There are no shortcuts to good writing
A good writer must acquire the ability to marry the need to express himself with the need to connect with his reader authentically.
Prior to embarking on my writing journey, I dedicated months to studying the secrets behind the success of numerous accomplished writers. My goal was to distil their winning formulas so that I could derive one for myself, hoping to establish a viable income in the shortest possible time. Basically, I want to win, and I want to win fast.
After seeing how it was possible for writers to amass thousands of followers in a short frame of time and generate substantial earnings, I jumped to the conclusion that the requisite to being successful is to be popular, and with popularity comes tangible income. Popularity is basically measured by the number of followers one has gained, and income is of course the amount of money one can make from the platform.
With that naivety, I started writing on Medium.com centred on chasing after popularity and income. I leveraged the follow-for-follow tactic to reach 100 followers within a week. I reciprocated engagement, reading and liking hundreds of articles from other Medium writers to get a fraction of them to read and like mine. I wrote daily as well, many of which weren’t even what I enjoyed writing. They were what others wanted to read—mostly gossip about Medium and tips about earning.
It wasn’t rocket science, I merely followed these few simple tactics, and my followers count grew to a thousand in a matter of weeks. With the many articles I have written, I got my first top writer title after only seven weeks. I was hitting my KPIs, and I was rising fast. I was even able to grow my monthly income to four figures after only six months by putting in crazy hours.
But these winning strategies have a serious flaw; they were not sustainable. I was burning out, and I became miserable. Before long, I found myself stuck in a hole I had dug for myself, which resulted in my spectacular collapse and exit from the platform after a year.
I’ve gained so much from my failure, particularly in understanding that writing is a path that demands dedication. There are no shortcuts. The allure of quick wins may seem appealing, but when you realise they are not sustainable or scaleable, you may end up getting stuck with what you have started. I learned it the hard way—when it comes to writing, being popular doesn't necessarily equate to genuine success. You may gain popularity after being successful, but the opposite may not be true unless you are a celebrity from somewhere.
In the aftermath of my significant setback on Medium, I made a conscious decision to shift my focus towards a more methodical approach to building my writing venture. I have revamped my priorities and dedicated my efforts to consistency, sustainability, and scalability, eliminating any inclination towards shortcuts. Whatever I am going to invest my time and effort in, I will examine the plans to ensure they align with these three core principles. I want to lay a strong foundation for lasting growth and meaningful achievements.
Consistency and sustainability may sound synonymous, but there are subtle implementation differences. To me, consistency deals with commitment and discipline, the ability to bring myself to do something regularly without procrastination and being unshaken by stats or opinions. Sustainability concerns the source of inspiration and passion; how likely am I to continue to generate the same passionate and inspiring content time after time? In this interpretation, sustainability doesn’t mean how sustainable or dependable is the source of income. I needed to separate the monetary part out of the equation to focus strictly on creating a sustainable writing pattern. To make up the gap, I subscribed to another principle which I call scalability. This is the strategy and capacity side of the house; i.e. how likely am I to scale this little gig into a growing income without burning myself out?
Consistency proved to be the most significant challenge I encountered on this journey. Admittedly, I am a lazy bum, and engaging in consistent effort without the lure of monetary rewards felt like an uphill battle. It felt regimental like I was serving in the military. While I managed to maintain consistency thus far, the road ahead remained uncertain, often due to poor stats and negative opinions. Despite this, I am determined to overcome the obstacles, gradually turning this into a permanent writing habit, writing and publishing every other day.
After consistency, the next crucial aspect is sustainability. I am well aware that my writing will continue to revolve around self-development because that is what truly motivates me. This passion has sustained my dedication to writing for over a year. I am confident it will remain a driving force in the foreseeable future. However, there are numerous approaches to crafting personal development stories, and one area where uncertainty continues to linger is my style of storytelling. This is still a work in progress, and I am deliberately keeping this open to grant myself more time for exploration and experimentation.
Recently, I've been beefing up on authenticity. Although I've maintained a consistent writing practice, I've noticed that my stories lack a deep connection with readers. One contributing factor is the absence of authenticity. The usual style I've been using leans too much towards a commercial approach and lacks that personal touch that can resonate with readers.
In a world that can often feel disconnected and isolated, I believe the essence of authenticity is the very bedrock upon which readers can forge profound and meaningful connections. A good writer must acquire the ability to marry the need to express himself with the need to connect with his reader authentically. This can be achieved by sharing common real-life experiences, those raw and relatable moments that shape and mould us. They are the fuel that ignites the fires of authenticity, breaking down the barrier with the readers, inviting them to fully immerse themselves in the narrative and experience the range of emotions that it offers.
I have tried to provide this genuine expression of thoughts, feelings, and experiences on a few occasions, but there is still some way to go for me to be able to do this sustainably every time. I know this is the right direction to move towards in the next leg of my writing journey. If you are curious about my progress in this aspect, check out the articles I experimented with and let me know how I fare so far.
After addressing the two most important KPIs, the last is to talk about Scalability. This was something that had brought me down earlier because I had not accounted for it fully. Clearly, I have not acquired the credibility to discuss this on Substack as yet because I have only a mere two thousand plus subscribers. Right now, the only thing I keep firmly in mind is never to commit myself to doing something I do not have the capacity to sustain in the event it becomes successful.
Writing is a multistep journey, and we can only move to the next step after firmly accomplishing the step before. It is an arduous long process that can be painfully slow. So much so that many a time, I find myself sitting on the steps admiring the passing scenery while waiting for the right time to take my next step forward.
If my story resonates with you, it would mean the world to me if you upgrade your subscription, share my story or refer a friend. My journey has not been easy, and I appreciate every little help I can get.
Great article Winston. The journey you’ve been on here is really fascinating and inspiring for other writers.
What I’d say about this sentence is don’t do yourself a disservice on the fact you think you can’t talk about scalability yet.
“Clearly, I have not acquired the credibility to discuss this on Substack as yet because I have only a mere two thousand plus subscribers.”
Everything is relative. There are many Substacks who are simply dreaming of 2000 subscribers. They will see you have scaled already and would look up to you.
There will always be people who have more subscribers. Lose the imposter syndrome. You’re great!
Goodness. Writing by formula. Trying to figure out the magic of success. I wish you luck but also feel great sympathy. What a troublesome path you tread. Sigh.