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Oliver Buchannon
Francis Zierer

Lead Editor at Creator Spotlight. Reach me at: [email protected]

Essay

🔴 Local media is pro-social media

Feb 6, 2026

•

12 min read

🔴 Local media is pro-social media

Why local newsletter operator businesses work so well, an outcomes-versus-outputs perspective on creators and media workers generally, and a few thoughts on the future of local media.

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 The science of short-form video

Jan 16, 2026

•

11 min read

🔴 The science of short-form video

A structural breakdown of the components that turned a single idea into a repeatable growth engine.

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 Your IP? No, our IP

Jan 9, 2026

•

10 min read

🔴 Your IP? No, our IP

I read the major social platforms' terms of service so you don't have to.

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 What is a creator in 2026?

Jan 2, 2026

•

7 min read

🔴 What is a creator in 2026?

Two years ago, I set out to to answer one question: What is a creator? One year ago, I landed on an answer. A year later, it shifts again. Plus, a call for guest submissions.

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 The best of Creator Spotlight 2025

Dec 26, 2025

•

10 min read

🔴 The best of Creator Spotlight 2025

Your favorite issue, my favorite issue, and our three most popular podcast episodes this year.

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 It doesn't matter if it's an ad

Nov 28, 2025

•

10 min read

🔴 It doesn't matter if it's an ad

On the convergence of ads and entertainment, of creators and companies. It's all happening ... in the content economy!

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Newsletterist

+2

🔴 beehiiv's bet on the "content economy"

Nov 18, 2025

•

13 min read

🔴 beehiiv's bet on the "content economy"

Tyler Denk, CEO and Co-founder at beehiiv, joins us to talk the implications of the company's Winter Release Event '25, what defines content built using beehiiv, and growing his own newsletter

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 The future of the creator economy is in-person

Oct 24, 2025

•

12 min read

🔴 The future of the creator economy is in-person

How social media followings evolve into online communities and, in special cases, real-world communities.

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 Equity and exits for creators

Oct 10, 2025

•

10 min read

🔴 Equity and exits for creators

If they're lucky, a creator might have a peak shelf life of 3-4 years. How should they capitalize on this? How should they leverage that period for lasting success?

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 "Learn marketing" is the new "learn to code"

Sep 26, 2025

•

9 min read

🔴 "Learn marketing" is the new "learn to code"

Does Gen Alpha understand marketing better than anyone? Should journalists have to build personal brands? Is all media marketing now?

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 What we can learn from Indian microdramas

Sep 12, 2025

•

11 min read

🔴 What we can learn from Indian microdramas

A look at the surging microdrama industry in India from guest writer Sabah Gurmat

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Profile

🔴 Investing $60 million in creators

Sep 9, 2025

•

14 min read

🔴 Investing $60 million in creators

Discussing creators with non-media businesses ft. Billy Parks, Venture Partner on the Slow Ventures Creator Fund

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 Rewriting the creator–brand partnership playbook

Aug 29, 2025

•

10 min read

🔴 Rewriting the creator–brand partnership playbook

Here are the ins and outs of working on brand deals, according to four experts Guest writer Brea Cubit investigates.

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 The four UGC creator archetypes

Aug 22, 2025

•

11 min read

🔴 The four UGC creator archetypes

All content is user-generated, but user-generated content is its own category. Who creates UGC? How many ways can a creator participate in the UGC industry? Guest writer Arden Yum investigates.

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 How to build a defensible personal brand

Aug 8, 2025

•

11 min read

🔴 How to build a defensible personal brand

In the post-TikTok creator economy, the quality of an idea has lost value to the effectiveness of its distribution

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 "You" is a creator

Jul 11, 2025

•

13 min read

🔴 "You" is a creator

TIME Magazine named "You" their person of the year in 2006; this week, for the first time, they published a list of 100 top creators. What do these two things have in common and apart?

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 The 10 most useful things we learned in Q2

Jun 27, 2025

•

14 min read

🔴 The 10 most useful things we learned in Q2

The best patterns, lessons, and analysis from our work in April, May, and June 2025

Natalia Perez-Gonzalez
Francis Zierer
Natalia Perez-Gonzalez, +1

Essay

🔴 Content = sushi

Jun 13, 2025

•

10 min read

🔴 Content = sushi

Why running a sushi restaurant is the perfect metaphor for being a creator

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 Minimize your media

May 30, 2025

•

10 min read

🔴 Minimize your media

On AI dubbing and other methods of minimizing the distance between your ideas and a receptive audience

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 Creator Spotlight at the Webbys

May 16, 2025

•

17 min read

🔴 Creator Spotlight at the Webbys

What the results of the new creator-specific Webby Awards teach us about creators and gatekeepers

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 Information will never be free

May 2, 2025

•

14 min read

🔴 Information will never be free

Thoughts on monetization, information, and intellectual property

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Essay

🔴 What is the creator economy?

Apr 18, 2025

•

11 min read

🔴 What is the creator economy?

Human and software service providers working across three task groups; an era in the longer history of the media industry

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Podcaster

+2

🔴 Multitude: A podcast collective by and for "weirdos and outsiders"

Apr 11, 2025

•

14 min read

🔴 Multitude: A podcast collective by and for "weirdos and outsiders"

How rejection by advertisers and podcast companies pushed Amanda McLoughlin to build a thriving, creator-first media company

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Newsletterist

+2

🔴 125 days to reach $10k/month

Apr 4, 2025

•

15 min read

🔴 125 days to reach $10k/month

How creator Thomas Yeum learned to make performant short-form content, octupled his Instagram following in three months, and landed his dream job

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer

Newsletterist

+2

🔴 Why this agency launched a creator collective

Mar 28, 2025

•

14 min read

🔴 Why this agency launched a creator collective

How American soccer marketing veteran Kyle Sheldon is working with creators to grow the GDP and cultural impact of the industry

Francis Zierer
Francis Zierer
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