One (Simple) Thing Most Writers Are Too Lazy To Do
l call it the romantic paradox
Our guest writer, Smillew Rahcuef is one of my favorite writers because he thinks outside the box to arrive at very pragmatic takes on the writing process. In what ways do you agree with him? This article refers to writing for platforms like Medium and Substack.
In this article, I will share a tactic guaranteed to make you money as an online writer, but 99% of you won’t use it.
You know why?
Because it’s a (very) boring tactic.
Ninety-nine percent of writers have a romantic view of their craft. They write words, people read them and like them so much they talk about it with their friends, and before you know it, the writer is on the NYT best-seller list.
That’s not how it works.
Ninety-nine percent of writers don’t understand that all the other writers live the same lives, write the same stories about their cats, kids, divorce, and work-life balance, and readers don’t come back to their stories because they can read the same thing by another writer the algorithm will have pushed in their feed.
(The keyword was algorithm here.)
And I didn’t even mention writers writing about writing or the self-help gurus.
Writers think the trick to making money is to attract faithful readers. That’s (sort of) true for newsletters and book series, but it’s 100% wrong for online writing.
To make money writing online, you need to understand what the algorithm wants, and then you double down on it.
And by doubling down, I mean you don’t write anything else.
That’s the crux writers don’t want to face.
Writers think their words are special. Writers believe they can write about anything they want because they have a vibe. “I have a voice. My readers recognize my style and wit. That’s why they read me.”
Nah.
Yes, 99% of writers are interchangeable.
To understand what the algorithm wants, you have three possibilities:
be a genius
be lucky
be clever about it
The third way is the most reliable.
Here’s how it goes.
identify what works = what the algorithm is showing you and thousands of other people,
copy it,
if it works, repeat step 2 ad nauseam,
if it doesn’t work, go back to step 1 and pick another viral article to copy.
I know you won’t trust me only on my words and smiling profile picture, therefore I will share an example from 2023.
The Startup is a publication with 800,000 followers and 8 million monthly readers.
For comparison, my most successful publication, The Pub, has 2,363 followers and got 15,000 reads in September.
The Startup is one of the most successful publications around
If you look at its top 10 read for 2023, you will find these five articles, all written by the same author (I kid you not):
February — Forget ChatGPT, Here Are New AI Tools That Will Blow Your Mind
March — I Used ChatGPT (Every day) for 3 Months, Here’s What I’ve Learned
March — Say Goodbye to ChatGPT: Here Are New AI Tools That Will Blow Your Mind
April — Goodbye ChatGPT: Here Are (New) AI Tools That Will Blow Your Mind
May — Goodbye ChatGPT and Bard: Here Are (Newly Released) AI Tools That Will Blow Your Mind
Notice something?
If you go to the author’s profile, you’ll see that he has 27,000 followers, AND you will notice this article, published on October 9, also in the Startup.
Goodbye ChatGPT: Here Are 8 (New) AI Tools That Will Blow Your Mind — and They’re Free!
THAT is what you do if you want to make money writing online.
Conclusion
Now you know how it works…
…but you won’t do it.
You will write whatever you want because it’s much more fun. And you’re right.
But you will also complain about your earnings. “Nobody’s reading my stories. It doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand. My stories are no worse than the others.”
EXACTLY.
Your stories are interchangeable. You are interchangeable. But you’re not embracing it. That’s why you don’t make money.
Are you writing for the fun of it?
No problem. Enjoy! But don’t complain about not making money.
Are you writing to make money?
Do as I say (and subscribe to learn more).
Smillew also explains how life works on Substack.
 | A guest post by
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The algorithms are on platforms like Medium and Substack. They are formulas that allow the platform to select what gets widely distributed and what does not---plus other parameters.
Here's a funny thing. I'm going to come at you from a reader's perspective. I follow a few writers who are clearly using this formula. At first I loved the work. And they're getting boring as hell. A couple of them I pay to support their work. It's going to disappoint that I'll be unsubscribing, but I'm not a reader who reads for keywords. I read for depth. Just my two cents, and nobody can live on that for certain. Good article.