The Art and Business of Online Writing: How to Beat the Game of Capturing and Keeping Attention

Product Information

of the book is writing advice that isn't applicable to other mediums, so I mostly skimmed those sections. It was interesting to see how online writing differs from conventional writing, as most of his advice surrounds how to keep the fried attention span of readers engaged. Nicolas Cole is a best-selling author, international speaker, a 4x Top Writer on Quora, and the Founder of Digital Press. Nicolas is the author of The Art and Business of Online Writing: How to Beat the Game of Capturing and Keeping Attention, a book dedicated to showing writers how to succeed online . He has helped countless thought leaders, CEOs, and business owners captivate their audience with the same storytelling strategies he uses in his writing.

I read this off a recommendation from Ali Abdaal. Though I'm not interested in becoming a writer, it was pitched as a book that would help any online creator. Of course, one could just look through Cole's catalogue of Quora posts, Medium articles and Tweets to see this in action. But, Cole has thoughtfully curated his most successful posts and explained the techniques and structures that make them work so that you don't have to hunt for every article and study it on your own.

He also relies far too much on his own experience to support his arguments. In other words, almost everything he says is justified by little more than "this approach happened to work really well for me, so therefore it must be the way all other people should do it too, regardless of their skills, goals, or circumstances." That's not how an expert teaches. That's just incidental success that may not be repeatable in principle for others. It is logical: He thinks -a lot- about the reader and the online environment where they consume content, and follows his method and analysis based on this premises. The world is first, and then is the writer. Writers cannot succeed if they don't understand the world in which they live. They have to interact with reality in a way that makes sense for the messages to be delivered. Even if you're the busiest of students or underpaid copywriters, or strung-out entrepreneurs, this book needs to be at the top of your list to read. Cole knows his book is full of information and practical takeaways so he's designed it to be read in sections if you can't sit down for a full chapter. I could've sat there for hours and read it cover-to-cover but, knowing I really want to learn from Cole and put his proven methods into practice, I made myself stop after every step that is immediately actionable for me and take notes. So, I'm between four and five stars for this review, because the same chapters that seemed "too long" for me, might be the granular, "here's EXACTLY what this should look like" info that others may need.

Also, has a LOT of examples and templates that you can use to get started. It's been a while since I've been so hooked with a non-fiction book. How to create your own “Content Roadmap,” and position yourself as an influential voice in your industry or niche.The book is full of engaging true stories that put these principles in perspective and trust that the method works. The more unexpected the style, in the context of your category, the more likely you are to stand out." The most popular answers, the one with the most views, upvotes, and comments, weren't 'answers', as much as they were stories." The usual mistakes writers make here is they try to fit too many ideas into one single piece of content."

This book spills the secrets on Coles meteoric success - a method he's proven in his own life, and one which many writers in his highly-regarded online courses have emulated. (Just look at the testimonials on Ship30for30 if you don't believe me!) This book contains everything I know about online writing,” says Cole. “From going viral, to building a massive library of content that will continue to pay you dividends well into the future.” In this book you will learn: What is your favorite piece of writing? It could be a book you read in your teenage years or an article you recently came across. What’s important here is whether what you’ve read has created a lasting effect on your writing style and how you tell your story.He claims paywalls and online chapter-by-chapter reveals are the future of fiction and the publishing industry. But he never discusses how to reach children that don't have purchasing power, or online savvy to find the authors they enjoy. Or how to convince schools, libraries, educators, and parents to share that writing with their kids. Why do some writers accumulate hundreds of thousands, even millions of views on their content—and others write and write, only to go unnoticed? This book contains everything I know about online writing,” says Cole. “From going viral, to building a massive library of content that will continue to pay you dividends well into the future.” The vast majority of contributing writers don't get paid at all, simply because the volume they produce isn't enough to warrant paying them."