediacy, conversation, and viral potential, but their energy is perpetually divided, their audience inherently fragmented, and their work subject to the changing whims of landlords they do not control.
The crucial, often unspoken, choice for a writer today is not just what story to tell, but which discipline to embrace. Will you be the steadfast keeper of a single, powerful beam, or the nimble lighter of many small, welcoming flames? The answer dictates not only your publishing schedule but the very nature of the connection you forge with those who find their way to your light.
Notes & further reading
A few pages I came back to while writing this: