I’ve been practicing and learning about how to write for a long while now; I’d forgotten how long writing has been life-goal of mine.
Alex Badarin shared a memory, of a creative writing class we took together in Amsterdam many years ago. I had completely forgotten that singular instance. His share prompted reflection on what this process has looked like through the years:
- Multiple writing classes—learning the Craft with others;
- Many books from writers about writing;
- Actively learning expository-, UX-, and content-writing “on the job” from coworkers; and
- Years of writing self-reflections for performance reviews while preparing, crafting, building, presenting, and giving performance reviews for the hundreds I’ve worked with.
How to write on the internet that generates money
One of the largest challenges I’ve faced—apart from choosing topics & content pillars, regular practice, etc—has been adapting for the internet. The Internet is a big place. And it’s continuously & connectively evolving.
Yet, everything remains the same. All of it has similar structures: a title, a hook, a summary, main content, and ending.
The differences lay in the word count.
These days, it’s more than words on screen or paper. From starting a podcast to a well-made YouTube channel to TikTok, all require lengths of writing that do not come naturally or from how I’ve practiced over the years.
- Word-count is a hell-of-a-lot-less than books.
- I have to learn script-writing.
Putting word-count into perspective
500 words is:
- ~700% of one presentation slide (75-word/slide max);
- ~3.5 minutes speaking time;
- ~2 pages of a standard formatted book manuscript;
- 1 average newspaper article;
- 50% of a short online article;
- 31% of an ideal Medium article;
- 1% of a 50,000 word book;
- .3% of a 150,000 word book.
My long term goal is to write published articles, essays, and books.
But, that’s not the skill that’s needed for marketing, for newsletters, social media…to show publishers that you have the klout & consistency to pay you for it.