Read This Book Before Starting to Write Online
Writing online is not the same as writing a book
I always wrote as a kid. For as long as I can remember, I put “write a book” in my New Year’s resolutions. It never got to be anything tangible.
It is getting tangible now, and probably even more so thanks to this book:
I have read the ideas from this book in different resources before, but only in this book were they all presented in such a concise, no BS, detailed way.
A lot of it is on strategy and positioning of your writing online:
When just starting to write, it doesn’t make sense to start your own blog (as Nicolas points out, own blog/website has nothing to do with writing and everything to do with blogging, plus you have no traffic to start with).
Nor does it make sense to write here and there, post things occasionally, and hope that one day, a big editor or a big publication will source your work.
Nicolas consistently makes a point that the best strategy is leveraging existing platforms (Medium, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, and whatever platforms are to come). After the platform is chosen, write-write-write consistently and analyze data.
The part that I loved is the “how” of online writing.
Nicolas breaks it all down: from headline, to intro, to main points, to conclusions. I really appreciated actionable advice on the story structure (1/ 4/ 1/ 1 and so on). It’s all about being mindful of the sentence rhythm, making sure it flows and has the reader seamlessly read through your piece.
As Nicolas points out, it takes six months of consistent writing (without excuses of “life got in the way”) to actually start the writing journey. I am on my month one. Challenge accepted.
This year has been truly transformational for me in terms of learning about online writing, personal branding, and expanding online network. For me, it’s about intentionally being out there.
My consistent writing journey is starting, and I am grateful to have read Nicolas Cole’s book in the relative beginning of it ✨🥂
As you know, I do not write book reviews without posting a beer picture. It’s just not something I do.
Today’s picture will be not just one beer, but a beer tasting set from a cosy bar in New Orleans:
