Nicolas Cole 🚢👻 Profile picture
Nov 16, 2021 9 tweets 3 min read Read on X
7 ways to niche down & create your own category (with examples):
1. WHAT do you do… that you are uniquely known for?

Velveeta is known for "the melt."

There are fancier cheeses. There are healthier cheeses. There are more indulgent cheeses.

But "the melt" is what turned Kraft's Velveeta into a $100M+ brand.

What's your "melt?"
2. WHO do you do it for… who are surprisingly willing to pay large premiums?

One such audience is scrapbookers—who love, love, love buying scissors.

To Staples, scissors are cheap & mass-produced.

To scrapbookers, scissors can be a luxury good.

$50-$75 per pair.
3. WHEN do you do it… that sits at the peak intersection of Important and Urgent?

Wendy's created a unique position in the customer's mind with their slogan:

"Eat Great, Even Late"

Their unique competitive advantage wasn't food quality, but TIME.
4. WHERE do you do it… that if money were no object, everyone would want it?

There are lots of cannoli and artisan bread shops in California.

But the Santa Cruz Bread Boy comes to you.
5. WHY do you do it… that is so in sync with the Superconsumer, word of mouth spreads like wildfire?

The UFC has approximately 576 fighters on their roster.

But only one MAGA/Trump fighter.

Colby Covington's niche guarantees an audience.
6. What OUTCOME do you unlock… that is 100x more valuable than what you charge?

Notice the differences:

• "I write newsletters"
• "I write newsletters that go viral"
• "I write newsletters that convert readers into customers"

The more specific the outcome, the better.
7. How much and “how” does it COST… that is both a value and a premium, and the ‘way you pay’ is a benefit in itself all at the same time?

This is what people say about Ship 30 for 30:

"The course provides obscene value for a laughable price."

This = a niche in itself.
If you enjoyed this thread, read the Category Pirates "mini-book" on how to niche down here:

🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

categorypirates.substack.com/p/how-to-creat…

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More from @Nicolascole77

Mar 13
How Game of Thrones was created is wild: Multiple plots. No single hero. No clear villains.

But it won 59 Emmys and held the World Record for "Most pirated TV show" for years.

I studied its storytelling and psychology tricks.

Here's the philosophy I found: 🧵 Image
George R.R. Martin didn’t just write multiple plots—he made four unstoppable forces clash:

• Power struggle over the Iron Throne
• The Stark-Lannister war
• The White Walker threat
• Rise of Daenerys

Each story crashed into the others, reshaping TV forever. Image
The brilliance was in how these plots connected.

While most writers struggle with 1-2 storylines, GOT made its complexity an advantage.

Every major moment in one plot created ripple effects in all others.

The secret? It's not what you'd expect: Image
Read 18 tweets
Mar 7
With 300+ million books sold, James Patterson holds the Guinness World Record for the most #1 NYT bestsellers in history.

But many refuse to call him a "real" writer, and Stephen King called his work "terrible."

Here's the controversial writing method behind his $800M empire🧵 Image
Born in Newburgh, NY, in 1947, James was a good student but confessed that he did not enjoy reading until after high school.

He attended Manhattan College before studying at Vanderbilt University.

In 1971, he worked as a copywriter at J. Walter Thompson. Image
While working his way up at J. Walter Thompson, Patterson wrote his first novel on the side.

After 31 rejections, "The Thomas Berryman Number" won the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1977.

But his big break came in 1993 with "Along Came a Spider."

That's when everything changed: Image
Image
Read 20 tweets
Mar 4
5 dead-simple steps to write a 60,000-word book in 30 days—even if you've never written a book before:🧵 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
Feb 28
The Rick and Morty approach to storytelling is fascinating:

• 1 circle
• 8 plot points
• Repeated over 71 episodes

Dan Harmon adapted The Hero's Journey framework to create one of the most successful TV shows ever.

Here's how it works (and how to master it):🧵 Image
Before Rick and Morty, Dan Harmon was struggling as a writer.

He kept starting scripts but could never finish them. Until he discovered something that would revolutionize television:
He wanted to use Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, but there was a problem:

It was too complex for TV writing. So Harmon did something nobody expected.

He stripped it down to its core and created the Story Circle.

Here's how it works: Image
Read 16 tweets
Feb 21
I'm a TV addict.

Over the last 10 years, I thought I had seen it all, but when I found Seinfeld 'a show about nothing,' it blew my mind.

Everyone should understand the psychology that created one of the most successful TV sitcoms in history.

Here's how it works: 🧵 Image
Larry David had two simple rules for every episode:

"No hugs and no learning."

While other sitcoms taught life lessons and showed character growth, Seinfeld did the opposite: Image
Most sitcoms follow 4 key themes:

• Work
• Hobbies
• Romance
• Friends/Family

What Seinfeld did with these themes would change television forever: Image
Read 18 tweets
Feb 16
This guy has published 83 novels and more than 200 short stories.

He is a towering figure in the world of writing.

All writers should memorize these 14 epic tips from Stephen King's book "On Writing":🧵 Image
Image
Tip #1: Above all others: read and write a lot.

Your fingers have to learn the feel of the keys and your mind must acquire the habit of story-making.

Combine the two and copy a short story by hand to absorb the style.
Tip #2: Stories consist of three parts.

• What happens: Narrative moves the story forward.
• How it happens: Description creates a vivid reality for the reader.
• Who said what: Dialogue brings characters to life with speech.

Leave one out, and the reader will feel cheated.
Read 16 tweets

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