5 Writing Lessons I Learned After 5 Years in the Writing Business
These lessons will make you rich!
These lessons will make you rich!
If you are a digital writer, now is the best time to make a career out of your passion. Platforms all over the world are putting in tremendous efforts to support creators, and this $100 billion creator economy is only predicted to rise even more in the near future.
- Substack, a newsletter writing platform, launched a $70,000 creator fund in October 2021, with 10 authors chosen to get a $7,000 reward, along with many resources to assist them to write better.
- Earlier this year, Facebook put aside a $10 million fund to assist creators in writing and creating better content.
- Every year, the Medium partner program distributes millions of dollars to content creators for writing engaging articles on their platform.
- LinkedIn recently announced a $25 million creator fund to help writers on the platform upskill and improve their online writing skills.
With all these platforms pouring money into their creators, is there anything else I need to say to convince you that now is the best time in the history of mankind to become a digital writer?
If you haven’t started writing anywhere online yet, then consider this post as your cue to start.
Since 2014, I’ve been posting online virtually every day. In this blog, I’m going to share the five biggest lessons I’ve learned from all these years of writing. These methods will be beneficial to any writer who’s already writing online or who hopes to start writing online in the future.
If you’d like to watch a more candid version of this story in video format, here’s the link:
1. Build a writing habit
Developing a writing habit is the most powerful thing you can ever do.
The first couple of years in your writing career will be especially difficult. You’ll be writing good content day after day, but might end up receiving just a couple of views.
I know this situation first hand, and hope nobody gets stuck here.
The only thing that can help you get through these difficult times is if you have a writing habit. When you develop a daily writing habit, you train yourself that no matter how many views you get, you will stick to the schedule and continue writing on a regular basis.
As a successful writer digital writer, I can vouch for the fact that a writing habit is the biggest asset you can ever have.
2. Build your presence on more than one platform
When I first started blogging on Quora in 2014, I had no idea how to create a presence across several platforms.
There came a time when many of my colleagues and fellow top writers on Quora had their profiles blocked.
I used to be so terrified that if my Quora profile was removed, all my months of hard work would be lost forever.
Fast forward to today, I’m active on several sites, including Quora, Medium, Substack, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. I’m not attached to any of these platforms since I know that platforms and their algorithms change.
Your profile may be blocked due to events beyond your control.
So it’s always a good idea to establish a presence on more than one site. Aside from making you ban-proof, having a presence on numerous platforms may also help you reach a larger audience. After all, people who hang out on one site are rarely the same as people who hang out on other platforms.
By establishing a presence on many platforms, you can reach a diverse range of individuals with varying preferences, and broaden your digital footprint.
3. The real money doesn’t come from platforms
Several Indian writers have complained to me that Medium, one of the largest writing platforms on the internet, does not have a partner program available to individuals from India. This is because the Stripe express account is not yet fully operational in India. Creators in this region of the world are unable to monetize their writing on Medium.
But when they tell me that, I usually smile. Do you know why?
Out of my net monthly income, only 10% is derived from the Medium partner program. The remainder comes from other opportunities that I’ve made for myself on all the different platforms. This was only possible because I started writing online even when I was making no money out of it.
If you’re not sure how you can leverage Medium to earn some extra money, I’ve created a video that lists five reasons explaining the same.
If you believe that a platform is being unfair to you or it is not paying you enough, consider that the money you receive directly from that platform is merely a fraction of what you can earn if you learn to leverage it properly.
Keep this in mind and you’ll never be upset if you think the algorithm is flawed against you.
4. Plan your content in advance to avoid burnout
When you write something every day, you’re bound to have bad days.
Nobody can consistently deliver their best work every day.
To save yourself from bad days and continue your writing habit, plan your material ahead of time.
One method is to jot down 10 ideas per day. This is a technique I learned from James Altucher’s book “Choose Yourself.”
Since reading the book, I’ve started jotting down ten thoughts every day.
By now, I have a huge collection of ideas. Whenever I feel down or like I can’t write anything, I always go back to my idea journal and pick out an idea that works best for me.
5. Learn to repurpose content
Repurposing is the key to ace multiple platforms without being always exhausted.
Every platform’s audience is unique.
Even then, you’ll need to spend some time on each of these platforms to understand how this audience consumes content.
There is no magic formula for repurposing specifically for that platform. However, if you spend some time examining the most popular viral content on that site, you will learn what you need to do to get to that level.
Final words
Here are the five most important lessons I’ve learned from five years of internet writing.
- The most valuable thing you can do for yourself is to build a writing habit.
- Build a presence on more than one platform so that you’re always one step ahead of the changing algorithms.
- The real money doesn’t come from platforms. It depends on how best you can leverage the platform to earn extra money.
- Plan your content ahead of time to prevent burnout.
- Learn to repurpose content so you’re not always exhausted.
I hope these lessons were valuable to you.
If you know a writer friend who might benefit from reading this article, please share it with them and spread the love. Thank you so very much for reading here. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Want to be a successful freelance writer but struggling to find good clients? Check out my 90-day guide to finding your first high-paying freelance client here.
