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🧵 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.

5 dead-simple steps to write a 60,000-word book in 30 days—even if you've never written a book before:🧵 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:

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):🧵 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:

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: 🧵 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:

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":🧵
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.

I bet my mortgage Brandon Sanderson is the last great fantasy writer of this century.

Not just because of The Stormlight Archive, 40M books sold, or his $41M Kickstarter.

But because he cracked the code for world-building—and made it irresistible.

Here’s his philosophy: 🧵 Most fantasy authors make ONE fatal mistake when building their worlds.

They overload readers with too much lore—history, geography, politics, and culture.

Sanderson? He flips the script:

January is over.

So there's no better time than February 1st to start writing online.

Use these 25 prompts to write & publish every day for the next 25 days:🧵 1. What was your first job, and what's 1 lesson you learned you'll remember forever?

2. Who was your first mentor, and what's something they taught you that changed the way you saw the world (and yourself)?

This man was Steve Jobs's secret weapon in creating Apple's iconic brand.

He turned 'Think Different' into $3 trillion, crafted the iMac story, and helped save Apple from bankruptcy.

Here's how ONE writer transformed Apple into the world's most valuable brand: 🧵 When Ken Segall joined Apple's ad agency in 1997, Apple was 90 days from bankruptcy.

Apple wasn't just failing financially—its brand message was a mess.

J.R.R. Tolkien spent 60 years creating over 15 languages while writing The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Roverandom, etc.

Some called it madness. But now Pixar, Universal, and Marvel use his ideas.

Here's Tolkien's 4-part framework for world-building and storytelling: 🧵 At Oxford, Tolkien was obsessed with languages.

By day, he taught Old English and Norse mythology & literature.

By night, he created entire linguistic systems from scratch—and shared his ideas with friends, including C.S. Lewis, who encouraged his creativity.

This is Shonda Rhimes.

She's the legendary TV writer behind Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, & Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.

From unemployed scriptwriter in Hollywood, she is now worth $240M. Her storytelling is why Netflix gave her a $450M deal.

Here's her philosophy:🧵 When Rhimes first pitched Grey's Anatomy, ABC executives said:

"No one would watch a show about a woman sleeping with a man the night before starting a new job."

16.25M viewers tuned in for the pilot.

This wasn’t luck—it was science.

Rhimes followed 10 storytelling rules:

I write 5,000 words every day.

How?

By treating writing like a mental sport.

9 simple habits I use to stay mentally fit as a pro writer:🧵 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:

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

Here's how I write a 5,000-word chapter in 90 minutes (in 3 simple steps): Before you start writing, you need to have two items in place:

1. Your title
2. Your outline

If you don't have these, you don't know what you're writing about.

Check the end of the thread—there are 2 extra resources to help you.

Before we dive in, let's do some quick math:

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):🧵 1. Letters from a Stoic by Seneca

a.co/d/ctaFiPx

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):🧵 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:

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: 🧵
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.

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:🧵 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!

5 dead-simple steps to write a 60,000-word book in 30 days—even if you've never written a book before:

THREAD 🧵 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:

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:🧵 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.

This is Greg Hoffman.

He is the marketing genius behind Nike.

His message? Emotion by design is the key to great marketing.

Here’s his framework that made Nike one of the most iconic brands of all time:🧵 Adopted into a white family in 1970s Minnesota, Greg Hoffman faced racial discrimination.

But art and sports became his retreat.

Those experiences fueled his marketing genius in his 27+ years working as Nike's Chief Marketing Officer.

Justin Welsh found the secret to creator storytelling.

This landed him 1.2M followers and generated $2,317,000 in 2023.

Here's Justin's 7-Step Backstory Framework (with an AI prompt to help you create yours in 2 minutes): 🧵 Why does Justin's backstory work so well?

Because people buy from people they know, like, and trust.

So, how do you make yourself known at scale?

• Be relatable
• Be vulnerable
• Share perspectives
• Share how you solve problems

Let's dive in!

I've made over $5,000,000 ghostwriting.

• No fancy website.
• No expensive tools.
• No complex funnels.

Just these 4 dead-simple pricing rules that helped me scale to $180k/month.

Here's the breakdown:🧵 Golden Rule #1: Give the MOST value you can for a NO-BRAINER price.

• Create 1 Packaged Service
• List ALL the things the client gets
• Anchor the service to huge time/money savings

It should feel like they’re buying a Ferrari for 99%-off.