The Book in 3 Sentences
- The book stresses the importance of using data to inform and improve your writing when you are starting to write online.
- The book introduces a list of promising strategies for turning your writing into a successful piece.
- Finally, the book introduces ways to develop your online writing for monetization.
Impressions
How Did I Discover It?
- As one of my recent hobbies, I was watching Ali Abdaal’s YouTube videos. In one of them (“The 15 Best Books I Read in 2022”), he was reviewing his best readings of this year which included this book. This book stood out because I was recently starting to write articles online.
Who Should Read It?
I recommend you read this book if you are putting any content online or plan to do so in the future. Although the author has online writers in his mind for the audience, I find the core questions you should be asking yourself when creating any content online highly relevant in any form of content creation, be it videos, pictures, or podcasts.
How the Book Changed Me
The book has humbled me to call myself a writer but also encouraged me to write more.
The author does a remarkable job analyzing the approach to online writing, be it paragraph organization, headlines, or topics of the writing — it gives deep insights into what writers can and should look for in data to understand what makes a piece successful.
The book has lowered the bar for me to share my writing in public. It has convinced me to migrate my blog articles to more established platforms like Medium and Quora.
My Top 3 Quotes
- “… And then there are those who don’t hide. … They don’t need to wait for ‘the perfect opportunity,’ or for the lights, the stage, or the setting to be just right. They know how to do best, simply because they’ve done it so much in public — and stage or no stage, lights or no lights, won’t make a difference.” p.49
- “If you want to become a successful, professional writer today, you have to become more than just a writer. You have to also be an entrepreneur.” p.328
- “You can either get on the bus, or you can get off of the bus. Either way, we’re leaving.” p.328