One Main Ingredient That Your Audience Will Love
Photo by Lucaxx Freire on UnsplashYou must connect in a personal, lasting way that matters. - Seth Godin
You’ve been writing for some time now and have made the decision to turn “pro”.
You write so much that you decided that you might as well get paid for it.
You’ve realized through many days and nights of introspection - pulling from your own experiences - that you have a story to tell that the world needs to hear.
You know you’re a writer but it doesn’t feel right “just yet” because your content hasn’t reached the whole entire world. After all, what’s the point in writing if you don’t get the recognition you deserve - right?
What separates you from every other writer that creates content in the same niche that you’re in?
What makes you more worthy of getting noticed in the sea of “hopefuls” that are looking for that big break so that they can quit their day jobs and get paid to do what they love?
What is one thing that you have that no one else can lay claims to?
Each of our human experiences aren’t that different from the next person’s, but each of us has “that one thing” that uniquely defines our voice.
Everyone wants to monetize their writing - at some point - and everyone has a message that can make a huge impact on the world. You already know you can- and this article is for you because I know you can too- but you’re still wondering why you aren’t able to make the impact that you know your writing can make, after all the work you’ve put in. You’re ready to monetize this thing already, but you don’t have enough eye witnesses to testify on behalf of your talent.
You’re reading this because you’re frustrated. You may even be reading this because you’ve decided that its time to get serious about you’re writing and you’re ready to take it to the next level.
Before we continue, my hope in this article is that you will drop the title of being a writer - completely. I want you to embrace the one title that we all share - which connects us all and will connect you with your readers.
Before you ever put a pen to paper, and before you learned how to type, you were a human being - first.
We don’t connect with writers. We don’t connect with good content. We don’t connect with celebrities and athletes because of their raw talent and graceful performances. We connect with human beings, through what they do. They bring us into their world and we are either entertained, inspired or both.
Writing is simply what we do to express our humanity, and the moment we understand this, our words will come alive and other human beings will be able to feel who we are through our message - and take something away from it.
You can keep track of what you get in return, or you can make art. - Seth Godin
Art is a human act. Art requires vulnerability and the willingness to share an intimate part of ourselves. Writing is just a form of art - an instrument that we chose to communicate with other human beings in order to invite them into our world.
The main function of art is to leave the recipient in better shape than we found them.
Is this the main aim of your writing, or is it solely to get noticed so that you can monetize your content?
If money is the aim, forget about it completely - focus on your audience. Money is a byproduct of the value and impact that you provided for the recipient. Many “writers” create content like no one’s business and are more consistent at what they do than most people would consider sane- but their content isn’t useful and the reader is often left unfazed- because the “writer” is doing it for money, and not for the recipient.
Art is not in the eye of the beholder. It’s in the soul of the artist. - Seth Godin
What type of resistance did you over come, and what were the steps in the process that brought you to the outcome of your triumph?
The recipient needs you to share this because just like you, they’re human.
When they come into your world, they want to leave with something in hand, as proof that they were there. They’re looking for that one compelling piece or that one phrase to completely alter the way they look at life.
We all share the same journey (before we have clearly defined goals) or similar views on a topic at some point, but not all of us are traveling to the same destination - what can you give the recipient that will change the way they think, and challenge them to do something differently that will aid them in route to their final destination?
This has to come from your soul.
You have to give the recipient more than a vast body of work - you have to give them something that’s “alive”. That thing comes from your soul. Don’t create something for the sake of staying consistent or because you’re looking to make it to the featured page.
Aim to give them the most impactful insight you’ve ever received in all of your human experience- and give it away for free. This shows the recipient that you truly care about them - this builds value and establishes a connection.
Don’t aim to write well. Don’t aim to write a beautiful master piece. Aim for the heart, pull the trigger - and mean it.
You can be perfect, or you can make art. - Seth Godin
You ever have that one article that you worked so hard on, and it barely got noticed?
You poured hours and maybe even days into it, and it barely received a comment - you even revised it like a mad person, yet you only got a couple of claps?
I’ve been there, and I know you have.
The majority of people are perfectionists, yet the majority of people aren’t living up to their fullest potential.
Most writers are perfectionists, yet they’re unable to get out that concept that their trying to communicate to their readers “because it has to be perfect”.
Just get it out.
Minus the typos and grammatical errors - give birth to something raw and imperfect.
Focus on getting out what you need to say. Word it in such a way that the reader gets the full impact of what you’re saying - but make it as imperfect as possible.
Human beings don’t relate to perfection.
We can’t.
Perfection isn’t “real”. We can’t connect with something we can’t associate with a prior experience, a current situation or our future goals. We can relate to rough edges. We can relate to messy stories that are straightened out through the process of wrestling with an obstacle until it forges a new skill or a new found strength.
We’re compelled to be empathetic to “deformities”; those traits that make us unique - that make us human.
Your responsibility to the recipient is to be human, to be imperfect - to create art.
Art is a gift. You can sell the souvenir, the canvas, the recording…but the idea itself is free, and the generosity is a critical part of making art. - Seth Godin
Everyone loves free stuff, but do you know what everyone loves more than getting something for free? They love things that they can use, things that improve their lives - a piece of insight that offers them a more positive perspective on life.
When was the last time that someone gave you something for free?
I bet you can still remember how amazing you felt. You probably felt compelled to pay them back - some how - but they told not to worry about it. You probably even found yourself marveling over how people “like them” actually do exist.
Are you still using it today?
If you are, I bet you still think of that person - or back to that event - every time you remember what they taught you, or every time you use what they gave you.
Has it made your life more manageable?
I’m also willing to bet that even though you may not recall that event or the person that gave you that free gift, it’s helped you so much that you allow others to borrow it, or you continue to give that insight away to others in the form of advice.
Art is something that continues to give people more in use value than in cash value, long after the exchange, but what creates even more value is when you’re generous about giving it way - for free.
Be so generous in creating art and giving it away for free, that people are compelled to give you something in exchange for it - whether its in the form of a piece of advice that can change your life, or in the most popular form of exchange known on the planet - money.
Many entrepreneurs use an innovation to make an impact, but the hard part, the part that we’re rewarded for, is engaging with the user, the audience, the market. - Seth Godin
Your content won’t be compelling without giving the recipient something to do - for themselves.
Art is the open ended question - the call to action, without putting a call to action at the end of your content.
Most of what’s being said in today’s world has already been said - you have to figure out a way to say it differently, that won’t sound so cliché. Say it in such a way that the recipient can digest it more simply.
Say it the way that “you” would say it.
When your voice is distinct from all of the other voices saying “it”; you stand out. You don’t have to say anything over the top. Just say it the way you would say it, no one in the world can do that - but you. This is what will make an impact. This is art - that connection, your ability to give the world something it’s never experienced before. Your voice.
Art isn’t what you do, art is what happens when the recipient is touched at the core of who they are by your humanity - what you “do” is just the packaging that you use to give a part of yourself away for someone else’s benefit.
You have something to say, a mission to go on, a contribution that matters. - Seth Godin
When you sit down to write, do it for art’s sake.
Do it with the purpose of giving someone something that will last them a life time, or to help them get passed this rocky point in their lives.
Write with the intent to give them no other choice but to change their outlook on life. They shouldn’t get up the same person they were before reading something that you poured your time into.
When we write with other motives in mind, we aren’t giving our best - as we would like to think. We should be excited about publishing a piece because the person reading it will benefit and because of the value our content will create for them.
Every time you sit down to write, have something to say.
Every time you sit down to write, you’re on a mission.
Every time you sit down to write, the recipient is counting on you to give them a part of who you are, something profound that keeps speaking long after you package the gift in word form and give it to them- the part of you that they will never find in anyone else - the wings to be who they want to be.
Don’t just give them something they can agree and relate to - give them art.
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I Want Your Money With Extra Impact, Hold The Art Please was originally published in The Writing Cooperative on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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