Nicolas Cole 🚒 Profile picture
Sep 24, 2021 β€’ 27 tweets β€’ 7 min read β€’ Read on X
Attention Writing Twitter πŸ“’

Only 7 days left to join the LAST Ship 30 for 30 cohort of the year.

...and it's looking to be our BIGGEST cohort yet.

In celebration, let's play a game.

1 RT = 1 digital writing tip we share inside the course.

Ready, go.
You can join the last Ship 30 for 30 cohort of the year here πŸ‘‡

ship30for30.com
Digital Writing Tip #1: It's your content. You can do anything you want with it.

Atomic Essays can become:

β€’ Newsletters
β€’ Landing page copy
β€’ eBooks
β€’ Digital Products
β€’ Course material
β€’ Scripts for podcast episodes
β€’ Etc.
Digital Writing Tip #2: You make your headlines more compelling by increasing the voltage ⚑️⚑️⚑️

You can do this to your:

β€’ WHAT?
β€’ WHO?
β€’ FEELING
β€’ PROMISE

More description in any one of these parts of your headline = ⚑️⚑️⚑️⚑️⚑️ Image
Digital Writing Tip #3: You are not the main character. Your reader is.

This means, even if you're telling "your story" or sharing "your insights," you have to find a way for it to relate to the reader's wants, needs, questions, and desires.

They should see themselves in you.
Digital Writing Tip #4: All content can be reverse-engineered in 4 buckets.

β€’ Actionable
β€’ Analytical
β€’ Aspirational
β€’ Anthropological

We call this The 4A Framework.

Start here, and your writing will have 10x more clarity. Image
Digital Writing Tip #5: DO NOT START A BLOG.

A huge reason we started #Ship30for30 was to help writers avoid making the BIGGEST mistake when writing online.

Your blog has zero distribution.

Instead, we help writers start their own Social Blog.

typeshare.co
Digital Writing Tip #6: Write for the version of yourself 6+ months ago.

So many people want to write, but aren't sure what to write ABOUT.

Here's an easy framework:

Write for the version of you who didn't know what you know today.

Help that person.
Digital Writing Tip #7: Not sure how to structure your writing? Use a proven approach.

"Lists" have a bad reputation, but they're a terrific way to organize ideas.

You can organize just about anything into a list. Image
Digital Writing Tip #8: It's only clickbait if you fail to keep your promise to the reader.

If you write an amazing headline but the content is sub-par, you "tricked" the reader.

They call that clickbait.

But if DELIVER on the promise, guess what?

*Bookmarked*
Digital Writing Tip #9: Credibility can come in many forms.

Don't feel like you're "the expert" on anything?

Go out and curate what experts have to say about X.

Congrats!

You're now "the expert of curating experts on X." Image
Digital Writing Tip #10: Volume wins.

What makes a successful writer in 2021+ is not one single piece.

It's their body of work.

Their LIBRARY.

Don't obsess over the performance of any one piece.

Focus on building a library of assets.

πŸ“ˆπŸ“ˆπŸ“ˆπŸ“ˆπŸ“ˆ
Digital Writing Tip #11: Don't compete in someone else's category. Create your own.

The book, "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" was the first self-help book with a "IDGAF" voice.

And it has sold millions of copies.

What happened next?

Lots of sub-par copycats. Image
Digital Writing Tip #12: The cost of reading your writing is TIME off someone's life.

Think about that.

When you write something, you're asking someone to *pay* with 30 seconds or 3 minutes of their LIFE.

Keep that urgency in mind when writing.

Make every word matter.
Digital Writing Tip #13: The easiest way to stand out? Use languaging.

Languaging = the strategic use of language to change thinking.

It's not a book. It's an e-book.

It's not art. It's digital art.

The word you pick to MODIFY the existing word changes how people *see* it.
Digital Writing Tip #14: The more you write, the more you write.

You'll only have so many ideas before you begin the journey of writing online.

But once you start, your flywheel will spin.

Everything you write gives you data on what ELSE you can write.

And so on, and so on.
Digital Writing Tip #15: When you find something that works, repeat it.

For example, I've written dozens of "101" threads.

Why? Because they get 10x more engagement than anything else I write.

Find patterns & repeat them.

Digital Writing Tip #16: Feel like you've run out of ideas? Use our Endless Idea Generator

β€’ What topic do you want to write about?
β€’ Choose a proven approach
β€’ Tell the reader why they should trust you

This is how you turn 1 topic into 100 different variations. Image
Digital Writing Tip #17: You can't know what your niche is until you start publishing.

Every writer begins their journey with assumptions.

"I assume readers want X."

It's not until they hit PUBLISH that they realize what they thought readers wanted, readers didn't want.
Digital Writing Tip #18: The most important thing you will ever write on Twitter is your Lead-In tweet.

This is what *hooks* readers.

And if your Lead-In tweet doesn't share a Story, Framework, or hint at the Actionable Advice to come, nobody is going to click and read. Image
Digital Writing Tip #19: Don't delete past work.

All writers have this fear:

"What if someone sees my early work and thinks it's bad!"

But guess what?

Your old work gets more valuable as time goes on.

It becomes your origin story.
Digital Writing Tip #20: Everything you write that performs well gives you the OPTION to explore new territory.

This is the best part about being a data-driven writer.

As things perform well, you now have a choice:

β€’ "Do I want to write more of this?"
β€’ "Or don't I?"
Digital Writing Tip #21: Write where people already are.

Our favorite platforms are:

β€’ Twitter
β€’ Quora
β€’ Medium
β€’ Reddit
β€’ (sometimes) LinkedIn
β€’ Anywhere with an EXISTING userbase
Digital Writing Tip #22: Don't worry about editing.

In your first year of writing online, there's 0 point in editing your work beyond checking for spelling errors.

Because you don't know what to edit FOR yet.

Instead, ship as many ideas as you can.

Learn what readers want.
Digital Writing Tip #23: The size of the question dictates the size of the audience.

Most writers think, "I want to write about X," and THEN, "How do I get X in front of millions of people?"

Instead, start in reverse.

"What question do millions of people have?"

Answer that. Image
Digital Writing Tip #24: You can't steer a stationary ship.

There is very little to be gained strategizing about hypotheticals.

The truth is, you don't know what is going to resonate.

You don't know what readers are going to grab onto.

So, just start.

And pivot as you go.
Digital Writing Tip #25: When writing for niche audiences, GET SPECIFIC.

The more specific you are about WHO the piece is for and what outcome they can unlock, the more readers will see themselves in your writing.

If you're not specific, they won't know it's for them. Image

β€’ β€’ β€’

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
γ€€

Keep Current with Nicolas Cole 🚒

Nicolas Cole 🚒 Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Nicolascole77

Jul 8
The quickest way to 10x your writing:

Formatting.

Here's my 4-step formatting framework to make your writing easier to skim, read, and share (🧡):
Step 1: Start every section with a single-sentence opener.

When you open each area of your work with a single sentence, you:

β€’ Keep readers interested
β€’ Make things easier to read
β€’ Subconsciously encourage them to continue

Here are the 6 most effective openers: Image
Step 2: Use the 1/3/1 writing rhythm.

You can also use:

β€’ 1/4/1
β€’ 1/5/1
β€’ 1/2/5/2/1
β€’ Etc.

The key to injecting skimmability into your writing is alternating the length of sentences and sections.

Here's some more on the 1/3/1 rhythm πŸ‘‡
Read 9 tweets
Jul 1
I've generated $10,000,000+ with my writing.

But most people think making a living as a writer is hard.

Here are the 5 steps to make your first $1 million as a writer (that you can start today): Image
For context, I have:

β€’ Sold tens of thousands of copies of my books
β€’ Built multiple 6-figure writing businesses
β€’ Built two 7-figure writing businesses
β€’ Earned $150,000+ writing for Inc Magazine
β€’ Earned $250,000+ from Medium's Partner Program

Now let's talk money:
Step 1: Give 99% away for free.

Write for free.

Educate for free.

Everything you know about a topic? Give it away for free.

Writers always want to "skip" to the money part.

Because if you can't get people to read your FREE work, you'll never get them to buy your paid work.
Read 10 tweets
Jun 24
I can write a 60,000-word book in 30 days.

Here's the 7-step system I use every time:

(This works even if you've never written a book before): Image
Disclaimer:

This only works for content where you're already the expert/speaking from personal experience.

If you're researching a NEW topic/something you know nothing about, then it will take you longer.

But once you HAVE the information, you can write fast.

Here's howπŸ‘‡
Step 1: Name The House

A great book is not a bunch of words.

A great book is an idea, presented coherently, in a way that walks the reader's thinking FROM where they currently are TO somewhere new & different.

Before you write a single word, where are you taking the reader?
Read 13 tweets
Jun 22
I write 5,000 words every day.

How?

By treating my writing like a mental sport.

Here are 9 simple habits I use to stay mentally fit as a pro writer: Image
1/ Read 1-2 pages of a thesaurus

This takes me 15 minutes every morning.

It’s a great brain exercise and teaches you a lot about language.

Words are your tools, so keep adding to your toolbox.

Here's how I fit it into my routine:
2/ Journal daily

90% of being a writer is understanding your own journey.

Journaling helps you process life events, see your progress, & visualize your future.

With it, you write from the scar, not the wound.
Read 16 tweets
Jun 7
Meet John Grisham.

He’s the author of 49 consecutive #1 bestsellers.

His books have been made into movies starring Tom Cruise, Sandra Bullock, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Here are 10 of his timeless writing insights (on talent, routine, and dealing with criticism): Image
1/ Grisham sets himself tough creative constraints:

β€’ Start a novel on Jan 1st
β€’ Write daily for 3 hours
β€’ Finish it by July 1st

The key?

His tightly controlled writing environment (down to the coffee he drinks):
2/ Grisham pumps out one novel every year.

But he can only do this by avoiding a *huge* mistake a lot of writers make:
Read 13 tweets
Jun 5
In 1966, Eugene Schwartz created a timeless framework:

The 5 Stages of Customer Awareness.

Master this and you can sell *anything* to *anybody*.

Here's how to train ChatGPT on this framework to write better copy hooks (with the *exact* prompts I use): Image
Schwartz's framework:

Every customer is always at one level of awareness:

β€’ Unaware: β€œLife’s good!”
β€’ Problem Aware: β€œSomething’s off.”
β€’ Solution Aware: β€œSo many choices.”
β€’ Product Aware: β€œI like you!”
β€’ Most Aware: β€œBuy now!”

Your copy must meet them where they're at.
Step 1: Ask ChatGPT to assume your target audience’s identity

β€’ Targeting single mom’s? Tell ChatGPT to act like a single mom.
β€’ Targeting DIY renovators? Tell ChatGPT to act like DIY renovators.

Then tell it how your business helps the target audience. πŸ‘‡ Image
Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(