Category: Blogging

How To Write Your BackStory

Neera

In 2018, when I was creating my website, the most difficult thing to write was the About page.

I wrote and rewrote it three times.

When I couldn’t make it any better, I put it aside, thinking that as I got better at writing, I would write it again.

I didn’t touch it for three years.

The same thing happened when I wrote the About Me post on Medium. It’s my pinned post and I wrote it about 18 months ago. I meant to update it but can’t bring myself to do it.

Why?

Because it is too hard.

We writers can write hundreds of stories but can’t tell our own story well.

Yet we need to be able to tell our backstory in a compelling fashion.

Nearly all successful entrepreneurs have a compelling backstory. The backstory helps entrepreneurs build their brand and generate loyalty among their customers.

As authors, we are building our brands too.

We, too, need a compelling backstory.

By that, I do not mean you need to invent a backstory or make up a false story.

What I mean is that we need to identify our authentic backstory and tell it in such a way that it resonates with our audience.

Recently, I learned how to identify and create my (true) backstory. I am sharing the whole process here so that you, too, can create your backstory.

It is done in 7 steps.

Step 1: The Obstacle

To begin, it’s important that our audience can relate to our story. We could be from different backgrounds, different countries; we might have different upbringings and different education, and different professions, but there is one critical thing that’s very relatable: overcoming an obstacle.

And everyone has to overcome obstacles in their lives.

So, base your story on what obstacle you have overcome.

My example: I wanted to win promotions in my current role, but there was one problem. My English was not very good. It was my second language, and the truth was I sucked at it.

Step 2: The Internal Struggles

Internal struggles are how we feel inside because of the obstacle faced in Step 1.

Internal pain is captured with words like fearful, insecure or anxious.

My example: During a performance review, my boss told me that the only thing standing between me and a senior management position was my written English. Even though he was polite about it, his remark left me shattered. Does that mean I will never be promoted?

Step 3: The External Struggles

External struggles can generally be seen or heard. An over-drafted bank account, a lost job, a poor living situation, etc.

My example: I was overlooked in many promotion opportunities. My superiors saw me as a workhorse rather than as a leader.

Step 4: The Change Event

The change event is the one critical decision that you made that leads you from your struggle to your newfound transformation.

My example: I couldn’t swallow that. What can I do? I asked myself. I decided to take a writing course. I thought it will help me become a fluent writer. But instead of joining a business writing course, I took up a Life Story Writing course.

Step 5: The Spark

The spark is that magic moment when you realize everything is about to change. When you go from feeling completely disconnected to reinvigorating.

My example: I learned that writing was nothing but storytelling. Even business writing. When I was writing a business case, I was telling a story. When I was writing a discussion paper, I was weaving several stories to make a case. Even when I was writing a resume, I was telling a story — my story. I became a storyteller.

Step 6: The Guide

The guide in the story is the person who lifts you up and helps you see your potential for what it really is.

My example: A few months later, my then boss gave me an important project — to create a monthly performance report for the department. A perfect opportunity to showcase my storytelling skills. I never looked back from there. I got promoted multiple times and eventually reported to the CEO of our organisation.

Step 7: The Result

The result is the continuation of the story to even bigger and greater success, leading up to your present situation.

My example: Years later, my storytelling skills helped me to launch my writing career. I went on to author four books. Today I am a full-time writer.

Stitching the steps together to tell the story

Now stitch together all the pieces. My backstory sounds like this:

I wanted to win promotions in my current role, but there was one problem. My English was not very good. It was my second language, and the truth was I sucked at it. During a performance review, my boss told me that the only thing standing between me and a senior management position was my written English. Even though he was polite about it, his remark left me shattered. Does that mean I will never be promoted?

I was overlooked in many promotion opportunities. My superiors saw me as a workhorse rather than as a leader. I couldn’t swallow that. What can I do? I asked myself. I decided to take a writing course. I thought it will help me become a fluent writer. But instead of joining a business writing course, I took up a Life Story Writing course.

I learned that writing was nothing but storytelling. Even business writing. When I was writing a business case, I was telling a story. When I was writing a discussion paper, I was weaving several stories to make a case. Even when I was writing a resume, I was telling a story — my story. I became a storyteller.

A few months later, my then-boss gave me an important project — to create a monthly performance report for the department. A perfect opportunity to showcase my storytelling skills. I never looked back from there. I got promoted multiple times and eventually reported to the CEO of our organisation.

Years later, my storytelling skills helped me to launch my writing career. I went on to author four books. Today I am a full-time writer.

Now I can use the various iterations of this backstory for different purposes. I can tell the full version where needed, and I can tell shortened versions or use snippets of the story when it makes sense.

Takeaways

  1. Telling a compelling backstory isn’t just for entrepreneurs; authors need it too.
  2. Everyone who has a backstory you admire has crafted it and perfected it.
  3. Being vulnerable with your audience allows them to see you in a very transparent and human light.
  4. Practicing your backstory using the seven steps gives you a consistent and compelling story that you can use for various purposes.

Want To Write? Then Don’t Start A Blog

Neera

Most people, when they think of online writing, they think of starting a blog.

It would have been a great thing if it was 1999.

Today it is very hard to drive traffic to a blog or a website.

You can do that if:

  • you have lots of advertising dollars and
  • you can write long, educational, SEO-infused articles that are also interesting to read.

The truth is, blogging, website, and online writing are three completely different things.

A blog is where people sequentially document and publish their thoughts, rants, and musings. In other words, a blog is your online journal that other people can read.

A website is where people find out who you are and what you do. In other words, a website is your business card.

Online writing is sharing your thoughts, stories, opinions, and insights on a platform that already has an active audience. In other words, online writing is about building an audience.

If you don’t have an audience, there is no point in having a business card or an online journal.

Go against the conventional wisdom and write on social media.

Build an audience.

Then go and build a website and write a blog.

Subscribe to my newsletter at A Whimsical Writer for more tips and motivation.

Photo by Maria Lupan on Unsplash

You Are Not On Medium To Make Money

Neera

There are a lot of stories about dissatisfaction with Medium.

How Medium only looks after its top writers. Why are my stories not being curated? Medium strikes again! My Love-Hate Relationship With Medium. Where is my bonus, Medium?

Let’s get a few things straight.

You are not writing on Medium to make money.

You are here for many other reasons, but money is not one of them.

You do make some money, but that is just a bonus.

Let’s have a look at what you are really here for.

You are on Medium to learn your craft.

Writing is a tough skill to master. First, you need to write a million words and then throw them away and start all over again before you start making an impact with your writing.

“My advice to the young writer is likely to be unpalatable in an age of instant successes and meteoric falls. I tell the neophyte: Write a million words–the absolute best you can write, then throw it all away and bravely turn your back on what you have written. At that point, you’re ready to begin.”- David Eddings

Where else can you do this kind of practice other than Medium? Of course, you can do it the old-fashioned way — in a journal, in writing competitions, or with writing groups.

Or you can do that on Medium. When you write on Medium, regularly and consistently, your growth is much faster than when you do it in isolation or with the writing groups.

You make an extra effort to improve because your stuff gets read.

You are here to get your stuff read.

The biggest strength of Medium is that it is a blogging platform with inbuilt readers.

Gone are the days when you start a blog, and people find you and start following you. There are 600 million blogs on the internet. No one will notice you unless you can write interesting articles that are SEO friendly too.

Instead, you can host your blog on Medium, where approximately 85 million readers are looming around to read good stories. And the good news is you don’t have to pay any money for hosting.

Medium enjoys a very high ranking on Google, which means you don’t have to write articles to satisfy SEO.

You can write anything, from personal stories to professional advice to travel tales. There are all kinds of readers here. And these readers not only read your stuff, but they share their own stories in their articles, and you get to learn from them.

Where else will you find so many like-minded people on one platform?

You are here to exchange ideas.

I have a pretty decent friends circle, and I belong to several writing groups. But none of them have the same interests as me.

I am a multi-passionate writer. I like to write on different topics. When I write on Medium, there are always people passionate about different topics, whether it is short story writing, or artificial intelligence, or personal development.

Then there are writers on Medium who introduce me to topics I haven’t considered before. When on Medium, I am never short of like-minded friends.

I get to know them, and they get to know me.

You are here to make a name for yourself.

We all start from nowhere. To establish yourself, you got to put your work out there. With time people start appreciating your work and start recognizing your name. There is nothing more to self-branding. But it takes time. Medium is one platform where you can do it effectively.

About three months ago, Donnette Anglin left me a comment on one of my articles. She said she wanted to try writing on Medium. That she had written a few articles, and they were well received.

With a little bit of encouragement, she started publishing 2-3 articles a month. Then 2-3 articles a week. She now has 1.2K followers.

Why? Because she is reaching out, making connections, reading other people’s work, leaving comments, learning from them. She has already made a place for herself.

Her stories are being noticed. She is being noticed.

You are here to learn how the online world works.

The online world is a big enigma, and it takes a while to crack its code. There is no better place to learn it other than Medium.

If another platform comes up, you will read about it on Medium. If a new technology starts making the news, you will read about it on Medium. If something is not working, you will learn all about it on Medium.

By being on the platform and reading what others are writing, you learn all that you need to know about the online world.

Where else can you learn what is happening in Cyberworld in one place?

In Nutshell

30 June marks one year of me writing on Medium. I have come a long way since then. I have many fans, even more followers, and I have made some money along the way.

Before writing on Medium, I was writing on my blog for about 18 months. I was spending hours writing stories, but no one was reading them. I started publishing those stories on Medium, and they all got read. Many of them got curated.

Not only that many readers take time to leave comments which sometimes lead to good discussions. I have made great friends on this platform. Some of those friendships will lead to future collaborations; others will turn into support networks.

Don’t dismiss Medium because you have not been able to make money. It might be providing you better benefits than money.

Photo by Christin Noelle on Unsplash

Authorpreneur  - A New Publication For Writers

Neera

The dictionary defines ‘author’ as a person who has written something, especially a book, and ‘entrepreneur’ as a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit.

Many years ago, I combined the two to develop the word ‘authorpreneur’ to describe someone who takes risks to turn their writing into a business. 

I didn’t give it much thought because I was new to writing and still finding my feet. But soon, I started spotting the word being used by other writers. I even noticed some books with the word ‘authorpreneur’ appearing in the title. That was it.

The time had come to make the term mainstream.

Let me define and elaborate on the term.

An authorpreneur is a person who creates written products, participates in creating her brand, and actively promotes that brand through a variety of outlets.

An Authorpreneur makes use of the twenty-first-century outlets such as websites, blogs, social media, content marketing, writing platforms, newsletters, promotional materials both in print and online, speaking engagements, online and in-person courses, and workshops to create a unique business model to build a community based thriving business.

I started reading about more and more writers who were using these new outlets and becoming considerably successful. Much more successful than it was possible in the traditional way of writing and publishing. 

In less than ten years, a new breed of writers has started dominating the writing industry, and the trend is going not only to continue but explode. 

Yet thousands of writers aspiring are not even aware of it.

Why I started this publication?

One of the myths around writing is that you can’t live off your writing. Indeed, the vast majority of authors do not make a living from their written words. 

The traditional publishing industry that once sustained many writers is now in a freefall accelerated by the pandemic. I have been watching in dismay as publisher after publisher closing their shop. 

Four in five traditionally published books never “earn back” the advances received by their authors, which means they don’t sell enough copies to make the writers any money past the initial amount paid by publishers for writing the books. Most e-books don’t sell more than 560 copies per year and most print books don’t sell more than 250 copies per year. In fact, the average books sell 3,000 copies in its lifetime. — Nina Amir

But that is changing. On the other hand, self-publishing is thriving.

Making a living as an author takes hard work, and the income from just one book or writing on one platform will not pay you enough to live on. If you want to earn a living as an author and not make a living but thrive as an author, you need to think like a business person. Like an authorpreneur.

This publication will help you achieve that.

Writing is the hardest profession to break into. 

Not only learning to write well is arduous but making a living from writing is grueling. But things are changing for good.

Today many more avenues are available to writers to publish and make money while honing their craft. New ones are fast appearing. But the learning curve is sharp.

I have created this publication to help new writers establish their writing business. It will have articles specifically for that purpose.

If you are a writer like me, if you want to do nothing else but write, you want to know the clear pathway to become an authorpreneur. 

I want to dedicate this publication exclusively to help writers become authorpreneurs.

What kind of articles I will be published here

Articles helping you develop an authorpreneur mindset. Articles with practical advice to set up your business. Stories of the writers who have been on the journey before you and have made it. Summaries of the books on the topic.

I want to create a community of writers who want to help each other establish their author business. 

If we all lift each other up in small ways, we can reach new, exciting heights together.

Initially, I will be the sole contributor to this publication. With time I will like other writers to join me to help build this publication. 

I will be looking for high-quality, practical articles that focus on mindset, creativity, writing, editing, publishing, marketing, and author business models. 

Here is my rough list of the kind of articles I am envisioning:

  • The mindset of an authorpreneur.
  • The business of writing.
  • The process and habits of writers.
  • Advice on developing writing products.
  • Articles exploring different writing career paths.
  • Unique or creative writing, editing, and publishing tips, tools, and methods. 
  • Book summaries of books on the top of authorpreneurship.
  • First-person accounts of getting a book published.
  • Interviews with experienced writers.
  • Other creative pieces in which fellow writers can learn something new.

Who can contribute?

Any one of you who wants to write on the topic.

If you want to contribute, reach to me via  LinkedIn.

How can you help?

By subscribing to the publication. 

By leaving comments and asking questions about what you would like me to write about.

I am not starting this publication to turn it into a mega publication but as a small portal to share my learning as I progress on the authorpreneur journey.

“True authors don’t write for fame or make a name or money, they write to make impact.” — Bernard Kelvin Clive.

They say a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. For me, that step is this publication and my newsletter A Whimsical Writer.

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Want to take your writing to another level? Subscribe to my newsletter, A Whimsical Writer.

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Photo by Ryan Snaadt on Unsplash

Making a Stack

Neera

I learned two amazing lessons this week. Both from videos on YouTube. If I haven’t told you before I am a big YouTube fan. Not to watch movies or funny video but to learn.

I have discovered that YouTube is brilliant in its ability to suggest related videos. I picked this one up because of the title – The Drawing Advice That Changed My Life. It is made by a young Australian artist Struthless.

In the video, he tells a great story of his mentor Marc Schattner. Marc and his wife Gillie make dog and rabbit face human sculptures, paintings, and sketches. That is all they make. Struth was in awe of their work and constantly whined to Marc when will he be able to get to their level.

Then one day he sat Struth down and gave him some tough love.

One day you write a song, the next day you write a poem, and the third day you do a drawing. None of it adds up to anything. All you are doing is laying a single brink of million different houses and hoping one day it will magically become a mansion. It’s not going to happen.

You can do then things to one degree or you can do one thing to the tenth degree.

The message is as relevant to me as it was to Struth. I too am scattered. I too am doing too many things. I too need to focus. (Watch Struth’s video for the rest of the story.)

I am writing articles. I am writing on Medium. I am sketching. I am writing a novel. Although I love doing all of them, it scatter my energy.

But which one to pick and which one to let go.

It is not easy decision. At least for me.

The answer came from another video. In an interview with Chase Jarvis on CreativeLive Marie Forleo, a life coach, shared an exercise she gives her clients. It is called A Painted Picture.

It is an exercise based on Cameron Herold’s book Double Double to figure out a business vision. But it works well with an individual’s vision too. To do your Painted Picture, sit somewhere comfortable, preferably away from your work environment, and actually sketch a picture of yourself in three years’ time. Not five or ten but three years. The reason you don’t go past the three-year mark is that you need to keep one foot planted in reality, while still be able to `lean out into the future.’

It is a very powerful exercise.

I haven’t done it yet, but intend to do it. And I will share it here with you because sharing it is also part of the exercise.

This week I wrote two articles, What Do Readers Want (And How To Deliver It With Pizzazz) and What If Your Novel Doesn’t Fit The Three Act Structure. Check them out.

It has been two months since I moved to once a week newsletter rather than sending two articles a week. It is about time I ask for some feedback.

This format is working well for me. I get to report to you on two fronts, what I learned and what I wrote during the week. How is this format going for you? Would you like to continue to receive this kind of conversational, once a week newsletter? Or would you prefer to receive articles in your inbox? Is once a week enough? Or would you prefer to hear more often from me?

That is it from me this week.

Talk to you next week.

Take care.

Three types of newsletters (to stay connected with your readers)

Neera 1 Comment

It is Tuesday morning again and I am fretting. An article is due in a few hours and it is not ready. I have barely recovered from Friday’s article and the next one is due again. It is not that I don’t do anything about them the whole week and just spin-off 1000 to 1500 words articles on Tuesday and Friday mornings. The whole week goes into the preparation.

Finding topics that will be useful to my readers, researching, outlining, finding relating and interesting stories, and then writing and editing them take hours. This one commitment to my readers take 40% of my working time (used to be 70%, I am getting quicker). Why do I do it?

Because it is important.

Writing articles is a great way to educate your readers, establish authority in your field, and most importantly staying in contact with your readers.

And you know dear writers, how important it is for us to stay in contact with our readers.

Without readers, there is no point in writing. Yes, we write for ourselves but we only do so when we want to take the weight off our chest or want to use writing as a therapy. Most of the stuff we write for ourselves is a rant.

Writing for a readership is the way to grow as a writer and to find meaning in our labour.

Now that we have established that we do need readers, we need to find them and stay in regular contact with them. How to find readers is a whole different topic which I will address in another article. In today’s article, I am going to address how to stay in contact with readers once you have a few of them subscribe to your newsletter.

Is article writing the only way to stay in contact with your readers?

No, it isn’t. There are other means.

There is a difference between articles and newsletters and their purpose.

An article is 1000-2000 words “editorial” or “feature article” like writing usually on one small aspect of a topic that involves some research and includes writer’s observation, inference and recommendation. Its purpose is education. It features on authors’ websites and may and may not go to the subscribers via email.

A newsletter on the other hand is an email kind of correspondence drafted to stay connected with your readers and goes out to all those who have subscribed to them. Its purpose is communication. It can be of any form – from a full-fledged article like I send to you twice a week to an informal email to talk about your day.

There are three ways the writers can draft their newsletters.

  1. “Editorial” or “Feature Article” style
  2. “Link” style
  3. Blog style

1. “Editorial” or “Featured Article” Style

This form is best suited when you want to educate your readers and impart your knowledge and experience in a regular way.

It is also the most labor-intensive and requires a lot of commitment. But it has its benefits. Articles build your platform, populates your website with useful content, and establishes you as an authority in your field.

Article writing has a copious value not only for your readers but for yourself too. When you are writing about a topic you tend to do a lot of research that helps you clear your own concepts. You end up learning from the exercise than even your readers. That is why many writers write about writing. They are learning their craft while educating their readers.

You need to pick any area in any genre and start writing about it. You can venture a bit as long as you don’t go too much out of the boundaries of your topic. I write about art, craft, language, creativity, productivity, and marketing side of writing.

For this type of newsletter, you’ll need to be a decent writer. While other types of email newsletters don’t require you to be a good writer (as you’ll see below), this one definitely does. 

With that said, just because you can write doesn’t mean you should write forever. This type of email newsletter can be 300–2000+ words It just depends on the topic and how dedicated your audience is to reading lengthy content.

This is less than 200 words, yet still as effective as a longer from-the-editor style newsletter. As long as the below bases are covered, your subscribers are going to love reading your newsletter alongside their morning cup of coffee.

  • Why does this matter to my subscribers?
  • Is this valuable to my subscribers?
  • Is this topic relevant to my industry?
  • Is this engaging enough to make my subscribers keep reading?

2 “Link” style newsletter

If you are strapped for time and writing expertise you still can provide quick value for your readers through the ‘Link” style newsletter. These links can be internal links (i.e. your own content) or external links (i.e. other people’s content).

These kind of emails are short but packed with useful information which your readers can save to read at their leisure. But this style only works if you are providing superior or unusual information that your readers won’t normally get by a simple search on the internet.

Just because you’re not writing lengthy, researched-based, storytelling newsletters doesn’t mean that you can get away with shonky links and poor quality information.

It still involves a lot of research but rather than writing about it you are just sending the links so that your subscribers can go there and read for themselves.

Here is an example of “link” style newsletter:

There’s just one thing you can not mess up when it comes to this newsletter style. If you choose to go with this style, it is very important that you make sure you are committed to providing context for each link. You need to explain why your subscribers should care about the content you’re linking out to.

3. “Blog” Style

A blog-style newsletter is when you do not want to spend that much time on research and writing full-fledged articles but still want to provide useful information to your readers. You can do that in the informal style of writing.

Blog style newsletter has more room for going off the topic and write anything from what breakfast you had to what book you have been reading keeping in mind it has to have something for your readers. So there has to be some value for your readers to know why you had special “oatmeal” breakfast which you created using your grandmother’s recipe which was not only delicious but easy to prepare, nutritious, and fill you up in fewer calories.

But the real purpose of the blog style newsletter is to share useful information. Never forget that your readers agreed to receive emails from you because they are learning something from them. The moment they will stop learning, they will unsubscribe.

This type of newsletter is best suited for having conversations with your audience. It is also more personal. Readers get to know you better and want to stay connected.

Try to keep it short and punchy, because no one wants you to keep on babbling about your breakfast.

You can think of the “blog” style newsletter as a hybrid of the “editorial” style and “link” style newsletter. While you’re certainly not writing 2,000 words to explain why people should consume the content linked, you’re still showing the value behind them clicking.

Here is an example:

Recap

There is a difference between writing articles and writing newsletters. The purpose of articles is to educate while the purpose of the newsletter to stay connected with your subscribers.

Your can send ‘editorial” or “feature articles” in your newsletter or you can send a list of useful links. Then there is third choice the hybrid of two – a “blog” style newsletter.

Whatever you might choose you need to make sure your newsletter provides value to your readers by giving information that your readers find relevant and useful.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash