6 Lessons I Learnt From The Best Writing Book You Need In This Modern World
This Book Is The Ultimate Guide To Writing In The Digital Age
I mean it when I say The Art and Business of Online Writing by Nicolas Cole is the best writing you can read right now.
While reading this book, I felt that I was being told the truth.
Writers often try to whitewash their writing to not hurt the readers and keep everyone happy.
On the other hand, Cole gently and firmly shows you how the modern writing world exists and teaches how you can ride this wave.
This book re-defined me as a writer and led me to show up here every day.
I can talk a lot about this book but, for starters, here are six lessons I learnt from it:
Daily Post
"I can't post every day."
This was a gigantic self-limiting belief of mine. And this book helped me rewrite this belief.
Here's why you should post daily instead of, let's say, weekly -
If you share four posts per month (one per week), you'll get four chances to succeed.
On the other hand, if you share 30 posts per month (one per day), you'll get 30 chances to succeed.
If you look at that math, it's clear that the more chances you have, the more you're likely to win.
But that doesn't mean you post rubbish or you burn yourself out.
Through trial and error, figure out the number of posts you can give your all without crushing your health.
For me, it's 20 posts per month - five per week.
Short and Sweet
Thanks to our technology, we have short attention spans.
This means we writers have just a few seconds to capture the readers' attention.
We have to hook in the readers with hook-able titles.
We have to get to our point quickly.
We can't go on rambling. We have to stick to a word count - 800-1200 words max.
Whatever we do, we must make sure we make our work worth the readers' while.
White Space
Nobody enjoys reading textbooks or old classics.
Why? One of the reasons is big chunks of text.
Notice how I start a new paragraph after every a couple of sentences.
Notice how I space out each point with dividers.
Big chunks of text are hard to read.
Spaced out text makes it easy to read.
Simple.
Give It Time
You can't hope to write for one month and then crib for not seeing any results.
You have to give your work and yourself some time to be picked up.
If you're into instant results, then you're on the wrong train.
It's All An Experiment
Don't take your writing too seriously.
Don't take the audience's reaction too seriously.
Don't take yourself too seriously.
Treat your work, the reactions and your life as an experiment.
Try out something.
See what worked, what didn't.
Make adjustments.
Try again.
All Else Fails, If You Don't Do This One Thing
Most people who read this book aren’t going to implement any of the information shared here (hopefully you’re not one of them). And the reason is because, the real issue, the “root of the root” that keeps talented writers from ever making their dream come true has nothing to do with writing. It has to do with discipline. It has to do with self-belief. It has to do with understanding the path of mastery.
- Nicolas Cole
You can read all writing books and blogs.
You can watch all writing videos and take all writing courses.
You can look for all the ways to go viral.
But if you don't write, nothing else will work.
Biggest Takeaway - Accept The Reality We Live In
The other day I watched a video of Mel Robbins.
She was being interviewed by Steven Bartlett on his podcast The Diary Of A CEO.
This last section of the interview I resonated with and want to share it with you.
Here Mel is talking about how her audiobook broke all recorded and become number one but was still snubbed by New York Times.
What she said next warmed my artist's heart.
I have to got to, once and for all, stop looking for validation in old institutions.
If I truly want to be an artist, on my own terms, don't even pay attention to that sh*t because it doesn't matter in the world that we're living in now.
It doesn't matter if you really want to make impact. Because the person that's struggling is the person that you want to reach. Not the person that's deciding who gets on some stupid list that's printed in a paper and redirecting your focus to what actually matters.
- Mel Robbins
We have to accept that times have changed. And so we too have to change our thoughts and methods.
Gone are the days of traditional avenues of publishing. Whether you like it or not, the world now is online. And if you want to build a successful writing career, that's where you need to be.
It's high time we shift our perspectives regarding writing.
The Art and Business of Online Writing by Nicolas Cole helps you do that.
