Nicolas Cole 🚢 Profile picture
Sep 24, 2021 27 tweets 7 min read Read on X
Attention Writing Twitter 📢

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 👇

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

Atomic Essays can become:

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

You can do this to your:

• WHAT?
• WHO?
• FEELING
• 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.

• Actionable
• Analytical
• Aspirational
• 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.

📈📈📈📈📈
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

• What topic do you want to write about?
• Choose a proven approach
• 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:

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

Our favorite platforms are:

• Twitter
• Quora
• Medium
• Reddit
• (sometimes) LinkedIn
• 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

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More from @Nicolascole77

Dec 26
I asked 195,000 people for the best book they read in 2024.

These 14 turned up the most (so they will make for great reading over the holidays):🧵 Image
1. Letters from a Stoic by Seneca

a.co/d/ctaFiPx
2. Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara

a.co/d/aiM5BvO
Read 16 tweets
Dec 16
I scaled my ghostwriting agency from $0 to $180k/mo in 2 years.

How?

With this Ghostwriting Money-Making Formula.

Here's a quick guide (and how you can use it to land high-paying clients):🧵 Image
The Formula in a nutshell:

• Solve 1 specific problem
• For 1 specific type of person
• In 1 specific way

Use this to get clear on who you serve and the outcomes you deliver.

Let's dive in:
Step 1: Pick A Problem

In Ship 30 for 30, we teach a framework called The 2-Year Test.

Here’s how it works:

• List all the jobs/careers you’ve had
• List all the interests you’ve had

From this list, you'll be able to select an industry you're qualified to ghostwrite in.
Read 11 tweets
Dec 10
I'm 34.

At 24, I was a Columbia alum, broke copywriter, and a World of Warcraft addict.

But 2 years later, I cracked the code and made $200K as a writer. Just me and my busted Macbook.

Here's my story and 3 ways you can make money writing online in 2025: 🧵 Image
Image
Growing up, I dreamed of going pro in hockey. But life had other plans.

I fractured my spine at 14 and again at 17.

Suddenly, my NHL dreams were shattered. I turned to World of Warcraft for an escape. Image
World of Warcraft had the biggest impact on my life:

• Taught me to fall in love with monotony
• Introduced me to "social networks" at a young age
• Showed me the Internet could be a competitive outlet

At 16, I got my first job writing about World of Warcraft, here's how:
Read 17 tweets
Nov 22
My paid newsletter Write with AI just crossed $300k/year in revenue.

• It took 578 days
• I ran zero ads
• It takes less than 4 hrs/week

Here’s my 6-Figure Paid Newsletter Blueprint:🧵 Image
In this thread, I'll cover:

• The 2 types of paid newsletters
• The 4 criteria for a successful paid newsletter
• And how long to give your newsletter to see if it has 6-figure potential

Let's dive in!
For context, I've built 2 paid newsletters to 6 figures:

• Category Pirates to $150k/yr
• Write With AI to $300k/yr

These are both "Category Newsletters," not just "regular" newsletters.

Let's look at how to build a successful paid newsletter: Image
Read 15 tweets
Nov 11
5 dead-simple steps to write a 60,000-word book in 30 days—even if you've never written a book before:

THREAD 🧵 Image
For context:

It took me 4 years to write my 1st book and it took me 4 months to write my 2nd book.

Now, I can write a 60,000 word book in 30 days.

Here's the framework: Image
1. Your book's Main Title/Subtitle is 80% of the work.

• What question (of the reader's) are you answering?
• What problem are you solving?
• What solution are you unlocking?
• How are you going to get there?

Don't start writing till you can answer these 4 questions.
Read 9 tweets
Nov 8
The most creative company of the last century:

Pixar.

Back in 2017, Pixar storyboard artist Matthew Luhn shared their frameworks for Oscar-winning storytelling.

Here's the breakdown of 4 rules everyone should know to tell captivating stories:🧵 Image
The human brain is a forgetting machine:

After 10 minutes, you'll only remember 5% of the data and statistics you hear. But if wrapped in a story, retention jumps to 65%.

This is why Pixar's storytelling framework is worth billions. Image
Stories trigger chemical reactions in our brains:

• Endorphins when characters laugh
• Cortisol during tense moments
• Dopamine during victories

Pixar mastered this "chemical rollercoaster"—just watch the first 10 minutes of Up.

Here's how they do it: Image
Read 13 tweets

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