Too-Good-to-Ignore Advice From the Twitter Writing Community
4 pearls of wisdom to get your writing career started
4 pearls of wisdom to get your writing career started
The writing community on Twitter has always been vibrant, active, and welcoming.
Ever since I became its part in 2016, I’ve always sought some of my favorite authors on the site for writing advice and insights on developing and monetizing my audience.
If you’re starting out as a writer, this article is definitely for you. I’ve compiled the best writing advice that’s out there on Twitter.
It doesn’t matter which writing platform or social media platform you want to work on. These pieces of advice will help you become a better writer, be consistent with your skills, and cultivate and nurture your dedicated audiences.
So read on for some truly excellent advice that is just too good to ignore.
1. Consistency Beats Talent
Getting lucky is like getting the bus. It’s ok if you miss a bus or two, but you ain’t getting on without a ticket. — Ali Q
When you start out as a writer, you are most likely to take either of these two paths.
Go stealth-mode
- Create a plan, outline, and research for your grand masterwork, which you will share with the world one day.
- There’s nothing wrong with this process, except for the fact that your sole yardstick for success is previous yourself.
- You can’t gather any data from your readers and rely only on your own beliefs and intuitions about what type of content will work and what will not.
The second path you might choose is-
Build in public
- You pick a publishing platform and publish content on a consistent basis.
- Sure, you might not be writing a new book every day, but you can post snippets, chapters, and ideas that allow your readers to connect with you and learn enough about you.
- Some of them might even want to help you financially with sufficient time.
- Your output will depend on real-world statistics when you choose this path.
- You’ll have to iterate and polish your craft based on the feedback you receive from your audiences.
- There’s no such thing as building in secret; anything you create will be visible to the rest of the world, and you will be making educated decisions based on the preferences of your target audience.
I’ve already emphasized how important online writing is, but the true magic arrives when you consistently publish online and start building your tight-knit reader community.
It’s possible that your first hundred, 200, or even 500 posts might fail. However, when that one post goes crazy viral, your entire life will change for good.
2. Your Niche is People, Not Articles
Your niche isn’t what you talk about. It’s who you’re talking to. Instead of thinking of a topic you could talk about all day long, think about the type of people you could talk to all day long. — Anthony McGuigan
Finding a perfect niche is a major concern for most all new writers. They often become engrossed and get lost in the never-ending cycle of scribbling and crossing out one idea after another.
But here’s the thing about niches: It isn’t merely made up of ideas for articles you could create.
Instead, every niche out there is made up of people who will read your words, assimilate and allow it to influence their lives positively.
So, when you brainstorm about a niche, keep in mind the people you are creating the content for, and not simply the kind of content you want to write about.
3. Show Your Best Work
You don’t get paid for how much you work. You get paid for how much irreplaceable you are. — Komal Kamble
To understand the level of competitiveness as a writer, all you need to do is register on a freelancing platform like Upwork or Fiverr and see how many writers are willing to write a 2000 words article for just $5.
This can help you put things in context and realize that a writer is easily replaceable in today’s digital age.
In order to prevent this from happening, don’t just limit yourself to the number of words you produce for a given sum of money. Instead, bring to the table your one-of-a-kind ideas, an unparalleled work ethic, or your expertise on a particular social media platform.
When you can showcase to your readers how unique and irreplaceable you are, you’ll no longer have to worry about easily being replaced by another writer.
4. Have Plans B, C, D, E, and F Ready
Things online change drastically… Medium is one of the best examples. — Vritant Kumar
The landscape of online writing is an ever-changing one.
Platforms that thrive today might become obsolete in a matter of days. So, don’t put all your eggs in one metaphorical basket.
Have concrete backup plans in place, especially if you can find ways by which you can own your audience.
Stop relying on a particular platform’s algorithm. A great example of this is the evolution of the Medium platform over the last two years.
When I started writing on Medium in 2020, there were a host of writers trying to make it big on the platform.
Now, 90% of them have either quit writing or have moved on to other platforms. Only 10% of the writers from then still persist. This isn’t because they weren’t talented writers. Rather, they were unable to tailor their writing to suit the audiences and an ever-evolving platform.
If you can’t adapt promptly, your name will fade into obscurity. Keep upskilling and keep reinventing your style so you don't end up as just another face in a sea of thousands of online writers from across the world.
Closing Thoughts
The Twitter writing community’s guidance has always been invaluable to me. It has given me an anchor to tether myself to in times when I feel lost or confused.
In this article, I’ve listed the four best pieces of writing advice that are just too good to ignore. To summarize, here they are
- Consistency beats talent, and real results take time. Be prepared to give in the work for at least two years before you give up.
- Think of a niche in terms of the people you want to talk to, not just what topics you want to talk about.
- Show your best work to become truly irreplaceable to your clients and readers.
- Have backup plans ready and be flexible so you don’t perish as platforms change and evolve.
I hope you found this article amusing and informative. Please do feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments section on other writing advice that you think might add value to the lives of new writers.
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