1-1-1: Online Writing 101

Hey Friends,

As we dive into this week's newsletter, I wanted to share some updates—I've shifted from Substack to Beehiiv to grow this community bigger. I may not be a professional writer, but I remember the struggles of being a complete beginner and not knowing how to get started. In this edition, I've put together some resources (guide) to online writing 101. Let's get started.

Today at glance:

📖 Book: Art and Business of Online Writing
📺 Video: Viral Writing 101
📰: Copywork

Art and Business of Online Writing by Nicolas Cole

There are countless books, blogs, and videos on writing, and they all might be very helpful, but the one I would recommend for a beginner to start with is the one by Nicolas Cole: The Art and Business of Online Writing. In the digital age, online writing is very helpful to accelerate your career, irrespective of age and stage. Cole’s journey is not only inspiring but also being a writer born of the internet will help you to get kick-started your online writing journey.

Here are some of the key lessons from the book:

• Giveaway 99% of your best writing for free. Monetize the last 1%

• In the game of Online Writing, Volume wins

• The size of your audience is a direct reflection of the size of the question you’re answering

• The Golden Intersection of great writing is answering the reader’s question and telling them an entertaining story

• You are not the main character in your story. The reader is.

• Social platforms are for publishing first and consuming second.

• What makes a badge of credibility valuable isn’t really the badge itself. It’s how the writer chooses to wear it.

• Anytime you fail to deliver on your promise to a reader, you’ve lost them.

• The inversion rule of “Specificity is the secret,” is “The broader you are, the more confusing you are.“

• Data doesn’t lie. But data is also a reflection of the external crowd, and not necessarily your internal compass.

Viral Writing 101 by Shaan Puri

I consider online writing as a game; you always start with Level 1 and advance through it to reach a higher level. You just can’t skip any level and become a champion overnight. But there’s always a cheat that helps you to pass a few hard levels. This cheat may involve observing higher-ranked players, understanding how they play, and learning how to crack it.

Similarly, in writing, the cheat to level up is to observe how successful internet writers craft their work. In this Ship 30 Cohort session, Shaan Puri shared tips and tricks to strengthen your online writing game. Here’s what Shaan shared in the session:

1. Focus on the Hook: 80% of your audience won't pass the first tweet or hook, so invest at least 30-40% of your time in editing it. Catch your reader's attention from the start.

2. Evoke Emotions: The best way to go viral is to connect with your reader's emotions. Avoid using heavy jargon that doesn't evoke any emotions.

3. Be Clear and Simple: Avoid showing off with technical jargon. Keep your writing clear and simple for better understanding.

How to imitate a professional writer?

Copying a professional writer is the only legal cheat code in the game of online writing. The idea of imitating (copying) may feel illegal, but I strongly believe that the philosophy of imitation is a key to learning anything, which David Perell has termed as "Imitate then, Innovate." I knew about this idea for a long time but was always stuck on how to implement it in my writing and how it could help me improve. Recently, I was introduced to the concept of copywork by one of the writers whom I admire the most: Nathan Baugh. His exceptional storytelling skills have always left me astonished.

So, how can you benefit from this? The concept of copywork suggests picking the writer you admire the most, the one whose work stirs different emotions within you. Take your favorite piece of theirs and copy it line by line, comma by comma, by hand (using pen and paper).

Famous writers like Jack London and Hunter S. Thompson used copywork practices to develop their own art. They rewrote, by hand, the novels and poems they admired, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." I've been practicing it daily for the past couple of weeks, studying the work of my favorite internet writer, David Perell, and copying one short essay every single day. It's been an amazing experience. I've learned a lot about how David outlines his writing, how to start an essay, and even how to expand an idea into an essay. It has also helped me build a daily writing habit.

If you want to learn more about it, here's a detailed blog on copywork.

If you are reading this then you must have observed how today’s newsletter is different from what I used to write, while writing this edition I wanted to provide something valuable rather than sharing completely random things I found interesting.

How would you prefer me to share?

Concise & Focused

Varied & Entertaining

Surprise Me!

Dhairya Sheth:)