I think we need a word for that moment when you realize that the individual creator you like has turned their thing into a hustle.
It’s when the podcast you’ve been enjoying that was about a specific topic is spending more and more of their time talking about their live events and the three other shows that they’re starting up. Or when the nonfiction author who had a good book starts a podcast and a Substack and then a subscription series. Or when the cooking YouTuber starts pushing their cookbook and their nutrition plan.
It’s the moment when it becomes clear that whatever the thing was that you liked about the show or the blog or the videos is no longer the focus. It has taken back seat to building a brand, driving engagement, and chasing revenue.
I generally don’t blame the individual. They’re just trying to get by, to make a living doing something on their own. It’s what our stupid economy and culture forces people to do—work for someone else who treats you like an interchangeable part, or take something you love and turn it it a grind. While there is no shortage of hustle culture assholes, my guess is that the average cooking YouTuber who started their channel because they like making videos about their favorite recipes would have preferred to keep doing just that.
I have watched this happen to authors and podcasters, to bloggers, and I have seen it happen to a few friends. Maybe some of them really like it, but it’s hard for me to imagine how.
What I mostly find is that I am now innately suspicious any time I run across some new podcast or YouTuber—any sort of online creator, really—who seems to have something interesting to say. Is it real, I wonder, or is it a hustle, a put-on to build a brand and engagement? If it is real, how long before the inevitable turn toward monetization?