Fastlane Opportunities for Writers

[StrikingViper69]

I understand that. From the perspective of an entrepreneur, though, is it worth it to spend so much time writing such long articles for so few people?

The articles can take a while to pick up in SEO algorithms, and I have no way of knowing which ones will take off. I can only target my article topics as best I can, then write loads of them and wait for the cream to rise.

And they seem to gradually get more popular in the algorithms with time, so it's really a long game move.

It seems to be working to an extent, so I'm pushing forwards with it.

 

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[BizyDad]

I understand that. From the perspective of an entrepreneur, though, is it worth it to spend so much time writing such long articles for so few people?

Depends on the goal of the writing.

As an example, Machiavelli wrote The Prince for a very few people.

 

[MTF]

Depends on the goal of the writing.

As an example, Machiavelli wrote The Prince for a very few people.

Yeah that's why I wrote "from the perspective of an entrepreneur." Not saying it doesn't have value. Just saying for the purposes of building a business it may not be efficient.

There's a lot of niche stuff I read and I'm grateful for the people who write it. At the same time, I often think that it makes no business sense. And not everything has to. Like I said, just looking at it from the perspective of an entrepreneur.

I can tell that writing for very few people in B2B may make sense because generally the deals are much bigger. But in most of B2C, you are getting very little, if anything, from writing for smaller niches.

 

[MTF]

Why can’t excellent content be consumed in 10 seconds? I personally love one liners that stop me in my tracks. I don’t come across them often.

Why wouldn’t good content stand out even more when the world is wash with garbage clickbait content?

Writing could be a commodity, but would writing that gets results be a commodity?

Could you condense your content so it’s thoughtful and also catches people’s eye?

It’s a tough one MTF. I know how you feel, yet also think you could see more opportunity in all the problems you cite.

I just don't believe you can teach people much in 10 seconds. I like brevity but not extreme brevity where all people come up with are vague one liners.

The world is awash with clickbait content because it works. Even smart people can't resist it. It's like selling vegetables by a hot dog stand. You know that you're selling a much healthier alternative but people just don't care.

Don’t write such long articles for so few people then? Write shorter articles (even tweets) until you find things that resonate, and then expand on that? When you I find it resonates it might be because you’ve found a “channel” and trickle of visitors interested in said content. Aka you’ve build a funnel of people interested in reading more.

What I write resonates with people but very few of them. So the question is: is writing for few people an efficient use of my time? I guess the answer is that it depends on my goals. If I'm writing for the sake of writing, it's fine. If I'm writing to create an income source, probably not so much.

@MTF the self-improvement youtuber "Hamza" (link) has talked about this struggle too.

On his main channel he posts flashy 2-5 min videos filled with entertainment, persuasion tactics, and dopamine. But you won't learn much from these videos.

The real value is in the 30+ min videos on his second channel. But people don't watch those until they've been hooked by the short-form content

Maybe you can do something similar. I'm personally inspired by your discomfort theme and believe you could make some very "sexy" short-form content about cold showers / jumping off planes / whatever and once people have seen those and are invested in you, THEN you can tell them what you really want to say.

Roy Furr (a-list copywriter) calls it the "Trojan Horse" method. What people need to hear the most is NOT what they'll click on the most. Some clickbait is necessary.

Thanks for taking the time to provide this perspective and break down his approach. I appreciate it.

It's something I considered and I'm not sure I want to do it. I'm way more of a lone wolf than I probably appear here on this forum. I like being exclusively a writer and this approach requires becoming more of a celebrity/cool guy (assuming that it would be me recording and narrating these videos) which I'm not.

 

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[Roli]

I signed up for his Apex membership and find it one of the best digital products I've ever bought. There are some issues but overall his courses are well-structured and contain a lot of valuable storytelling advice I've never heard anywhere else before.

Hi MTF, just wondering, do you still have these views about this course? What were the issues?

 

[Andy Black]

I just don't believe you can teach people much in 10 seconds. I like brevity but not extreme brevity where all people come up with are vague one liners.

Alex Hormozi has some nice little TikToks and YouTube shorts.

 

[MTF]

Hi MTF, just wondering, do you still have these views about this course? What were the issues?

David passed away in January so it's not the same course anymore as you won't be getting his feedback.

The issues are that the courses are chaotically organized and many repeat the exact same stuff even though they're separate courses. I also had trouble having David provide feedback on my writing as he was always too busy.

 

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[MTF]

Alex Hormozi has some nice little TikToks and YouTube shorts.

LOL he's the exact example I have in mind for short vague content that sounds important but says nothing.

 

[Supa]

I just don't believe you can teach people much in 10 seconds. I like brevity but not extreme brevity where all people come up with are vague one liners.

The world is awash with clickbait content because it works. Even smart people can't resist it. It's like selling vegetables by a hot dog stand. You know that you're selling a much healthier alternative but people just don't care.

What about like, 4-5 minute articles in reading time? Or even just 2-3 minute ones.

Or using Instagram and other social media to put out lenghty articles in short form and linkin to the long article?

I see Mark Manson doing this. He has some really long articles on his site, and his monthly newsletter is lengthy as well. But on his Instagram he puts the key takeaways in a few simple images with text on them, while linking to the whole article in his bio.

The School of Life publishes a lot of around 5 minutes videos on their YouTube, but they also have long articles on their membership site and books about these topics.

I believe that, while a lot of people enjoy the short TikTok and Instagram Reels type of content, as soon as they dive into a topic they want more of it than just a few seconds.

 

[MTF]

I see Mark Manson doing this. He has some really long articles on his site, and his monthly newsletter is lengthy as well. But on his Instagram he puts the key takeaways in a few simple images with text on them, while linking to the whole article in his bio.

Thanks, that's an interesting example. Perhaps I need to change how I approach content creation.

 

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[Andy Black]

LOL he's the exact example I have in mind for short vague content that sounds important but says nothing.

When I listened to a few of his podcasts my takeaways are typically one-liners.

“Don’t sell multiple products, have multiple payment plans.”

“One products, one channel, one avatar.”

Add a wee explanation and that’s sub 10 seconds.

 

[Andy Black]

What about like, 4-5 minute articles in reading time? Or even just 2-3 minute ones.

Or using Instagram and other social media to put out lenghty articles in short form and linkin to the long article?

I see Mark Manson doing this. He has some really long articles on his site, and his monthly newsletter is lengthy as well. But on his Instagram he puts the key takeaways in a few simple images with text on them, while linking to the whole article in his bio.

The School of Life publishes a lot of around 5 minutes videos on their YouTube, but they also have long articles on their membership site and books about these topics.

I believe that, while a lot of people enjoy the short TikTok and Instagram Reels type of content, as soon as they dive into a topic they want more of it than just a few seconds.

^^^ This.

You can get snippets from content you’ve already written, and post to different channels.

And you can post snippets to channels and find out what resonates so you can create longer form content knowing it resonates (and that you can potentially get visitors to it).

 

[BizyDad]

But in most of B2C, you are getting very little, if anything, from writing for smaller niches.

Disagree. There are many small yet stable brands with just a few thousand followers.

Like I said, it depends on the goal of the writing. If the goal of the writing is to sell books, 5,000 books ain't going to cut it.

If the goal of the writing is to transition people into a $99 a month recurring billing, like myraid life/health/fitness/investment coaches do, then 5k subscribers is pretty fastlane...

I'm sure there are other ways to monetize small audiences of enthusiastic readers.

In it's literal form, yes you are accurate that most writing won't get there. But I disagree with the spirit of your message, because a true fastlane mentality properly leveraging writing skill for the creation of value can make fastlane money in a narrow b2c niche.

 

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[KushShah9492]

I've just discovered 'Twitter Ghostwriting' and how people charge thousands of dollars for tweets that work well and get high engagement.

Although I do think it's fastlane, relying upon *just* a single source of income doesn't seem viable.

Twitter has been a blessing in disguise for me in terms of writing. I've been writing there (at least 2 tweets a day) since the beginning of this year and there are plenty of opportunities for writers if you network with the right people.

If you keep writing and engaging everyday on Twitter in whatever niche you're targeting, it has the potential to become a Fastlane business where you can divorce your time for the writing itself.

Again, I'm far away from that point, but that's what I think.

 

[MTF]

If the goal of the writing is to transition people into a $99 a month recurring billing, like myraid life/health/fitness/investment coaches do, then 5k subscribers is pretty fastlane...

That's a good point and I agree with that. Then the big challenge is figuring out how to offer enough value that $99 per month for an individual customer is a steal. For most people $99/month is a LOT.

I've just discovered 'Twitter Ghostwriting' and how people charge thousands of dollars for tweets that work well and get high engagement.

Although I do think it's fastlane, relying upon *just* a single source of income doesn't seem viable.

Twitter has been a blessing in disguise for me in terms of writing. I've been writing there (at least 2 tweets a day) since the beginning of this year and there are plenty of opportunities for writers if you network with the right people.

If you keep writing and engaging everyday on Twitter in whatever niche you're targeting, it has the potential to become a Fastlane business where you can divorce your time for the writing itself.

Again, I'm far away from that point, but that's what I think.

I also heard about that and find it mind-blowing that some companies are really willing to pay so much for writing short tweets. Not Fastlane until you hire people to write for you but could be a lucrative freelancing career.

 

[Lex DeVille]

That's a good point and I agree with that. Then the big challenge is figuring out how to offer enough value that $99 per month for an individual customer is a steal. For most people $99/month is a LOT.



I also heard about that and find it mind-blowing that some companies are really willing to pay so much for writing short tweets. Not Fastlane until you hire people to write for you but could be a lucrative freelancing career.

I did a deal for $2k in tweets last month for around 30 total. Didn't know how to price it because I don't use Twitter. On the call, I told the client I don't use Twitter and don't know how to create engaging Tweets. He still wanted me to do it, so that's the price I gave and he accepted and paid.

 

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[MTF]

I did a deal for $2k in tweets last month for around 30 total. Didn't know how to price it because I don't use Twitter. On the call, I told the client I don't use Twitter and don't know how to create engaging Tweets. He still wanted me to do it, so that's the price I gave and he accepted and paid.

Damn people are burning through so much money. At least you got paid because I seriously doubt they made even $1k back on these 30 tweets (unless they're selling something expensive).

 

[Lex DeVille]

Damn people are burning through so much money. At least you got paid because I seriously doubt they made even $1k back on these 30 tweets (unless they're selling something expensive).

They don't even have a product yet. It was for an NFT launch. TBH, I couldn't believe they accepted. The price was my "I don't want to do this, but here's what I'll do it for..." price.

 

[MTF]

They don't even have a product yet. It was for an NFT launch. TBH, I couldn't believe they accepted. The price was my "I don't want to do this, but here's what I'll do it for..." price.

That explains a lot. For crypto, if you aren't on Twitter you don't exist.

 

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[Andy Black]

Then the big challenge is figuring out how to offer enough value that $99 per month for an individual customer is a steal. For most people $99/month is a LOT.

Check out Laurel Portie. She has a $7/mth membership showing how to do organic and paid video marketing. I think I'm in it but haven't logged in in months. She's got over 1,300 in the Facebook group. Not a bad lower tier that feeds into her higher tiers.

Nothing wrong with the $5/mth pricepoint for newsletters imo. I prefer that to having a free newsletter. I'll put my free stuff out in the open and folks can pay a nominal amount for emails.


Here's a video I've book marked to watch later. I like Laurel's style too. You can tell she knows her stuff and is a great communicator. What I particularly like is that she also doesn't gaf about fancy lighting, sound, etc.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7__iIZ28fYQ

 

[Andy Black]

I ... find it mind-blowing that some companies are really willing to pay so much for writing short tweets.

I know you know this, but just to clarify:

They're not paying for people to write short tweets - they're paying for the results that come from those short tweets.

It's a business decision.

 

[Andy Black]

At least you got paid because I seriously doubt they made even $1k back on these 30 tweets

Why?

 

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[MTF]

Why?

Twitter generally requires tweeting multiple times a day. You can post 30 tweets in a few days. Most of your followers will never see them. So I doubt that 30 tweets can change a lot. 300, maybe. That assumes that you don't have a huge following yet.

 

[MTF]

Bumping this thread.

Despite my complicated relationship with writing, I can't leave it behind.

I've been exploring some different business models recently and I always come back to the same conclusion: despite its drawbacks, writing is the best business model for me through which I can provide most value.

I can't help but write, even if I don't get paid for this. I believe that @Andy Black has a quote on this, perhaps from Dan Sullivan.

I'm trying to see the world of writing from a fresh perspective. It would be cool to hear about any new thoughts, developments, examples, etc.

I'm now exploring the world of business acquisitions and seeing if there's a way for me to acquire a revenue-generating asset that I can improve with my writing skills.

Some Thoughts on Newsletters

I've been exploring newsletters for a few months. I have a small newsletter myself but it makes pretty much zero money (I made like $5 through Amazon Associates).

My conclusion so far is that you need to be very clear about what you want to do:

1. A free newsletter that relies on sponsorships needs to be about a big niche. Otherwise you won't make much money. The rates, depending on the newsletter, are somewhere between $100-$500 for 10,000 views for a single short text ad.

So if you have a newsletter with 20,000 subscribers and 50% open rates, you're only going to make $100-500 per newsletter. If you send it weekly, that's at most $2,000 a month for a quite sizable newsletter. You can have more sponsors but then you need to charge lower rates so either way that's not much money.

That's why being in a large niche is so important. You'll have a very hard time finding 500,000 people to subscribe to a newsletter about permaculture compared to finding 500,000 people interested in tech startups. You'll also struggle to find a sponsor for the former (while it'll be quite easy for the latter).

2. A free newsletter that relies on affiliate marketing and/or selling your own products requires you to be very good at selling and copywriting. The business model then becomes more about Internet marketing than actually writing the newsletter. You'll have to balance very well regular content with commercial stuff or people will unsubscribe.

3. A paid newsletter seems like the most stable and reliable business model. The only caveat is that there's churn and that you won't be able to make it work for many niches. Paid newsletters mostly work for topics that may possibly generate financial returns for the subscriber (stuff like investing, business, etc.).

 

[Andy Black]

I can't help but write, even if I don't get paid for this. I believe that @Andy Black has a quote on this, perhaps from Dan Sullivan.

I don't know who said it, but a great line I heard was:

"The best reason to start a business is because you can't NOT start it."

What I take from that is:

Observe what you can't NOT do.

• What do you have to stop yourself doing?
• What do you find yourself doing when you take a break from something you don't enjoy?
• What energises you?
• What do you think is easy but everyone wonders how you do it?

For me, that's popping into the forum helping people. I've written a LOT - hence me looking at Twitter and LinkedIn as written content can work on there too. That's not worked out for me though ... I've either approached those platforms wrong, or they're too different from communities like this forum and Facebook groups, or both.

I also hop on calls with people at the drop of a hat. I enjoy chatting one-to-one with people to help them, or presenting to groups. This is via video normally. Hence looking at video and streaming. I even forced myself to ignore YouTube for the first half of this year, which seems silly now I write this reply.

I'll come back shortly and write my thoughts on written content.

 

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[Andy Black]

Paid newsletters mostly work for topics that may possibly generate financial returns for the subscriber (stuff like investing, business, etc.).

I've not researched this, but don't a lot of people pay for information that's doesn't generate financial returns? Aren't the big three touted as dating, health, and wealth?

I can imagine a $5/mth newsletter for cyclists that gives news, training tips, upcoming events, etc. People spend thousands on their bikes and hundreds of hours a year in the saddle. Why not $5/mth for a newsletter?

 

[Andy Black]

I write a lot in this forum.

• 360+ threads
• 3,000+ PMs
• 14,400+ posts.

I've been trying to figure out how publish a lot of that content outside the forum.

As mentioned above, I've had a play on Twitter and more recently on LinkedIn, but the content disappears really fast on those platforms and it felt like being on a content treadmill.

I suppose I could get books written out of a lot of my content, but that seems like hard work and it's not on my bucket list.

What fascinates me is YouTube and video. I keep coming back to it even when I try not to.

What I've been wondering recently is... how can I take written content and create videos from it?

(It's 1:25am here. I'll come back to this.)

 

[KushShah9492]

Twitter generally requires tweeting multiple times a day. You can post 30 tweets in a few days. Most of your followers will never see them. So I doubt that 30 tweets can change a lot. 300, maybe. That assumes that you don't have a huge following yet.

You need to engage with other accounts(with more followers than yours) before you start publishing 3 tweets a day.

Especially if you're under 500 followers. That's the only way initially to make your content seen. You can also be a part of some networking groups that boost your content.

If you're posting something really good on there, you will grow an audience there.

It's a slow process, but it's fun once you get the hang of it.

 

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[MTF]

"The best reason to start a business is because you can't NOT start it."

What I take from that is:

Observe what you can't NOT do.

• What do you have to stop yourself doing?
• What do you find yourself doing when you take a break from something you don't enjoy?
• What energises you?
• What do you think is easy but everyone wonders how you do it?

That's pretty cool, thank you for sharing it.

When I first started writing books and they started selling, it was very easy for me to write a lot every day. I knew that my input translated into real-world rewards.

But when you're on a roll it's quite easy to do that.

It's only when you're not getting anything out of a given activity that you can see if you really can't NOT do it. For example, I had a business helping people publish books. The moment I shut it down, I stopped helping people publish books. I could very easily stop doing it. But I've never stopped writing.

For me, that's popping into the forum helping people. I've written a LOT - hence me looking at Twitter and LinkedIn as written content can work on there too. That's not worked out for me though ... I've either approached those platforms wrong, or they're too different from communities like this forum and Facebook groups, or both.

They're too different. Forums and, to a smaller extent, Facebook groups are about exchanging longer responses and generally sharing more thoughts in a more focused way. Social media is mostly about interruption, catchy content, and—what makes it so inefficient for writers—recency (only new content gets exposure).

I've not researched this, but don't a lot of people pay for information that's doesn't generate financial returns? Aren't the big three touted as dating, health, and wealth?

I can imagine a $5/mth newsletter for cyclists that gives news, training tips, upcoming events, etc. People spend thousands on their bikes and hundreds of hours a year in the saddle. Why not $5/mth for a newsletter?

From my observation, dating, health, and wealth primarily apply to Internet marketers and their digital or physical products promising fast results (usually scams). Weight loss pills. Get your ex back ebooks. A rapidly scalable passive income system.

The problem with newsletters is that they don't sell a specific solution. In each issue you're writing about something different. Yes, a cycling newsletter will help cyclists but its value isn't the same as a better bike, more comfortable biking shorts, or skill-specific coaching.

It's like with my discomfort newsletter. I highly doubt I'd have more than a few paid subscribers. But I'm pretty sure if I were to write an ebook solving a specific problem (say, how to bounce back after letting yourself go too much) it would sell many more copies (still not enough to consider it a real business, though).

As mentioned above, I've had a play on Twitter and more recently on LinkedIn, but the content disappears really fast on those platforms and it felt like being on a content treadmill.

And the worst thing is that many writers today accept this as the current state of things. There's very little focus on writing timeless pieces because the most popular places where people now post content don't reward you for it. The platforms prefer a new repetitive piece of content every day than an occasional thought-out piece that would still provide value a few years from now.

What fascinates me is YouTube and video. I keep coming back to it even when I try not to.

What I've been wondering recently is... how can I take written content and create videos from it?

Sounds like an awesome business opportunity for a productized service.

 

[MTF]

You need to engage with other accounts(with more followers than yours) before you start publishing 3 tweets a day.

Especially if you're under 500 followers. That's the only way initially to make your content seen. You can also be a part of some networking groups that boost your content.

If you're posting something really good on there, you will grow an audience there.

It's a slow process, but it's fun once you get the hang of it.

Glad to hear it's working for you and that you consider it fun.

To me Twitter is a cesspool I'm not willing to touch again.