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How to Make $10,000/Month Writing Online

2023-10-13 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali, Nicolas Cole · recording, 14:52 · watch on YouTube

Topic: YouTube, writing online and creators · mode: Explanation and tutorial · tags: Lesson from a book, Sponsor segment present

In a Book Club episode on Nicolas Cole's The Art and Business of Online Writing, Ali argues that most would-be paid writers should publish on social platforms rather than chase publishing deals or blogs, lays out Cole's ideas-feedback-analysis funnel, and explains three ways to earn from writing: advertising, paywalls and services such as ghostwriting and copywriting.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Writing as a dream career; Nicolas Cole and his book

  • ★★ Ali says that, in Google search data, "how to be a writer" is the second most popular career search in the world, after "how to be a pilot". — 00:00:00 · Google
  • ★★ Nicolas Cole has racked up hundreds of millions of views, was the number one writer on Quora, earned tens of thousands as a speech- and ghostwriter, and grew Ship 30 for 30 to millions in revenue. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ This Book Club episode, in Ali's series distilling highlights from his favourite books, uses Nicolas Cole's journey and model from The Art and Business of Online Writing. — 00:00:29 · Book Club

00:00:58 — What online writing is and why to write online: legacy writing versus feedback

  • ★★★ Online writing, Ali says, means publishing where readers already are, on social media platforms, instead of spending years on a book for publishers or on a blog hoping for Google traffic. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Nicolas Cole says legacy writing carries an elitism of suffering, stacked rejection letters and rewards only for the brilliant, while in digital writing anyone can become a writer with easy-to-learn skills. — 00:01:27 · first in: 2023-09-17, How to Make Money Writing Online ✍️
  • ★★ Ali's book Feel-Good Productivity is being published by Penguin in the UK and worldwide and by Macmillan in the US, which he calls very traditional publishers. — 00:01:52 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
  • ★★★ For most people trying to make money as a writer, Ali says, the answer is online writing rather than trying to land a traditional publishing deal. — 00:01:52
  • ★★ Online writing uses the leverage of the internet to earn far more than traditional writing, Ali says, and builds a personal brand and audience along the way. — 00:01:52
  • ★★ Packy McCormick started his newsletter Not Boring in 2019, and two years later his thousands of subscribers brought in a million dollars of revenue a year. — 00:02:38
  • ★★★ Feedback, Ali says, is the key to starting, sustaining and monetising online writing, and the reason it can work so quickly. — 00:02:38
  • ★★ Nicolas Cole pictures the legacy feedback loop: Hemingway spends four years on a novel, waits 18 months for publication and 12 more for reviews, then overhears in a pub that it was terrible. — 00:03:08
  • ★★ Ali advises sharing small, bite-sized pieces on platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Quora to see what works, rather than risking years on a big project that gets no response. — 00:03:08 · Twitter, LinkedIn
  • ★★ Nicolas Cole's online feedback loop: have an idea, write a tweet, thread, atomic essay or LinkedIn post, publish it, and get feedback three minutes later. — 00:03:37 · LinkedIn
  • ★★ Practising writing in public builds an audience, Ali says, so when you write the book you already have readers more likely to pay for it, unlike an unknown first-time author. — 00:04:06 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)

00:04:29 — How to write online effectively: the forest of ideas, the feedback cave, the pool of analysis

  • ★★★ The first step of online writing, from Cole, is to generate lots of ideas and publish consistently, since you don't yet know what resonates or what you enjoy writing; Ali calls it the "forest of ideas". — 00:04:35

    “personally i like to think of this as the forest of ideas”

  • ★★ Good places to write online, Ali says, are platforms that already have an audience: Twitter (X), LinkedIn for business content, Wattpad for fiction, Quora, Reddit and Medium. — 00:05:04 · Twitter, LinkedIn

  • ★★★ Ali says the key thing is not to start your online writing journey on a blog or a website. — 00:05:04
  • ★★ Ali relays Cole's view that blog and website writing suits businesses and brands more than individuals building a personal brand, who should write on social platforms with a built-in readership. — 00:05:34

  • ★★ Step two of online writing, which Ali calls the "feedback cave", is facing immediate feedback, trolls included: daunting, but the rapid feedback loop is what makes online writing more effective than legacy writing. — 00:05:34

    “i like to call this step the feedback cave”

  • ★★★ Nicolas Cole (quoted): In The Art and Business of Online Writing, Cole says there are two types of writers today: those who use data to inform and improve their writing, and those who fail. — 00:06:03

    “two types of writers today, those who use data to inform and improve their writing and those who fail”

  • ★★★ Step three, the "pool of analysis": once your writing gets quantitative and qualitative performance and comment data, analyse it and spot patterns in which ideas are valuable. — 00:06:03

  • ★★ Nicolas Cole tells how Mark Manson's publisher, asked what his book should be about, pointed to his most viral blog post, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, which he expanded into the book. — 00:07:21 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
  • ★★ Ryan Holiday began as a marketing writer; after his blog post on stoicism went viral he doubled down on the topic, which built his empire of books, newsletters and physical products. — 00:07:21 · Ryan Holiday, stoicism
  • ★ Ali says Ryan Holiday makes millions every year selling his writing. — 00:07:54 · Ryan Holiday

00:08:05 — Sponsor read for Shopify

00:09:16 — How to make money writing online: advertising, paywall and services models

  • ★★★ Ali names three ways to make money from online writing: the advertising (attention) model, the paywall (exclusivity) model and the services model. — 00:09:22
  • ★★ The least lucrative way to earn from online writing is the advertising or attention model: money from clicks, ad space in your content, affiliate commissions or brand sponsorships. — 00:09:22
  • ★★ On Medium, one article by James Julian got 38,000 views and earned $1,741; another, on Rob Lowe staying fit at 60, got 25,000 views and earned $1,114. — 00:09:51
  • ★★ The advertising model needs a huge amount of attention: Cole's articles for Inc. got hundreds of thousands of views a month but earned him only about $1,000. — 00:09:51
  • ★★ Advertising income from writing has downsides, Ali says: people dislike lots of ads, and revenue is volatile, as on Medium, for reasons outside your control. — 00:10:20
  • ★★★ A potentially better way to make money from writing, Ali says, is the paywall or exclusivity model: charging for some of your content, as newspapers or premium newsletters do. (hedged) — 00:10:20
  • ★★ The popular business Substack Noahpinion pulls in about a million dollars a year from subscribers paying for its two paywalled posts a week. — 00:10:49
  • ★★ Ali recommends keeping in mind Kevin Kelly's 1000 True Fans: to earn a living you need about 1,000 people paying around $100 a year, far more doable than millions of followers. — 00:10:49
  • ★★ Daniel Vassallo had built an audience writing online, so his Amazon FBA ebook made $40,000 in 16 days. — 00:11:19
  • ★★ Nicolas Cole says productising your service removes the constraint of being paid for time; while you are paid for time rather than outcome, an exponential jump in income is very hard. — 00:11:48
  • ★★ Paywalled writing can cover the same topics as your free writing, Ali says, but in much more depth and detail. — 00:11:48
  • ★★ The third way to earn from writing is the services ("I'll do it for you") model: writing for businesses or individuals who pay, as content writers, ghostwriters and speechwriters do. — 00:11:48
  • ★★ Some ghostwriters of autobiographies for celebrities, CEOs and executives can charge up to a million dollars for a single book. — 00:12:36
  • ★★ Nicolas Cole says potential ghostwriting clients are everywhere: anyone with a big YouTube channel, a big podcast or a company probably needs a ghostwriter. — 00:12:36
  • ★★ Ali points those interested in ghostwriting to Cole's new book The Art and Business of Ghostwriting; he has not read it yet but it is on his to-read list. — 00:13:05
  • ★★ Ghostwriting also helps you build your own network while you do the work, Ali says. — 00:13:05
  • ★★★ In writing as a service, Ali says, the real money is often in copywriting, writing designed to sell a product, because you can earn a share of the upside. — 00:13:05
  • ★★ Famous copywriters such as Gary Halbert can apparently make millions of dollars from a single piece of copywriting. (hedged) — 00:13:35

  • ★★★ Nicolas Cole says breaking into upper-six- and seven-figure writing income means being compensated for the outcome you drive, not for the effort. — 00:13:35

    “you have to not be compensated for the effort but for the outcome that you drive”

  • ★★ Nicolas Cole: Successful sales copywriters, Cole says, take an existing product or funnel and ask for a piece of the revenue lift, say 25% or 50%, rather than billing the hours spent rewriting a landing page. — 00:14:00

  • ★★★ Ali recommends The Art and Business of Online Writing: he has read it about three times and each time took tips for his own business and YouTube channel, beyond writing. (hedged) — 00:14:00
  • ★★ Ali's long-form podcast interview with Nicolas Cole, on five methods to earn up to a million dollars as an online writer, is on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. — 00:14:00 · Deep Dive

00:14:13 — Recommendation of the book and the podcast interview with Cole

In the description and comments

  • ★★ Replying to a viewer who asks why he pursues money, Ali says money is a tool, a means to an end, rather than the goal itself. — creator comment
  • ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked when Ali will announce the bonuses for pre-ordering Feel-Good Productivity, the channel answers that it will be soon. — creator comment · Feel-Good Productivity (book)

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: ghostwriting · Nicolas Cole · The Art and Business of Online Writing

Also: People: Anna Todd · Daniel Vassallo · Ernest Hemingway · Gary Halbert · J. K. Rowling · Kevin Kelly · Mark Manson · MrBeast · Packy McCormick · Ryan Holiday · Sahil Bloom

Projects: Book Club · Deep Dive · Part-Time YouTuber Academy

Works: 1000 True Fans · Feel-Good Productivity (book) · Harry Potter (book series) · Noahpinion · Not Boring · The Art and Business of Ghostwriting · The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Organizations: Inc. · LinkedIn · Macmillan Publishers · Penguin UK · Quora · Reddit · Ship 30 for 30 · The New York Times · Twitter · Wattpad

Concepts: affiliate marketing · copywriting · landing page · personal brand · productised services · stoicism

Products: Medium · Substack

Also centred on Nicolas Cole: How to Make Money Writing Online ✍️

Also centred on The Art and Business of Online Writing: 15 Incredible Books to Read in 2026 · How to Make Money Writing Online ✍️

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