Writers Are Making These Mistakes - Make Sure You Do Not
Writing “mistaKES" appears to be common that people make in writing.
My fellow writers on Medium tend to find substantive grammatical trip-ups, like verb errors, far more frustrating than typographical errors and “stylistic” errors, such as homophone misspelling and preposition placement.
Ayodejia Awosika and Sinem Gunel - one of the most successful writers, met recently and chatted.
Here is an excerpt, and I’m sure this will be helpful to aspiring readers:
"What's the biggest mistake writers make when it comes to writing?" She asked me.
"Oh, that one's easy," I thought.
I see it happen in places like Medium, and honestly, it shocks me every day how so many writers can't see the problem.
The most significant mistake writers make is writing stories without intention behind them.
I've covered this a ton, but it needs to be repeated because it is THE most significant problem.
Always ask yourself:
"Why am I writing this? What's the objective? What's the goal?
Come up with a good answer, too.
For most writers, the answer is 'because I felt like it,' which is why they are broke and nobody reads their writing.
Some good reasons are:
You are sharing a story from your life that has a relevant theme that also applies to other people
You are helping your audience solve problems, make transformations, or get what they want
If you are writing an essay, you're covering a top-of-mind topic that people care about
Whenever a writer reaches out to me and says nobody reads their writing, I know what's wrong before I even go to their page.
It's always the same thing - many stories are written without first answering those critical questions.
Fixing the problem is as simple as taking the time to answer them before you start writing.
This Mistake Will Cost You Thousands, If Not Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars
"How long did you wait?"
"A year. And I can't imagine how much I missed out on...how many people I could've got to buy products from me. Oh well. Lesson learned."
Sinem asked me when I started doing the most important thing you need to do to make money as a writer.
The second biggest mistake a writer makes is not building an email list and sending weekly emails.
'The money is in the list.'
An email list helps you:
Get readers to know, like, and trust you
Build an audience you own (algorithms are fickle)
Sell more of your books, courses, coaching, whatever you sell
I hope you enjoyed these insights from one of the most prolific writers ever. Let me know if you have any additional tips.
