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How to Make $10,000/Month Writing Online — Transcript

by Ali Abdaal · 3,784 words · 534 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00this is a visualization of each country
0:01in the world's most desired careers do
0:04you see a theme and if you look at the
0:05Google search data how to be a writer is
0:07the second most popular career search in
0:09the world after only how to be a pilot
0:11but we're always told that writers can't
0:13make money this article shows they only
0:14make a couple of hundred a year but if
0:16you think that that's all there is to
0:17being a writer then this book might just
0:18change your mind it's called the art and
0:20business of online writing and it's by
0:22multi-millionaire online writer Nicholas
0:24Cole now Cole is one of the most read
0:25writers on the entirety of the internet
0:27he's wrapped up hundreds of millions of
0:28views he's been the number one writer on
0:30quora he's been paid tens of thousands
0:31of dollars as a speech writer and ghost
0:33writer and now he's built his online
0:35writing business Shi 30 for 30 to
0:36millions of dollars in Revenue anyone
0:38can become a writer all of these skills
0:40are easy to learn so in this episode of
0:41book club the ongoing series will we
0:43distill and discuss highlights and
0:44summaries from some of my favorite books
0:45we're going to use Nicholas Cole's
0:46journey and model to talk about three
0:48things firstly we're going to talk about
0:49what online writing is and what online
0:51writing isn't secondly we're going to
0:52talk about the tools that you need to do
0:53to do it effectively and thirdly we're
0:55going to talk about how you can start to
0:56make money from online writing and thank
0:58you to Shopify for sponsoring this video
1:00but more on them later so firstly what
1:02is digital online writing and why have
1:04most people never heard of it well the
1:05easiest way to explain it is to explain
1:07what online writing is not I don't know
1:09what to write online writing isn't
1:11grinding for years on your new book idea
1:12and waiting for traditional Publishers
1:14to come along and give you the approval
1:15to be a professional writer online
1:17writing is not slaving away for years on
1:19your blog or website in the hope that a
1:20few people might stumble across it on
1:22Google why is life so hard online
1:24writing is about publishing where the
1:25readers already are I.E social media
1:28platforms and that's why most people
1:29haven't heard of it because we've all
1:30grown up on the idea of Legacy writing
1:33for example you probably know the story
1:34of how JK Rowling got rejected by 12
1:36different Publishers before one finally
1:38took on Harry Potter now the Legacy
1:39writing business relies on these
1:41Gatekeepers these Publishers and these
1:43editors that tell people when they are
1:44allowed to be a professional writer
1:46because back in the day you couldn't
1:47make money unless you had a traditional
1:49publishing deal I think Legacy writing
1:51has this elitism to it where it's like
1:53not everyone can do it and you have to
1:55suffer and you have to stack rejection
1:56letters and you know you're you only are
1:59rewarded if you're brilliant and like
2:01it's there's all this red tape and the
2:04world of digital writing now is anyone
2:06can become a writer all of these skills
2:08are easy to learn now obviously Legacy
2:10writing does have its place and in fact
2:11my book Feelgood productivity is being
2:13published by penguin in the UK and
2:15worldwide and McMillan in the US which
2:16are very traditional Publishers but for
2:18most people if you're actually trying to
2:19make money as a writer the answer is not
2:21to try and land a traditional Legacy
2:23publishing deal the answer is online
2:25writing so unlike traditional forms of
2:27writing you have the ability to generate
2:28a hell of a lot more money by using the
2:30leverage of the internet which I'll
2:31break down in a minute and not only can
2:33you get paid better than most other
2:34writers out there but you can also build
2:36a personal brand and an audience while
2:37you're doing it along the journey which
2:39also opens up your freedom to monetize
2:40in different ways further down the line
2:42if you really want to for example pachy
2:43mccormik began online writing with his
2:45newsletter not boring in 2019 and just 2
2:48years later his thousands of subscribers
2:50were helping him pull in a million
2:51dollars of Revenue a year as a
2:53ridiculously successful writer just
2:54working from his home office and there's
2:56a reason that only online writing is
2:57able to do this so quickly and that's in
2:59a word word feedback feedback is the key
3:01to starting and sustaining and
3:02monetizing your online writing Journey
3:04so with Legacy writing you have
3:05absolutely no idea how your work is
3:07going to resonate with the audience
3:08until the final product is released
3:10which is pretty mental so Legacy world
3:12of writing Hemingway sits down he spends
3:14four years writing a novel sells it to a
3:16publisher he has to wait another 18
3:18months for it to get published then he
3:19has to wait another 12 months for the
3:20magazine reviews to come out and then he
3:22has to go to a pub down the street and
3:23then he overhears some person being like
3:25anyways novel was terrible right that's
3:28the feedback loop whereas with online
3:29writing you can work smarter and faster
3:31and you can constantly iterate on what
3:32you put out there into these social
3:34Gardens platforms like Twitter and
3:35Linkedin and quora and places like that
3:37by sharing smaller bite-sized pieces of
3:39work that are judged by the masses you
3:40can see what's working on the journey
3:42and you don't run the risk of spending
3:43years on your big projects only for them
3:45to be released with no response you can
3:47find out instantly if an idea is going
3:48to hit or not the feedback loop is I
3:50have an idea I write a tweet a thread an
3:53AIC essay a LinkedIn post I publish it
3:56and I get feedback 3 minutes later now
3:58this very short feedback loop is
3:59ultimately what helps build the online
4:01personal brand and the online audience
4:02as people watch you practice in public
4:04are you're putting your writing out
4:05there onto these social platforms the
4:07ones that really Vibe with your stuff
4:08will then join you on the journey and
4:09then when you're ready to write the book
4:11or do your magnum opus or ship that
4:13fully-fledged work then what's amazing
4:14is that you've already got this built-in
4:16audience of people that already Vibe
4:17with your stuff the little bits and Bobs
4:19you've been releasing over time and
4:21therefore those people are way more
4:22likely to actually pay for your work and
4:23then also read it whereas in the Legacy
4:25publishing world if you're a first-time
4:26author generally most people have no
4:28idea who you are so how do you actually
4:30go about online writing and then how do
4:31you do it well well we can kind of break
4:33this down into three parts and these are
4:34represented by this little funnel so
4:36imagine you're setting off on your
4:37journey to become a successful online
4:39writer and make your own pot of gold now
4:41Cole explains that the first step is to
4:42generate lots of ideas and publish
4:44consistently personally I like to think
4:46of this as the forest of ideas at this
4:48point in the process we have absolutely
4:50no idea what sort of content is going to
4:51resonate with an audience we also have
4:53no idea what sort of stuff we would
4:54actually enjoy writing and so the point
4:55of the forest of ideas is to generate
4:57lots and lots of ideas and to write lots
4:59and lots of things and put them out
5:00there and see what happens now in terms
5:01of where you're going to post this
5:02writing there are a bunch of different
5:03options but be careful you're not making
5:05the big mistake that Cole says that
5:07writers often make when starting out so
5:08some examples of good places to write
5:10are for example Twitter which is now
5:12weirdly known as X where another Deep
5:13dive guest CLE Bloom blew up his writing
5:15career we've got LinkedIn for more busy
5:17content we've got whatpad for fiction
5:19this is where Anna Todd famously started
5:21we've got quora we've got Reddit we've
5:22got medium essentially any platform
5:24where there is already an audience the
5:26key thing is to make sure that you are
5:27not starting your online writing Journey
5:29on a blog or a website now there is
5:31obviously a place for the kind of
5:32writing that you would put on a blog or
5:34a website but in the book Cole talks
5:35about how this is often more suited to
5:37businesses and Brands rather than to
5:38individuals trying to build a personal
5:40brand so if you want to be known as a
5:41solar writer who's known for their
5:43original creative insights or stories or
5:44thoughts to ultimately build your own
5:46personal brand then the key is to write
5:48stuff on the social platforms where
5:49there is already a built-in viewership
5:51or readership so that was step one
5:53creating the forest of ideas and then
5:54step two is that wherever you decide to
5:56post these step two is to get feedback
5:58from the audience and I like like to
5:59call this step the feedback cave now why
6:02is there a troll that you have to get
6:03past in this phase well Cole talks about
6:05how facing feedback with online writing
6:06is really hard and creates anxiety as
6:08you might get comments from social media
6:09trolls and also just normal people in
6:11social media who might not Vibe with
6:13your stuff and unlike with Legacy
6:14writing methods you can't really just
6:16camp out in your forest in the woods and
6:18not have to face any feedback for your
6:19writing until after your product is
6:22released you're doomed now in the online
6:24writing world this feedback is going to
6:25be immediate and obviously this can be
6:27daunting because now you have nowhere to
6:28hide but it's also a very good thing
6:30because this feedback loop this rapid
6:32feedback loop is ultimately what makes
6:33online writing way more effective than
6:35Legacy writing in fact as Cole says in
6:37the book there are two types of writers
6:38today those who use data to inform and
6:40improve their writing and those who fail
6:42so now that you've posted your writing
6:43and you started to get data in terms of
6:45quantitative and qualitative performance
6:47and comment metrics it's time to then
6:49analyze the data and this is where we
6:51get to the pool of analysis now this is
6:53what people like Hemingway and people
6:54like JK Rowling never had which is
6:56genuine feedback on which ideas are
6:57valuable and which ones are not and now
6:59this point based on the fact that you've
7:00been generating all these ideas and
7:02writing about them consistently over
7:03time in the forest of ideas you've gone
7:05through the feedback cave to actually
7:06look at the comments and the data that
7:07you're getting and now you're analyzing
7:09it it's now your job to try and spot
7:11patterns within the data and this is
7:13exactly what ridiculously rich and
7:14bestselling author Mark Manson did when
7:16it came to writing his first book Mark
7:18Manson didn't sit down and go I'm going
7:19to write this insanely amazing
7:21best-selling book you know Sellar of not
7:23giving right but what happened is the
7:26publisher goes to him and goes well you
7:27have a big blog you have a big audience
7:29you should write a book he goes great
7:30what should it be about they go we don't
7:32know what's your biggest most viral blog
7:35post he goes well it's a blog post
7:36called the subtle art of not giving a
7:38right and what did he do he just
7:39expanded the blog post into a book this
7:42example applies to Ryan holiday as well
7:43so Ryan holiday initially began his
7:45career as a marketing writer but after a
7:47blog post he wrote about stoicism went
7:49totally viral he decided to double down
7:51on the topic which ultimately ended up
7:53creating his Empire of books about
7:54stoicism newsletters and even physical
7:57products and now Ryan holiday makes
7:58absolutely Millions every year selling
8:00his writing he's one of the most
8:02financially successful writers that
8:03you're likely to come across now at some
8:05point in your writing career you might
8:06actually have a product that you want to
8:08sell or start a business around your
8:09writing and a great resource to use is
8:11Shopify who are very kindly sponsoring
8:13this video Shopify Powers businesses by
8:15giving you all the tools that you need
8:16to create your business wherever you are
8:18in the world letting your sell online or
8:19in person or across any social platform
8:22it's a fantastic way of starting your
8:23first business or your side hustle
8:24without needing to learn how to code or
8:26to make a website Shopify Powers more
8:28entrepreneurs and businesses than anyone
8:29else with millions of businesses using
8:31Shopify in over 175 countries their
8:34mission is to reduce the barriers to
8:35business ownership to make Commerce
8:37better for everyone which is a pretty
8:38good goal if you ask me and we've
8:39actually been using Shopify to sell our
8:41own stationary brand and also our own
8:42online courses and even if you're a
8:44fairly small business like ours is or
8:45you're an absolutely massive
8:46multi-billion dollar Corporation Shopify
8:49has you covered shopify's also got tools
8:50for new business owners like the
8:52business name generator and Shopify
8:53learn which is their online learning
8:54platform for all things related to
8:56business and they also give new
8:57entrepreneurs the really easy to use Stu
8:59data plan where you can create an online
9:00store in literally minutes if any of
9:02this sounds up your street and you're
9:03interested in trying out Shopify for
9:04your business then head over to
9:05shopify.com for/ Al abdal and that link
9:08which is also in the video description
9:09will let you sign up to a completely
9:10free trial of Shopify so you can try it
9:12out and see if it Vibes with you so
9:13thank you so much Shopify for powering
9:15our business and for sponsoring this
9:16video now at this point you might be
9:17wondering okay cool but how will all of
9:19this ultimately make money and broadly
9:21there are three specific ways of going
9:23about making money from your online
9:25writing so the first and least lucrative
9:26of these is the advertising model also
9:28known as the attention model now as we
9:30all know on the internet attention is
9:31the ultimate currency and it's exactly
9:33the same for online writers as it is for
9:35people like Mr Beast if you can generate
9:36online writing that grabs attention you
9:38can make money by earning from clicks
9:40selling ad space within your own content
9:41becoming an affiliate where you get a
9:42commission each time you recommend a
9:44product or Landing brand sponsorships
9:46now the upside of the advertising model
9:47is that it's very simple to understand
9:49and apply so for example if you're
9:50writing on medium the more people that
9:52click and read your articles the more
9:53money you're going to get paid as you
9:55can see from this screenshot from James
9:56Julian his article do these four
9:58exercises and you'll you'll be in the
9:59best shape of your life got 38,000 views
10:01which has generated him
10:03$1,741 from medium similarly jacked Rob
10:06low revealed the one harsh truth about
10:07staying fit at 60 got 25,000 views and
10:10earned him
10:11$1,114 that's not bad at all but to make
10:14the advertising model work and to quote
10:15Cole you need a ton of attention so
10:17when Cole was writing articles for Inc
10:19magazine for example those articles
10:20might be getting hundreds of thousands
10:22of views every single month but he would
10:23only be making like $11,000 from it on
10:25top of that people generally don't like
10:26lots of ads being thrown at them and the
10:28revenue can be volatile too sure you can
10:30earn pretty well one month on medium but
10:32the next month may be much less for a
10:33bunch of reasons that are outside of
10:34your control and that's why potentially
10:36a better way to make money through
10:37writing is the pay wall or the
10:38exclusivity model now this is the
10:40opposite of the ad model in the ad model
10:42you put your content out there for free
10:43and you monetize through advertising on
10:44the platforms whereas in the pay wall
10:46model instead of giving open access to
10:47your content you charge for some of it
10:49and this can come in many forms for
10:51example you can write behind a pay wall
10:52like newspapers like the New York Times
10:53do or you can put writing behind a
10:55premium newsletter mini pay wall for
10:57example the popular business substack
10:59account no opinion pulls in about a
11:00million dollar per year via subscribers
11:02who want to pay for access to his two
11:04pay World posts per week and a good idea
11:06to keep in mind here is Kevin Kelly's
11:08famous 1,000 true fans Mantra now if you
11:10haven't come across this before
11:11basically the idea is that if you want
11:13to earn a living you don't need millions
11:14of people to follow your stuff you just
11:16need 1,000 true fans 1,000 people out
11:18there in the world who'd be willing to
11:20pay let's say $100 per year to get
11:22access to your stuff your writing your
11:24merch your band albums all this stuff
11:25and it's way more doable getting a
11:27thousand true fans than it is to try and
11:28go for an audence of millions of people
11:30alternatively another example of a
11:31payall method would be creating a course
11:33like I did with my parttime YouTuber
11:34Academy or you can create a product like
11:35online writer Daniel Vaso did with his
11:38Amazon FBA ebook So Daniel had been
11:40writing online for a while and building
11:41an audience such that when he released
11:43his ebook he was able to make $40,000 in
11:45just 16 days and this is the crazy power
11:47of online writing and product creation
11:49the beauty of productizing your service
11:53is that you like we were talking about
11:54earlier you're removing the constraint
11:56of uh being paid for time that's the
12:00whole that's like the biggest challenge
12:02is as long as you're being paid for your
12:04time and not the
12:07outcome it's really hard to have some
12:09sort of exponential jump in income now
12:12generally with the pay model the content
12:14that you would charge people for might
12:15be the same sort of topics as the stuff
12:17that you're writing online for free but
12:19you're may be going into them in way
12:20more depth in detail and then finally
12:22we've got the services model also known
12:23as the I'll do it for you model now in
12:26this method you're not directly making
12:27money by writing for an audience but
12:29you're offering writing as a service to
12:31businesses or to individuals who are
12:32willing to pay for that service and this
12:33is things like content writers and ghost
12:35writers and speech writers these are
12:37people who are making a living using
12:38their writing but offering it as a
12:39service now these can be ridiculously
12:41well-paying like some ghost writers for
12:43example who write autobiographies for
12:45celebrities and CEOs and Executives and
12:46stuff can be charging up to a million
12:49dollars for a single book potential
12:50ghost writing quote unquote clients are
12:52everywhere they exist everywhere anyone
12:54with a big YouTube channel probably
12:56needs a ghost writer anyone with a big
12:57podcast probably needs a ghost writer
12:58anyone with a company probably needs a
13:00ghost writer but there's also way
13:01smaller ways of doing this if you think
13:03of ghost writing or content writing for
13:04businesses now Nicholas Cole actually
13:05has a new book about this called the art
13:07and business of ghost writing I've not
13:08read it yet it's on my Tob read list but
13:10I'll put a link down below if you want
13:11to check it out if you're interested in
13:13potentially making money from Ghost
13:14writing his writing is fantastic so I'm
13:16sure the book is going to be amazing
13:17even though I've not yet read it and the
13:18cool thing about ghost writing is that
13:19it also helps you build your own network
13:21while you're doing the thing but when it
13:22comes to offering writing as a service
13:24the real money is often made in a field
13:25called copywriting and copywriting is
13:27writing that is designed to sell
13:28something kind of product and the reason
13:29why copywriting can often be more
13:31lucrative than any other form of writing
13:33is because you can potentially earn a
13:34percentage of the upsite for example
13:36there are famous copywriters like Gary
13:37Halbert who apparently can make millions
13:39of dollars from just a single piece of
13:41copywriting how you break into upper six
13:43figures seven figure plus territory is
13:46you have to not be compensated for the
13:49effort but for the outcome that you
13:50drive the way that a lot of uh really
13:53successful sales copywriters structure
13:54their deals is they go okay let's take a
13:57product or let's take an ex existing
13:59funnel here's the average amount of
14:02Revenue that you're doing right now if I
14:04can write things that lift the revenue
14:0825% 50% I get a piece of that so now
14:12you're being compensated on the outcome
14:13you drive not on the I spent 20 hours
14:17rewriting the landing page right so
14:18that's a bit of an introduction to the
14:19world of online writing you should
14:20definitely check out the book it's
14:21really good I've read it I think three
14:23times and each time I've taken lots of
14:25tips away that I can apply to my own
14:27business and my own YouTube channel even
14:28outside outside of the world of writing
14:29and if you enjoyed this video you're
14:30going to absolutely love the long form
14:32podcast episode that I did where I
14:33interviewed Nicholas Cole where we
14:35talked about the five specific methods
14:36that you can earn up to a million
14:38dollars as an online writer that'll be
14:40linked right over there and it's also
14:41available on Spotify Apple app podcast
14:43iTunes everywhere you get podcasts but
14:45you should watch it over there because
14:46that's a YouTube video version so you
14:47can see what's going on in real life as
14:49well thank you so much for watching and
14:50I'll see you hopefully in the next video
14:51bye-bye

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