A few stackers mentioned writing before, and I thought maybe I could share some of the insights I have learned during the last few years of my writing journey ( in another language). Also, thanks to everyone's support and kindness, I was able to conquer the fear of writing in English — one of my posts is ranking top 10 of all time, and having the most zappers per post from @davidw's analysis, I'm more than happy to give back and share how I write and what tools I use so to help you level up in writing! 👀
🤔 Why Writing?
Writing is truly one of the great skills to have: 0 cost to start, and not many tools are even needed; all you need is time and patience, which is strangely scarce these days. ( scarcity creates value )
As Bitcoiners, we all talk about proof of work, writing original and useful content might be one of the best proofs of work since the internet is full of junk now, not only earning trust slowly but also creating leverage in the digital age because to be able to write and consistently, one needs to sit down quietly, ignore all the distractions and willing to suffer the struggles of your own thoughts, which says a lot about you already:)
Writing for me started from the drive to escape the 9-5 and live my life the way I want; I met a few interesting people a few years ago, and they helped me realize the charm of writing online — leveraging the internet to attract serendipity and you only need 1000 true fans to make a good living, so If they can do it, what's stopping me?
I then started documenting my exploration in 2017, it's been a really rewarding journey, especially for my personal growth. However, not a great writer myself, but I do write for a living and have built different projects on top of it, and I've realized how many advantages writing has given me, to name a few:
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Connecting with like-minded people — when I was nomading around ( traveling solo and as a young female wasn't easy ), some of the audience reached out and even shared local tips with me; just imagine people you have never met but kindly give you a helping hand.
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Saving time massively — I no longer need to repeat the same thing over and over again when someone asks the same question that others have already asked, I would just send the related link, done.
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Saving a lot of money on marketing whenever building projects because I already have some organic followings, and they would even spread the word for me:)
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Getting to hire people from my audience instead of relying on any third parties, and they already knew my style, which already acted as a good filter!
Basically, the upside of writing is unlimited and wide open for everyone to explore, and the starting cost is
0.⚒️ My Practise
I like to keep things simple and have absolutely no schedules — I write whenever I feel like to, and often time I spend hours or days writing, but I would take a break if not in the mood, I never force myself to write.
Here are the tools that I use:
A digital note-taking app, I mainly use it for flash inspirations when out and about ( pen and paper sometimes ); As a nomad, I realized that my creativity works at its best when I am out adventuring, which then leads to new ideas and thoughts, it's like collecting fresh ingredients waiting to be cooked at home later.
A great markdown tool, clean and simple. Live preview is available and is amazing for formatting! Also, you don't need to pay too much attention to formatting, mastering these to start is enough:
- For title: # ( I usually use ### for headings )
- For Bold text: command +B
- For inserting links: command + K
For anything else, you can click the format to help.
I use Grammarly to fix typos and grammar; it works like a charm, especially for non-English native writers! And for anyone concerned about privacy, the way how I use it is I only copy the content that is meant to be shared in public and then paste it to the Grammarly browser version.
If you would like to have your own blog, there are many great tools to get started, e.g. I set up mine with Ghost a long while ago; But if I would start everything again, I probably use Sustack, because you want to focus on writing not the tools, especially at this stage.
The best writing strangy -
share what you have done or what you have learned.Not only being skin in the game, but you can also share so much better and deeper from your personal experience, so one of the writing hacks is to DO MORE, then you have more fun to share, and you would never run out of things to talk about if you are living an interesting life.
⚡️ Writing Tips
- Be Yourself.
Many people would put more effort into SEO or eye-catching titles in the fiat world, but for the long-term compounding value, the better strategy is actually to write what genuinely interests you instead of whatever is popular.
And I've come to realize that writing is actually about finding yourself: your voice, your style, and what you are interested in, and the most important part — figuring out what unique value you can bring into the world. In times when people think the same, do the same, and live the same life, novelty is what people crave; With all these AI things happening now, I believe an authentic voice would be more appreciated in the future, just like people value handicrafts more than mass-produced factory products.
- Keep Practicing.
Fun fact: nobody knows what they want to write when they first started, and the only way to know is by doing it, aka keep writing. One of the underlying problems to be solved is to understand what brings you joy, and others love to see it too — being useful for others while having fun is the goal, you need to find that sweet spot for yourself.
- Less is More.
You might have noticed that I don't share many posts because I would rather take my time to craft something people would always come back to again and again than some short-lived posts that once it's gone it's GONE. ( e.g. some of my old posts in SN still got zapped from time to time. )
Another thing is I do like long-form posts, but not long for the sake of being long yet full of meaningless words. Time is precious, respect your own time and others!
- Using Simple Words.
Using big words may seem impressive, but what it actually shows is insecurity. It might be able to fool the normies, but it's a bad way to "impress" Bitcoiners.
- Send it Out When It's done.
Don't be obsessed with being perfect, getting it done is more important because you can always improve it later, and don't be afraid of sending it out in the wild. ( One more tip: editing and writing should be done on different days, your mind is more clear this way. )
- Low Expectation is the Way.
Keeping your expectations low is the way — I don't want to be rude, but I noticed that there are quite some people paying WAY TOO MUCH attention to the stacked sats rather than sharing and learning, which is quite an unhealthy mindset.
Also, if you need to be incentivized to write, it's not going to work because anything from outside is unsustainable. The way I see writing is to KISS, document your journey, share fun things, and maybe meet some interesting people along the way, then everything else is a bonus!
Writing in Fiat Platforms VS SN
I'm not sure how many writers here, but this is what I've been through in the fiat platforms:
🤮 Censorship
Some of my articles get deleted whenever I talk about something that I shouldn't.
🤮 High Cut-rate
The middlemen's platform fee could range from 3%-20%, and SN is 10%.
🤮 Feeling not being appreciated
Many people love free things and take things for granted, so you have many writers producing eye-catching junk and then selling useless shit; And you also have people really putting their heart into writing itself, pointing out the ugly truth, yet not being appreciated.
A platform like SN is a game-changer!
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You are FREE to talk about whatever interests you.
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You are simply being rewarded the BEST money by adding value.
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No more middlemen sitting in between to tell you what you can or can't do.
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Everyone is equal
It doesn't matter how many BTC you own or how many followers you have in the fiat world — everyone starts from nothing and 0 trust, yet getting the same amount of exposure.
- Great feedback loop
Sometimes, you share things to gain extra input or have meaningful discussions with others, but in the fiat world, most people are so used to click likes or simply reposts. Or say you are so wrong without providing anything useful as feedback, but many stackers here actually read and give thoughtful replies - if you ask good questions, you will receive different ideas from plebs from diverse cultural background and in different age groups!
🕶️ The most important part: FUN
I'm not talking like the cheap dopamine that you get from social media, but fun on different levels:
1. You get to experience the future.
I remember when I first found out about SN back in 2022, wow LN login? One-click zaps? Simply sharing, then stacking sats? Web of trust? etc, and simply being around those building the future then you got to have a peak before others, which is a big advantage to plan your moves.
2. Getting to meet other free-thinking and freedom-loving individuals.
Bitcoin is like a brain wave lengths and core value filter: freedom, self-responsibility, and natural law, while the majority of our modern society setup is for divide and conquer, and finally, having a place where people can share and help others to learn and grow instead of yelling or hating each other.
3. Stacking skills and getting amazing information.
Personally I've leveled up from an average Bitcoin user to able to troubleshoot my own issues, advancing my own bank and shop setups, and guess what the craziest part is? Not only being able to meet some of the smartest yet humble plebs, learning new things everyday, and even getting to stack sats while having fun!
Final Thoughts
I remember when I first started to write in SN, I thought to myself, if one does believe quality is more important than quantity, one of the best pool of audiences is the toxic Bitcoiners because they can detect BS miles away and are brutally honest, which means is going to be fun and challenging at the same time, but just the fact that you can create useful content whiling having fun and being rewarded with the best money is quite wild.
Welcome to the Wild West⚡️
share good stuff + zap the good stuff early.