Why no-one reads your stuff (and how to fix it)

It’s the worst feeling in the world.

You’ve spent hours writing. You’ve poured out everything you have. You publish then wait. Slowly the realisation dawns. No one is reading what you wrote. And you feel drained.

I nearly quit when my writing got no attention.

Then I studied the top writers and discovered their secrets for getting noticed.

But first I was fooled by a lie.

Consistency is the key I was told. Just keep writing. Don’t worry about the lack of views. Your time will come. I did this for 12 months. But nothing happened.

Writing consistently isn’t enough.

You need something else if you want to gain an audience. I’ve copied the tactics of the best. And in the last 6 months, I’ve gained 1200+ followers on Medium & Twitter and have a growing newsletter.

Over the next 3 weeks, I’m going to share the 3 tactics that have increased my views and started earning me money.

Here’s the first one:

Tactic 1: Get in front of people

The internet is an amazing place full of possibilities.

But the brutal truth is if you are small. No one will find you. So many writers expect readers to miraculously appear from somewhere.

Readers won’t find you, you need to find them. You need strategies to get your writing in front of people. This involves you doing more than writing. You don’t need to be a sleazy salesperson but you do need to be shrewd in promoting yourself.

Here’s how I’ve attracted more readers:

Strengthen your social media — I use Twitter to promote my writing and discover new readers. Facebook and Linkedin are also effective ways to raise your profile.

Find interest groups online — where does your ideal reader hang out online? Get involved and offer your content as a solution to their needs. Don’t just post links but engage in real conversations. Which Facebook groups are they in? They might be on Reddit or Quora. Or in specialist forums.

Audience hack — the easiest source of new readers is other writers. Find writers who write on the same topic and spend 15 minutes a day commenting. This will get you seen by their readers. Say something interesting and people will be curious to check you out.

But every day I see people making useless comments and wasting this opportunity. This is so important I’m going to show you how to comment to win a new audience.

Apply this to all social media and writing platforms.

Comments that gain you readers

Add an insight - a mistake people make is rephrasing what they have read. No one is interested in that. Instead, add an insight that takes people’s knowledge further. A simple trick for this is to zero in on something written and add ‘3 ways to’ in the comments.

Here are a few examples:

‘morning routine article’ you add 3 tricks to push me out of bed when I wake up

‘learn from your failure article’ you add 3 things I tell myself to get over failure faster

Sidebar your achievements - dropping in an achievement or positive fact is a neat way to gain attention. Be subtle otherwise, you’ll turn people off.

Examples:

I’ve written 95 Medium articles and I’ve learned…

I had a viral tweet of 27,000 views but realised that…

When I write my newsletter I focus on this…

Notice that the personal information provides context for what I am saying. Some will be intrigued and investigate my writing.

Pay a compliment - this won’t interest other readers. But if you give a specific compliment to the writer, they might check out your profile.

Be funny - this can get you noticed if you pitch it right. Get to know the culture of the platform before you try this though.

If you keep making valuable comments like this I guarantee your writing will get noticed.

Getting your writing seen by others is only step 1. It still needs to stop them scrolling and grab their attention

But that’s next week’s tactic.

How I can help you - Writing Clinic

I’d had lots of requests for personal writing advice and feedback. So in response I’m launching the Writing Clinic.

Most people struggle to improve from reading advice. The fastest way to boost your writing is from feedback. This offers valuable insights on exactly how you need to improve. The Writing Clinic will offer customised feedback with specific suggestions on how to upgrade your writing.

You can send tweets, threads or full-length articles to the Writing Clinic.

Initially, access will be limited to TCW subscribers. If you are interested reply to this email. Full pricing details will be available next week.

What I’m reading: War of Art Steven Pressfield

because it’s good to remember you are not the only one. Everyone fights an internal battle when they create.