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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Nicolas Cole
Read between
January 2 - January 17, 2023
There are 2 types of writers today: those who use data to inform and improve their writing, and those who fail.
Unless you can consciously name the category, you will never have a firm grasp as to whether your work is “Better” or “Worse” than the competition. It isn’t until you understand the category, and see “The Ladder” that exists within your category, that you can begin climbing your way to the top.
Categories are how we organize information in our minds. Know your category and you’ll know where readers “fit” you into their own minds.
The secret to creating a unique writing style is by doing what would be considered “unexpected” in your chosen category.
“The Rate of Revelation.” This is the rate at which you reveal new information to the reader—and new information is what keeps people interested.
The inverse rule of “Specificity is the Secret,” is “The Broader You Are, The More Confusing You Are.”
The real question you should never stop asking yourself is, “Could this be more specific?” Because the more specific you can be, the more likely you are to resonate with your target reader MORE than your competition.
DIFFERENT always beats “Better.”
“The number of hours I spend consuming should never equal or exceed the number of hours I spend creating.”
We are afraid of sharing who we are today—because we believe who we’ll be tomorrow will be “better.”
Data doesn’t lie. But data is also a reflection of the external crowd, and not necessarily your internal compass.
Audience Hacking means collaborating with another writer who has a similar audience to you—introducing your audience to them and their audience to you.
You can publish anything you write in infinite social environments (Quora, Medium, LinkedIn, Wattpad, excerpts on Twitter and Facebook, etc.).
What you’re aiming for is the most value you can possibly deliver WITHOUT 1) confusing the reader, or 2) wasting their time.
This is what’s known as The Curiosity Gap. The Curiosity Gap is what tells the reader what this piece of writing is about, who it’s for, and what it’s promising—all without revealing the answer.
Writers who don’t use subheads are significantly disadvantaged when it comes to writing online, because a reader’s eyes naturally “look” for subheads more than they do full paragraphs and blocks of text.
Lists, when combined with sub-par information, come off as weak, boring, and a waste of time. It’s not the listing of things that readers enjoy. What they enjoy is being given a ton of valuable and relevant information in a compressed amount of time.
Once you’ve written your introduction (or, even before you write your introduction), skeleton out your piece by listing your Main Points.
You are not the main character in your story. The reader is.
The Golden Intersection of great writing is: Answering The Reader’s Question x Telling Them An Entertaining Story
The single most effective way to “promote” yourself without promoting yourself is to use you, your company, or your product as context to the thing you’re explaining to the reader.
So, in the game of online writing, it’s not just that volume wins. It’s that timeless volume wins.
Step 1: List Your 3 Content Buckets
Step 2: List 3+ Topics Under Each Bucket
Step 3: Plug And Play Under Each Topic
The art of online writing is all about letting readers tell you what it is they want more of, and what they’re willing to pay for.
most people in life don’t know the value of their own skills. We all exist in our own little bubble, and get so used to the things we do and know, that we don’t even stop to consider how these skills or insights could be valuable for someone else. Since it’s “common knowledge” to us, we assume it’s “common knowledge” to everyone else—when
The question is, do your habits reflect your desires?
