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Most aspiring writers have heard of the shitty draft rule, but few of them practice it.

Hell, few writers practice at all.

This saddens me because I know how much potential they have. If they’d just get the words onto the page and into the world, they’d start building a catalog that could change their life.

I love when students of my blogging course have that epiphany.

I tell them what do to, and they avoid doing it, but eventually, they pull the trigger. Views start to roll in, their audience grows, and most importantly, they got the words out there.

Funny what happens when you do the work

You can do this. I believe in you. But you have to see what I see in you to succeed.

Let’s break down the shitty draft rule in-depth so you know exactly what to do.

How to Make Your Shitty First Draft A Bit Less Shitty

If you do certain things upfront, writing and editing your draft becomes much easier. Most new writers just open up a blank document and wonder what to write about. This is the absolute worst way to go about writing.

Instead, you should do so much work upfront that writing the draft is as simple as inserting the words into their proper spot. You can achieve this ‘paint by numbers’ effect with this simple three-step process.

This is a process I’ve mentioned 10,000 times, but I’ll mention it again because it’s important:

• Write 10 headline ideas per day: Good headlines show the benefits of the article and frame the piece before you write it. A well-constructed headline guides the writing. Practicing headlines allows you to cherry-pick the best ideas.
• Mind-map the piece: After you’ve chosen a headline from your ‘headline bank,’ which is a document you use to store all your good headlines from the 10 ideas technique, create a mindmap which is just scribbling out the idea, main points, and sub-points to the main points on a piece of paper.
• Create a formal outline: If you have a document that lists out the three main points you’re going to cover, plus 3 bullet points supporting the main points, and a sentence describing the theme or premise of the piece, it’s hard to fail

Most of the time, I don’t even need to refer to the outline when I write the shitty first draft because the act of coming up with the outline solidifies the information in my mind.

You can refer to the outline while you write, but it’s the only thing you’re allowed to do aside from the writing itself during the shitty first draft process.

Let me explain…

This is Why Your Articles Take Way Too Long to Write

From start to finish, I can write a 2,500-3,000 word blog post in about two hours.

This includes editing. I’m a naturally fast writer and I have years of practice under my belt, so I can spit out polished prose, but these tips I’m about to share dramatically increased my speed.

Your drafts take too long to write because you focus on other tasks besides writing. You stop in the middle to look up a quote, statistic, or anecdote. There are other tabs open on your computer.

You focus on what others are going to think about your piece before you even write it, which makes you doubt yourself. Instead, follow this process.

• Move your fingers: Start typing. The act of moving your fingers creates momentum. Even if you have to start your shitty first draft by typing “I don’t know what to write,” then just do that. Eventually, you’ll hit a groove.
• Use placeholders: Most of the time, I just write ‘add sub-heading here’ so I can come back during the editing phase to come up with a clever title for them instead of wracking my brain during the draft process. If I have a bullet point list and I’m stuck on creating the third bullet, I add a placeholder. If I need to add a quote, stat, or anecdote, I use a placeholder
• Follow the outline and finish the piece: You have an outline, so you know what you’re supposed to say, so, just, freakin’ say it. Your only goal is to get the draft done. That’s it. It doesn’t have to be good. It’s not even supposed to be good. Just do it.

Pro tip: Make sure to save your article a few times during the draft process to avoid losing your work by accident. I’ve lost 3,000-word pieces before and that shit hurts.

That’s the shitty first draft process in a nutshell. After that, you tinker with and worry about the quality of your article. If you commit fully to writing during the draft process, you’ll get better at editing too because your mind will only focus on one thing at a time.

The Mindset You Need to Successfully Write a Bunch of Shitty First Drafts

When I read pieces I’ve read years ago, I cringe. I can’t even bring myself to read my first book these days because it’s so bad compared to my writing ability now.

But I’m thankful for those pieces and that book because they created stepping stones to better writing. Thankfully, I was naive at the beginning of my writing career.

I thought my writing was good enough even though it wasn’t. I wasn’t afraid to hit publish because I thought people would like to hear what I have to say.

If you struggle with some of the mindset issues I’m going to talk about, I have some remedies.

Embrace the Suck

If you’re new at writing, your writing is supposed to suck. No one is supposed to read it because it sucks. You don’t have an audience or money from your writing because your writing sucks.

And that’s perfectly ok.

Just take Seth Godin’s advice:

There’s no such thing as writer’s block. There’s simply a fear of bad writing. Do enough bad writing and some good writing is bound to show up.

And along the way, you will clarify your thinking and strengthen your point of view.

But it begins by simply writing something.

Stop putting so much pressure on yourself to be the next great writer and just write, dude.

“But What If No One Cares What I Have to Say?” or “I’m Not an Expert!”

A student of mine has been a divorce lawyer for decades. She doubts her credibility as a writer because she hasn’t written about relationships yet.

Here’s what I asked her:

“You’ve been a divorce lawyer for decades. Do you know the common patterns that lead to divorce?”

“Well, yes,” she said.

Good writing, especially in the advice category, solves a major pain point.

I said:

“Do you think people are interested in hearing how to avoid losing the person they chose to spend the rest of their life with?”

The gears in her head started turning…

“…Yes, Ayo.”

She knew what I knew that she knew. She has the goods. You have the goods. You don’t need credentials. You just need more experience than the person you’re talking to. That’s it. Even if you’re just a step or two ahead.

Every human has valuable life experiences and lessons to share, including you.

How to Overcome Writer’s Block

“Writer’s block is a phony, made up, BS excuse for not doing your work.” – Jerry Seinfeld

If you practiced the tips I give in this post, you wouldn’t get writer’s block. Writer’s block only happens when you treat writing like a fun, nice to have, little hobby instead of treating it with the same respect you would a job.

The writers who actually listen to me and just follow the necessary steps do just fine. It’s the writers who don’t have the success they want, yet still, try to do things their own way, who fail.

Writer’s block comes from not being prepared, not doing the work, and not taking your craft seriously, which leads to my final point.

This Process Will End Your Publishing Problems Forever

The key to success in writing is the key to success in pretty much every area of life. If you dedicate daily time to getting better at writing, you’ll get better at writing.

It’s as simple as setting a non-negotiable time block each day to do one of three things:

• Write
• Edit
• Publish/format posts

If you did that five days per week, you’d start building a catalog of posts that could change your life. You could even take weekends off and still be successful.

I tell new writers that writing 2-to 4 posts per week is the sweet spot to do well on platforms like Medium. You don’t have to publish daily, or twice daily, as some writing gurus suggest. A gradual, persistent, and moderate effort is all you need.

Work at the same time, for the same duration, even in the same location, every single day. I’ve followed this process daily for seven years. I journal 10 ideas, pick one from my headline bank, mind-map, outline, and then write the shitty first draft.

I woke up at 5 a.m. to squeeze in time to write before work and I gradually built my writing career on the side of my full-time job.

If you followed this process in a sincere way, you’d be successful, and you know it.

So why not just do it?

Imagine…

Imagine your life a year from now.

You’ve followed the 2-4 posts strategy and have 104 to 208 posts published. 

You have a few thousand followers on Medium and you’re making a few thousand bucks. Email subscribers are rolling in, people are commenting saying how much they love your work, and your name gets mentioned on lists of top writers on Twitter.

You’re literally getting paid to learn how to write better.

Most important though…

More important than the money, the recognition, the fans…

You finally got the words out there that you’ve probably been meaning to share for years. Because you’ve written so much, you can look in the mirror and call yourself a writer with conviction, because you write.

I know that’s what you want. And the shitty first draft rule will get you there.

But only if you do it.

This make money on Medium guide is 4,500+ words long and filled with detailed step-by-step tactics. Click this link to download a PDF guide to read on your own time, print out, and refer to over and over again.

How much money can you make on Medium, really?

On average, less than 10 percent of writers ever make $100 or more in a month on Medium.

Pretty discouraging, huh? You write your little heart out, only to feel the massive heartbreak and sting of publishing your words into the abyss.

You feel invisible.

It’s so demotivating that you’ll likely quit forever. You’ll go to the grave as most aspiring writers do…

Penniless. No fans. No audience, catalog, or legacy. Just another would-be writer chewed up and spit out of the blogosphere. I can help you avoid this fate. Students in my programs regularly join the $100 club and beyond.

I can show you the way.

I know you’re tired of reading vague and useless blog posts about ‘success on medium.’

Welp, I’m throwing the entire kitchen sink at you with step-by-step instructions, for free.

Sad thing is…most writers won’t even take the time to read and implement this advice, and they wonder why they fail. Pity. Be different.

If I can’t help you, no one can.

If you’re serious about making money on Medium, then keep reading.

If You Don’t Get This Right, You Won’t Make Money on Medium

If you want to figure out how to make money on Medium and earn your first $100, you need to forget about money for a while.

The Medium Partner Program is a gift and a curse.

You can make money directly from your writing, but the promise of cash trains new writers to think the wrong way.

Most new writers think like an employee. They look at the dollar per hour output of their work, which is a bad way to view your earnings early on. Instead, they should think like entrepreneurs and focus on building profitable skills that make money on the back end down the road.

In the beginning, you might make a few cents for an article. 30 days, a few months, and a year from now you can make 10,50,100x the amount of money per article with the same amount of effort.

Be patient and let leverage and scale do the work for you down the road.

Now, let’s take a look at the nitty-gritty when it comes to making your first $100 on Medium.

Follow the 80/20 Rule of Content Creation

80 percent of your views and earnings will come from 20 percent of your articles.

You can learn how to create the seeds of virality, but you can’t predict the success of an article. If you can come up with good ideas and publish consistently, though, your odds of producing popular work will continue to grow.

Many new writers have this twisted belief.

They’ll say something like:

I want to hold onto my good ideas for when I’m popular. I don’t want them to go to waste

If you’re new to writing, odds are you don’t have groundbreaking ideas and viral articles dancing around your head. You’re afraid to waste time and effort by publishing your posts, but you’re wasting time and effort by holding onto them.

Your work needs to make contact with an audience for you to get better at writing. Seeing what readers like and don’t like will move you closer to your goal.

Experienced writers will tell you this. Sometimes you have an idea that you think is a hit and it totally flops. Sometimes you have an idea that doesn’t seem all that great or an article you’re unsure of that goes crazy viral and you just don’t know why.

Since you’ll never truly know why stop worrying about it and hit the publish button.

Now for some tactical tips.

Frequency, Consistency, and Volume: Guidelines for Medium Newbies

You don’t have to publish a new article every day to be successful on Medium, but you do need to publish enough for people to recognize your name and become loyal fans.

Also, engaging and becoming a student of Medium will help you figure out how to write articles people want to read.

These aren’t hard and fast rules, but they’re good guidelines for beginners:

• Publish two times per week minimum: 2-4 articles per week is the sweet spot, but twice per week creates a solid floor. 104 articles in a year is an excellent catalog. Your effort will compound over time
• Read, comment, and clap for three articles per day: This shouldn’t take more than a half-hour per day. Read stuff you’re genuinely interested in instead of gimmicky networking
• Reply to all of your comments: Eventually, this will be unsustainable, but it’s an absolute must if you’re new

Pro tip: Study the top articles on Medium to see what others are doing to get noticed. Don’t plagiarize, but swipe strategies like headline style, article format, and tag selection.

Choose a popular tag you write about and go to the tag page:

Next, go to the ‘best’ category and read the top posts for either the week or the month (a year is too long as the algorithm changes often):

Read the top three articles and take notes on:

• What you like: Is the headline appealing? Does the post have a compelling intro? Are the points clear and effective?
• Areas of improvement: What is the article missing that could make it even better? You can find a competitive edge by identifying these gaps
• What readers are saying: People tell me my writing gets inside their heads. Here’s a secret tip: I copy and paste phrases people use in comments and add them to my articles verbatim

If you follow these tips, you’ll avoid writing stuff people don’t want to read, which brings me to my next point.

The Biggest Lie In The Writing World

You can practice your writing a ton without getting any better. I see it happen all the time.

Usually, the biggest culprit is a major blindspot some writers have. They can’t see their work through the lens of their readers. If people aren’t reading their stuff, they’ll blame the audience instead of looking within.

“Just write more!” only works if you’re practicing the right way.

Let’s take a look at the ways this big lie plays out in practice:

• Cryptic titles: Your headline is the most important piece of your article. If people don’t click, people don’t read. Far too many writers treat headlines like throwaways and fail to answer this question with their headline “Why should I read this?”
• Self-absorbed storytelling: Remember my famous mantra: Your blog is not your diary.
• Poor topic selection: Your topic has to be narrow enough to stand out in a niche, but if it’s too narrow or simply a topic people don’t care about, your writing will fall flat. Read this for further guidance.

This doesn’t mean you have to write about writing, making money, or self-improvement to make your first $100 on Medium.

Students of my programs have successfully written $100+ and $1,000+ earning articles about topics such as eating bananas, premature ejaculation, and ironically, lowering your ambition.

You can write unique stories, but they have to follow the right patterns.

Let’s put it all together and talk about a strategy that creates a flywheel effect that’ll lead to your first $100 on Medium (and more).

Swipe This Strategy

I already told you to write two articles per week, but let’s break down how to do that as well as some promotion tips to help you get more views.

This is the simple process I’ve taught countless students and still use to this day.

Step 1: Write 10 Headline Ideas Per Day

I’m telling you, this strategy is gold, but so few writers actually do it.

It takes time to master the skill of writing headlines. I’ve written more than 25,000 headlines over the years. Doesn’t take a huge percentage of good ideas from that batch to build a successful writing career.

Also, over time, you can even switch up the 10 ideas strategy in different ways. In the beginning, just focus on writing 10 headlines per day based on your topic. Once you’ve turned it into a habit, you can start to get fancy to come up with even better ideas.

Examples:

• 10 ideas for listicles
• 10 ideas for headlines that don’t include a number
• 10 ideas for how-to post headlines
• 10 totally random, off the wall, and borderline crazy headline ideas
• 10 ideas for headlines about stories from my life
• 10 ideas for headlines not in my normal niche
• 10 ideas for super-click bait headlines
• 10 ideas for articles people can’t help but share
• 10 ideas for deeply emotional articles
• 10 ideas for articles that make people feel good about themselves

See what I just did there? If you get it…highlight this sentence and comment the answer below for others 😉

Create a word document and store the ideas you like in it for future reference. That way, you always have something to write about.

Step 2: Follow This Process to Write Your Articles From Start to Finish

Ok, you have an idea for a piece ready to go, now it’s time to sit down and write.

Here’s the mistake most writers make. They just sit down and start writing. Their words get jumbled, the article structure is off, and they have to spend tons of time editing.

Instead, use this simple process to write articles that are easy to edit and easy to publish:

• Mind-maps: Take pen and pad. Scribble out the details of your article — main premise, main points, sub-points to main points
• Formal outline: Take those scribbles and write out an outline in a document

When you know what you’re going to say before you say it, the article is much easier to write. Also. the frame of your article matters more than the words themselves. People want the concepts and stories. The words themselves just facilitate both.

Write your first draft and follow the shitty first draft rule. Get the draft done, no judgment. Also, follow these rules for writing drafts so you can write much faster than usual.

Next, follow the three-step editing technique:

• First pass: Look at the overall structure of the piece. Do all the main points fit and make sense? Aim to cut about 25 percent of the draft. Pro-tip: Cut and re-write the intro and conclusion to your piece every single time
• Second pass: Simply follow this rule. While reading each line, ask yourself if it needs to be there. Cut weak sentences and replace them with strong ones. Fill in the missing 25 percent
• Third pass: This is the fine-tune edit. Wrap the article up in a nice bow. Also, add relevant hyperlinks, data, and anecdotes.

Next, you must hit the publish button. If you don’t, none of the steps above matter.

With 30-60 minutes per day, you can publish two articles per week with ease.

You’re Guaranteed to Reach the $100 Club If You Actually Execute This Strategy

That’s a big ‘if.’ Again, most aspiring writers just won’t follow directions and execute.

Here’s the water…up to you whether or not you’re gonna drink.

This process will help your views and earnings compound, which means, over time you’ll be able to get more views and earnings with the same level of effort.

This will only work if you listened to the advice above and focus on writing stuff people want to read, study Medium articles regularly, and engage with the platform.

Step 1: Create an Email List

I have few regrets in my writing career, except that I didn’t start keeping an email list from day one. I wrote for 18 months without doing so.

In that time span, thousands of people read my words, but none of them became part of an audience I could take with me wherever I go. Keeping an email list gives you an audience you can communicate with directly and build a relationship with over time.

Use platforms like Medium to build your audience, but understand that platforms come and go. Medium is nowhere near dead, but if it does die one day, you’ll have an audience you can continue to share your work with.

Choose an Email Service Provider

Just use Convertkit. It’s the best one. Mailchimp is free up to your first 2,000 subscribers, but emails from Mailchimp often get stuck in spam folders instead of the main inbox.

When I switched from Mailchimp to Convertkit, the percentage of people who opened my emails jumped by 10 percent.

I’ve been able to have a super-solid ‘open rate’ with Convertkit.

When it comes to using their software, just read educational articles and step-by-step instructions.

Here’s a good video I found.

It seems daunting and it’s a bit tedious to learn, but once you learn how to use it, you’ll realize it wasn’t as hard as you thought it would be.

Step 2: Lead Magnets + Call to Action = Email Subscribers

You create lead magnets to give people something in exchange for signing up for your email list. Using a lead magnet will get more people to sign up to your email list than just saying something like ‘subscribe for updates!’

People don’t want to subscribe to stuff. It’s a word that makes them feel like you’re just going to spam them with emails and makes them feel like you’re using them.

A good lead magnet gives your readers something that’s genuinely useful. These days, it’s even more important to have a good lead magnet because readers have ’email list fatigue.’

You’ve probably experienced this. An article prompts you to sign up, but you can tell it’s something someone just threw together to get you to subscribe.

Much like people developed ‘banner ad blindness’ meaning they totally ignore ads on websites, people are starting to develop email sign-up blindness.

I watched a really good video from Alex Hormozi the other day that talks about this. If your lead magnet is the main thing you’re using to build your list, it would behoove you to spend time on making it really good.

Give away something people genuinely benefit from using. Right now, I give away ‘The Headline Vault.’ If you sign up, you get 50 custom headline templates you can tailor to your topic. It solves a major pain point for writers who struggle to come up with headline ideas.

Good ideas for lead magnets are:

• Checklists with step by step information to achieve a goal
• Lists of valuable resources for people in your niche
• Access to exclusive content like videos that you don’t publish publicly

Pro Tip: Get good at naming things. Your lead magnets should have a catchy name that has emotion-evoking words. The Headline Vault is better than just saying 50 Headline Templates. The word ‘vault’ speaks to exclusivity.

The Call to Action

Once you create the lead magnet, you connect it to your email software using a landing page. A landing page is the page people visit that describes the lead magnet and contains an email sign-up form.

Convertkit comes with a bunch of different landing page templates. You literally just have to fill in the words:

Don’t treat those words like an afterthought, though, use these tips:

• Headlines matter with lead magnets, too. Write 10 variations before choosing one to land on
• Write a description that explains why the lead magnet is useful and how it benefits your reader
• I even go so far as to change the label on the sign-up button itself. Instead of ‘subscribe,’ I’ll write something like “I want my free guide.”

Over time, you’ll want to learn how to write copy. Copywriting is the process of learning how to write words that get people to do what you want them to do, whether it’s signing up for your email list or buying your product.

Don’t be afraid to get a little gimmicky here. Certain phrases and techniques are time-tested and work well. Use words like free, easy, fast, proven, effective, guaranteed, roadmap, bonus, exclusive, and secret.

If your lead magnet can speak to a specific number or timeline, and you can back it up, even better. Examples: Lose 5 lbs in 30 days, 5 tools for writers that cost less than $100, increase your conversions by 10 percent.

The call to action means you tell readers exactly what you want them to do. Be direct, explicit, and simple. At the end of your article instruct your audience to sign up to your email list to get their freebie.

My friend and expert marketer Sinem Gunel, does a great job of this:

The CTA will include a link to your landing page where readers can sign up for your list and get their free goodies.

Next, you will use your email list to build your audience so you can make your $100 as soon as possible.

Step 3: Use Your Email List to Build Your Flywheel

You’ll use your articles to get people to sign up for your email list. Then, you’ll use your email list to promote your articles. This will help your articles get more views and spread across Medium, which will help you get even more subscribers.

See how this works?

Beginner writers shouldn’t get too fancy with email marketing.

Here’s all you need to do.

Create a Welcome Email + Share Articles Weekly

If someone signs up for your email list and then doesn’t hear from you for a while, they’ll forget about you. A welcome email helps you get on their radar and builds a connection with them.

Include this in your welcome email:

• A brief introduction about yourself with a personal touch: Keyword ‘brief.’ Don’t ramble. Just tell them who you are, where you’re from, and a cool or interesting fact about you.
• Talk about who you help and how you help them: Your description of who you help should match the person you’re talking to and how should speak to their pain points. I help writers defeat writer’s block, build an audience, and get paid
• Tell them what to expect: Both from them and yourself. Foreshadow the topics you’ll teach them, talk about how regularly you’ll communicate with them, e.g., I’ll send you two articles per week, or even have a themed newsletter like James Clear’s 3,2,1 newsletter (remember what I said about naming things?)

Here’s the part that’ll help you get to your first $100 fast…

Include links to your top articles in the welcome email.

This way, every person who signs up for your list will get exposed to your work. Even if they aren’t Medium members, non-member views still help your articles spread and appear on the feed for other readers.

Over time, you can keep updating the links in your welcome series. Pick articles that are already doing well because virality tends to beget more virality.

When it comes to regular communication, beginners would do well by just sending readers links to new articles weekly as you publish them.

“But what if I only have three subscribers?”

Send them emails as if you had 3,000 subscribers. Don’t worry about unsubscribers. Start running your email list like a pro from day one.

For these emails, I like to keep them very short…

I want them to view the link to the article asap. If you do it this way, you’ll train people to get used to clicking on your links.

This simple process creates compounding views, email sign-ups, and ultimately money. Repeat until you hit your first $100

The Final Step: Progressively Level Up On Medium

This final piece to the puzzle pours gasoline on the fire.

Over time, as you’re more experienced and publish higher-quality work, you can level up to expose yourself to more readers and make more money.

Here’s your problem…

In the beginning, nobody knows who you are, nor do they care. So you’re fighting an uphill battle. This is the part where most writers quit because they’re only making a couple of dollars, or a couple of cents, per article.

If you’re brand new, it’s a good idea to avoid looking at your stats altogether. It’s just going to frustrate you. Even experienced writers like Zulie Rane only check their stats and earnings at the end of the month.

Focus on getting better at writing above all else and follow these steps to level up on Medium, make your first $100, and eventually become a household name on the platform.

Get Your Feet Wet With Beginner Friendly Publications

You’ve probably heard that publications can help increase your reach on Medium.

For the uninitiated, think of publications like mini-magazines within Medium. Most publications are owned by independent operators, ‘indie’ pubs.

Medium itself owns a few publications, most of which you need connections or direct access to one of their editors to get into. Don’t worry about those for now.

Start with publications that are more likely to accept your work.

Some names that come to mind are:

• Illumination | Submission Guidelines
• The Orange Journal | Submission Guidelines
• New Writers Welcome  | Submission Guidelines
• Age of Awareness | Submission Guidelines

I’d start pitching these publications immediately, even if you have zero experience. The worst they can say is no. Gotta learn how to deal with rejection. Even to this day, publications pass on some of my articles. It’s unavoidable.

Most publications have submission guidelines that tell you exactly how to apply to be a contributor. Some even explain, in very explicit detail, the type of writing and quality they’re looking for. Some even so far as to provide explicit style guides and formatting requirements.

This next part is crucial…

It’s a point many new writers miss and thus fail to get accepted…

Follow their directions to the letter.

Actually read the guidelines instead of glossing over them. Sometimes, they’ll add a specific direction deep into the guidelines to make sure you actually read them.

For your first 30 days on Medium, just focus on regularly publishing 2 or more articles per week to beginner-friendly publications with calls to action for your email list. Forget about money. Have fun, work on your craft, and build your audience, that’s it.

If you have prior writing experience, you can skip ahead to this next step

Gradually Level Up to Intermediate & Advanced Publications

Some newbie writers have a misguided belief that Medium and publication owners discriminate against new writers because they’re new. This isn’t true.

You don’t get accepted into higher-quality publications because you need to work on your craft. I’ve seen writers get into higher-quality publications quickly because they have prior writing experience.

Anyway, once you’ve spent a solid 30 days working on your craft in beginner-friendly pubs, it’s time to take a stab at intermediate and advanced pubs.

Some that come to mind are:

• Curious | Submission Guidelines
• Publishous |  Submission Guidelines
• The Startup | Submission Guidelines
• Hello, Love | Submission Guidelines
• Entrepreneur’s Handbook | Submission Guidelines

You don’t need to be a household name to get into these pubs. There are plenty of writers with less than 1,000 or less than 500 followers who get in. You just need to be a decent enough writer.

Some of them will ask for writing samples, which you’ll have from your 30-day sprint. The advice is the same. Follow their guidelines to the letter.

Also, here are some things to consider:

• Many of these publications just have a ton of people trying to get in, to the point they have to close submissions periodically. Be patient. Also, do things to get on publication owners’ radars by executing what I’ve already said so you can skip the line
• Size and concentration are key. Some pubs have a lot of followers, but they also have a ton of writers, which means you get a smaller piece of the attention pie. Often, it’s better to choose a medium-sized pub with fewer writers, giving you more concentrated eyeballs
• Keep an eye on both the publication owners and its readers. Two pubs might be the same size, but one has a more ambitious owner who promotes their writers and a more engaged reader base

You learn how to make these considerations useful by getting your hands dirty, doing the work, and being observant.

Advanced Publications, Make Money on Medium Beyond $100, and Becoming a Household Name

Every once in a while, I come across a new writer who just has the it factor. It’s not just a talent thing, although, contrary to what other writing gurus tell you, natural talent matters.

It’s this…hunger.

I can see it in their eyes, hear it in their voice, or feel it in their words.

I can teach you how to write, publish, and promote yourself on Medium. Hell, I can also give you one hell of a pep talk to achieve all the above. But, hunger, the will to win, a relentless drive to improve, that comes from within you.

It’s okay if you don’t aspire for world domination right away, I didn’t, but at a certain point things have to click for you and you have to go all-in if you want to become a household name.

No BS, you can become the next Tim Denning, Zulie Rane, Sinem Gunel, Sean Kernan, or Ayodeji. Every year or so, a new guard of writers takes Medium by storm and becomes the new cool kids.

I’m a Dinosaur now. I still get down on the keyboard, of course, but my reign as King of Medium is over. Consider me now the whitehaired kung-fu master, ready to provide tutelage.

I love this role I’m in and the new season in my life I find myself in. My goal isn’t to just help new writers make their first $100 on Medium. I’m trying to break blogging superstars.

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Most blog posts about how to improve writing skills scratch the surface and fail to talk about what it really takes to get good at writing.

It takes dedication and hard work. It’s not backbreaking work, but you have to be persistent, humble, and willing to learn.

Gradual, moderate, and persistent effort will get you where you need to go, but that starts with being honest with yourself about whether or not you’re willing to do the work.

These tips on improving your writing skills come from someone with the following street cred:

• ~90,000 followers on my Medium blog with more than 10 million lifetime views on the platform
• I was the number one earning writer on Medium for six months straight with over $350,000 in career earnings from the website
• I’ve published three books that have sold a combined 20,000+ copies. Most authors never sell more than 2,500

Most importantly, though, I have never taken a break from writing since I began seven years ago. I’ve been writing prolifically, every day, for years.

I say all this to let you know that my advice comes from experience.

There’s a lot of contradictory advice out there and some writers quickly turn around and give writing advice after having a tiny dose of success.

I waited until I got good at writing and earned my stripes before I turned writing guru, so, let me assure you, I have a pretty good idea of what I’m talking about.

Let’s dive into the tips.

Before You Learn How to Improve Writing Skills, Get Rid of Your Entitlement

Always remember this. Nobody owes you anything. Audiences don’t owe you their attention. Platforms don’t owe you views or money.

These new writers are an entitled bunch. Even softer than usual.

I wrote on Medium before the partner program even existed and published free articles for years to get better at my craft.

New writers practice for a little while and then get a tummy ache. They write ill-informed opinion pieces about places like Medium, which happen to always be their best-performing articles.

Sad.

Nine times out of ten, you don’t have the audience you want because your writing sucks.

This leads to my next tip.

Embrace the Suck

It’s okay to suck at writing. You’re not supposed to be good at it right away. Improving your writing skills takes years and it’s a never-ending process.

Here are the links to the first three articles I ever published just to show you how much practice makes you better:

• Escaping The Cubicle: How We’re Moving From The Industrial Age To The Information Age
• 82,200 Hours. Your Job Or Your Life.
• You Are Who You Think You Are

A few of you, who are diligent, will read these older pieces. Most won’t, which is why they’ll fail.

I tell writers to practice writing 10 headline ideas per day. The ones who thrive using this technique are the ones who aren’t afraid to come up with bad ideas to get to the good ones.

Ok, let’s get into the nitty-gritty on how to improve writing skills.

Read Junk Magazines

Particularly the covers…

“This One Little Trick Can Help You Shed 10 Pounds in a Week”

“4 Scents No Guy Can Resist”

“Unleash Your Abs! (Weight Loss Secrets)

Studying tabloids helps you get good at writing headlines, the most important part of your articles because if no one clicks, no one reads.

Tabloids also teach you a valuable lesson. Pay attention to what readers do, not what they say.

Everyone says they hate gossip and junk magazines, yet tabloid magazines and Cosmo aren’t going out of business.

People say they hate listicles, but they’re the most read form of blog posts.

Read Books on Copywriting and Persuasion

Sean Platt, the author of several successful serial novel series, credits his time as a copywriter for his success.

Copywriting uses words to sell products. The best copywriters spend the bulk of their time researching their audience first before they pen a word.

Studying copywriting and persuasion teaches you how people think.

Once you know what people want, what they’re afraid of, what frustrates them, what they hope to become, etc, it’s much easier to communicate with them.

Some recommendations:

• $100m Offers: How to Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No
• The Boron Letters
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
• Copy Logic
• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Drill Specific Techniques One at a Time

I’ve learned several writing techniques over the years.

Every time I came across a new technique, I’d drill it into my brain through repetition. I’d always try to improve my writing skills each time I wrote a piece, but I’d put extra focus on one thing.

So, I might write a blog post and focus on making the introduction as good as possible. And I’d keep doing that with each new post until I felt like I was good at writing intros.

Picking specific techniques to tackle helps you build a repertoire fast.

Speaking of intros…

Start With a Bang

Imagine you read a blog post that started this way:

“I smashed a lamp over my head. There was blood everywhere. And glass. And I took a picture.” [source]

or this

“I had to get over 100 prostitutes to like me in five seconds or less.” [source]

At a minimum, you’d keep reading just to see what happens next. Practice writing amazing opening lines and study amazing opening lines to improve your writing skills.

Google phrases like:

• Best opening line of books
• Opening line examples
• Catchy opening sentences examples

End With a Bang

People won’t remember everything you’ve written in a post. The intro and conclusion do a ton of the heavy lifting, and the conclusion gives them the final impression of your writing.

If you end it too abruptly or close your pieces in an uninteresting way, they’ll probably forget about you instead of becoming loyal fans.

A good close can do several things, but it has to do something:

• End with a ‘motivational rallying cry’ that leaves your reader fired up and inspired
• Sum up everything you’ve just covered in your post. Give them the takeaways
• Prompt them to do something specific, e.g., answer a question you leave at the end of your post

Use This Technique to Get Better at Writing Intros and Conclusions

Write your first draft. After it’s done, chop the intro and conclusion. Re-write them.

Maybe you realize they’re not as suited to the main body content as you thought they’d be.

They probably don’t pack enough of a punch yet. Think carefully about the first and last impression you want to give.

Ask Yourself This Question to Get Better at Editing

Great editing can turn a good piece into a great one. It helps you improve your writing skills, too.

Every time you edit an article, go line by line and ask yourself:

Does this sentence need to be there?

If you remove it, does anything about the piece change? If not, cut it.

Are you repeating a sentence or a concept in a way that doesn’t add value? Cut.

Does it make the reader want to read the next sentence? If not, cut it.

Find a Mentor to Help You With Your Writing

I got lucky. An editor at Thought Catalog took a liking to my work and edited every single piece I wrote for the site for about 18 months straight.

Working with someone who has writing experience shortens your learning curve.

After that, I followed a small handful of writing gurus and didn’t listen to anyone else. If you take advice from too many people at once, you won’t form a philosophy that guides your writing.

I look at writing gurus like senseis at a dojo. There are several different styles of kung-fu, but it’s all kung-fu. Think of blogging the same way. Find someone whose style you like and follow their advice to the letter.

Stop Being Arrogant

I credit one trait, above all others, to my success as a writer. The trait doesn’t even have anything to do with writing itself.

I know how to follow directions.

I’ve taken several writing courses. I’ve read countless how-to guides for improving your writing.

I followed the steps and directions from these resources to the letter without questioning anything. I humbled myself to learn from someone who had what I wanted.

Most beginners question advice and skip steps, even though they don’t have the results they want, and the person giving them the advice does.

The next time you read a step-by-step writing guide, try actually doing what it says for a change.

Take a Writing Course

Speaking of writing courses, take one. Take a bunch. I still take new writing courses to this day. I’m starting one this week.

Courses get a lot of flack for no reason. I’ve literally never taken a bad one. The ROI on each one has been crazy.

I took a course on self-publishing books for $750. My books have made more than $75,000 and have a combined of 583 reviews. That’s a 100x return.

I learned the core skillset I used in my writing from a course that cost $197. I’ve made more than $400,000 directly from writing alone. A more than 2,000x return.

When people ask me for my advice on how to improve writing skills, I direct them to my course. I packed seven years of experience into it for you to digest over a few hours. You’re welcome.

Become Uncopyable

Nobody writes like me.

Countless readers have told me they can tell I wrote an article even if I didn’t put my name on it.

Developing a distinct voice just comes with time. You have to figure out what works for you. I’d emulate writers I looked up to and played copycat for a while.

But, eventually, I settled in on the way I wanted to write. A way that comes across the exact same way I am in real life.

I’m crass, politically incorrect, blunt, curious, aggressive, optimistic, encouraging, and brutally honest. I found a weak spot in the market.

Most writers don’t have the stones to say what they really mean, so I filled that void. Practice long enough and you’ll find the weak spots and voids you can fill.

Pause and Reflect

This seems obvious to me, but it goes over a lot of writers’ heads.

If you’ve been practicing your writing for a while, and it’s still falling flat, you should ask yourself why that is.

I’ve seen writers who practice for years but don’t actually get any better. They don’t get better because, again, they’re self-centered.

Usually, they’re the type to write a bunch of boring, naval-gazing, insignificant, and totally uninteresting stories about their own lives.

Or they just write about topics nobody wants to read about. Or they have a bizarre writing style that’s not enjoyable to read.

Strangely, they have a huge blindspot and never consider that they, in fact, might be the problem. Remember, it’s never the audience’s fault.

Learn How to Write For An Audience

Traditional blogging techniques get a ton of flack. Some writers call you a hack if you use them. They’re wrong.

Learning how to ‘blog’ is a gateway drug to esoteric writing.

I learned how to blog first, so now I can write complex essays, as well as personal stories that don’t suck and people actually read. 

I can go toe to toe with any writer out there. Including MFA grads.

Here’s the dirty little secret about the pretentious writer types. They’re broke and no one reads their shit.

It makes them bitter to see ‘bloggers’ like Mark Manson sell 3 million copies of his book.

Fuck em. Learn how to write for an audience, get paid, and get better at the same time.

A Tip to Get Much Better At Editing

Read your draft out loud.

Doing this helps you catch weird-sounding phrases you wouldn’t have spotted by just reading them.

It helps you write sentences and paragraphs that flow together smoothly.

I don’t do this for every blog post I write, but for long-form works like books, I always read the draft aloud.

The first time I did it, I was shocked by how well it worked. Try it.

Add Power Words For Flair

Power words evoke emotion.

Some examples:

• Fear power words: agony, panic, scart
• Encouragement power words: amazing, life-changing, miraculous
• Lust power words: allure, naughty, tempting
• Anger power words: annoying, obnoxious, vicious
• Greed power words: attractive, money, noteworthy
• Safety power words: authentic, privacy, science-backed
• ‘Forbidden’ power words: ancient, myths, secrets

Sprinkle them into every part of your articles from the headline to intros to the main points themselves. In general, try to think of a way to make your sentences pop.

You can have two phrases that technically mean the same thing, but one sounds way better.

Example:

Do you struggle to finish your writing?

vs.

Do you agonize over every word and stress yourself into a panic about writing the perfect article?

This blog post contains 801+ power words you can use to add some spice to your writing.

Write at a 4th Grade Level

Ernest Hemingway is known for simple writing.

Simple doesn’t mean bad or unintelligent. Simple means easy to understand.

Snobby writers make their writing more complicated than it needs to be.

“It’s the mark of a charlatan to make simple topics sound complex. It’s the mark of a genius to explain a complex topic in a simple way.” – Naval Ravikant

I like and use $2 words, too. But they come out naturally. I can tell when writers try to use big words to seem smarter than they are and it never comes across the way they think it does.

Hire or Work With a Professional Editor

I spent $3,000 on an editing team for my most recent book. Several dozens of people have called it the best self-help book they’ve ever read.

They tore my ideas apart. It was brutal.

When it came to the prose itself, they were equally harsh. Usually, by the time I’m done working with a really good editor I’m pissed off at them.

They push you to get better, really get better. Again, this comes back to having the humility to accept instruction, be coachable, and put trust in others with experience.

I once wrote a post about kindle publishing at Smart Blogger, which is one of the top writing blogs in the world.

The editor was borderline abusive. It took me six months to write and they only paid me $300 for the piece. Worth it.

I got so much better. Spend coin on a pro or write for websites that have editors instead of just publishing to Medium publications.

The Ultimate Piece of Advice for How to Improve Your Writing Skills

For this last piece of advice, I’ll leave you with a quote from Cheryl Strayed who had this to say to a young writer who was worried about her writing career.

Since you made it this far, read these quotes and the ending slowly. Let this advice sink in because it’ll determine whether or not you’ll make it as a writer.

In fact, read the entire question and answer here. So good. I’m also going to bold some points for emphasis.

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Featured Download: Never Run Out of Things to Write About Again: The Ultimate Guide. Grab a PDF version of this blog post here to save and read later.

Most aspiring writers tell me they struggle with finding things to write about.

Either they have no idea where to start or they feel burnt out because they’ve been writing for a while and it feels like they’re repeating themselves.

For both camps, this is a crucial problem to solve.

If you don’t have things to write about, you can’t build a body of work. Without a body of work, you can’t build a big-enough audience to support your writing career.

If you run out of ideas for topics to write about, then you have nowhere to turn.

Let’s fix this problem once and for all.

This post is going to be so good that if you still can’t come up with ideas for things to write about, you should quit writing.

Who This Post Is For

Before we dive into the tips, I want to make sure this guide is right for you. I teach a specific type of blogging style that only works for people who fit certain parameters.

If you fit the following, this post on things to write about is a good fit for you:

• You write non-fiction content: I don’t teach fiction, but here are some good resources for those looking to write it
• You write advice-driven content: Personal essays aren’t my forte, although I am very good at them and have multiple guides for those of you who want to write about yourself
• You’ve already chosen a niche: This post is for people looking for things to write about in a broader topic they’ve already picked. Here are some guides on finding a niche. After you’ve read through those and have something locked in, come back to this post.

If you fit all the above, you’re the type of writer who’s in a position to turn your hobby into a career and monetize your work.

Come up with enough things to write about and you’ll be able to build an audience that you can educate and help while building your dream at the same time.

Let’s dive in.

Most Writers Skip This Step When Finding Things to Write About

This step is obvious, simple, and doesn’t take a ton of work, but most writers skip this step for one simple reason.

They are lazy.

If you take this step, it’ll be much easier to find writing topics and you’ll develop an intuitive sense of how to come up with topics over time.

I could sit down and write a blog post idea off the top of my head because I have an important grasp of this useful concept.

If you want to come up with an endless number of blog posts topics, first create a deep understanding of your reader.

This won’t just help you come up with things to write about, it’ll give you the seeds for virality. The better you understand your reader the easier it is to write things they want to read.

Simple, obvious, yet missed by most newbie writers.

Many of my readers say it feels like I’m reading their minds. I can ‘read minds’ because I did the dirty and boring work of audience research.

Your ability to do boring work, the stuff you don’t want to do, is the key to building your writing business.

If you’re ready to stop being an amateur, roll up your sleeves and do exactly what I’m about to tell you to do.

Ask Yourself This Question to Come Up With Things to Write About For Your Audience

What keeps your readers up at night? My blogging mentor, Jon Morrow, taught me to ask this question to figure out how to come up with blog post ideas.

A quote from my blogging sensei:

You’ve probably heard you need to profile your prospect, see the story through the eyes of your reader, or do your best to listen to people. But how many of us actually do that?

We write down a few demographic facts about our prospects, or we read a few letters from our readers, or we spend a few minutes listening to a coworker, and we think we understand them.

But we don’t. To really understand people, you need to know what keeps them awake until 2 AM, tossing and turning and unable to sleep.

You want to focus on these two angles when it comes to audience research:

• Fears/frustrations: What keeps your reader up because they’re worried? What bothers them the most? What’s their deepest pain point and most pressing problem?
• Hopes/aspirations: What transformation does your reader want to make? What does their ideal life look like? What are their biggest and most audacious goals?

Use the answers to these questions to come up with things to write about using this framework.

Step 1: Create lists of both fears/frustrations and hope/aspirations

The more detailed and lengthy your list, the more potential blog post ideas you have and the deeper your understanding of the reader becomes.

When I learned this from Jon, he said to write down a list of 20 for each angle. I believe I ended up writing 50 just for good measure.

Phrase them using the word “I” so you see things from the reader’s angle

Examples of fears/frustrations (writing niche):

• I struggle to find things to write about
• I’m afraid I’ll never build a big-enough audience to support my work
• I get writer’s block often when I sit down to write

Examples of hopes and aspirations:

• I want to become a best selling author
• I want an audience of fans who love my work
• I’d love to make a full-time living as a writer

Step 2: Create solutions based on all the above

Headlines are the bedrock for popular articles. If people don’t click on your headlines, they can’t get to your awesome content.

This framework helps you attract readers because your headlines will directly address their needs.

Write a list of solutions and positive outcomes for every fear/frustration and hope/aspiration you wrote down.

Examples:

• I found a topic selection and research system that helps me easily find things to write about
• I discovered a reliable process for attracting and retaining an audience
• Using a mind-map and outline technique, I never wonder what to write about anymore
• I’ve sold 1,000 copies of my book
• I built an email list of 1,000 subscribers who love to read my posts
• I built a full-time business from writing and make a six-figure income

Step 3: Write Headlines Based On Those Solutions and Outcomes

By the end of the process, you’ll have headline ideas that genuinely meet your reader’s needs.

Take the outcomes and solutions and fit them into useful frameworks. My most reliable headline frameworks are how-to posts and listicles.

Beginner writers would do well just to focus on those two headline styles until they get the process nailed down.

Headline examples:

• How to Find Things to Write About: The Ultimate Guide (notice how the idea for this and headline follow the framework)
• The Ultimate Guide to Attracting a Loyal Audience of Readers. This is a post I wrote using this framework
• 7 Proven Techniques to Defeat Writer’s Block Once and For All
• How to Make Money with Kindle Direct Publishing [Case Study]. A guide I wrote for Smart Blogger.
• How to Grow Your Email List to 1,000 Subscribers in 90 Days or Less
• How to Become a Writer and Make a Living With Your Words. Another guide I wrote using this framework.

If you wrote 40 headline ideas based on this exercise, you’d have 40 headlines, which is enough content to last you months.

And we’re just getting started on this guide to coming up with things to write about.

Find Out Where Your Readers Hangout and Steal Their Words

I learned how to create the ‘mind reading’ effect because I took the time to figure out what my readers wanted by spying on them.

I went to where they hung out and watched the words they used to describe their fears/frustrations and hopes/aspirations.

Sometimes, I’d swipe exact phrases and use them in my headlines, copy for emails and sales pages, or inside my blog posts themselves.

Don’t guess. Go to where your readers are and see what they’re saying. Here are some places you can do digging.

Amazon.com

Amazon has the world’s largest bookstore, which makes it an excellent place to hunt for things to write about.

Go to Amazon, search for books in your niche, and read the reviews of popular books.

I prefer to use three-star reviews because they tend to be the most honest and accurate.

Often, five-star reviews come from loyal fans who love everything the author puts out so they’re biased.

One-star reviews are too negative and usually just trash the writer themselves instead of the content.

Three-star reviews are like pros and cons lists. You can use reviews to figure out what’s popular and where the gaps in the market are.

Take this review:

Analyzing this as a writer who talks about self-defeating behaviors, I could glean the following insights:

• Write articles that solve a very specific problem, e.g., how to remove toxic people that harm you from being in your life
• Create articles based on each of the ’10’ things you can learn from self-defeating behaviors using your own unique spin
• Write in-depth tactical guides on mental health issues
• Write an article on ‘signs you exhibit self-defeating behaviors
• Use a direct and to the point style for topic selection & writing, e.g., Simple and Proven steps to solve self-defeating behaviors

This is just a quick and dirty example, but you can use this process to create a deeper understanding of your reader and come up with things to write about at the same time.

Quora.com

Quora is a q&a site for people looking for answers to specific questions. Anybody can post questions and anyone can write answers to those questions.

It’s a perfect place to figure out exactly what’s on your reader’s mind. If you master Quora, you’ll learn how to write about topics people want to read.

That’s exactly what my friend Sean Kernan did. A few years back he started writing on Medium and found success almost instantly.

His ‘internship’ on Quora helped him come up with ideas to write about on Medium and helped him get good at knowing what readers want, period.

He did the work most beginners won’t do. To date, he’s written more than 5,500 answers on the website. All for free, too.

If you want to get good at coming up with things to write about you have to practice relentlessly.

You can’t skip the work.

For a while, I used Quora to source ideas for blog posts by taking the questions people asked and turning the answers into blog posts.

Then, I’d use the question to come up with the headline. I wrote this viral blog post below by answering the question “What are some really small things that tell you a lot about someone?”

Facebook Groups

Facebook groups can help you come up with things to write about because people use these groups to get their problems solved or reach their goals.

Sticking with the writing niche as an example, you could come up with topic ideas by engaging in Facebook groups for writers:

You could look at the posts people make and questions they post to the group. You can also look at the responses people make to posts from the group admin.

Taking it a step further, the best way to use a Facebook group to source content ideas is actually being an engaged member of the group.

Post in the group, ask questions, answer questions from other group members.

Never try to sell your products, pitch services, or promote your own blog in these groups.

Use them for research purposes only and to make real connections with people.

Blog Post Comments

Blog post comments are another way you can swipe the exact phrases your readers use and add them to your writing.

Also, you can source new ideas by making posts based on things your readers say they want to learn more about.

Let’s say you’re blogging on Medium (which all of you should be). You can use the site to find an endless number of comments you can source from because it gets so much traffic.

First, you can read your own comments. Pro tip: add a call to action at the end of your posts that ask readers to comment with ideas they want you to write about.

You can also spy on other top writers and posts in your niche for ideas.

Choose a tag you use frequently for your Medium posts:

Go to the page for that tag:

Find top blog posts for that tag (they’ll have the most comments):

Read the comments and glean insights similar to the way I taught you to do so on Amazon. You can also use the top post themselves as inspiration.

Never plagiarize, but look at things you can swipe like headline structure, topic selection, and post styles that work well.

I could stop right here when it comes to finding things to write about, but this is the ultimate guide to coming up with things to write about so let’s keep going.

Creating a deep understanding of your readers alone will help you easily come up with writing topics, but these tactical tips can take your content research to the next level.

Become a top writer on Medium and make money writing with this free five-day email course.

Create a Go-To Resource For Things to Write About

Most newbies struggle to come up with content ideas because they wait until they sit down to write to come up with an idea.

They tell themselves they’re going to write something that day, but they don’t know what.

Then they just sit there staring at the blank page because they didn’t do any pre-work beforehand.

Pro writers have a headline bank: A list of headline ideas they’ve carefully curated over time.

When they sit down to write, they can choose from a list of ideas they’ve already researched.

Imagine having 100 blog post ideas you really like that are ready to go. Think it would be easier to sit down and write something?

A foundation of ideas + coming up with new ideas daily = a never-ending stream of ideas.

Let’s take a look at some strategies you can use to build your headline bank.

My Favorite Strategy to Come Up With Interesting Things to Write About

I’ve written about this strategy ad nauseam, so I’m just going to steal a description I used in a previous post:

I stole from James Altucher and I’ve mentioned it in several dozen blog posts at this point. It’s worth repeating because it works.

Here’s how the idea machine technique works. Write down ten ideas for blog post headlines every day.

To this day, only two or three of the headline ideas are good. Only one in a handful of sessions is great.

A few have become the seeds for legendary viral posts that built my career. But I never knew when the greatest ideas would come. I just worked at them every day.

The Notecard Strategy

Great writers are great readers.

Reading a lot and reading widely between different subjects feeds your brain with useful information and helps you come up with unique ideas for things to write about.

Problem is, you don’t retain much of what you read.

Enter the notecard strategy. I learned about this technique from best-selling author Ryan Holiday who learned about it from mega best-selling author Robert Greene.

In short, you read a book, highlight insightful quotes/ideas, then write them down on notecards and organize the cards by broader topics.

You can also jot down ideas and insightful quotes you just happen to pick up throughout your day.

Here’s an excerpt from the full post that details the strategy:

As you compile cards and study different things, it’s not uncommon to organically begin coming across unexpected themes. This is how new categories are born.

The 70/20/10 Rule

I learned this technique from Sean Kernan.

Here’s how the 70/20/10 rule works:

• 70 percent of your content should be the subject matter that’s well within your wheelhouse
• 20 percent of your content should be off the wall stuff you’re not used to writing
• 10 percent of your content should be really off the wall, borderline embarrassing to publish

From Sean himself:

Each writer eventually develops a core group of readers, sometimes one or a two, sometimes many more. These people will read most of what we write. They are our VIPs. It’s upon us to ensure we aren’t being too cookie-cutter or going through the motions.

Use Your Catalog to Build Your Catalog

Most writers don’t get much mileage out of their content. They post something once and then never use that post as a resource ever again.

Smart writers use the work they’ve already created to their advantage. Here’s an example from yours truly.

Remember that post I wrote using a Quora answer? It was called 8 Really Small Things That Tell You A Lot About Someone.

I noticed that a bunch of readers loved one point in particular — how people trait retail, waitstaff, and service workers.

Instead of struggling to come up with a viral idea, I took the most popular point from a viral blog post and create a new post focused solely on that point.

This led to me writing One Small Thing That Tells You A Lot About Someone. The title has a similar structure to the viral piece — if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Also, I suspected it would do well because it touched on the favorite item from the previous list. Rarely do I know a post will be a hit, but with this one I did. It worked out exactly the way I thought it would.

Some other ideas for using your catalog to build your catalog:

• Create a case study on a subject you’ve previously written about
• Expand my technique and write a new blog post for every single item you used in a popular listicle
• Take many small blog posts and turn them into an ultimate guide
• Write ten ideas for headlines using the same structure of popular blog posts, e.g., 8 Really Small Habits that Make a Big Difference in Your Life

See how this works? I took a Quora answer, turned it into a viral blog post, and used that viral blog post to create another blog post.

Find things to write about by using what you already wrote.

Use Content Research Technology

There are a bunch of different tools online that can help you come up with ideas for things to write about.

Some tools focus on search engine optimization. Using SEO tools kills two birds with one stone.

You get to find topic ideas that people are already looking for so you know they’re good ideas. And you can get traffic from search engines.

For the remainder of 2022, I’m making a huge bet on SEO. I’ll show you one of my strategies then I’ll point you to other popular resources as well as guides to use them.

I use a software called Ahrefs for SEO research. It’s pricey to some, but it’s also one of the most advanced and useful tools for SEO research.

I used Ahrefs to come up with the idea for this post. Here’s how I did it.

First, I choose a competitor to spy on. I see what they’re ranking for and I (try to) write better versions of their posts.

For this post, I plugged my mentor’s website into the tool:

Next, I used the organic keywords tool to see what words the site ranks for. I used the following filters because I wanted to write something that had a shot at ranking:

• I choose keywords with a maximum keyword difficulty of 40. Any higher than that and I’m competing against sites that have way more authority than I do.
• I choose keywords with no more than 10,000 searches per month. Again, I’ve found this to be a good filter to find words my Medium-sized blog can rank for.
• Then I filter by volume so I can see the ideas with the most potential first

There are a couple of advanced filters I might look into as well, but this process is more than good enough for a beginner.

Here are some guides on using Ahrefs:

• How to Use Ahrefs: 11 Actionable Use Cases for Beginners
• Content Creation: The Complete Guide for Beginners
• Content Explorer: Discover and analyze top-performing content in your niche

There are a few other tools I’ve used before as well that can help you find things to write about:

• Ubersuggest
• Buzz Sumo
• Moz

The Recap + Final Thoughts

If you’ve made it to the end of this post, you now have more than enough information to come up with things to write about.

I taught you how to create a deep understanding of your reader first so you can come up with things to write about later.

I taught you my mentor’s content research question “What keeps your readers up at night?” and his strategy for turning those answers into solutions and finally headlines.

You learned how to use online resources for audience research like Quora, Facebook Groups, Amazon, and Medium.

After gaining a bunch of valuable insights to help you understand your reader, I gave you proven tactics to generate ideas and fill up your headline bank.

And I even through in content marketing research tools that tell you exactly what people want to read.

You have no excuses.

(more…)

Medium.com can help you make cash and build your audience. Get exclusive access to your free five-day email course to become a top Medium writer and make thousands each month.

When I come across a personal narrative essay, nine times out of ten it’s total garbage.

It’s no coincidence that personal narrative essays tend to be the most popular choice for aspiring writers.

I can describe most aspiring writers with a single word — narcissistic.

I’m not piling on to be mean. I do it because it’s important to tell you the truth about what it takes to become a successful writer.

You don’t have to write traditional blog posts and how-to advice. You can write personal narrative essays people love. I know plenty of writers that do.

But you have to do it with the right intentions and the proper mental space, which is why I’m going to spend a bunch of time talking about both before we get into the nuts and bolts of how to write a personal narrative essay.

The Right and Wrong Motivations and Mindsets for Writing a Personal Narrative Essay

It’s not what you do, but how and why you do it.

Often, the content itself comes second to the reasons why you’re creating it. Your readers can see right through you.

Selfish, navel-gazing and mentally masturbatory writing always appear as such. You can fake good intentions. They just have to be there.

First, let’s look at the wrong intentions because removing errors is always the quickest route to success.

You Think You’re Special

There is a huge difference between believing you have value to offer the world through effort and diligence vs. believing you’re special and entitled to success just because you’re you.

I can’t tell you how many aspiring writers I’ve come across have high levels of entitlement with extremely low levels of output. They haven’t even committed to successfully putting pen on paper, but they genuinely believe they deserve success.

Most aspiring writers can’t even see their own arrogance and entitlement, which is why I often spend a lot of time knocking them down a few pegs when I give advice.

You’re not special. At least, the world doesn’t understand that yet. It’s your job to prove it, not the readers’ job to believe it.

You Want to “Document Your Life”

Documenting your life is a critical aspect of writing personal narrative essays — the world personal is in there for a reason — but documenting your life successfully requires you to, you know, have an interesting life.

Or, at least, interesting insights into the life you live. Most aspiring writers craft essays that contain neither important element to it.

Either they tell mundane stories or they have had interesting experiences but the way they write about them is so jumbled and reads so much like a diary entry that it turns readers off.

When I write about myself and inject it into stories, I talk about my experiences in a way that connects with readers, e.g., I’ll write a self-improvement post and talk about my past struggles that led to current successes.

You Suffer From “Hemingway” Syndrome

There is a special group of writers who consider themselves above traditional blogging techniques. They see themselves as ‘artists’ and if readers don’t fall over themselves to appreciate their work, they decide the market doesn’t “get it.”

Well, if you want fans and you want to make money, you have to at least take the market into consideration. These Hemingway syndrome types aren’t esoteric because it’s the natural way to express what they want to write.

They are esoteric for the sake of being esoteric. It comes off as insincere and snobby.

You have an MFA? Awesome.

I’ll go toe to with you by using my self-taught, commercialized, and ‘formulaic’ techniques. I’ll write in your arena and do just as well as you. I have an advantage that you might not have. I learned how to write through the lens of thinking about the reader first.

Now, let’s look into some positive motivations for writing a personal narrative essay.

Your Believe Your STORY is Special

It’s a subtle distinction from believing you’re special. If you have experiences in your life that you believe are genuinely useful to others, then you will write a personal narrative essay that uses your story as a medium for a broader message.

James Altucher is my favorite writer of personal narrative essays. He’s talked about making 15 million dollars and losing 99.99 percent of the money. When I personally lost $100,00 due to gambling on stocks, I re-read his posts to stay sane.

He’s talked about the wreckage in his life that resulted from his mistakes — divorce, strained relationships with his parents, not being there for his kids like he should’ve.

He also talks about how he bounced back from it all. Can you see how that story is useful? Entrepreneurs can relate, so can anyone who’s had major setbacks.

Parents can relate. Divorcees can relate. Anyone who feels like they’re stuck to the floor and can’t get back up can relate. His mantra is ‘advice is autobiography.’ His story is the means to the end instead of the end itself.

You’ve Lived a Truly Interesting Life

Ryan Holiday once wrote an article where he told aspiring writers that, instead of writing more, they should focus on living more.

You can get away with writing about yourself in a selfish way if your stories are so ridiculous and interesting people can’t help but read them.

Elizabeth Gilbert got divorced and traveled the world to find herself. Interesting.

Jordan Belfort went from broke wall street analyst to penny stock peddler to pump and dump scheme millionaire with tales of hookers, cocaine, drunkenly crashing helicopters and a multi-million dollar yacht, and driving home in a Lamborghini high on enough quaaludes to kill multiple people. Ethical? No. Interesting? Hell yeah.

Speaking of Hemingway, the guy had a ton of crazy life experiences as well like serving in World War I, traveling widely for activities like skiing, bullfighting, fishing, and hunting. He lived in various parts of Europe and joined a ‘scene’ of other aspiring writers.

The more unique, interesting, and absurd stories that you can tell and others can’t copy, the more interesting your personal narrative essay will be.

You’re At Least Somewhat Interested in What Readers Think

I’m a big believer in enlightened self-interest. Pure altruism doesn’t exist. Even people like Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King got an emotional payoff for their efforts.

If you have a tendency for some level of self-interest and selfishness, at least be smart about how you use them.

Understand that to get what you want — attention, readers, accolades, the sense that you’re creating truly useful work, feelings of accomplishment, whatever — you have to give people what they want.

There are two types of writers who pull this off. One type, like me, does it intentionally. Others don’t do it intentionally, but they at least put a ton of effort into making their work good, even if it only serves them.

Contrast this with aspiring writers who write personal narrative essays with a sense of entitlement and a lack of diligence.

Now that we’ve covered mindset, let’s cover structure.

How to Write a Personal Narrative Essay That People Actually Want to Read

I’m not an expert on personal narrative essays. You can find much better teachers who will talk about every little nuance, structure, and rhetorical trick in the book.

I focus on the thing that helped me have a successful writing career, which is getting your work out into the world. I prefer to use a basic and structured frame for my writing that ensures I can spit out polished prose relatively quickly.

I’d argue it’s better to focus on, not necessarily prolific daily blogging, but a consistent effort that gets your work out into the world.

In today’s fast-paced writing climate, there seems to be a floor of two essays per week you need to achieve to become relevant. You can slow down after you have an audience, but before that, focus on getting your name out there.

Now let’s take a look at some familiar pieces of advice I’ve given readers over and over again, but bear repeating because hard-headed newbie writers have a hard time listening and following directions.

Create the Map To Traverse the Terrain

Almost every time I have a coaching call with students of my writing course, one student always asks the same question or has the same concern, and I always respond to their question or concern with a question of my own.

“I can’t get the words out of the page. Or, when I do, they come out jumbled and it takes a ton of time to edit.”

I respond “Are you taking the time to carefully map out your ideas before you start to write?”

“Well…no.”

“Don’t I constantly tell you to do this?”

“Well…yeah.”

“But, I just like flow…I like to let the words come to me when they come.”

Well, your process, based on the results you’re getting, sucks. Why would you continue to try a strategy that doesn’t seem to work?

It’s a real head-scratcher for me because I’ve always been the type of person who course corrects when I know something isn’t working.

I come across writers all the time who’ve written hundreds of blog posts, and their total lack of success appears to be a real mystery to them.

Remember the classic definition of insanity…

It feels unnatural to create mind maps and outlines until you practice doing them. Taking time to prep seems like it slows you down, but it speeds you up long-term because you create more polished work consistently.

I’ve already talked about this process at length, so check out these resources for more detailed guidance:

• How to Write An Article Like an Absolute Boss
• How to Write a Blog Post for Beginners (Video)
• How to Write a Great Essay About Anything 

While you’re mapping out your thoughts, keep these useful questions in mind.

Questions to Ask Yourself While Crafting an Outline For Your Personal Narrative Essay

• Who’s it for? Any answer works as long as it’s not ‘everybody’
• What’s the point? Is it pure entertainment? Is it to help your reader overcome a problem? Again, there are many different answers but have an answer
• Would I read this if I weren’t me? This takes a level of brutal honesty and self-awareness that doesn’t come easily, but stepping outside of yourself is crucial.
• Is there a theme/thesis to the story? I’ve told several stories about my life where the theme was something like ‘there are hidden lessons in your setbacks.’
• Do I have an answer to all of the above questions? Run your story idea through that checklist and, again, be honest.

Like I said before, I’m not the utmost expert at writing personal narrative essays, but I have learned some tried and true techniques, methods, and structures that work.

Here’s a rambling list.

The Hero’s Journey

It doesn’t go out of style. From the Alchemist to Harry Potter to the Avengers, this story framework seems to be embedded in our collective consciousness. Here’s my simplified colloquial rendition of this classic storytelling method.

• The lowly and unassuming main character –  Has mostly bumbled through life so far.
• Call to adventure – Something happens that sparks the character into action. A spider bites Peter Parker, Katniss Everdeen sacrifices herself for her sister and joins the hunger games, Doctor Strange loses the ability to use his hands, seeks mystical treatment, discovers he’s meant to become a wizard.
• Rising action – The hero begins the journey. At first, tepidly and rife with mistakes. Eventually, confidence grows and the hero comes closer to reaching the climax, but not without several obstacles along the way.
• Climax – The crescendo moment where the hero is just on the horizon of victory.
• The pull-back – Just when it seems victory is won, the hero(es) is dealt a catastrophic blow that puts them into an improbable situation that seems dire. Thor almost kills Thanos, but he ‘should’ve aimed for the head’ and half the universe dies.
• Victory and the return home – They overcome, win the final battle, or complete the challenge, and return home the victor.

You can use this structure in a single personal narrative essay. I use one repeatedly in my self-help content. I start off broke, hate my job depressed. I get a job that inspires me to begin working on myself and stumble into writing around the same time.

I make progress, and money, but along the way launch products that fail. Just as I start to make real money and build a real audience, my marriage falls apart and I’m suspended from my job because of mistakes made from the stress. I take a sabbatical from work for a month, give full-time writing a sincere shot, and never look back.

“You Understand What It’s Like to be me” Personal Narrative Essays

These are essays where you talk about your life and your experiences intertwine with a specific audience.

Here are some examples from my contemporaries at Medium (and yours truly):

• A Letter From the Fat Person on Your Flight by Your Fat Friend – People who are fat can relate to feelings of being ogled and ostracized for their weight
• I Blew Up My Life Just to Save It After an Evangelical Cult Rewired My Brain by Shannon Ashley – People who grew up with families and communities filled with religious zealots can relate. There are, after all, plenty of em’
• I Made $97k My First Year of Being a Content Creator by Zulie Rane – This post analytically details steps to build a content business, something that many many people want to do. Half personal narrative essay, half how-to guide.
• I Quit my Job to Become a Full-Time Writer by Sean Kernan – Again, tons of aspiring writers wish for this exact outcome. Read it. The prose is just filthy good.
• How I Went From Having $127 in My Checking Account to Building a Six-Figure Business and Living My Dream – My story. I don’t so much give advice. Instead, I share my personal success story and weave tidbits of audience-directed wisdom into the story.

The experiences connect with something readers have gone through or aspire to do.

Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction

This is the category reserved for stories that are so outlandish they’re hard to believe. In this case, you can just write about them and the story will be so good people will just read them all the way through.

Not that people necessarily wrote personal narrative essays about these moments, but random stories that come to mind for me are:

• The guy who got his arm stuck between two boulders and spent 127 hours cutting his arm off with a dull swiss army knife to save his life
• Leah Remini was a star television actress while simultaneously being a member of the Church of Scientology — an organization that drained her finances and exerted tons of control over her life
• Neil Strauss takes on a writing assignment to document the lives of ‘pick up artists’. In the process, Neil himself goes from socially awkward nerd to scoring dates with Victoria’s Secret Models, participating in Orgies, and has orders of magnitude more sex than he did in his pre-pick-up days.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger grows up as a poor kid in Austria. He picks up a bodybuilding magazine and decides he wants to become the world’s greatest bodybuilder. He wins Mr. Olympia six times, while making millions of dollars with a real estate side hustle. He goes on to become not just any old actor, but the highest-paid actor in the world. If that was enough, he runs and wins the highest political position available to a non-U.S. citizen — governor of the largest state in the country.
• Lori Baker, a normal everyday woman who accidentally discovered she was one of the best Tetris players on planet earth — a game she played as a fun hobby. Here’s the story told from her husband’s point of view.

Final Thoughts

By now, you should get it.

I talked about the proper motivations for writing a personal narrative essay. I gave you structures and strategies you can use. I’ve also provided more than enough examples for you to get the gist of what it takes to write words people want to read.

Now, the rest is on you.

Counterintuitively, one of the best ways to successfully write personal narrative essays is to think less about yourself and more about the person on the other side of the screen.

It’s a subtle, but vitally important and career-defining, distinction.

There are two ways you can go about blogging about life.

You can write about your life. Or, you can write about the lives of other people.

There’s a right and wrong way to do both.

Well, they’re not right or wrong, but there are approaches for each style that tend to work and tend not to work.

Allow me to save you a bunch of time and keep you from having one of those ‘ blogging about life’ blogs that gets no traction because it’s boring and uninteresting to the reader.

A General Rule of Thumb For Blogging About Life

Before I dive into the specifics of blogging about life either about yourself or describing others, I want to make one thing clear.

When it comes to your writing, your main goal is to get your reader to feel something. In an age where your writing has to compete, not just with other writing, but all the technology we have available to us, it’s your job to do anything but be boring.

You have to develop the skill of being objective. You have to learn to step outside of yourself and avoid thinking your writing is good just because you wrote it.

It’s a trap I’ve seen aspiring writers fall into over and over and over again. They feel entitled to views and an audience because they worked hard on their post.

The readers always decide. If your writing falls flat with them, look in the mirror. I like to ask myself the same question when I’m done with a post:

Would I want to read this if I wasn’t me?

I’ll dive into the specifics of how to fix that if the answer is ‘no’ but it’s a test you should use for everything you create.

Let’s break down both ways to blog about life and learn ways to keep your readers hooked regardless of the style you choose.

How to Write About Yourself (the Right Way)

Writing about yourself is harder than writing about the lives of other people. Well, it’s not harder to write. People can easily ramble off random details of their life.

It’s harder to get people to read your stuff if you write about yourself.

It’s hard to write about yourself successfully because you probably think your life is more interesting than it actually is because it’s interesting to you.

If you want your personal stories to resonate with readers, here are some tips to keep in mind:

• Your stories have to have a theme that readers can relate to. I use this example all the time, but Eat, Pray, Love isn’t about Elizabeth Gilbert, it’s about the urge to break out of a domesticated box and explore, find yourself, and go on an adventure.
• Your readers have to see themselves in your story. Tell stories about your life that are situations people have been in. There’s a subtle difference between telling a story about your life and writing what equates to a journal entry.
• Your attitude and intention really matter the most. I can sense when writing is just navel-gazing and when it isn’t. I can feel it and it comes across. If you write your stories for selfish reasons like ‘it’s just cathartic’ people will be able to tell.

Let’s break down some examples. Take some time to read through the articles and understand my analysis of them.

No, like, actually do it. So many aspiring writers ask me for advice, I give them work to do that will help them understand, they don’t do it, and then they wonder why they’re stuck.

If you’re not willing to do the work and be a student of the game, you’ll fail. If your attention span is too short to go through these examples and read the source material, I have to question how bad you want to be a writer.

Don’t let me down.

There are a lot of different ways you can go about blogging about life. These examples will give you an idea of how to successfully do it yourself.

On Dying, Mothers, and Fighting For Your Ideas by Jon Morrow

Jon Morrow taught me most of what I know about blogging. He’s an expert at blogging about life and reading this post will prove it.

Jon was diagnosed with a neuromuscular disorder called spinal muscular atrophy. The doctor gave him two years to live. His mom didn’t give up on John and did everything in her power to fight to keep him alive.

One of my favorite lines from the piece:

Over the next 16 years, I had pneumonia 16 times. But I never died. It sounds strange to say it, but my mother wouldn’t let it happen.

The post goes on to talk about how Jon fought for his spot in the world just like his mother fought for him. He’s now in his 30’s and owns a multi-million dollar blogging education company. In the end, he connects the story of fighting for his life with fighting for your ideas, your metaphorical children.

The One Small Thing My Wife Does That Gets Me Every Time (Love is Water) by Michael Thompson

Michael Thompson is one of my favorite fellow writers on Medium. He’s definitely a quality over quantity type of guy, which is why pretty much all of his posts are smashing hits.

The story opens with a line that everyone in the entire world can relate to:

It was the fourth week of quarantine when my wife began to cry.

You don’t even have to ask why she’s crying. You don’t know the details, but you get it. The story goes on to talk about her father, who was very active and loved doing outdoor activities. Turns out, one of his hiking buddies died of co-vid. The fifth family friend that had passed.

Amidst the sadness and stress of the pandemic, they both try to go about their days. Both are filled with thoughts about life, death, aging, all of it — things most of us reflected on during these crazy times as well.

He gets ready for bed. He’s thirsty and reaches for an empty glass on his nightstand, or so he thought. It’s already full. Amidst stressful and sad times, his wife made sure to make a little gesture that shows she has his back no matter what.

“Love is water”

Why James Chartrand Wears Women’s Underpants by James Chartrand

The title alone is intriguing, right?

You sorta have to read the post and figure out what’s going on.

James Chartrand runs Men With Pens, a writing education company. James made his way up the ranks as a profitable freelancer with one little tweak.

He stopped using his real name. James Chartrand is a woman. She wasn’t making much money as a freelance writer but noticed her male colleagues were making a lot more for the same quality work.

Again, I’m keen on pointing out blogging techniques that work well. Check out this introduction:

You know me as James Chartrand of Men with Pens, a regular Copyblogger contributor for just shy of two years.

And yet, I’m a woman.

This is not a joke or an angle or an analogy — I’m literally a woman.

This is my story.

With the deadly two-punch combo of the headline and introduction, you have to keep reading the damn post.

She switched her name to James and…voila.

She charged more for her services and no one balked. Negotiating suddenly became much easier. Her ratings and reputation shot through the roof. It’s a story about personal struggle, sexism, and having your back against the wall — all themes people can relate to or have experienced.

For women, it confirmed their life experiences. And, hopefully, it opened up the eyes of men. It definitely did for me.

How Minimalism Brought Me Freedom and Joy by James Altucher

James Altucher is a model example of how to write about yourself in a way that’s interesting to other people. Out thing that stands out about him is his brutal self-reflection and candor. He’s willing to share the worst moments of his life freely.

This one isn’t that harsh, but it’s one of my favorite posts he’s ever written. First, he connects his story with a popular topic. Minimalism is very trendy these days.

Throughout his post and all of his writing, he just talks about what works for him instead of just giving people advice. I’ve dubbed the technique he uses at the ‘story hook opener.’ You open with a story about yourself that’s interesting and end with the recommendations.

Again, since I’m trying to drill these techniques into your head, here’s the opening:

I have one bag of clothes, one backpack with a computer, iPad, and phone. I have zero other possessions.

Today I have no address […..]Am I minimalist? I don’t know. I don’t care. I don’t like that word. I live the way I like to live no matter what label it has.

He goes on to answer questions people may have about minimalism and his lifestyle choices.

I love some of the lines he uses when answering the question “Does minimalism mean having few emotional attachments?”

• Love is minimalism. Desire, possession, and control are not minimalism.
• When I [gossip] I feel like I am carrying those people in my backpack. So the more I gossip, the heavier my baggage is.
• “Why did they do this?” or “Why is this happening to me?” won’t fit in my one bag.

What It’s Like to Be That Fat Person Sitting Next to You on the Plane

This post comes from a writer named “Your Fat Friend” – another Medium writer with the ability to blog about life in a way that makes you want to read about it.

Again, look at the headline. Intrigue, empathy, and real raw emotion are packed into one line. I’ve never been obese. I won’t lie and act like I never discounted the opinions of fat people because I have.

Her stories, particularly this one, helped me question some of my assumptions and give me a much better understanding of what life is like for fat people. So those in her situation can literally relate to this exact situation and those who are on the other end of the story get a lens into what it’s like to be fat.

The story opens with her boss asking her to take a trip for work. She’s filled with anxiety:

I will have to get on a plane. And I am fat.

Before the flight lands, I begin thinking of the return flight. I try to be present with friends & family, try to prep for my work meeting. I use every tool I’ve got to manage my anxiety, my butterfly beating heart and shallow breath and tight shoulders. Despite that, I don’t sleep soundly for days.

Blogging About the Lives of Others

There are two different ways you can blog about life without writing your story. You can either write stories about other people or educate people with advice articles.

I won’t spend a ton of time talking about how to write stories about other people. A lot of the same rules apply. That being said, here are some different styles to think about and things I’ve seen work really well on blogging platforms like Medium:

• Historical tales or biographical accounts
• Case studies, e.g., how someone successfully started a company
• Cultural critiques

I’ve linked to a quality example of reach. Read those too. That is…if you’re serious about having a writing career.

For the rest of this post, I’m going to talk about blogging about life in the form of giving advice. It’s what I do. It’s usually what you have to do if you want to create a business from your writing.

It can be done. But you have to be able to give life advice that doesn’t suck.

It can be a steep hurdle to climb. You’ll likely run into some of these problems.

Problems You’ll Run Into Giving Life Advice

• Your instincts might lead you to think “Who the hell are you to give advice? You don’t have your shit together enough to tell other people to do.
• You might run into impostor syndrome if you feel you don’t have the right credentials
• It’s very easy to write from a pedestal and come across as judgemental if you’re not careful
• Every piece of advice under the sun has already been given. None of your ideas will be original
• Most people in the blogging space sound exactly the same. Unless you create a signature style, you’ll fade into the abyss of mediocre writers
• Every field is saturated. No one needs another self-help blogger, fitness blogger, or dating advice blogger

How do you overcome all of these hurdles?

Here’s my thought process and how I did it.

Find Your Signature Style

This takes some time. You have to write a lot to find your voice. But, over time, you’ll develop an intuitive sense of different little themes and techniques.

A good question you can ask yourself:

What can you do in the space that most other writers aren’t doing?

I noticed a lot of other self-help writers would pull punches. I could tell they had a deeper truth they wanted to talk about, but they wouldn’t say it. They let politically correct culture box them in. I don’t.

I also juxtaposed my style against a lot of writing I felt used kid gloves when talking to their readers. I went the opposite direction and focused on being as brutally honest as possible, exposing all the cold harsh realities of the world.

A lot of self-help writers are pretentious stiff productivity robots. I sprinkle in sarcasm, dark humor, and even the occasional F-bomb.

As far as the style itself goes, I went for a tight and punchy vibe. I like my words to pop like the sound of a drum. Play around with different styles and think about ways to make yourself stand out.

Create a Deep Understanding of Your Reader

I dedicated an entire section of my blogging course to audience research for a reason. The more you know about your readers upfront the easier it is to blog about life in a way that resonates with them.

The two main variables to focus on are their:

• Fears and frustrations
• Hopes and aspirations

For their fears and frustrations, I like to twist the knife and agitate their problems, then provide my work as a solution. Most writers know to do this, but they don’t get deep and specific enough.

Instead of saying something like “You’re afraid to quit your job and start a business” you can say “You’re afraid that if you start that business and fail, you’ll realize your parents were right when they said, or implied, you were the type of person who always starts but never finishes anything.”

For their hopes and aspirations, paint the picture for them. I like to use the word ‘imagine’ a lot because it puts them in the future mentally.

Again, I try to be specific. So instead of saying something like “Imagine what it would be like to write full-time” I might say something like “Imagine what it would feel like to finally have the book you’ve dreamt of writing about in your hands — sitting there smelling the fresh and familiar smell of a new book combined with the deep satisfaction that it’s yours.

Knock Yourself off the Pedastal

Here’s the easiest way to answer the question “Who the hell are you to give advice?” both for yourself and the readers. Avoid writing from your ivory tower like you’re perfect. Don’t be the type of person who just spits out advice without any context.

I can’t tell you exactly how to do this, but here are the things I’ve done:

• Context: I try to account for people’s circumstances and understand nothing I say is a one size fits all solution
• Examples: I often make sure to give examples from my personal life that show how I’ve personally implemented the advice instead of just telling people what to do
• Suggestions: Instead of saying you must live a certain way, I make suggestions and highly educated guesses. When I’m really not sure if a strategy will work out, I’ll just say that. There are general patterns to what works and I talk about those patterns instead of just saying ‘follow my bulletproof 10 steps to success.’
• I Talk Shit: Sometimes I crack inappropriate jokes, curse, or throw in shades of humor just so readers know I’m not some A.I. robot spitting out self-help advice
• I Remain a Student: Most of the advice I give either comes from something I’ve overcome or am currently working on. In a lot of ways, I’m writing to myself and we’re both learning together. I never pretend to know it all because I don’t.

Now You’re Ready to Blog About Life

Blogging about life is fun because life is interesting.

Even the most mundane lives have crazy moments. We all share a similar set of emotions. As a writer, it’s your job to tap into those emotions and highlight the moments that make life interesting.

An audience-driven approach works best, even if you’re writing about yourself. Your writing is about them, not you, even if you’re writing about yourself.

If you can remember that, you have a shot at making this blogging thing work.

Most people take a stab at amateur blogging with the hopes of turning it into a full-time writing career.

99 percent of the people who try amateur blogging never ‘turn pro’ and create something that can actually become a business. Instead, they flail around and write their little hearts out for a bit and eventually quit.

There’s nothing wrong with blogging as a hobby. In fact, it’s something everyone should do. Having a place to store your thoughts has a bunch of benefits both tangible and intangible:

• Blogging teaches you how to think
• Blogging can help you make connections with smart people who love your work
• As career expert Penelope Trunk says, blogging is an excellent career tool
• At a minimum, blogging can help you become more creative and explore ideas that interest you
• In 2022, your digital portfolio is the new ‘business card’ or ‘resume’

But most people start blogging with the intent to eventually turn it into a mini-empire. If you’re one of those people, this article will show you the amateur blogging mistakes to avoid and give you the tools, insights, and strategies you need to turn pro.

I’m going to break down everything you need to become one of the rare people who gets to make a full-time living from their words.

First, let’s take a look at some amateur blogging mistakes that will get in your way of success.

Amateur Blogging Mistake #1 – Treating Your Blog Like Your Personal Journal

90 percent of writers make this mistake, so I have to mention it in every single article I write about writing.

If you want to stay an amateur blogger, make no money, and have little to no people read your writing, then there’s nothing wrong with sharing your random musings and writing blog posts with random stories and details about your life.

If you want to build an audience and turn your writing into a business, you need to write for an audience.

Look at it from the reader’s perspective. Anytime you sit down to write something, you have to ask yourself why anyone other than you would want to read what you’re about to post.

Would you want to read stories about someone you don’t know, seem to have no expertise to share, and choose topics that are of no interest to you?

Exactly.

Yet writers seem to have this blind spot when it comes to their audience. If you want to be successful, you have to find the intersection between what you want to write about and what other people to read. Also, if you want to make money, you have to choose a topic that can lead to someone buying something from you.

This brings me to the next amateur blogging mistakes.

Mistake # 2 – Picking the Wrong Niche

You don’t have to pick one single niche to write about and never switch your topics up, ever, but it’s important to choose topics that are viable.

So what makes a topic viable?

• There are already other writers successfully writing about that topic. You’re not so original that no one has thought about your topic before
• There are other writers who have made money writing about that topic by creating products based on it or earning money on paid writing platforms like Medium, Substack, Newsbreak, or Vocal media
• The niche is wide enough that there’s a readership but narrow enough that you’re not trying to write for everyone at the same time

In this article I wrote about how to choose a writing topic and stick with it, I listed out some of the common niches people successfully blog about. If your potential idea doesn’t fit one of these categories, it might be time to go back to the drawing board.

• Self-improvement
• Parenting
• Personal finance
• Creativity
• Business & entrepreneurship
• Marketing
• Social media & blogging
• Freelancing
• Careers
• Technology
• Current events, news, and politics
• Travel
• Personal essays

There are some variations that work well, but these are the broad categories.

Mistake # 3 – Worrying About Irrelevant Details

Your number one priority as a blogger is getting words onto the page consistently. Without building a catalog of work, you can’t build an audience big enough to support your dreams.

It takes time, effort, and consistency to build a foundation that helps you get traffic, fans, email subscribers, and name recognition to stand out in a sea of average writers.

Too many amateur bloggers worry about things that don’t matter in the grand scheme of it all. They focus on little things that don’t matter and miss the bigger picture.

Things like:

• Having a super fancy website. Just get your blog set up over a weekend and run with it
• Domain name. Just pick one that doesn’t suck. Or just use your name
• Writing the perfect about page
• Choosing the best software.
• Advanced topics like SEO, ads, and long marketing funnels.

Mistake # 4 – Trying to Blog Without a System

If you want to fail as a blogger, just ‘wing it.’

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked an aspiring writer about their process and they’ll say that they write when they feel like it. They say they write about whatever random idea pops in their head and just freestyle their content stream of consciousness style.

If you want to become a successful blogger, you need a system to:

• Consistently come up with ideas for blog posts
• Write and edit posts from start to finish without major lapses
• Build and scale your audience

I’ll talk about those soon, but just know that going from amateur blogger to pro requires you to do some pre-work before you sit down to write. In my blogging course, I have an entire section dedicated to research because the more you do upfront, the easier it is to consistently publish quality work that people want to read.

Without a system, you’ll burn out and quit.

Speaking of quitting, let’s talk about the biggest amateur blogging mistakes of them all.

Mistake #5 – Quitting When Things Get Hard

I can’t believe I actually read this sentence, but I did.

I was looking at posts in a Facebook group for Medium writers and one of them had a complaint about the progress of their writing career.

They were upset that they weren’t getting the money and readership they deserved after they had written…

…three articles…

If you want to become a pro blogger, you’re going to have to write something more like 300 articles.

People always ask me my ‘secret’ to success. How did I become a good writer? How did I learn to make a six-figure income from words?

I’ve been writing every single day for seven years.

There’s your secret. Not only that, but I had to learn a bunch of skills along the way like managing WordPress, writing email copy, blog outreach, and all of the little writing techniques I use to create persuasive work.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I always tell people, blogging for a living isn’t the most efficient or profitable way to make money online. It’s hard to pull off.

If you have an entitled attitude, you’ll fail, period. Don’t let the road ahead overwhelm you, but you’ll have to put years into the process to get it to work.

Now that we have the mistakes out of the way, let’s break down how to go from some who does amateur blogging to a seasoned pro.

Step 1 – Choose a Writing Topic to Begin Your Blogging Journey

Like I said, you don’t have to stick with one single topic forever, but if you don’t have a writing habit yet, it makes sense to choose something to run with for a trial period. 90 days is a good start.

I’ll steal a section from my free email course to show you how the process might look:

Answer the questions below. Once you’ve answered them, I want you to use those answers to come up with five ideas for topics you can write about.

What’s something others find difficult that you think is easy?

Example: I can write 1,000 words in 30 minutes.

What do you find yourself talking about with friends to the point you won’t shut up?

Example: I’m always talking about ways to create a life based on your strengths and coming up with unique solutions to create freedom and income.

What type of books do you love to read?

Example: I love books about entrepreneurship, self-help, health, psychology, creativity, and eastern philosophy.

What have you thought about choosing a subject?

Example: Profiles of 19th-century business tycoons, personal development for millennials, book marketing for aspiring authors, how to start a yoga practice, copywriting for businesses.

Use the answers to those questions to come up with 5 promising topics you could write about (if you can’t narrow down to 5 it’s okay to add more)

Example:

• Personal development
• Entrepreneurship
• Writing tips
• Mindfulness and meditation
• Profiles of 19th-century business tycoons

I want you to order the topics you chose from 1-5. 1 being the one you’d enjoy writing about most and 5 the one you’d enjoy least out of the group.

Next, I want you to order them from 1-5 in terms of how popular you think they are with readers.

How do you figure out which topics will resonate with readers?

I think you’re smart, and you know intuitively, but there are some questions and metrics you can use to answer the questions.

Can this form of writing be used to make a product?

There are several products based around “becoming a better writer,” and there aren’t very many products aside from books that can be made around “19th-century business tycoons.”

Why would anyone other than you care to read this?

Many people dream of becoming popular writers and published authors. I dreamed of doing it for six years before I started. I’m sure people love to learn about history, but the level of care is lower than people who want to build writing careers.

Which type of writing speaks to people’s needs and wants?

Using my example, people definitely want to learn about entrepreneurship, writing tips, and personal development. Mindfulness and meditation are on the rise, but still not quite as popular. 19th-century business tycoons come in last.

You can use tools like Google search, Amazon, and Quora if you need to do some extra digging.

After you’ve ordered your 5 topics in terms of how much you’d love to write about them and how popular you think they are, combine the scores

Whichever one is the highest can be the topic you choose to start with.

In my paid program, I go deep into the details of audience research so that you will be absolutely certain you have a topic that works.

Step 2 – Set Up Your Blog

Do you still need your own personal blog in 2022?

After all, there are free platforms like Medium and Substack you can use to publish your articles for free.

Here’s my argument for why it’s still important to have a blog:

• Platforms come and go. You should never put 100 percent of your faith in them
• Having a place to store all of your content ensures that you can retain all your work
• If someone Google’s your name, it’s still impressive to see your name pop up
• When you get more advanced, having a personal blog is great for using traffic techniques like SEO
• With a website, you can do things you can’t on platforms like Medium like displaying a list of your books and products you have for sale (which will happen down the road as you monetize)

Don’t overthink this. Here’s an article you can use to start a blog in 10 minutes for less than $5.

Step 3 – Sign Up for an Email Service Provider to Build Your List

You should start building your email list from day one. I made a huge mistake and waited for a year before I started collecting emails.

Don’t listen to the noise. Email marketing is still the best strategy you can use to build your blogging empire.

An email list helps you:

• Send traffic to new articles
• Go deeper with your audience
• Sell to them

And that’s the way you want to go about it. First, use your list to get people hooked on your work. Next, use your emails to provide the additional value they can’t find on your blog. After you’ve gotten your audience to like you a bit and you’ve taught them something, sell to them.

Building an email list is simple:

• Sign up for a service provider like Convertkit
• Create a lead magnet: something you can exchange for an email sign up
• Build a landing page to collect emails and set it up to deliver your lead magnet
• Add a link to your landing page at the end of your articles with a call to action, e.g., ‘get my free guide’

Now, if you’re really savvy and can execute quickly, I would add these suggestions too:

• Create a tripwire product: this is a simple and inexpensive product you create to get your audience used to being sold to. It can be something as simple as a short e-book. Here’s an article that goes deep on the process.
• Write a welcome series: a welcome series helps your audience get to know you. It starts with educational emails and ends with emails where you try to sell your tripwire. Here’s an article that goes deep on the process.
• Add pop-ups to your website: like them or not, pop-ups work. I use the Sumo pop up tool for both of my sites

Step 4 – Create a Medium Account

For the uninitiated, Medium is a website you can use to get traffic for your email list and get paid at the same time.

Medium has a Partner Program that pays you based on read-time from members who pay $5/month to read content behind Medium’s paywall.

Medium allows you to republish content you’ve written elsewhere so there’s zero reason to not post there.

Once you have your Medium account setup, your process would look like this:

• Write and publish an article on your personal blog
• Copy and paste the content onto Medium and publish it
• Once you publish the article, go to the settings and give credit to your original article through a canonical link

Don’t worry about the jargon. Canonical just means you’re telling search engines where the original article is. This is good for SEO because links that go to your Medium articles will get credited to your website.

Here are some resources that go into more depth on how to succeed on Medium:

• How to Use Medium Partner Program to Make a Living Writing (Video)
• How to Make Money on Medium: The Ultimate Guide (Blog Post)
• Tips to Succeed on Medium (From Someone Who’s Actually Done It)
• How Beginners Can Make Money Writing On Medium (Video)

I’ve made six figures just from Medium income alone. It’s a great tool to make money and help you build your writing business.

Step 5 – Create Your System

This is the exact system I’ve used for years to build my body of work.

Steal it. Use it verbatim.

Idea Generation

First, you want to have a steady stream of ideas for what to write about. My primary strategy is writing 10 ideas for articles every single day. This strategy teaches you how to write persuasive headlines that people want to read.

In the beginning, you might want to spend a chunk of time coming up with a bunch of ideas so you have a reserve list ready to go. Every day, I write down 10 ideas, and I store the ones I like in a Google Doc called ‘headlines.’

Here are some other resources that talk about good ways to come up with ideas for posts:

• The One Hour Content Plan
• 17 Untapped Ways to Find New Content Ideas
• How to Come Up with 93 Blog Ideas in 10 Minutes

You want to reach a point where you have a headline bank full of ideas so you have something to work with every single time you write.

Create a Ritual

Before I get into the writing process itself, what I’m about to say next is crucial. If you don’t get this part right, you’ll fail.

You need to create a ritual. Write at the same time, in the same place, for the same duration.

When I had a job, I woke up at 5 a.m. to write for an hour in my office before I went to work. These days, I wake up and go to the same coffee shop to write.

A ritual helps you make writing a habit. It removes the need to think about what to do next. You know what to do, when you’re going to do it, and where.

Rituals and systems are key to success in every area of life, not just writing.

The Writing Process

At the beginning of my session, I write down 10 new ideas. I’ll look at the ideas from the previous day and add the ones I like to my headline bank.

I choose an idea to run with for the day that I feel like writing. Since I have so many ready to go, there’s always something to work with.

I don’t use this exact ritual anymore, but it’s great for beginners:

• Mindmap your article – Take a notebook, write your headline in the middle, create branches off of it with sub-topics, create branches off of the sub-topics for the content you’re going to put in each section
• Create a formal outline – Look at your scribbling to see what parts of the piece look good and create a document that has everything in the article laid out beforehand with bullet points.
• Shitty first draft – The goal of your first draft is to get your first draft done. That’s it. No judgment. Use this article for tips on getting drafts done fast.
• Three-step edit – Do no more than three edits of your draft. The first one is the heavy lift, the second one tidies it up, the third one adds relevant quotes, links, anecdotes, and wraps everything up in a bow.
• Publish – Publish it to your site, copy it over to Medium, and add your call to action at the end.

Tying It All Together

In this single blog post, I just showed you an entire system you can use to go from amateur blogging to pro.

You know what to write about. You have your websites and email tools ready to go.

Each day, you go through your ritual.

Want to know something crazy? I have this process so dialed in that I wrote this article from start to finish in two and half hours without any pre-work. It just came out of my brain straight onto the page. Mostly polished prose from the jump. I’m not lying.

If you want to get freaky good, follow my system.

As you write and publish work, people sign up to your list, go through your funnels, and even buy from you.

A well-oiled machine ready to go.

I was going to go deeper into other lanes like monetization, but I’ll save that for later.

If you’re a beginner, you can literally run this system for 90 days to 6 months and get awesome results.

No excuses now.

Go.

Some of these blogger books talk directly about what it takes to build a successful blog. Others on the list give you the motivation and inspiration you need to stay the course in your writing career.

All of the books are packed with wisdom and will help you thrive if you follow through with the information. Let’s take a look at some of the best blogging books for 2023.

You Are a Writer (So Act Like One) by Jeff Goins

Jeff Goins wrote You Are a Writer to help aspiring writers feel like real writers. A lot of beginners feel like they have to have a certain set of credentials or a massive body of work to feel like they’re a writer.

But as Jeff will tell you in his book, if you write, you’re a writer. I followed Jeff early on in my writing career and the insights and motivation I got from his work helped me stay the course in the early days where I felt like quitting.

Some people scoff at the idea of blogging and say it’s not real art, but art is subjective. Jeff considers his writing to be art and so do I.

You can write words that move people in the form of a blog post. You can use traditional blogging techniques and still create unique and interesting stories people want to read.

This book teaches you how to do just that and it also comes with a bunch of practical recommendations for building a successful blog and growing your audience.

Real Artists Don’t Start by Jeff Goins

In Jeff’s fifth book, he debunks the idea that you have to starve to be successful at your craft. Again, he’s going against the pretentious mindset a lot of writers and other artists have.

Some will say having commercial success makes you a sellout, Jeff argues that commercial success is the key to creating great art.

You make money so you can make more art.

If you want to become a successful blogger, you have to treat it like a business. Your words are the product. You should do everything in your power to promote your work if you believe in the message you’re sending.

In the book, he talks about how a bunch of different successful artists used patronage, fans, to fund their work and it also gives a bunch of recommendations for building your platform like collaborating with other artists, ‘stealing like an artist,’ and building a tribe that supports your work.

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

While it’s not strictly a blogger book, the War of Art is a must-read for anyone who’s trying to build a successful creative career. The number one thing that kills your chances of becoming a successful blogger is the thing that kills most dreams, period.

Pressfield calls it ‘the resistance.’ Instead of using a beginning term like ‘self-doubt’, he talks about the resistance as this evil, insidious, omnipresent demon that tries to stop you from doing the work you know you’re meant to do.

It takes many forms — the negative self-talk in your head, societal programming, your friends and family trying to cast doubt on your future. If you’re trying to build a blogging career, you’re very familiar with the resistance.

Building a career as a full-time blogger is a bit delusional, and the resistance will remind you of that fact constantly. The only way to defeat the resistance is to sit down and do the work. Doesn’t matter whether or not the work is good. It only matters that you did it.

Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield

Turning Pro is the second book in a series of books designed to help creative professionals thrive. It’s a bit repetitive and it does go over a lot of the material in The War of Art, but trust me, you’re going to need all the motivation you can get so a little layering doesn’t hurt.

If you want to be a successful blogger, you have to turn pro. Turning pro means you stop treating your blog like a hobby and start treating it like you would any other profession. You don’t debate with yourself about whether or not you’re going to go to your real job. Your blog should be no different.

If you want a successful writing career, you have to wake up and work on your craft like a pro every single day. No excuses. I love Pressfield’s books because he just has a way of writing really motivational prose that gets you fired up to do the work. Grab both books. They’re worth the money.

The One Hour Content Plan by Meera Kothand

The book provides exactly what it says in the title. After reading it, you’ll be able to literally come up with a year’s worth of content in an hour. Meera is known for her straightforward blogging and business advice.

This book contains zero fluff and walks you through exactly what you need to do if you’re stuck on coming up with ideas for what to write about.

It covers different topics like:

• Clearly defining the purpose of your blog
• 3 unique methods for choosing blog topics
• 5 unique types of content people love to read
• Critical elements to include in each blog post
• How to truly understand your audience’s needs

The book only costs $4.99 for the kindle version. It’s an absolute steal.

The Blog Startup by Meera Kothand

This blogger book teaches you how to build an actual business with your blog.

A lot of bloggers just start writing their little hearts out without having an actual plan for how they’re going to monetize their work. This leaves them spinning their wheels and ultimately ending up with a hobby that makes next to nothing, or just nothing.

Again, it’s another straightforward and highly pragmatic book that teaches a ton of valuable lessons like:

• Figuring out which monetization techniques will actually work for your blog
• How to position yourself properly and stand out among the competition
• How to create a blog launch plan that sets you up for success from day one.

Again, this is another kindle book that’ll cost you less than a meal at Chipotle and has a ton of valuable insights. Hell, it’s a good idea to just visit her author page and grab every title she’s ever written.

Published: The Proven Path From Blank Page To 10,000 Copies Sold by Chandler Bolt

Most bloggers end up wanting to write a book. If you’re looking to write a book, Chandler Bolt is the best person to teach you how to do it. I’ve taken a bunch of online courses over the years, Self-Publishing School is, by far, the best one I’ve ever taken.

It gives you a step-by-step roadmap to writing, publishing, and promoting your book. The course has one of the highest success rates I’ve ever seen. When I took it, more than 90 percent of the students in the program successfully published a book.

If you want to write a book, you have to go out of your way to fail using Chandler’s methods. They’re that simple. The book covers a lot of the concepts that he teaches in the program itself.

If you’re looking for an inexpensive high-level overview, it’s perfect for you. Yes, you’ll probably be upsold to take the course, but it’s actually worth the money. To date, I’ve made a literal 100x return on my investment in buying that program.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

If you want to become a successful blog, you have to learn how to persuade people. Influence is the best book on persuasion I’ve ever read.

It talks about different cognitive biases we have and teaches you both how to use them to influence others and spot when others are trying to influence you.

Here’s the thing, if you have a message you believe in you should do everything in your power to get people to read it, including using subtle techniques that play on their psychology.

If you want to have an actual career as a writer, you have to sell, market, and persuade. You have to understand the minds of your readers so you can get them to do what you want. I learned a lot of the persuasive techniques I use in my writing directly from this book — from reciprocity to social proof to commitment consistency.

They help me attract new readers and successfully sell products to build my writing business. The book will help you do the same thing.

The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr

If you want people to read your work, it’s important to use clear and concise language. The Elements of Style teaches you techniques to make your content more readable.

My favorite technique from the book: omit needless words.

Here’s a sample of lessons from the book:

1. Place yourself in the background
2. Write in a way that comes naturally
3. Work from a suitable design
4. Write with nouns and verbs
5. Revise and rewrite
6. Do not overwrite
7. Do not overstate
8. Avoid the use of qualifiers
9. Do not affect a breezy manner
10. Use orthodox spelling

It goes deeper into explanations of each and the entire book doesn’t use a single word or sentence that doesn’t need to be there. You can breeze right through it.

Your Move: The Underdog’s Guide to Building Your Business

Ramit Sethi runs a website called Iwillteachyoutoberich.com. Far from a gimmick, it’s one of the most useful personal finance and entrepreneurship blogs you can find.

With more than 30,000 satisfied customers and a ton of successful students, the results he’s been able to help people get through blogging are undeniable.

The book talks about how to build information product businesses. A lot of bloggers use information products to build a business from their writing based on the insights they share in their work.

It goes over topics like:

• How to know whether or not your business idea is profitable
• The truth about what it really takes to make ‘passive income’
• How to find your first handful of customers as soon as possible

Ramit uses no-fluff writing, sarcastic humor, and highly actionable tips that make the book a useful, entertaining, and actionable read.

Buy These Blogger Books and Thrive

Here’s what you should do next. Buy either one or a couple, of these blogger books and follow their recommendations to the letter. If you actually follow the methods they teach, you will have a blog that makes money and scratches your creative itch at the same time.

Information on its own isn’t enough. You still have to do the work. But these resources are an excellent start. Have any other blogger books you enjoy? Leave them in the comments below.

Most beginner writers kill the chances of their article’s success before they pen a single word. If you get the headline wrong, your article is toast.

Many writers treat headlines like an afterthought when they are the most important piece of your blog posts. No one clicks, no one reads.

“But I don’t want to write click-bait.” Fine, have fun with no audience and zero chance to make a living with your writing.

You don’t have to write headlines like “10 Easy Ways to Make Millions Like Elon Musk” but you do have to master the subtle art of writing catchy headlines people want to click on.

Here are three super-quick tips to help you.

People Don’t Buy Drills, They Buy Holes

It’s important that your headline communicates the outcome you’re going to provide.

Don’t just tell them what the article is about, communicate what the article will do for them. A few things your headline could communicate about your article:

• It solves a problem
• It helps the reader live up to an aspiration
• It’ll quell the readers fear
• Your reader will be entertained
• It will transform the reader

Bad headline: Musings on my Trip to South America

Good headline: 3 Unusual Ways Traveling Makes You a Better Person

You could use your traveling story as examples to create useful points that help people instead of writing about yourself in a self-serving way. Make sense?

Do the Dirty Work First, Reap the Rewards Later

It’s easier to write headlines that provide outcomes when you know what your reader actually wants.

In my blogging course, I emphasize doing audience research upfront to help you figure out who you’re writing for and what they want so you can get in their heads.

You want your readers to feel like you’re reading their minds.  A headline that taps into the reader’s thoughts will give you the framework you need to write the article itself, which further boosts the effect.

But how do you figure out what your reader wants so you can write headlines that match? Try this exercise.

Write down 10 things your reader is afraid of or frustrated with. Write down 10 things they aspire to be or hope to have. Next, write down outcomes that solve those problems and frustrations or help your reader achieve those aspirations. Those outcomes create the basis for your headline.

Let’s walk through an example.

Fear/frustration: “I can never finish drafts of my articles. I always get stuck while writing them and never feel like they’re good enough to publish.”

Solution: Use mind-maps, outlines, and a simple editing system to finish articles.

Headline: Use This Simple Three-Step System to Publish Articles Fast (Even If You Always Get Stuck)

The One Piece of Advice I Keep Giving Until I’m Blue in the Face

Every month I have a coaching call with my students where we review strategies and I answer their questions. In every single call, I repeat the basic steps required for success because new students always struggle with mastering the basics.

They want to avoid them and skip to the good stuff — advanced strategies. And I always remind them that I built this entire writing empire of mine by doing a few simple things well over and over and over again.

Bruce Lee has a quote:

‎”I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

Want to get good at writing headlines? Write 10,000 of them.

I’ve been writing 10 headlines a day, every single day, for six years. That’s 15,600 headlines. Even if only 5-10 percent of them are good, that’s more than enough to build a catalog of popular articles. My blogging mentor Jon Morrow used to write 50-100 headlines every day to get good at them.

On almost every call a student will tell me they struggle to come up with good ideas. I ask them if they’ve been writing 10 headlines a day. They say no. I shake my head.

There’s no substitute for doing the thing. So, do the thing. These little tips I just gave you are enough to help you come up with content ideas for the next 90 days and write your ass off.

I challenge you to do just that.

I’m not trying to pimp the dream of creating content for a living. Is it as awesome as you think it is? Yes. But that doesn’t mean you should do it. Can you make a lot of money creating content? Um, hell yeah. But you probably won’t.

Do you have what it takes to make a full-time living as a content creator? I don’t know. But this post will be a good test. If you make it all the way through this post and still feel like you want to create content for a living, you’re probably cut out for it.

If it sounds too hard for you, then it probably is.

That being said, it’s okay that you have doubts about yourself. I did. It’s okay to feel like you’re not good enough right now. You’re not. You don’t have to have supreme levels of confidence to get started, but you do have to have that itch.

You have to have that persistent thought in the back of your mind that this is something you want to do. That curiosity is the only thing that’ll keep you warm in the cold-hearted world of content creation. If you have it, hold onto it.

Let’s take a look at the reasons you shouldn’t create content for a living and see who’s left standing by the end.

You’re Not Talented Enough

Natural talent matters. Anyone who says it doesn’t is lying to you. Some of the students in my blogging courses just ‘get it’ pretty quickly. They need refinement. Others are clueless. Some are beyond help.

I can’t tell you which one you are because I don’t know you. But if you don’t take to a certain form of content quickly, you’re probably not that good at it. Almost all the full-time writers I know are naturals.

‘Natural’ doesn’t mean you’re good right away. No, I sucked at writing for years. But the idea of what it took to write an article or essay made sense to me pretty much right away. You need that sense. If you don’t have it, you should quit.

In Content Creation, There Are a Few Winners and a Ton of Losers

A small handful of writers make pretty much all the money on Medium. It works the same on other platforms like YouTube and  Substack. A handful of people on social media have the majority of the followers. All forms of content creation are asymmetrically distributed.

To make things even more difficult, reaching the top of the pyramid involves hard work, talent, and luck. The good news? You can make money creating content in other ways that don’t require you to be a mega-influencer, like freelancing (pretty much anyone can make a full-time living freelancing actually).

But if you want to be a front-facing brand under your own name with a millions of followers and fans. Your chances are slim. The point? Don’t get these outlandish dreams and be upset when you’re not an overnight success.

You have to be okay with nothing more than slim chances. I was. I looked at the people at the top of the game and thought to myself “I’ll just become one of them.” Either that, or just lower your expectations for the size of your following for a little while.

You Have to Create a Ton of Content

I once saw a woman in a Facebook group lament about the lack of progress in her writing career after she’d only published…three articles. I don’t need to guess what she’s up to now because I know the answer — not a damn thing.

You have to put your head down and focus on your craft daily for a year before you’re even sniffing at being mediocre. You will be bad. The reason why you don’t have a bunch of money and followers yet isn’t because of the platforms. It’s because your content sucks.

But if you’re willing to suck and keep getting better, you’ll get decent. Then you’ll get good. Then you have a chance to be great. But, yeah, expect to have to create mountains of content to get this to work.

You Have to Create Content For Free

Most aspiring content creators fail because they think like employees. Employees expect to get paid upfront for their work. Content creators have to frontload the work.

You need to build a catalog. YouTube doesn’t allow you to monetize your content until you get 4,000 watch hours. You’re not going to make much money on Medium until you created a bunch of posts that barely make money.

Often, you’ll have to create and give away content on the front end to build a fanbase you can sell to on the back end. This is why I tell people who want to create content for a living that they need to really like it.

It’s not an efficient way to make money at all. There are a ton of business models that are simple and more predictable. So if you think writing is a quick way to riches and you don’t enjoy doing it, just stop now because you’ll fail.

You Need to Have Super Thick Skin

If you’re afraid to put your work out there because you’re scared of criticism and negative reactions, boy do I have a gigantic bubble to burst for you.

People are going to shit all over your work. They’ll call you names. They’ll insult your character, intelligence, and even your inherent quality as a human being. And it will feel bad. Some of the criticisms will hurt because, on some level, you agree with them.

Your insecurities will get reflected back at you. That’s the price to pay for putting your thoughts into the public sphere. The good news? Do it long enough and it’ll barely affect you. Negative comments don’t bother me at all anymore because I’m desensitized to them. You’ll get there. But there’s no avoiding it.

You Can’t Rely on Anyone Else to Believe in You

“Nobody believes in my dreams.” Why the hell would they? In a world where the vast majority of people have to work jobs they either tolerate or hate just to get by, why would they think you have the secret sauce to success?

“I’m afraid people will laugh at me if I tell them I want to create content for a living.” They will laugh because it’s a delusional dream. You get that, right? It’s a strange, abnormal to achieve, rare job. You have to be delusional to do this.

All content creators have to be narcissists on some level, else why would we put ourselves through all of this to get the job done? Nobody is going to believe in you because they probably shouldn’t. You’re probably full of shit.

Not because you’re a bad person. Most people are just full of shit. It’s the way of the world. If you want to be different, don’t announce your big plans to become the next great content creator. Just do it. Announce your projects when they’re done.

You Have to Make Sacrifices

I cratered my marriage by being so obsessed with my work. And if I had to do it all over again, I would crater it again. For me, my mission was more important than my relationship. I’m not ashamed to say that.

I spent a lot of time on my craft that could’ve been spent elsewhere — quality time with people I care about, cool experiences, fun. I stopped drinking and going out on weekends for years.

I’d work during lunch breaks. Hell, I’d work on my writing when I was supposed to be working. I woke up at 5 a.m. to work on my writing before I went to work, every day, for years.

“Success is unhealthy.” Duh. Yeah, you don’t get to have work-life balance. Sorry. You don’t get to have your cake and eat it, too. But you do get to have your dream if that’s what you want. Are you willing to pay the price?

You Just Altogether Don’t Have What it Takes (Or It Isn’t Worth Your Time)

We need to normalize quitting.

Not quitting just because something is hard, but quitting when something is worth quitting. There’s nothing wrong with putting a bunch of effort into a venture, realizing the juice isn’t worth the squeeze, and cutting bait.

It’s tricky to figure out how and when to do that, though. Most people do it way too early. Usually, though, you want to see that you’re making some level of progress a year or two in. You should have more views on your content than in the beginning. You should be making some money. Something should pop.

I’ve seen so many writers come and go. I’ve seen some quit altogether and I’ve seen some pivot into different avenues when they realized the one they were in wasn’t working anymore. Some of them wanted to see what writing was like, tried it, and decided that it wasn’t the end all be all for their lives. Nothing wrong with that.

Don’t start creating content because it’s glorified. Do it because you want to do it. Put an honest effort in and also be honest with yourself.

Here’s How You Know You’re Cut Out to Create Content for a Living

If you made it through this piece and thought to yourself “Sure, he has some solid points, but he ain’t talkin’ about me” then you’re cut out for it.

I remember taking a blogging course when the introductory video was all about how the vast majority of people who took the course ended up quitting. I thought to myself “Wow that sucks for them. What’s on the next video?”

You could be one of the people who end up being the exception to the rule. You have to think of yourself as the exception to the rule to complete this journey. It doesn’t require you to be superhuman. You just have to believe in yourself.

There are a ton of people who have enough talent to make a full-time living creating content at some level. Maybe not millions, but enough to pay the bills and do something they love. I sincerely hope as many people get there as possible, but most don’t and that’s just the reality of the situation.

Despite everything I just said, I’m super bullish on writing. You can make a good living, even a great one, if you’re willing to actually put in the work and follow the blueprints laid out for you. I wrote this post in such a harsh tone because a lot of you need to toughen up.

You’re probably good enough to make a full-time living creating content at some level, but most people quit before they get to that level and as much as I love helping others become creators, I also have to keep it real.

Odds are you if you don’t have the success you want as a content creator you’re not working nearly as hard as you should be, or you’re bad at following directions, or both. Good thing you can fix those issues. So, fix them.

Get to work. I’ll see you at the top.