Writing techniques don’t make you a better writer. A bunch of writers preach writing techniques as if their secret formula will cause you to have massive writing success.

Building a successful writing career involves a ton of variables. One of them is pure luck. Just the way life goes. But there are writing techniques that can increase your odds of building an audience and making a living with your writing.

No guarantees, though, for real. I never make promises. I don’t know how naturally talented you are (it matters). I don’t know what topic you write about (some are inherently more popular than others). And I don’t know how hard you’re willing to work or how long you’re willing to persist at your craft.

I do know this. If you’re talented and work hard for a long-time, your odds of some success are high. You might never have a million subscribers or a New York Times bestselling book. But you don’t need those things to have a writing career you love.

Let’s dive into some of my personal favorite writing techniques.

Learn How to Read Minds

I always try to understand how my reader feels and mirror those feelings back to them as closely as possible. I don’t just want to write what they think, I want to say it in the exact words they used in their mind.

I love it when my readers say that they want me to get out of their heads. I’ve had readers tell me they are afraid to read my articles because I’m going to hit them with those hard truths they think about in the exact way that they think about them.

How do you achieve this effect? I got my start by reading this article from my blogging mentor Jon Morrow. Here’s a quote from the piece:

To really understand people, you need to know what keeps them awake until 2 AM, tossing and turning and unable to sleep.

He also taught me exercises to achieve this effect. When you’re coming up with ideas for articles, first start by listing out the exact thoughts and feelings your readers might have — their fears and frustrations or their hopes and aspirations.

Turn those statements into headlines for articles, which creates a framework you can use to write sentences that hit them between the eyes.

Don’t Talk Too Much

I learned this next writing technique from The Elements of Style: Omit needless words. The word count of your piece doesn’t matter, but every sentence has to earn its way onto the page.

I’ve noticed some patterns in my writing that I check for when editing:

• I’ll write two sentences that say the same thing, so I’ll delete the weaker one
• I’ll write a sentence that’s five words long that can be expressed in two, so I delete three of the words
• I always ask myself if each sentence drives the narrative forward. If it doesn’t, I cut it.

This is an intuitive process. You can’t perfect it, but you can aim to get better at it. You don’t have to write in the same punchy style as I do. This process works for all styles of writing. Adapt it to yours.

Go There

Sometimes I cross the line. I’ll write something that isn’t just politically incorrect, but totally insensitive. I’ve looked back on entire pieces I’ve written and think to myself “maybe I should have let up a bit.” I don’t normally pay attention to comments, but when I see a bunch of comments that point out the same flaw in my piece, I take note of it.

But I always err on the side of pushing the envelope instead of pulling punches. Some of the best comedians are the ones who ‘go there’ – they say the things we feel inside but are afraid to say out loud. I try to adopt the same approach when I write.

If you aren’t writing stuff that sometimes makes you nervous to publish it, you’re not doing it right. Some of my best pieces were the ones I felt were too raw, too personal, too in your face.

Especially in today’s climate, it’s more important to say what’s really on your mind, even if you face consequences for it. Politically incorrect truths are the bedrock of freedom of expression. If you’re not for freedom of expression, even the opinions you don’t like, you’re not a real writer.

Switch It Up

I try to blend different perspectives and styles into a single piece. You can do this by using the combination of “I” “you” and “we” sentences. Most beginner writers use the word “I” way too much and treat their blog posts like journal entries. Using the word “you” helps your pieces feel like they’re speaking to the reader, but if you use it too much it also sounds like you’re speaking at or down to the reader too much. I use the word “we” to create a bond with my readers and make them feel like we’re on a shared mission.

Most bloggers write advice pieces. The challenge is to be helpful without writing from a pedestal. When I write them, I try to combine practical recommendations, stories from my life showing that I’ve used the techniques myself, and I also try to push my readers to get better without making them beat themselves up too much.

I find my best work happens when I blend the first, second, and third person in my articles:

• First-person: the I/we perspective.
• Second-person: the you perspective.
• Third-person: the he/she/it/they perspective.

Play around with these writing techniques to create articles that have a balanced blend of ideas.

Pack a Punch With Your Words

Use words that pop and evoke emotions. There’s a great article with a list of 801 power words you can use instead of bland and common words. Take these two sentences that pretty much say the same thing, for example:

“Do you ever feel stressed out?”

Vs.

“Do you ever feel like you’re on the verge of a total mental meltdown?”

If you want engagement, focus on high arousal emotions — both positive and negative. Always aim to make your reader feel something.

Aside from using power words, these writing techniques also help evoke emotion:

• Be specific – Instead of just saying something like ‘You’re afraid to fail’ say something deeper like ‘You’re afraid you’ll fall flat on your face, just like your friends and family thought you would.’
• Swipe your readers’ words – Do audience research by reading products reviews or blog post comments and copy and paste exact statements you find. I like to use Quora to practice because it teaches you to provide responses to real questions that real people are asking.
• Polarize – If you have a strong opinion, take a firm stance on one side of a hot-button debate. A lot of writers do this on Medium. Medium pays you for member reading time, which means you still get paid even if people hate-read your work.

Tap Into Your Idea Well

One important writing technique is learning how to consistently come up with good ideas. Sometimes the best ideas come from work you’ve already done.

Say you write a listicle and you get a bunch of comments about how point number two was their favorite point. You can write a new article expanding on point number two in more detail. You can write an entire book that has a concept in it that’s so important an entire book should be written about that concept. Nassim Taleb did this with his book Antifragile, which was a key concept in his previous book, Fooled by Randomness.

I re-work pieces all the time. Sometimes I’ll expand on an idea I had before but didn’t have the knowledge to fully flesh out. I might combine two smaller pieces into a mega-guide that serves as cornerstone content for my blog and gets a bunch of SEO juice. I’ll run through the data on all my work and see which recurring themes are most popular and write more pieces about those themes.

Don’t be afraid to re-visit what you’ve already done. You might have new experiences to add or better writing skills to portray the same ideas in a better way. You’ll develop a wheelhouse of ideas that are core to your writing philosophy and those ideas become the foundation for your voice, brand, and catalog.

Perfect the Package

There are a few key elements to a blog post you have to knock out of the park if you want engagement and retention:

• Headlines
• Intros
• Conclusions
• Subheadings

The better you package the frame of the article, the more likely you are to have a viral hit. So, re-work those sections each time you write a piece. I used to do this quite a bit at the beginning of my career. After I chose a headline, I’d re-write it 5 times and choose the best one. Same with subheadings. I’d chop off the intro and conclusion and re-write them every single time.

Readers pay attention to and remember those areas of a blog post the most. They’re not going to remember the body content as much as the frame. Of course, the body content is important. But getting the frame right makes it even easier to write solid body content.

Here are some guides I followed religiously to get each section right:

• How to Write Headlines: A Step by Step Guide
• The Ultimate Guide to Writing Irresistible Subheads
• A 3-Step Formula for Captivating Your Audience With a Few Opening Lines
• 15 Engaging Ways to End Your Next Blog Post

The Draft Finishing Formula That Works

I write fast and prolifically. I can spit out the first draft of a blog post in an hour or less. Granted, I’m a naturally fast writer, but you can use the following writing techniques to get your first drafts done quicker:

• Use placeholders: I never research while I write. If I’m missing a fact or anecdote, I’ll use a notation like this [add fact here] and come to it on the second pass
• Crappy first draft: Too many beginner writers beat themselves up about first drafts. Just get the damn thing done. No judgment.
• Map out ideas beforehand: Don’t just stare at a blank page expecting magic to come out. Create an outline first. This is one of my best pieces of advice that hard-headed beginners avoid. Don’t be hard-headed.
• Move your fingers: Literally. Start placing your fingers on the keyboard so letters appear. Staring at the page equals creative death. Start your post with ” I don’t know what to write yet” if that’s what it takes to get you in motion.
• No breaks: No checking social media. No checking your other open tabs. If you want to take a break, stretch or do a quick 5-minute meditation, but don’t stop writing the first draft until it’s done.

After you finish the draft, you can decide what to do next. Sometimes I’ll move right into editing. Sometimes I’ll let them sit for a day. There are times where I think the drafts are rubbish and I never publish them. Sometimes I’ll come back to an old draft that didn’t click back then but does now. But I always get my drafts done.

Hit the Button

That being said, I don’t make it a habit to have a bunch of unfinished drafts. I publish 90 percent of my drafts. I look back on some of my published work and cringe. I usually think anything I wrote six or more months ago sucks. But that’s okay because publishing is the most important writing technique of them all.

Without published work, you have no catalog. You can’t truly know whether or not your work is good until you expose it to the world. You need that feedback, even if it’s negative. And make no mistake about it, people will receive your work negatively. You can’t avoid it. If you can’t build a thick skin, you shouldn’t be a writer, period.

Real artists ‘ship their work.’ If you don’t share your work with the world, then what is the point of writing? “My work is for me.” Nah, you want people to read it. All writers want readers. But some never get them because they’re scared. I can’t fix that fear for you. Only publishing does that.

Just hit the damn button. If you’re afraid of criticism, don’t read the comments. Some people turn theirs off. But still, put it out there.

Tying it All Together

The ultimate writing technique is learning how to find your voice. There is no topic or genre on planet earth that hasn’t been covered a million times. You stand out by adding components to your voice that no one can copy.

No one can copy your life experiences. You don’t have to cover every little detail of your life or empty the skeletons from your closet, but your experiences create a unique worldview you can use in your writing.

Nobody can copy your personality, which is why you shouldn’t try to be like someone else when you write. I look up to James Altucher, but I can’t use his overly emotional and expressive style because I’m not an overly emotional and expressive person. I’m pragmatic and blunt, so I write that way.

Nobody can copy your inputs. Learn from a wide variety of sources so you can combine them in a unique way. Study contradictory ideas and philosophies. Take observations from your day-to-day life and use them in your work.

Then, write your ass off. Some say it takes about 100 blog posts to find your voice. Sounds about right. There are writing techniques that can’t be explained. You can only learn them through your own experience. Your voice will emerge and develop over time, so be forceful about getting the words out in the beginning until writing becomes more effortless.

So many writers say they want to write like me. You can’t. It’s impossible. I earned my stripes through years of relentless work. It’s the only way. I can’t make you practice, but if you do, you can become a household name. Learn the basics rules of the writing game and follow basic writing techniques. Use those frames to build your body of work until you’re so good they can’t ignore you.

Writing listicles makes you a hack. If you resort to them, you’re not a real writer. 

That’s what some writers say. They’ll look down on you for your lack of artistic integrity. You know what I think? Screw those people. I can write better than 90 percent of those pretentious snobs. I can teach you to do the same.

Many readers swear they hate reading them. I say they’re the best method you can use to consistently write blog posts people want to read.

Most writers who think they are above using traditional blogging techniques have no audience. Of course, they blame the readers instead of looking in the mirror. You don’t have to write listicles to succeed.

There are some writers who never try writing them and burst onto the scene with their own unique style. If you’re one of those people, great. If not, consider giving listicles a try.

You don’t have to write them forever, but they’re a great gateway to learning how to write more esoteric content over time and you’ll have an audience who wants to read your more nuanced work.

Benefits of Writing Listicles

Mark Manson, the best-selling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***, which has sold more than 3 million copies, writes listicles. I first learned the power of writing listicles from observing Brianna Wiest back when I wrote at Thought Catalog. She’s a powerhouse writer with multiple best-selling books and millions of readers per year.

All of these writers can write their assess off. 

A lot of people tell me I’m a pretty decent writer myself. I learned how to become a better writer via listicles. Traditional blogging techniques build a bridge to higher quality writing and they help you build an audience that helps you find success as a writer.

Your words are a product and listicles show you how to package them the right way. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of writing them.

Readers Are Lying

A great rule of thumb for life in general, don’t listen to what people say, watch what they do. People complain about listicles all the time, but data shows listicles are the most popular form of blog content.

From the study:

Lists posts are heavily shared on social media. List posts get an average of 218% more shares than “how to” posts and 203% more shares than infographics.

Listicles work if you write them the right way. Readers get jaded because most of them are really bad. Admit it, you read listicles from time to time. You do it because they’re an easy click and you hope they might be good. Every once and a while you’re surprised at how good they are. I’ll show you how to write list posts that achieve the effect.

It’s Hard to Get Good Without Mastering the Basics

Most beginning writers need a framework to use or else they won’t write anything good. They just spew words out on the page with no coherent structure. When you write this way, it’s much harder to piece together your thoughts. Your articles will be harder to edit. Overall, you will produce less content.

You don’t need to become someone who churns out content to be successful, but you need to be consistent. Most successful bloggers write at least two articles per week. Most new bloggers don’t get any momentum because they never build a proper writing habit or their articles are so jumbled they never bring themselves to publish them.

Listicles Give You What Most Writers Are In Desperate Need Of

I’ve written thoughtful essays that I’m really proud of. I’ve touched on topics that go outside of my normal niche of self-improvement. These days, I feel that I can write in many different styles and compete with the top writers in the field. I’m confident in my writing skills. I’m not ‘just a blogger.

Writing a bunch of listicles gave me confidence.

They helped me attract an audience. When people read your writing, you’re inspired to write more. By first using a formulaic approach, I found my unique writing voice. Trust me on this, use some traditional techniques for now and you’ll grow down the road.

How to Research and Write Listicles People Want to Read

This process takes time. You don’t always have to use it, but in the beginning, taking time to slow down and research before you write will pay dividends down the road.

First, you have to come up with a headline for your piece. To come up with headlines, practice writing ten of them every single day. Eventually, you’ll have a well full of good ideas to use and you can pick the one you want to run with for your writing session.

Once you have a list-post headline ready to go, you can make your post stand out if you do a bit of extra research before you sit down to write your piece.

Here’s what you do:

• Take the headline of your post and put it into Google
• Read the top 3-5 results from start to finish
• Take note of the similarities and differences between each of the articles

You’re essentially looking for the tried and true points that seem to be in every single article. You’ll want to include something similar in your posts. But then, also, you’re looking for areas of weakness and ways to differentiate your posts from what’s already out there. 

Maybe you notice that some of the top articles are too fluffy and missing crucial information. Maybe you think you can outperform those posts by adding data, statistics, and studies to back up your claim. Or you could see the posts have good information, but don’t resonate emotionally. This is an intuitive process you’ll get a feel for overtime.

After you’ve done this, you’ll be ready to come up with a list of ideas to use in your post. 

Here’s what you do next:

• Brainstorm a list of points for your article that’s three times longer than the number of points you actually need. Don’t judge yourself at this point, just free flow.
• Cross off the obviously bad points you see in your original list.
• Make a second pass and eliminate ideas until you’re left with a set of rock-solid ideas you can use in your post — a combination of proven points people are looking for and unique ideas they haven’t seen elsewhere

Next, it’s time to write your post:

• Using your final list of points, create a mind-map to flesh out the ideas underneath each point (check this post out for an in-depth look at the process)
• Write your first draft and make sure that each point includes 200-300 words per point for depth (this guide shows you how to write the first draft freakishly fast)
• Use a three-step editing system to finish your draft. First pass, look at the whole structure to see if it makes sense, and seek to cut 25 percent of the article. Second pass, fill in the gaps and have a solid draft. Third, make the final touches

I just gave you a framework you can use over and over again to write articles with viral potential. It’s one of the frameworks I teach in my paid program, provided to you for free right now. The question is, will you use it?

Thinking and hesitation kill your creativity. Don’t wait for inspiration to strike, actively try to conjure it. When you learn to use a process first, it gets easier to freestyle down the road. These days, I can just sit down and write an article from scratch, no outlines. I can do that because I’ve wired the process so deep into my memory I can spit out polished work without thinking.

Listicles With Style: How to Add Flair to Your Blog Posts

You want your listicles to be a pleasant surprise.

I’ve heard the same comment from many readers over and over again:

I was expecting this to be just another useless listicle, but it was surprisingly good.

Most writing falls flat and most readers are looking for an excuse to click away from your article instantly. There’s a ton of content online, they’re distracted, and there are tons of other things that are more fun than reading an article.

But people still read stuff online because they’re looking for someone to wake them from their slumber. My blogging mentor, Jon Morrow put it well:

The common characteristic that binds [readers] all together: They’re bored out of their minds. Just look at their eyes. They’re not even there. Somewhere along the way, their mind and heart and soul drifted off to sleep, and their body is operating on autopilot, keeping them alive until something interesting happens. If that’s not upsetting enough, here’s one more cold, hard truth:

These people are our readers!

There are a lot of different techniques you can use to write a listicle with style. Something people remember and want to share. People have saved my articles and printed them out to come back to over and over again. Here are some of the techniques I’ve used to create that effect.

Use the Book-End Technique

You want your strongest, most unique, or most controversial points to come at the beginning and the end of the article. When you were doing your research to find unique points that stand out, use the most unique point first.

This creates a pattern interruption. Most people expect to see something they’ve already read before. If you can break that expectation, you have their attention. Take a look at this example from a popular post I wrote a while back.

Start With a Bang, or a Twist, or Dig in the Knife

You want your posts to start with a bang. The intro is all about capturing attention. You can achieve that by starting off with an opening sentence that packs a punch. Check this one out from my personal favorite master of intros, James Altucher:

Back in college, Sanket and I would hang out in bars and try to talk to women but I was horrible at it. Nobody would talk to me for more than thirty seconds and every woman would laugh at all his jokes for what seemed like hours.

Even decades later I think they are still laughing at his jokes. One time he turned to me, “the girls are getting bored when you talk. Your stories go on too long. From now on, you need to leave out every other sentence when you tell a story.” We were both undergrads in Computer Science. I haven’t seen him since but that’s the most important writing (and communicating) advice I ever got.

This intro comes from a post about writing tips of all things. Talk about a pattern interruption.

You can also do well with intros by trying to anticipate what your reader thinks and say it first. This is called pacing and leading. In general, if you focus on the hopes and aspirations or fears and frustrations, you’ll come up with something to say that connects with your reader.

End the Same Way

You also want to end your posts in a way that makes your readers want to come back for more. You can the ‘motivational close’ that gives your reader a rallying cry and inspires them to action. Or you can tie your conclusion to the intro in a unique way. Again, James does this really well (from the same post above):

Sanket didn’t want to go to grad school after we graduated. He had another plan. Lets go to Thailand, he said. And become monks in a Buddhist monastery for a year. We can date Thai women whenever we aren’t begging for food, he said. It will be great and we’ll get life experience.

It sounded good to me.

But then he got accepted to the University of Wisconsin and got a PhD. Now he lives in India and works for Oracle. And as for me…

I don’t know what the hell happened to me.

You can do a simple and succinct recap of what you wrote in the post. There are many ways to achieve the desired effect being mindful of your conclusion in the first place helps you achieve it.

Steal Wisdom

Credibility is key. Adding credibility markers to your writing makes you look more credible in the eyes of your readers. This is especially true if you’re writing non-fiction advice articles.

You can add credibility by quoting famous, influential, and thoughtful people. You’re not a hack for using borrowed wisdom. You’re smart because you understand that all wisdom is borrowed. Maria Popova and Shane Parrish built 7 figure blogs mainly by expanding on things people much smarter than them already said.

Data, statistics, and studies build credibility with the ‘what’s your source?’ types. This also looks good in the eyes of search engines or editors on websites like Medium.

The Part I Can’t Exactly Teach You How to Do

This last part you have to figure out on your own. When you write, you just have to look for ways to push the envelope. I’m always thinking of ways I can make a listicle seem like more than just a listicle. Sometimes I’ll ‘go there’ and say things other writers aren’t willing to say. I use stories from my own life because nobody can copy my experiences.

Over the years, I settled into my style — punchy, brash, even abrasive at times. I developed this style by practicing my writing pretty much every single day for the past six years. In the end, there’s no shortcut to becoming a good writer.

From Crappy Listicles to Life-Changing Writing

Listicles helped me make a full-timing living writing. They helped me become the top-earning writer on Medium for six months straight. They taught me how to become a better thinker. I’ve used them to connect with readers all across the world.

People have reached out to me and told me my listicles have helped them start businesses, comforted them in times of pain, given them hope, inspired them to do things they’ve been putting off for years, find a real sense of meaning and purpose. And writing those listicles helped me do all of those things, too.

That’s the thing about writing. You benefit just as much as your readers do. You can use your writing to heal, inspire, and provide meaning to yourself. Building a writing career is one of the most rewarding endeavors. So many people want to be writers, few ever get the job done.

So, which way is it? Are you going to scoff at the techniques and remain a writer with no money, no fans, and unfulfilled dreams? Or are you going to listen to someone who’s walked the path already?

I think you know the right answer.

Grab your free viral personal stories checklist by clicking this link right here.  If you don’t get this process right, your personal essays will almost certainly fall flat. Did I mention it’s free?

If you want to learn how to write about yourself, you have to first understand that about 99 percent of the time, writing about yourself is done in a misguided way that will cause no one to want to read your work.

Let me explain…

I’ve talked with many an aspiring writer in my short five-year career. Almost always, the number one mistake I see aspiring writers make is exactly the same.

They don’t want to write for anyone else but themselves. Of course, you should never write about stuff you’re not really into for the sake of clicks, but aspiring writers seem to have this peculiar disease where they think writing what appears to be a personal diary online is the key to writing success.

That’s how human emotions, self-interest, and ego work. As a human being, you have a really hard time thinking about the wants and needs of anyone but yourself. Most aspiring writers don’t lack talent or motivation, they’re selfish.

But what about memoirs and personal essays? There are people who write about themselves quite successfully. What’s the difference between them and the majority of other writers?

There is a way to write about yourself without…writing about yourself. 

Let me explain…

The Classic Examples You All Strive For

Eat, Pray, Love is one of the most popular memoirs of all time. It’s about the life of Elizabeth Gilbert, a woman who got divorced and traveled the world to find herself. There were plenty of stories about her life in the book, but here’s why the book did so well.

The stories were about concepts people related to, not about herself. Eat, Pray, Love is not a book about Elizabeth Gilbert, it’s a book about every woman who feels trapped in their circumstances and wants to break away and go on an adventure.

The person in the story doesn’t matter. Good stories make people identify with them. The character, protagonist, whatever, is a reflection of you.

Cheryl Strayed created a similar effect in her best-selling memoir, Wild. In short, she writes about her checkered past and going on this dangerous backpacking adventure to escape her life. She learns all sorts of illuminating lessons along the way yada, yada, yada. Again, the story in and of itself isn’t the focus, so much as the story relates to people who feel like escaping from their life.

She also wrote an amazing book called Tiny Beautiful Things, which is a compilation of answers in her Q & A advice column, Dear Sugar. Instead of providing answers to reader’s questions outright, she starts by telling some meandering story about herself that relates to the reader’s question. She tells gut wretching emotional stories — sexual abuse, infidelity, drugs, you name it. But she doesn’t just tell the stories just to tell them. She tells the story to first let the reader know “I’ve been here before,” and then relates it to their life in a way that says, “I came out of it and so can you.”

Authors like Gilbert and Strayed go well above and beyond what I see from the typical aspiring writer — random ramblings about their feelings, what they ate for lunch, some bland story about where they traveled to that’s full of descriptive writing but lacks any sort of theme or relation to the person on the other side of the screen.

So how can you learn how to write about yourself the right way? These strategies will help.

Ask Yourself This Simple Question

You have to be brutally honest about yourself when you answer this question.

Would anyone other than you want to read what you wrote?

You have to be able to remove yourself, as well as your emotional investment, and analyze whether you’ve created a relatable story or a journal entry.

Often, in your bones, you know.

If you’re like the writer I described above who wonders why no one reads their stuff, you know why.

People who write these journal entries fall into three camps:

• The delusional  – They genuinely believe people should want to read their random ramblings. They feel like they’re owed success. These people can’t be helped.
• The oblivious – Some people actually don’t see what they’re doing. They can be helped, but it takes repeated lessons like this blog post for them to “get it.”
• The hiders – The majority of people know this style won’t work, but they write it anyway because it’s a way to hide from the truth. “Half-trying,” always gives you an out. These writers fear having to exert real effort and still failing. These people have the best shot at change because they’re aware.

Aside from just looking at your work and asking that simple question, there are some other techniques you can use to write about yourself in a way that works. But you have to quit hiding.

Do you really want to do this? If so, the following can help.

Grab your free viral personal stories checklist by clicking this link right here.  If you don’t get this process right, your personal essays will almost certainly fall flat. Did I mention it’s free?

The “Story Hook” Opener

If you really feel compelled to write about yourself, but want to educate, entertain, and inspire at the same time, the story hook opener can tie your life together with the ideas or concepts you want to share.

Here’s how it works:

• Come up with the idea for the post/essay – Use brainstorming and mind mapping to come up with the concept
• Outline – Outline the points you want to make in the essay
• Add story in – Create the structure of the post or essay first, then dig for a story from your life that matches the concepts to tack onto the intro

Read Jame’s Altuchers work. He’s a master at this. He almost always opens up his blog posts with a story.

As an added bonus, he makes a point to really really catchy, interesting, or straight up bizarre first lines to catch your attention.

Here are some examples:

• “I had to get 100 prostitutes to like me in 5 seconds or less” – https://bit.ly/2ESXkiT
• “I am mentally ill. And I’m in a mid-life crisis. I’m dishonest. And I’m a horrible father. And I think with my dick.”  – https://bit.ly/2Z7wuey
• “I have one bag of clothes, one backpack with a computer, iPad, and phone. I have zero other possessions.” – https://bit.ly/2WLt7MW

Notice how all the opening lines are about himself but are so damn interesting you feel compelled to read more. This is how you integrate your story with your writing.

Draw From This Unusual Source

Fiction serial author Sean Platt credits an unrelated genre for his success as a fiction writer — copywriting books.

Reading books about copywriting, marketing, and persuasion will help you get out of your head and understand that regardless of what story you write, including stories you write about yourself, you are ultimately writing for other people.

That is if you want to have an audience and career. As Robert Kiyosaki says, “It’s called best selling author, not best writing author.”

Often, when you read great copy in something like a sales page, it will include a story about the creator of the product, but you’ll see that the story connects with the reader.

The classic example, “How I went from dead broke on my mom’s couch to running a million dollar company.” It’s cliche and trite, yet devastatingly effective because it tickles all the human emotions.

If you don’t understand human nature and psychology, you’ll never be a great writer.

Copywriters, advertisers, salespeople, all get a bad rap. They’re some of the greatest storytellers you’ll ever come across. They know more about character development and storytelling than your average pompous MFA grad.

Here are some great resources:

• The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert
• Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
• “The Tale of Two Young Men”

Do This the Next Time You Read a Personal Account

Many authors swear by a technique called marginalia, which is a fancy way to say “take notes on the books you read.”

With marginalia, you highlight important passages, write questions and notes in the margins, and most importantly try to get inside the head of the author.

Some people go so far as to hand copy the words of great storytellers to absorb their powers through osmosis…or something. Either way, trying to understand the motivation of a storyteller can help you tell great stories yourself.

Read autobiographies and take notes on what you read to find out what’s so interesting about this particular person’s story.

Often these are things like:

• They have something you want and you aspire to be like them (this would translate to you writing stories about what you have that people want)
• The stories they tell are downright insane or interesting (as Ryan Holiday suggests, if you want to be a better writer, maybe you should live a little more first)
• Almost always, you see yourself in the author (I’ve hammered this to the point of redundancy, because it’s very important)

You can learn from great storytellers, but you can also become a great storyteller by…not telling stories.

Huh?

Just Don’t (For a While At Least)

Often, I have to put new students through their paces and teach them traditional blogging techniques like:

• Creating “how-to” posts
• Writing listicles
• Using the word “you” often
• Opener formulas like “problem, agitation, solution”
• Simple 5-section post structure
• Subheadings
• Motivational closes

I do this because I want to teach them the foundations they need to become popular online writers with fans, which is what almost all of them really want.

I purposefully get them out of the habit of writing about themselves so that they can do it successfully in the future.

Now, I can weave in stories about my life into posts and essays. I often do. I could write a mediocre memoir at this point in my career, mostly due to the fact that I learned blogging techniques first.

Why? Well, blogging teaches you a few key things:

• You learn how to work – If you want to become a successful blogger, you have to write a lot. Most aspiring writers who want to write about themselves don’t have the stamina to even do it successfully
• You learn about audience – You learn how to cater to, but not pander to an audience. Huge difference.
• Platform means everything – You can build a platform as “just a blogger” and parlay it into more traditional means of publishing, just ask Jeff Goins or Mark Manson.

By first understanding the mechanism of not only the blogosphere but how people interacting with online writing in general, you will reduce your pretentiousness tenfold, which will enable you to write about yourself effectively. 

The Bottom Line When it Comes to Learning How to Write About Yourself

Building a successful writing career is all about learning how to get out of your own way.

That’s 90 percent of the battle.

You can’t write about yourself properly because you’re preoccupied with yourself.

Lowering your ego and humbling yourself will all of a sudden make you a much more effective writer.

Lack of success in writing is almost always due to selfishness above everything else.

Remember, if you wanted to write for yourself alone, all you’d need is a journal.

But you want fans. All writers do. If you want to get them, you should, um, think about them.

Grab your free viral personal stories checklist by clicking this link right here.  If you don’t get this process right, your personal essays will almost certainly fall flat. Did I mention it’s free?

“How to write well.”

That’s a bit of a loaded phrase, eh? Who’s to say what makes great writing?

You have many different styles, genres, and voices.

Do they have a common element?

Can you learn how to write well regardless of how much natural talent you have?

Is writing something anybody can do?

All of these questions boil down to one thing, really.

You want to know if you have the goods. You want to know if you have the seeds of greatness to grow into a bonafide wordsmith. Odds are, you’re still in the aspiring phase. You want to become a writer, but when it comes to the writing, erm, you don’t necessarily do it very often.

Well, when it comes to writing well, the point of origin is always the same.

Get Out of Your Head and Onto the Page

Since you’re a human being, you spend a lot of time in your head. Like, a lot. 

If you’re a writer, or even a wannabe writer looking to turn pro, then you really spend a lot of time in your head. I mean, why wouldn’t you? The ideas come from your head, don’t they? Shouldn’t you be super introspective to get the right thoughts to put on the page?

Probably not.

I can tell how much a writer is in their own head instead of focused on their audience by the way they write. It’s very self-centered. You can tell the writer is trying to alleviate some insecurity in themselves with the writing instead of using the words as a vehicle to help the reader.

It’s always about the reader. Even when you write about yourself, it’s about the reader. Of course, writing can be a cathartic experience for you and a way to help you become a better thinker. It definitely serves those purposes for me.

But there’s a huge difference between crystallizing your thoughts with prose and using it to mentally masturbate. So often, each time I write about writing the message is very similar before I dive into tips themselves.

Stop thinking of yourself as the center of the universe and just write. At the same time, don’t just write whatever the hell you want.

Focus on the audience to get the words out of your head and onto the page while also meeting your needs at the same time.

I have guides on these:

• How to Write About Yourself (Without Boring People to Death)
• The Only 3 Types of Writing People Actually Want to Read
• 11 Pieces of Writing Advice for the Stuck and Frustrated Aspiring Writer

Writing, just like anything else in life, usually comes to you much easier when you’re not so wrapped up in your own ego, self-image, and “vision for yourself.” Fuck your vision. What’s your audience’s vision? Start there.

Now for the nuts and bolts.

How to Become the Writer You’ve Always Dreamed of Becoming

If you’re an aspiring writer, you have a set of writers you look up to. If you want to reach their level one day, start by “stealing their swag.” At the beginning of my writing career, I copied the styles of many of my favorite writers.

First was James Altucher. He writes very vulnerable and descriptive stories about his life and then offers some tips and suggestions after the story section. I emulated this for a while. I realized sharing as much as he did wasn’t my style, but I still stole the framework of opening with a story.

Ryan Holiday was another one. Ryan writes heavily quoted and cited work, often based on historical figures and philosophy, mainly stoicism. He uses an elaborate note-taking system he learned from his mentor, Robert Greene, and will often pour through tons of books to write a single book or article. I tried the note-taking system for a while and it did help me find great quotes to use, but this still wasn’t exactly my style. I did take away the power of using quotes, though, and I often use ones I draw from memory.

Three’s work best, so I’ll end with Nassim Taleb. Taleb wrote the Incerto series, which are basically the best books I’ve ever read. His counterintuitive thinking on topics like risk, luck, success, etc changed the way I think about the world forever. Now, I loved his ideas, but his prose isn’t something I wanted to emulate. So while his ideas influence my writing, my prose is nothing like his.

Inspiration

In the inspiration phase, you’re looking for writing that inspires you for a number of reasons. The prose itself could inspire you. Or the ideas. Or the genre. Whatever.

The end goal? Find writers you want to model yourself after. Find writers you look up to and wish to have the same level of success as one day.

Hero-worship gets a bad rap. No, you don’t want to idolize anyone to the point of literal worship, but using other writers as your muse can motivate you. Just make sure to evolve.

Emulation

In the emulation phase, you’re copying styles. You’re throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what works. Too many writers focus on finding their unique and original voice. It’s much easier to swipe people’s voices and try them out for a while.

You’ll realize that you like some, but not all, of what the writer has to offer in terms of prose, idea, and structure. You’ll develop an attitude where you take what you like and discard what doesn’t, which is a great ethos for learning in general by the way.

You do this often enough, and eventually, you have a style of your own.

And this is also the phase where you know whether or not you have the goods. Because not all writers do.

How do you know?

You know when you’re willing to write 100 blog posts without quitting. And also without practicing lazily — meaning you keep writing the same way even if it doesn’t work.

If you have the ability to practice, implement feedback, and iterate over time, you have the skills to become a writer. If you can’t do these things, you will fail. It’s really that simple.

Separation

In the separation phase, you’ve found your voice. Mind you, this comes through doing the work and trying out tried and true techniques, not sitting in silence until a daemon comes to sit on your shoulder.

Something happens when you spend enough time copying, remixing, and adopting styles of other writers. You develop your own style. But also, over time, you don’t look up to them as much. You still love their work, but you come closer and closer to feeling like you’re on a level playing field.

I don’t know if I’ll ever be a legend or anything like that. But I’m pretty sure I’m a pretty damn good writer. I’m pretty sure I can be great. But I wouldn’t have gotten there without doing the work. The basics.

Even Michael Jordan had to learn how to do a bounce pass for the first time. He didn’t invent the basic skills of basketball, but rather, he took them to the next level.

This is how you should think of practice in general. Quit trying to reinvent the wheel. Learn the principles of your craft then evolve into your unique self.

How To Practice the Right Way

Remember the first time you did math?

What was the first equation you learned?

Likely 2+2 = 4.

Now, did learning that equation means you actually understood how addition worked? Not necessarily. You just memorized the equation. The path to learning a concept often starts with getting a superficial understanding of it.

This is a good way to think about writing techniques. See, there is a bag of tricks you can use to improve the prose itself. At first, you practice the skills awkwardly without knowing why you’re doing them, per se, and then they make sense to you and become second nature.

Take “active voice” for example. I remember when I first learned the concept, I tried to jam it into every sentence, e.g., I wrote an article once about making money and said something like “Your bank account won’t fill itself with millions of dollars.”

Technically, I used active voice, but it was awkward and unnecessary to say it that way. Now, in general, I use active voice more often but not consciously. And not always. Does that make sense?

Here are some great guides on writing techniques you can add to your tool belt. Practice them awkwardly, use them regularly, and watch them become second nature:

• How to Write Good Opening Paragraphs 
• The Ultimate Guide to Writing Irresistible Subheads
• How to Use Transitional Words and Phrases to Make Your Writing Flow (with Examples)
• 79 Power Words to Create Striking Content For Your Blog
• Active vs. Passive Voice: The Complete Guide

If you got really, really, really good at the instructions from these posts, you’d be in the top five percent of bloggers easily. But that’s not sexy, right? Getting really good at the fundamentals isn’t glamorous, but it’s how you become a champion.

After the basics, you simply take your game to the next level.

Understand This Counterintuitive Truth On How to Write Well

I just sent the draft of my third book to an editor — an editor that I paid ten times as much as I’ve ever paid an editor before.

Oh, and I spent ten times as much time and effort editing the book beforehand as I did the first two

And, I’m going to spend ten times as much money on the launch and time on planning it.

See, when it comes to writing well, or doing anything well, it never gets easier. As you get better, your tastes get better. You’re not locked in a state of paralysis by analysis, but you are more critical of yourself in a healthy way because you have higher standards.

After you put years in the game, you develop more respect for the craft. You almost have a masochistic joy that comes with trying to reach a ceiling you know you’ll never get to. And the ceiling always evolves.

My writing compared to five years ago is like comparing chicken shit to chicken salad. Who knows what it will look like in five years? I have no idea. But I know it will be better because I will be better.

Because I won’t stop, ever. I’ll write until the day I die. I genuinely know this at my core. Once you get there, writing well is quite literally just a matter of time.

…so.

…maybe.

…you should start today.

Featured Download: How to Become a Full-Time Writer. Grab a PDF version of this blog post here to save and read later.

Lots of people want to learn how to become a writer. And there’s a ton of information online that will show you the step-by-step methods to do it.

This post is no different, except that it’s going to talk about a critical element that gets missed by pretty much all of the articles that talk about not just how to become a writer but become a better writer.

What’s that critical element? Mindset. If you don’t come into the writing game with the right type of thinking, it’s going to be hard to succeed. All the steps in the world aren’t going to help you if you don’t have the motivation, will, and discipline to actually complete them.

See, I’m not one of these writing gurus who’s going to make the process seem like it’s all sunshine and roses. If you want to become a writer, it’s a process that’s going to push you mentally. Also, you’re going to have to make sacrifices in the process.

So before you get to the steps themselves, ask yourself, are you willing to pay the price? The rewards are plenty. I’ve made nearly half a million dollars from writing alone. My words have been read by millions of people across the world. I’ve published three books with hundreds of positive reviews for each.

But, it took me years to reach this point. Not only that but there were many times in the process I wanted to give up altogether. How’d I make it to the finish line? By being willing to make the sacrifices I’m about to share with you.

So, first, I’m going to talk about the basics of how to become a writer. Next, I’m going to talk about the mindset you need to become a better writer. Last, I’ll give you even more tips on how to get better at writing over time to the point you have a refined voice and an audience who loves your work.

Step 1: Become a Blogger (Even if You Don’t Want to be)

This is my bias speaking here. I can only teach what I know.

But even if you eventually want to write more esoteric, flowery, philosophical stuff, you should become a regular ol’ blogger first.

Why?

Because blogging teaches you skills most people with ‘Hemingway Syndrome’ lack:

• Discipline – Blogging teaches you that boots and lunch pail attitude you need to build a writing habit
• Audience – If you want to have a writing career, you need people to, um, support you. Traditional blogging techniques help break the habit of using the word ‘I’ 3,539 times per blog post
• Marketing – Blogging (and promoting your stuff) rids you of the idea that you’ll get to sit in a cabin, drink whiskey, smoke a pipe, write your book on a typewriter, magically get accepted by Harper Collins, and become famous

Aside from the skills you learn, you also have a better chance of making a career as a writer through blogging.

How to Begin Writing For An Audience and Building a Habit

I suggest you start writing for an audience right away.

Why? Because you get useful feedback.

Of course, you never try to pander to an audience, but you can’t write stuff no one wants to read either.

If I had to start all over, here’s exactly what I’d do.

Start a Self-Hosted Blog

You want a self-hosted blog because it provides a home for your writing on the internet, which is important.

We’re going to soon talk about other places to publish your work and get an audience faster, but it’s important to have your own blog because platforms come and go.

In the beginning, very few people will come to your self-hosted blog, but you should still get it set up right away:

Here’s a quick guide to help you get started.

Sign Up for a Medium Account

Medium is awesome.

If you’re not on Medium yet, you’re missing out.

Medium is a website that allows anyone to sign up and start publishing your work right away.

You can even get paid for your writing. With Medium’s Partner Program, you can put your work behind a paywall and get paid based on how Medium members engage with your content.

I personally know people who went from zero to a full-time writer in a year using Medium. Those results aren’t typical whatsoever, but it’s a great jumping-off point for any aspiring writer.

Here are some guides to help you get started:

Medium Writing Tips

How to Get Thousands of Views by Publishing on Medium

Is Medium Rigged? How to Succeed If You’re Just Starting Out

Here’s what you’re going to do next after you’re signed up:

• Publish blog posts on your site first
• Republish those posts on Medium
• After you build a catalog of posts on both, start linking back to your self-hosted blog posts from your Medium ones

Take a look at this post I wrote on Medium and then click on the links. They all point back to my personal blog. So I use Medium as the jumping-off point because they have a built-in audience, then I build my own blog views by linking back.

Make sense?

Ok. Now let’s get into the nuts and bolts of choosing a niche, generating ideas, and writing stuff people want to read.

Get exclusive access to your free five-day email course on monetizing Medium.

How to Pick a Niche

Don’t overthink this.

You don’t need to have this super-specific niche to succeed anymore. Especially in places like Medium where you have such a diverse array of voices.

Essentially, the big niches fall into the following categories:

• Self-Improvement
• Parenting
• Personal Finance
• Creativity
• Business & Entrepreneurship
• Marketing
• Social Media and Blogging
• Freelancing
• Careers
• Gadgets & Technology
• News, Culture, and Entertainment (this is a very wide and broad category, plenty falls in here)

Then there are some little mini-topics underneath each of the big ones, but you should have a general idea of which one you want to jump into.

Jump in. 

You want to start writing. Not plotting out your perfect niche.

I wrote a guide that goes into this deeper, but the niche thing is overrated. It’s more important to start generating ideas and writing blog posts that follow a similar structure (to begin with).

After you write, let’s say, 100 posts, you’ll magically know your niche. Clarity comes through action, not the other way around.

How to Generate Ideas

Each day, I write down 10 ideas for new blog posts. You should do the same.

There are some basic blog post headline formulas you can and should use to start:

• How To – These work if your niche is educational and instructional
• List Posts – As much as people scoff at list posts, people read them, and they just make it easier to get into the flow or writing
• Subject: Mini-Subject – An example would be something like “Flow: The Creativity Behind ‘Getting in the Zone’” Or something like that

Here are some resources that can give you an in-depth look at coming up with headlines:

• How to Write Magnetic Headlines (CopyBlogger)
• 13 Type of Headlines to Get More Traffic (HubSpot)
• 5 Easy Tricks to Write Catch Headlines (From the master himself, Jeff Goins)

Now, if you’re still struggling to generate the underlying ideas to create the headlines in the first place, try the following:

• Pains, Hopes, Fears, and Desires – I learned this technique from Jon Morrow (read his post for a full explanation here). Essentially, you’re asking the question, “What keeps your readers up at night?”
• Avatar – An avatar is a written out description of a single person that you’re writing for. What are their problems? How about their fears? What are their hopes and aspirations?
• Swipe – Go on places like Medium, find similar writers who are popular and swipe headline styles. Don’t plagiarize, but look at how they formulate their headlines and ideas to reverse-engineer it

The bottom line here: If you don’t develop an intuition about what works and what doesn’t by observing other writers, you’re going to have a hard time. Most people don’t take the time to be observant because they get in their own way. That’s why I added the mindset section earlier. Don’t be that person. Observe, reverse-engineer, steal.

Want people to, you know, actually click on your articles and read them? Grab the headline vault here — 50+ headline ideas and templates you can use to write viral hits.

Become a Better Writer by Learning the Basic Structure of a Blog Post

Now you’ve generated some ideas and you’re ready to start writing.

So, how do you write a blog post?

Again, just use the basic and traditional formulas first, then you can move onto the esoteric later.

Here’s a synopsis.

How to Write an Introduction

Your introduction answers the question, “Why the hell should I read this?”

You want to tie it to the subject of your headline in a way that makes the reader curious to read more.

You can do this in many ways:

• Ask questions – Questions, especially ones that make the reader nod their head in agreement, work especially well. Example: If you’re writing a blog post about productivity, you could start by saying, “Do you always feel like you’re busy, but never actually get anything done?
• Twist the Knife – If your post is about solving a problem, play on that problem, show the consequences of the problem continuing to linger, then offer your content as a solution. Here’s a detailed post on that here).
• The Story Hook – Open with an intriguing story that’s related to the content of the post

Some useful guides on writing intros are:

• How to Write Spellbinding Introductions by Shamelessly Copying the Pros (Smart Blogger)
• How to Captivate Your Readers: 3 Ways to Craft Irresistible Opening Lines (Henneke Duistermaat – She’s a freak of nature. Read all her stuff)

How to Write the Body of a Post

You can do this one of two ways.

If you write a list-post, list out your points and add short descriptions for each.

If you’re writing any other type of post, the simplest way to do it is to stick with three main points. A simple essay format works just fine.

Some tips on writing body content:

• Use interesting subheadings – Here’s a really cool guide on this, but you want to write little headings that make the reader curious or either detail what’s coming next
• Simple language – Some people say you must write super-short sentences. I don’t subscribe to that view, but simpler is better
• Distinct thoughts – Break each distinct thought into a separate paragraph

In the end, your body content should look something like this:

[Section A]

• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3

[Section B]

• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3

[Section C]

• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3

Start with a mind-map, a brainstorming session, and then solidify your ideas into a format like this, and it will be ten times easier to write a post.

How to Write a Closing

Your closing should motivate the reader to take the next step on their journey after reading your content. Or it should leave them thinking, pondering, even questioning what you just wrote or scratching your head a little bit.

You want the closing to tie back into the idea you started with and bring the post full circle.

Read these posts for great examples:

• On Dying, Mothers, and Fighting for Your Ideas by Jon Morrow
• 5 Time-Management Tricks I Learned From Hating Tim Ferris by Penelope Trunk
• 33 Unusual Tips for Becoming a Better Writer by James Altucher

How to Start Writing, Keep Writing, and Create a Career From Your Words

I’m keeping this high-level because there are many little skills you’ll need to learn along the way.

You can come back to this post often and use the resources I linked to for assistance.

The goal?

Get your blog started and write until you get traction.

Traction is that point where you’re not in “start and stop,” mode. You write often and consistently, preferably every single day.

If you follow my advice and start a blog on Medium, you’ll start to build a following and you’ll have feedback in the form of fans and comments.

This will make you feel good.

You will want to keep going.

So how do you get there and stay there?

Whatever Your Routine, Make it and Stick With It

I write in the mornings.

My routine looks like this:

• Write 10 ideas for new posts
• Choose an idea to work on from my long list of saved headlines
• Create a mind-map
• Write out a simple outline
• Write the first draft (one to two hours)
• Edit the post for a second draft (half-hour to one hour)
• Final-polishing edit (a half hour at most)

Some people write faster than others.

Some can deal with daily writing. Others weekly (you should never go below weekly).

In your case, you need a routine:

• Write at the same time
• Follow the same process
• Repeat

Stick With Writing For An Audience for 6-12 Months

Most people don’t make it for six months.

If you make it six months, you’re in the top 25 percent of all writers. Pat yourself on the back. And, at this point, you should have some fans and a somewhat large body of work. That is, if you listened to me 😉

If you can make it to a year, you will make a dramatic leap in year two.

I published my first book in year two, a huge milestone for me, and started doing more advanced stuff like building an e-mail list.

I’m approaching year five and I’m a full-time writer. But the early days counted the most. Hitting the point of traction accounts for most of the journey. After that, you don’t coast, per se, but you know what you’re doing.

Hone Your Own Unique Voice and Style

Using headline formulas, structured outlines, and traditional blogging techniques seems formulaic.

That’s because it is.

But, after you write this way for a while, you develop a second-nature understanding of how to write for an audience.

Then, when you try different styles, you’re apt to write them in a way that connects with other people better.

Thanks to my blogging days, I do think I could write a memoir or even a novel. Not because I’m versed in those skills. I’m not.

But because being in blogging boot camp mode taught me how to get words on the page, which is the most important part of the process.

My blogger’s attitude helps me get through new learning curves.

Want three free writing guides to help you level up your career? Grab them here

The Things You Must Give Up If You Want to Become a Writer

Ok, so now you know the basics of what it takes to get started with writing and even become a better writer in a short period of time. But what do you need to do to make it full-time? How do you stop being an aspiring writer with little to no success and step into the big leagues?

Your success as a writer is predicated on the things you’re willing to give up in the process. I wondered if I should include this section in this post because you’re looking for the steps to become a writer. But I realized that most aspiring writers fail, not because of a lack of information, but because they can’t wrap their minds around what it really takes to be successful.

Also, if you can’t make it through a 5,000-word post about how to get into writing and stay in the game long enough to succeed, maybe writing isn’t for you. Trust me, I’ve had to both consume and implement a ton of information to make it here.

If it feels like I’m being hard on you it’s because I know how hard it is to make it. Don’t get discouraged by my words. Get inspired. If you make it to the end of this post and still feel like you’re ready to make it as a writer, then you’re ready to make it as a writer. Simple as that.

Let’s take a look at what you need to be willing to give up to become a true wordsmith.

Your Sense of Entitlement

Why should anyone want to read your writing, visit your website, or buy your book?

Are you a diligent writer? Are you making an effort to connect with people who’d be interested in your writing?

No?

Let me guess, you think people should read your writing because you wrote it. That’s a horrible answer.

If you’re trying to make a living with your writing, your words are — by definition — a product. You have to create your best work and get it in front of the right eyeballs.

Nobody owes you their attention.

Less whining. More writing.

Your Romanticism

Writing is artistic. You think of writing as a craft. You want to pen beautiful words and become the next Kafka.

Good luck with that.

The romantic writer is the type who uses a ton of flowery language, thinks their book is going to get picked up by Harper Collins, and laments the lack of literary quality in today’s writing.

There is such a thing as a technically gifted yet boring and unsuccessful writer. Writing pretty words doesn’t make you a good writer. Moving people makes you a good writer. Entertaining, educating, and inspiring people makes you a good writer.

Writing to meet a market need doesn’t make you a hack, it makes you a person who actually earns from their writing.

Art and business aren’t mutually exclusive. They’ve bled into one another and the line is blurred. A little pragmatism will give you an opportunity to succeed as a writer.

So, please, discard your rose-colored glasses.

Your Counterproductive Thought – “I Want to Become a Writer”

Austin Kleon famously said:

Lots of people want to be the noun without doing the verb. They want the job title without the work.

People complain about competition in writing, but the truth? There’s no competition.

Sure there are tons of people aspiring to write, but 99.99 percent of them want to be writers, they don’t want to write. These people aren’t my competition. They’re failed careers waiting to happen.

The air is thin up here, not for successful and wealthy authors, even, but for people who make it longer than six weeks to six months.

I’ve written hundreds of blog posts and have probably crossed the million-word mark. Still, I don’t think I’m that good. I doubt my skills all the time. But I use that doubt as fuel to work even harder.

The antidote to your lack of success is more work.

That’ll be $97, please.

Your Fear of Marketing

If any of the sentences below describe you, you have no right to complain about your writing career:

• You don’t have your own blog
• You’ve never guest posted  or put your work on another platform
• You haven’t connected with one other person in your space with an email
• You don’t promote the content you create regularly

Another pervasive mindset among aspiring writers is the “build it and they will come” mentality.

How in the hell are people supposed to find your writing? Dumb luck? Extrasensory perception?

The recipe for success as a writer is simple — find people who want to read your type of writing and get your writing in front of them.

I get it. You just want to write. You think good writing should be enough on its own. It’s not.

Marketing isn’t a dirty word. It’s a prerequisite for success.

Your Time

What if you knew everything would work out? How much time would you devote to building your writing career if it was guaranteed?

A year, five, ten?

Building a writing career takes time. I read a post by blogging expert Jon Morrow that said you need to dedicate four to six years of your life to building a six-figure blog.

You have to wrap your head around the idea that it’s not going to happen right now, but it will happen eventually.

You don’t improve your writing skills at an equal rate. When you write consistently, your skills will grow exponentially. The key is to make it past the initial phase of sucking at it.

I promise you. If you put in the work consistently, you’ll get better.

Your Need for a Neon Green Sign That Says “Success Here!”

Successful authors, writers, bloggers, etc don’t wait for the perfect answer to fall in their lap.

The funny thing about it? Even if I give you the entire recipe, step-by-step, with an inordinate amount of detail, basically everything short of me ghostwriting for you, it still wouldn’t matter.

Derek Sivers once said, “If information was all we needed, we’d all be billionaires with six-pack abs.”

I’ve written in-depth articles on so many facets of writing – books worth of content for free – to no avail. I’ve come to grips with the fact that I’ll only be able to help a small handful of people who read my work.

I want you to be one of those people, but it will never happen for you until you stop waiting for all the answers beforehand.

There’s more than enough information to get you started. So start.

Your Envy

You won’t learn how to make it as a writer until you stop comparing yourself with other writers. I get it. You want to be where they are right now, but you’re not. Go to your favorite author’s blog right now if they have one. Odds are, the archives will stretch back 5-10 years.

Getting rid of jealousy is difficult, but there is something useful you can do with it. Use it as fuel. When I’m jealous of someone, I just steal all their techniques. I don’t plagiarize them, but I think about the thought process behind their headlines, watch where they publish their work and pitch mine to the same place and pay more attention to what they do then what they say.

Don’t let envy keep you stuck in the same spot.

Your Need for Approval

It took a while for my wife to take my aspirations seriously. Once I started making some money and gaining momentum, my progress opened her eyes to the possibilities. She never discouraged me, but deep down I knew she wasn’t sold yet, and that was okay with me.

You have to realize when you deviate outside the normal path, people aren’t always going to get it.

I didn’t announce my aspirations of becoming a writer to anyone. I just started writing and kept writing.

When it comes to successful writing, the only thing that matters is the page in front of you.

Now is the best time in human history to become a writer. You don’t need anyone’s permission to create and publish.

You don’t need a publisher to tell you whether or not you’re a good writer. Let your audience be the judge.

Your mission is to build a small empire around your words.

Don’t put your identity in someone else’s hands.

Your Laziness

You don’t write enough. Period. 

This is maybe my 500th blog post. One of my favorite writers, Seth Godin, has written 6,000.

How many blog posts have you written?

How many words do you have under your belt?

Do you write every day or just “once and a while?” Do you focus when you write or do you check the web and social media?

You know the answers and you know how to move forward.

I know sometimes the words don’t come out on the page the way you envisioned them in your mind. I know you sometimes feel like you’re not cut out to be a writer.

Suck it up.

Your Excuses

I just laid down the gauntlet. You have everything you need to know about how to become a good writer. It’s all on you now.

I sincerely believe everything you want in your writing career is possible. I want you to succeed, badly. But I can’t want it more than you do.

You will want to make a ton of excuses for yourself along the way. You’ll think success should come faster. You’ll wonder why your audience doesn’t just get it. All of the little tedious things along the way will make you wonder whether or not it’s all worth it.

It is worth it. But you’ll never find that out until you do the work. No amount of wishing, wondering, hoping, or excess thinking is going to get you there.

You have to write. Fortunately, if you’re able to master the skill of writing, there are unlimited opportunities for you to make a living doing it. I saved these for last because I wanted to make sure you’re committed before we got to the part everyone wants to get to.

It’s time. Let’s talk about monetization.

My Top 5 Recommended Strategies to Make a Living Writing

If you want to make a living writing, you need to have the following qualities:

• You really, really, really have to like writing — It’s OK if you’ve procrastinated on starting your writing career; I did. But once you start you have to begin to enjoy the process or else you’ll quit.
• You have to be patient — I’ve seen people execute some of the strategies I’m going to share in a year or less, but they’re anomalies. It’ll probably take you three to five years to go full-time.
• You have to focus on your audience — If you expect to write random stories about your life and make a killing without taking readers into consideration, you’ll fail.

Still with me?

Let’s take a look at the income streams I personally use to make money writing.

How to Make Money Writing and Achieve a Life-Long Dream at the Same Time

According to a New York Times survey, 81% of people say they have a book in them. If you’re an aspiring writer, odds are you’d like to publish a book. And I think you should.

There’s nothing quite like having a book, a solidified piece of thought, out there in the world. Thanks to self-publishing, you can put together a professional book without having to use a traditional publisher in the process at all.

Self-publishing gives you total creative control over the content of your book, the design and packaging of your book, the price of the book, and the timeline for when the book comes out. You also get higher royalty payments from self-publishing than you would a traditional publisher.

I’ve published three books. My first book made a few thousand dollars. My second book did much better, making multiple five figures. And my third and most recent book is pacing to outdo both of those books combined and then some. With each new book you put out, you have a larger audience to share your book with.

Most self-published authors write multiple books to build up a catalog that can lead to a more substantial living. Again, if you like to write a lot, you can put out multiple books and make a living from them. I personally know writers who do just that. They’re not famous, but they make a living with serial publishing and reach the goal of making a living with their words.

Pros to publishing books

• If you publish a book and put marketing elements in place to keep promoting it, you have an asset that continues to pay you over time. I make money while I sleep from readers across the world buying books I wrote years ago. It’s a great secondary stream for me that keeps solid income coming in.
• Books establish credibility. It’s funny. Every time you mention to someone that you wrote a book, their eyes widen a little bit and they’re impressed. Writing a book makes you feel like a real writer.
• There’s just something about writing a book that gets a huge monkey off your back. When you get that copy of your book in your hands, you feel euphoric. A book is tangible. You always have something to look at and say, “I made this.”

Cons to publishing books

• Odds are, you won’t sell a ton of books unless you have a huge audience. Many big-time authors who have massive hits, e.g., Mark Manson, have email lists of 100,000 people or more. You can, however, go the serial publishing route if you don’t have a huge audience.
• Books aren’t the best ROI on your time, at least not initially. After you’re done writing your book you won’t even want to look at it anymore. The process can be grueling. It’s worth it, but it might not be the most optimal use of your time.
• Without proper promotion channels in place, many self-publish books tend to just die off. If you want to write a book that lasts, you will have to continue to focus on building an audience and sharing your book with them.

Resources on successful self-publishing

• Kindle Direct Publishing: How to Make Real Money on Amazon
• 10 Steps To Making A Living As A Self-Published Fiction Author In 2020
• Self-Publishing School

How to Make Money Writing Damn Near Out of Thin Air

If you have no idea what products to create or don’t want to become a coach, you can promote other people’s products on your blog and make money writing through affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is simple. You get a custom link to a page for a product. You add these links to blog posts or pages on your website. When people click on those links and buy the products, you receive a commission at no extra cost to them.

That’s the great part. You just share products with people who might be interested in them and get paid. I don’t do a ton of affiliate marketing. Mainly, I have a page teaching peoplehow to start a WordPress blog that contains affiliate links to website hosting.

You’ll want to create helpful content around the affiliate product you want to promote to educate and persuade people into buying the product.

If you can attract traffic to pages on your site that contain affiliate links, you can earn anywhere from a decent trickle to a massive income. Depending on the niche and the price point of the products you promote, you can make a killing with affiliate marketing if you know how to do it right.

Pros to affiliate marketing

• The upside potential is huge if you can get traffic, as you can see above.
• Affiliate marketing is cost-effective. You just need to pay for your website hosting, site design, and email marketing software. You don’t have to spend money on creating a product. Theoretically, you could start a six-figure affiliate business with less than $100/mo in expenses.
• Since you don’t own the products, you don’t have to run the business aspects of having a product, e.g., customer service, refunds, maintaining and updating the product, etc.

Cons to affiliate marketing

• To get affiliate marketing to work well, you need to get a lot of traffic. This likely means learning SEO or running paid advertisements, which carry a higher degree of difficulty than, say, publishing blog posts on Medium.
• You have no control over the commission structure and the terms with your affiliates. Amazon recently decreased the commission rate for its Associate’s program, which wiped out many entire affiliate businesses overnight.
• Your reputation is tied to the products you promote. You get the upside of not having to create the product, but you get the downside of having no control over the quality of the product. This is why I suggest promoting products you actually use. I promote Bluehost on my blog and my blog is hosted on Bluehost.

Resources on affiliate marketing

• 53+ Best Affiliate Programs for Bloggers in 2020 (to Earn Affiliate Income from Blogging)
• Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Free Guide for Beginners
• How I Make Money as a Blogger: A Beginner’s Guide to Affiliate Marketing

Most of the writing you see online is painfully boring. “5 Tips for Waking Up Early in the Morning.” Gee, thanks, really enlightening.

I get it. It’s getting harder and harder to stand out these days. Listicles galore and no original thoughts, right? Everyone is writing the same exact shit and you’re afraid you’re just adding more manure to the pile.

I write listicles too, but people say they have flair. I write about tired topics, too, but I do it in a way that readers find compelling. The market has been saturated forever, but you can still find a way to stand out.

How? Simple. Do things other writers can’t do, won’t do, or are afraid to do. Here are some strategies you can use to beat the competition.

Stop Pulling Punches

Most writers play it way too safe. They’re afraid of saying what they really mean. They don’t want to go all the way there. So they stick to approved narratives and topics. This isn’t something just writers suffer from. It’s a problem you see in today’s overly politically correct world.

Everyone is afraid of getting canceled. They don’t want the mob to come after them. If they do manage to put some controversial words out there, they’ll back down and apologize for something they meant to say. If you have controversial opinions, share them. If your content polarizes people, that’s a good thing.

One of my best-performing articles was titled 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective People. I dared to suggest that there’s some objectivity when it comes to how to live. I’ve written articles calling the self-care movement a scam. Medium leans left and woke outrage content does really well, but I’m not afraid to quote conservatives like Thomas Sowell or share ideas from the other side of the aisle. I’m not afraid of random people on the interwebz who I’ll never meet and wouldn’t have the balls to talk recklessly to me in person. You shouldn’t be, either.

Guess what happens when you write a post that sparks a raging debate in the comments? You get engagement. Guess what happens on Medium when people hate-read your posts? You still get paid.

There’s Only One Thing Other Writers Can’t Steal From You

Nobody can out-compete you at being you. Every writing topic has been covered to death. You’re not going to win the originality battle by coming up with ideas people have never heard before. But you can create an original feel to your work by injecting your personality into your writing.

Nobody can copy your experiences. I’ve written articles about my experiences with being in jail, getting a divorce, going on drug and alcohol benders, the strain my business put on my relationship with my child, my travels, and a bunch of other experiences that helped shape the way I think and feel today. Instead of just writing random stories about myself, though, I weave pieces of my story into articles where I provide insights and lessons based on what I’ve been through.

Nobody can copy your interests, tastes, quirks, little idiosyncrasies. Every personality is unique like DNA. Use yours. I’m a wise ass. Every once in a while I’ll throw in some puns, sarcastic comments, and little dark jokes into self-help articles. This provides contrast to other self-help writers who keep everything super positive and peppy. I’m curious and contrarian by nature, which lends to my style of writing where I’m always questioning authority and established narratives.

Next time you’re reading over your work, ask yourself, could you add a bit more you to your article? What unique experiences do you have? What are the highs and lows of your life you can use to relate to others? Focus on not just ‘writing how you talk’, but writing the same way you live.

For Better Output, Change Your Input

You’ve heard the cliche – to become a great writer you must become a great reader. Reading widely does give you an advantage because you have more source material to draw from when you write. Be careful of your sources, though.

Murakami put it well:

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”

In the beginning, I stuck to mostly self-improvement books. I’ve read all the staples that everyone else has read. After reading those I started to branch out and read about different topics — pop psychology, economics, biology, culture, politics, religion, relationships, marketing, you name it.

I discovered several insightful authors that helped shape my thinking like Nassim Taleb, Thomas Sowell, and Charlie Munger. I started reading more obscure blogs like the Last Psychiatrist, Slate Star Codex, and Hotel Concierge. I follow random anonymous Twitter accounts with insightful bits of wisdom.

All these different ingredients feed into my thought process and allow me to come at a basic topic like self-improvement from many angles. Don’t be afraid to draw from random sources. Read whatever you want to read, even if, especially if, you don’t think it will provide some direct benefit to your writing. You never know how random ideas will connect together.

Study, But Don’t Totally Copy, Your Competition

Here’s a pro tip to write a unique article: take your idea and put it into Google. Read the top 5 results. Write down everything the articles do well and highlight the points that seem to appear on every article. You actually want to keep some staple ideas in your articles, so make sure to take note of what works and add it.

Also, look at those articles and see what they’re missing. Where do they gloss over concepts that could be explained better or more thoroughly? What are some points you think are important, but are missing in the article you read? Where do you disagree with the points in the other articles?

I used the same process to differentiate my books. I looked at 3-star reviews of popular books in my niche. Usually, these reviews provided both positive and negative feedback. I used the positive feedback to know what worked and used the negative feedback to fill in the gaps where the other books fell short.

You can read the comments on popular articles in your niche too and see what readers have to say. They’ll give you clues to what they want, which will help you write articles they want to read.

The Same Piece of Advice I Give In Every Article

Coming up with a unique writing voice is a matter of time. People always ask me how I found my voice. I have a general idea of how I did it, including some of the items I’ve mentioned already, but honestly, a lot of it is intuitive. I’ve been writing for six years. I developed my voice gradually.

I always add this piece of advice no matter how redundant it sounds. Nine times out of ten you struggle to create a unique voice because you don’t write enough. If you write 100 blog posts, some unique elements to your style will emerge. Keep at it for years and you will create a voice that no one can copy.

How do you develop the motivation and discipline to write every day for years? I always look at it this way. If writing is something you say you want to do, then you might as well write often for a really long time even if you don’t get the results you want right away.

If you suffer from perfectionism, get over it. It’s not that serious. Just publish your stuff. Edit no more than 3 times and get it out there. For those with too many ideas, pick some and run with them. Time is running out. I can’t force you to sit your ass down in the chair and write. No one can. That’s on you. So, just do it, will ya?

I didn’t start writing for money. I did it because it was the one thing in my life that gave me a level of passion I never felt before. But once I decided I wanted to do it for a living, I realized I needed to make money.

So, I went through the tumultuous journey of learning how to make a living writing. I’m not one to sugarcoat. It’s hard. You have to treat writing like a business, and building a business is hard.

Most writers fail for the same reason most business owners fail. They romanticize their work too much. Yes, you should write for love, I know I do. But love doesn’t pay your bills or help you escape your 9 to 5 job to do what you love. 

Jeff Goins has an amazing saying about the way to think about writing:

You make money so that you can make more art

Your artistic license increases when you have financial flexibility. Take care of your bottom line and you’re free to write whatever you want. Here are some techniques you can use to do just that.

Decide Which Type of Writer You Want To Be

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki has sold more than 32 million copies. In the book, he talks about an exchange he had with a young woman who wanted to become a best-selling author.

She had an MFA degree and took her craft seriously. She expected to hear techniques for becoming the best writer possible. Instead, Robert gave her advice on marketing, promoting, and selling her work. The young woman rejected his advice.

He had this to say in response. “It’s called best-selling author, not best-writing author.” If you want to make money with your writing, you need to understand that it’s a product just like any other.

Some of the best-selling authors might not technically be the best writers, but they’ve built huge followings over time that help them make money. Embrace a marketing and sales mindset to go with the craftsmanship attitude.

Some ideas and strategies to consider are:

• Building a tribe – You need to build a tribe of loyal fans who specifically love your writing. This means finding a way to keep communicating with your fans like building an email list. Specifically, you always want to have a call to action at the end of each post you write (if allowed).
• Pay attention to packaging – From writing headlines that people want to click to writing books with catchy titles and covers, you must understand that quality doesn’t matter if no one actually reads your work. You have to find a way to make it enticing.
• Become a shameless promoter – If you have writing you want to share and writing products you want people to buy, err on the side of being more aggressive. When I launched my third book, I sent three times the number of emails to my list than the launch for my second book. The sales were much higher. You might turn some people off, but often those people were never going to buy in the first place.

You Can’t Have Your Cake And Eat It Too

Josh Spector once said:

You can write for yourself or you can write for an audience, but you can’t do both.

This doesn’t mean you can’t write stories about your life and share your personal experiences, but you must make sure you’re writing stuff someone other than you wants to read. Read that sentence again.

If you think of writing like a business, you’ll understand that there are different markets for different types of writing. You can choose to write in an unprofitable market, but don’t get upset if you don’t make much money from your writing. You can choose to focus on what you want to write over what audiences want, but don’t get upset when you hear crickets when you hit publish.

If you choose to take an audience-driven approach first, you can find the intersection between what people want to read and what you want to write. Find out where the readers are, what they want to read, and choose a topic that matches your tastes.

No, this doesn’t mean you have to write self-improvement listicles to make a living. There is a broad range of topics you can write about and styles you can use. Read this article where I talk about the top blogging niches for more guidance. You can go in different directions. The only wrong direction is choosing to write solely based on what you think is interesting.

Some techniques to create audience-driven content:

• Market research – If you’re going to write a book, go on Amazon and see if there are already similar book ideas out there. If you’re going to publish your work on a certain platform or website, see what type of articles and topics get the most traction.
• Audience research – Readers often give you the exact blueprint for what to write. Often, I’ll look in the comments of blog posts to see the common patterns — questions they ask, insights they share, even complaints they make. You can use these insights to create a profile of your ideal reader, too.
• Take responsibility – If your writing isn’t getting the traction you want, never blame the audience. I see so many writers who say things like “they just don’t get it.” In reality, it’s the writer who’s the delusional one.

Take the Counterintuitive Route to Profitable Writing

This is going to sound contradictory, but to make money writing, start by not focusing on money at all. This is also another insight I learned from Kiyosaki:

“Work to learn, not for money.”

In most businesses, you tend to break even or lose money in your first few years. This is because you’re building a foundation for the business that will pay off huge down the road — skills, potential customer base, a network.

I didn’t make a dime for the first few years of my writing career. I just focused on getting good at the craft, building my tribe, and trying to learn what works.

Then, in the fourth year of my writing career, I made more money in a single year than any other year of my life by far. Had I looked at my writing like an employee would, I would’ve quit because I was earning zero wages for my work.

You make money in writing through exponential growth. At first, you’re an absolute nobody. But your skills and your reach both compound like interest in an investing account. Down the road, you’ll reap much higher rewards for the same level of effort. 

Pretty much every successful writer I know has been on the same path. At first, they worked for nothing. Later, they reaped the rewards.

Some ideas to adopt the work to learn attitude are:

• Work for exposure – In the beginning, when you have no audience, your main focus is building your tribe. You can make money along the way, sure, but in the beginning, it makes sense to trade your time for access to new readers.
• Practice in public –  When you’re just getting started, your writing isn’t good. It’s not worth reading yet. You should still publish it anyway because you need to get used to exposing your work to the public. Use your small or non-existent audience to your advantage and practice with less pressure. Trust me, as you get bigger, the pressure only grows.
• Think like an investor – A smart investor doesn’t care about the balance of their portfolio in the first few weeks or months of adding to it. Hell, they don’t even care about the first few years. They know that time does most of the work. Just get it in your head that this is going to be a long-term journey. If you can’t do that, you’ll fail.

Final Thoughts

You can choose whatever route you want. Some writers hate my approach to writing. Many think people who teach writing in this formulaic fashion are full of it. Fine with me.

I create art. I write quality and I’d stack myself up with an “artistic” writer any day. Going about your writing like a business owner, like a professional, leads to quality and artistic genius.

Why? Because professionals actually do the work. Nine times out of ten, those that claim artistic integrity are just self-centered and lazy. They don’t want to do what’s required to make a living from their writing. Are you? The answer to that question will determine how your writing career pans out.

There’s no exact method for writing articles that people want to read. You can write about a variety of topics successfully if you understand the patterns behind the type of articles people want to read.

It sounds simple and obvious, but many new writers miss the point. If you want a lot of people to read your writing, you have to write the type of articles people actually want to read.

If you want to stop banging your head against the wall, feeling frustrated that your work is getting nowhere, focus on that simple truth.

You don’t have to write a certain way. You’re free to do what you wish. But, you also have to live with the results. I see far too many writers who blame their lack of success on the audience.

Josh Spector once said, “You can write for an audience or write for yourself, but you can’t do both.”

If you don’t want commercial success that’s fine. But too many writers want commercial success doing it their way when their way doesn’t work.

The choice is yours. But always remember the golden rule of writing. It’s never the audience’s fault.

You don’t have to write how-to articles and listicles to get ahead. You really don’t. But, your articles will perform better if you have the right answers to some of these key questions.

Have I Nailed the Essential Elements of My Article?

You can write a more or less solid article and mess it up by failing to nail a few key areas of the piece. You don’t have to dumb your work down to nail these essential elements, but you be mindful of them.

Put yourself in your reader’s shoes. They could read any article online. On top of that, reading articles isn’t on the top of anyone’s priority list, even people who like to read.

They instinctively want to click away from your articles as soon as possible.

Nail these elements to keep them engaged:

• Headlines – Look, headlines are an art and science that take time to learn. If you want to get good at them, write a bunch of them. Short tip, avoid cryptic headlines that don’t give the reader any sort of clue what your article is about.
• The main points/sections – One main point or section that doesn’t fit your article can kill the whole vibe. Same thing with a list that has too many ‘filler’ points and not enough ‘meaty’ ones.
• Intro – You can open an article in many different ways — a cool story, talking directly to the reader, using a crazy opening line to leave them hooked. You do want to hook them as soon as you possibly can.
• Conclusion – Leave the reader with either a takeaway, call to action, or a feeling that they’ve been on some sort of mini-adventure with your story

Would You Read Your Own Article If You Weren’t You?

You’re wired to focus on your own wants and needs. It’s natural. Human nature. But it creates a large blind spot when it comes to writing for an audience.

Honestly, there’s no magic trick for learning how to step outside of yourself and view your own writing objectively.

Here’s a tell: if your articles continue to fall flat, that might be a sign you need to switch something up.

Potential issues might be:

• You write in a self-centered way – You can write a story about yourself without making it entirely about you. Most newbies write naval-gazing personal essays
• You’re writing about the wrong topic – By wrong, I mean a topic that doesn’t have a large enough audience
• You just need to get better – As a reader, you probably prefer to read writing from experienced writers because it’s, you know, better

What’s In It For the Reader?

Back to the personal essay example. If you want to write those types of articles and make them successful you have to ask yourself what the reader will gain from reading your article.

There are a ton of reasons why someone might want to read your essay. Maybe you’re telling a story that’s truly entertaining and unique.

You can write personal essays with details of your life that match the experiences of your reader, e.g., you could write an essay about your divorce that people who’ve been through a divorce can relate with.

I have a simple framework I use to focus on writing articles that address the reader’s needs:

• Entertainment – From unique stories to humor to anything else that evokes high arousal emotions, you can figure out a way to keep readers hooked by keeping them eager to read the next sentence
• Education – “How to” articles work so well because people are always looking for answers
• Inspiration – Inspiration works so well because most people are desperately wanting something better for themselves

If you can manage, try to hit all three at once.

What Do I Need to Remove to Make This Article Better?

You don’t need to write short sentences or limit your paragraphs to three to four sentences to get people to read your articles. But it is helpful to follow this rule from the classic writing guide The Elements of Style:

Omit needless words.

Not just needless words. Needless sentences. Needless paragraphs.

Usually, when you write your first draft, you’re going to have some needless words in it. Editing is an art you learn by doing it on your own.

A couple of guidelines you can use are:

• Redundant words and sentences – Often, you’ll repeat two sentences that say pretty much the same thing. Or you might have two entire paragraphs that make the same point
• Odd sounding phrases – Reading your work out loud can help you catch gaffes you wouldn’t find by just reading your draft
• Sentences and paragraphs that don’t fit the context and flow of your article – Maybe you have a long-winded story that really doesn’t add to the flavor of the piece that much. Perhaps you write an essay with five points, only to find that three of them truly support the main thesis of your essay

After removal, you can focus on addition.

What Do I Need to Add to Make This Article Better?

You could answer this question by using the inverse of the tips I just listed above. After you go through and remove the excess, you’ll notice that your article is still missing something.

Again, editing is an intuitive process, but some elements you might want to add to your article are:

• Interesting stories and anecdotes – Say you’re writing an advice article. You’ll be more credible to readers if you share a story about how you implemented said advice.
• Data, facts, statistics – Some topics and article styles benefit from citing the right sources, e.g., articles about science, business, psychology, etc
• Useful sentences and words – This is something you’ll learn over time. Certain little phrases will make your articles pop more. You might need to add a single sentence or two to support the point you’re trying to make in a section of an article.

When it comes to editing, I keep things simple. I write the first draft. During the second draft, I focus on removal. During the third draft, I focus on addition. Then, I make one final pass to make everything look pretty, add links, quotes, data, etc.

How Can I Make My Articles LOOK Better?

Like I said earlier, you don’t have to write the exact I do, but always be mindful of the way your blog posts feel to the eye. Even if I were to write longer paragraphs, for example, I’d still want them to be appealing to the eye, e.g., maybe making them look more square or rectangular than jagged.

Think about some of the other visual ways you can make your articles more appealing.

Some techniques you can use are:

• Pattern interruptions – Anything from a subheading to a photo, to a dividing line can give the reader a tiny break that gives them more energy to finish your piece.
• Emphasis techniques – From using italics or bold to make a point, using blockquotes, or bullet-points to display a list of facts or recommendations
• Images, period – Some people go out of their way to choose the most potent cover-images possible for their articles and it boosts their click-through rate. Remember, humans are visual creatures. Solid photos can have an impact on performance

Platforms like Medium have an amazing interface and set of tools you can use to make your articles ‘prettier.’ Use them.

How Can I Make My Writing Standout Against the Competition?

Odds are, you’re going to be entering a topic with a lot of competition. Take the main topic I write about, self-improvement. It’s probably the most saturated field for writers out there, but I found a way to thrive.

Again, this is something you develop an intuition for overtime, your voice, but let my story be an example for you.

I’m willing to say things many of my competitors won’t say. I write brutally honest, often politically incorrect, truths about what it takes to succeed. I don’t take myself that seriously. I curse in my articles, make wisecracks, and add random pop-culture references that I find entertaining. Ultimately, I realize that a lot of people use self-improvement as a form of entertainment and I play to that. I studied many different writing styles and prefer to use short punchy sentences instead of long-winded writing with flowery language.

Some people hate it, others love it, and that’s what I aim for. I don’t want everyone to like my writing because that means I’m trying to be a people-pleaser. When it comes to your writing, you want to figure out how to simultaneously be yourself and meet the needs of your audience at the same time.

Again, you can only learn so much by studying writing. You have to write a lot to actually find your voice.

Can My Issues be Solved With More Writing?

Writing is one area where speculation doesn’t do you a ton of good. Yes, plan and prepare. But eventually, you’re going to not only have to write but publish your stories.

Is the market perfect? No. Does the audience always get it right? Hell no. But you’re never going to get the level of feedback you need to improve unless you put your work out there.

Yes, some of your writing will suck. You’ll be criticized. You’ll feel like quitting and go through stretches where you ask yourself why the hell you’re even trying to become a writer.

I’ve been you.

Six years ago I decided to write a handful of articles. I liked it and kept going. If you were to tell me back then what I’ve accomplished now, I’d think you were insane.

I know how far away that dream feels to you. I know that you look up to established writers as unicorns, freaks of nature. But, we were all you at one point.

Always remember that. And write.

What makes you a successful writer?

People have had that debate for, well, forever. And it’s not a debate I’m interested in having myself because there are too many different definitions of success.

Often, instead of trying to figure out what will make you successful, it’s better to avoid the things that will definitely cause you to come up short.

You can write stuff people want to read in many different ways, but if you try to do it in the ways I’m about to share with you, you’ll either end up frustrated because no one reads your work. Or, even if you do manage to get people to read your work, you won’t feel good about your results because of the way you went about your work.

I see writers, especially aspiring writers, make the same simple and easy to fix mistakes over and over again. So, the solution is simple. Don’t make these mistakes.

If you avoid these pitfalls and focus on your craft, you’ll do just fine.

This Mistake is Huge, and Almost Every New Writer Makes It

I add this point to damn near every single one of my posts about writing. And it seems to bear repeating because new writers make this classic mistake constantly. Worse, they don’t seem to want to budge and change their strategy, even though their strategy isn’t working.

Successful writers don’t make their work entirely about them.

Does this mean you have to use the word ‘you’ in every other sentence like I do? No. Does it mean you have to write advice articles instead of personal essays to get ahead? Nope.

You don’t have to write the way I do, or even the way other ‘traditional bloggers’ do. But you do have to keep your audience in mind when you’re writing. And far too many newbies have a huge blind spot that causes them to focus only on themselves.

Ok. You want to share your story. But, what’s interesting about your story to other people? Do you have truly unique life experiences? Are you sharing aspects of your life other people can relate to? Would you be interested in reading your work if you weren’t you?

You have to be able to answer yes to all of those questions. And, honestly, you just have to avoid the critical mistake of vomiting out random moments in your life for no apparent reason other than to read your own thoughts.

The Mistake That Causes a Mismatch Between You and You Work

Successful writers don’t pander or pretend to be something they’re not just to get people to read their work.

My colleague Shannon Ashley is great at telling stories — top tier. Her personal essays sometimes include intimate details of her life. They’re not the type of details I’d personally share. If I tried to write like her just because I saw her style got a lot of fans, it wouldn’t land the same. I have seen a bunch of writers try to copy her style and it didn’t work for them because they don’t have the sincere urge to share that way like she does.

You don’t have to pigeonhole yourself into one style. It’s okay to experiment and you should. All writers borrow ideas and styles from others until they eventually come to their own. But they choose the ones that fit them best as opposed to the ones they think will work the best.

I write about subjects like self-improvement, psychology, business, marketing, etc because they fascinate me. They’re also subjects other people are interested in. You find success by finding the intersection between what people want to write and what people want to read.

When you write about the stuff you like to write about and you’re sincere, people can tell. If you pander or chase clicks, people can also tell. There are a bunch of self-improvement writers who write because they think it’s a hot topic. But you can tell they’re just going through the motions, slapping together headlines they’ve seen before and writing regurgitated content with no energy, no flavor.

So, on the one hand, you have to step outside of yourself to get an audience interested in your work, but you don’t want to create a fake persona either because, if people like the persona, they don’t actually like you. You might get the clicks, but you’ll feel inauthentic. Ultimately, they’ll feel it, too.

The Mistakes That Keeps You From Reaching Your Full Potential

Successful writers don’t hold back the truth. At least, they don’t hold back their version of the truth. Often, the best writing comes when you share the things that make you a little nervous to share — the ideas that push you to your edge.

If your writing doesn’t offend anyone, ever, then you’re probably not at your edge. You have a unique worldview and so does everyone else in the world. You’re more likely to build a loyal tribe of readers by standing firm in your beliefs instead of pandering to the masses.

Like all of these points, there’s a fine balance to this. You just want to avoid ever expressing opinions you don’t think are true, deep down, just because you want to get along. Some of my best articles are the ones that pissed the most people off.

I once wrote an article called the 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective People. It ruffled some feathers because I had the audacity to call people out who aren’t living up to their potential. But that’s the way I really feel about people. I do think there’s such a thing as mediocrity and below-average results. I do think people short change themselves by living in an ineffective way. I am against the idea that we should never offend anyone or hold them to high standards. So I shared the piece — a lot of people hated it but a lot of people loved it.

As long as you’re not going across the line, e.g., inciting hate, run with your ideas, and don’t be afraid of the crowd.

The Mistake That Kills Most Writing Careers Before They Get Off the Ground

Successful writers don’t let the opinions of other people keep them from writing altogether. So many people have reached out to me and said they wanted to write, but were scared of rejection, negative comments, and the feelings of embarrassment that come with both.

Instead of sugarcoating it, I tell them the truth just as I’m about to tell you.

You will get rejected many, many, many times. And it will hurt your feelings. People will leave negative comments on your articles. Hell, some of them will personally attack your character as a human being and say truly mean things.

I got called a ‘neo-nazi’ by a commenter on Thought Catalog in one of the first handful of articles I ever posted on the site. On Medium, a reader called me a ‘privileged white male’ even though I’m black. I’ve been called an idiot, an asshole, an entitled prick who has no right to give advice to other people — you name it, I’ve read it.

You can take the negativity other people send your way in one of two ways. You can let it phase you. And usually, you’ll only get phased if you believe the things that are said about you. Or, you can take the initial blow and then decide what to do next.

Negative comments still sting, but I put them through a few filters when I react to them:

• Often, the commenter is projecting. They’re taking their negative feelings and pointing them back at you because your article exposed those feelings. In this case, I just let it slide. They’re human.
• Sometimes, the comment hurts because it carries a partial truth to it. You will be wrong sometimes. If you write hundreds of blog posts as I have, the chances of you being spot on all the time are zero.
• Every once in a while — and this is rare — you do come to find out that you were way off base. If you’re mature, you can take that critical feedback and use it to move forward.

But, nine times out of ten, I don’t take negative comments seriously at all. Neither should you. In fact, once you have a large enough platform, you’ll stop paying attention to them altogether because there will be too many comments to deal with period.

The Ultimate Mistakes

Successful writers don’t make excuses for themselves. They don’t place the blame for their lack of success on other people, even if they’re justified in doing so.

There are many elements that contribute to your success in writing. The one few ever choose to talk about is luck. Yup. Sometimes certain essays just blow up for no apparent reason. Some writers ride the wave of a viral post and make a killing, even if they’re not the best writers. There are writers who are less technically gifted and write lower quality work but have huge audiences because they’re good at marketing and writing headlines.

You just never know. For every 50 Shades of Grey, there are hundreds and thousands of romance novels that never move the needle. Even on platforms like Medium, I’ve seen writers of equal caliber have entirely different trajectories. It happens.

You can’t predict the future. You have to live with the outcomes you get from your writing and work to get better. Maybe you need more practice. Maybe you’re on the verge of a big breakthrough if you just stick with it. You might not be featuring your work in the right place. There are so many different variables.

But you can only control yourself.

At the end of the day, you should write because you enjoy doing it. You can carry that feeling of enjoyment throughout your entire career, through the ups and downs. If you’re really in it for the love, you should write for the rest of your life regardless of the results.

I remember listening to an interview with the now uber-famous Elizabeth Gilbert. She made the conscious decision to choose jobs like waiting tables so she could have time and flexibility to write. Also, she said she was content to do that for the rest of her life as long as she was able to do what she loved. Yes, of course, she wanted to be successful. We all do. Obviously, her ultimate goal was to write a best seller. Most of us have that goal. But, the underlying energy of wanting to write for the sake of it carried her to the finish line.

Keep a similar energy. Enjoy the climb up.

For those of you who read my work a lot, I bet you think to yourself:

“God damn, how does this dude keep writing as such an insane clip?”

Do you want to wield these powers yourself? Do you want to stop feeling so damn stuck about what you should write next? Maybe you’re already doing well, but you want to take things to the next level and become an idea-machine.

I can help you.

But first, you have to help yourself.

Too many writers are way too stuck in their heads. Above all else, regardless of how crappy your writing is, sitting down to write precedes all these tips.

People always ask me for advice about writing, yet they don’t write all that much.

The principles I’m going to teach you to help you come up with new ideas will only work if you manifest those ideas into words. I can’t physically force you to sit down in a chair and write, that’s on you, but I can give you some guidance.

These are the strategies, frameworks, and principles I use to write something new damn near every day.

The Foundational Idea Generating Technique I’ve Used Without Fail for 5 Years

Anytime I mention this strategy, I always pay homage to James Altucher, who invented it, or at least was the first person I saw talking about it.

The strategy is simple, write down 10 new ideas per day.

From the horse’s mouth:

IDEAS ARE  THE CURRENCY OF LIFE. Not money. Money gets depleted until you go broke. But good ideas buy you good experiences, buy you better ideas, buy you better experiences, buy you more time, save your life. Financial wealth is a side effect of the “runner’s high” of your idea muscle.

While James talks about the idea-generating technique for a wide variety of subjects, I use it exclusively for coming up with ideas for articles.

People think I just have this magical ability to come up with new ideas. No. To this day, if I write down 10 ideas for an article, maybe two are good, usually just one. But that’s enough.

You’re underestimating what it takes to be creative. You’re waiting for your daemon, I summon mine daily. To get the handful of great ideas that have helped me build a career in the past few years, I’ve come up with 15,000+ bad ideas.

You’ll never get the sugar-coated answer from me. Becoming a full-time writer takes work, period. Ideas are your job, not something you wait for to fall in your lap.

The Misguided Attitude That Keeps Writers Stuck (And How to Avoid It)

I’ve mentioned the ’10 ideas technique’ countless times in my blog posts. Why? Because I’m not afraid to repeat myself. If you look at James’s writing, you’ll see him repeating himself a lot, too.

He’ll always tell a similar story. First, he loses all his money, gets depressed, ruins all his relationships, and ends up on the floor crying. Then, he starts working on ideas again, makes all the money back, and reinvents himself.

If you are familiar with his work, you know that’s basically every single one of his posts. But they’re all so damn good and you don’t mind him repeating himself at all.

Why? Tucker Max explained it well. He said that James is trying to write the same blog post over and over again trying to perfect it, but never quite getting there.

That’s what I try to do. If you read my articles, they’re all the same article, more or less. Maybe an anecdote is different here and there. The tips, points, and pieces to the essays vary, but the core is mostly the same.

Why would you write about an idea once, never to return to it?

That assumes you haven’t learned anything, grown, or become a better writer. When you evolve as a person and a writer, you can revisit the same ideas over and over again with a new perspective.

In fact, that’s exactly what you should do.

80/20 Your Successful Writing Ideas

You can’t predict virality, else it wouldn’t be virality.

I use the prolific approach when it comes to writing articles. There are writers who do get predictable and great results by spending tons of time on each article, but, honestly, I’m just not that patient.

This doesn’t mean I don’t spend time creating quality, I do. It just means I don’t equate quality with time. Some have created this imaginary rule that you have to spend forever on your art for it to be good.

Says who? Tolstoy? Ok, maybe if you want to be Tolstoy you have to torture yourself and endlessly revise your work.

I don’t want to be Tolstoy, I want to be Ayo. Ayo would rather put out a blog post a day and a book a year rather than trying to become Hemingway. Sue me.

It’s up to you. I’m not saying either approach is right. I just advise the approaches I personally use. For me, being prolific and not worrying too much about the results of each individual article creates the seeds for virality.

The 80/20 rule applies to prolific writing. After you get some experience and an audience, a handful of our articles will routinely blow up for seemingly no reason.

Sometimes the ones you think will be home runs will be total duds. And then a random post you write that you felt iffy about will explode.

Just put your faith in the prolific process and see what happens. Generate 10 ideas per day, run with one, wash, rinse, repeat.

Find Material Anywhere, Anytime, Always, Constantly

You want to start becoming an active observer of your surroundings instead of someone who passively experiences them.

Any moment of your life can be fodder for an article. If an idea pops up in your head while you’re doing your day to day thing, write it down and put a note about it in your phone.

Conversations you have with others can be useful to your writing. You don’t have to out people or even write about what they said, but there are takeaways about people’s beliefs and behavior patterns you can draw from conversations.

Become a people-watcher. Try to imagine what’s going on in the minds of total strangers. Look at their body language, facial expressions, the way they walk, listen to the tone of their voice.

Use your consumption habits for good. I love adding little pop-culture references in my writing. I’ve used song lyrics as ideas for blog posts. I pay attention to the writing of my favorite T.V. shows and movies.

Your own thoughts are great fodder as well. Think of the range of thoughts, emotions, and experiences you personally have in a single day. Even banalest life is an absurd and insane existence if you think about it.

So, think about it.

Material is everywhere. Open your eyes and perk up your years.

Stop Trying to be J.D. Salinger, Sylvia Plath, Plato, or Whatever

There are only two reasons behind creating original work.

Reason number one — you’re a genius, a savant, a revolutionary thinker. Unlikely.

Reason number two — your ideas suck.

Quit trying to reinvent the wheel. Yes, there is originality in the way you combine ideas, absolutely, but there are proven strategies and frameworks that work.

I teach traditional blogging techniques. Because I drilled down those ‘formulaic’ processes, I have the experience and skills to freestyle more.

Even other types of writing like narrative essays and fiction have techniques and strategies to them.

Don’t be afraid to build on the ideas of other writers — steal, remix, combine, reverse-engineer. Not plagiarize, but rather draw from so many sources people think you’re original.

Robert Greene is one of my favorite writers. He’s written some of the most original and creative books I’ve ever read. Still, all of them are rooted in things that have already happened. He’ll go through hundreds of books to cherry-pick stories, facts, and concepts from them.

From using proven writing frameworks to standing on the shoulders of other successful writers, get this idea out of your head that you’re the next best revolutionary thing.

You’re not. At least not yet. Not until you write more. And without, you know, actually coming up with ideas and writing, you’ll never get there.

So start.