Ten years in the past, I began writing on this little-known web site known as Medium.com. You may’ve heard of it.
Again then, the web nonetheless felt magical. Algorithms hadn’t hijacked our social feeds. Youngsters weren’t yelling “six-seven” for no cause. And sharing a meme from The Workplace didn’t land you in group chat jail.
Over the following few years, I wrote tons of of articles and reached tons of of 1000’s of readers.
Then I finished. Chilly.
There wasn’t a dramatic cause. My good friend Kyle and I had began a website reviewing on-line programs. It grew quick, made actual cash, and earlier than lengthy, we offered it. For the primary time, my writing had really paid off. And it felt unbelievable.
However someplace alongside the best way, the web optimization techniques, the expansion hacking, the obsession with “what converts,” all of it crept in and crowded out what I cherished most: the writing itself.
I needed to write down once more, not as a content material creator, however as a author.
So now I’m again. To not sport the system or chase a pattern, however to rebuild one thing I misplaced: an area for writers who simply need to get higher.
The Downside With Trendy Writing Recommendation
You understand that line from The Darkish Knight, the one the place Harvey Dent says, “You both die a hero or stay lengthy sufficient to see your self develop into the villain”? Properly, I’ve seen too lots of my early Medium heroes develop into the villain.
No, they didn’t rig tons of of barrels of explosives. They did one thing worse: they turned gurus.
Right here’s the way it often went: somebody would blow up on Medium. They’d cease writing about what they cherished and begin writing about how they blew up as an alternative. Their following grew even larger. Then got here the course, the publication, the “secret system” to assist others do the identical.
Rinse. Lather. Repeat.
One after the other, my writing idols fell.
Now, to be clear, I’m not towards writers writing about writing. I’ve a level in engineering. Every thing I’ve discovered about writing got here from different writers beneficiant sufficient to share what they knew.
What began to trouble me most is how a lot of that recommendation began instructing the incorrect issues. Write 100x sooner! Dominate your area of interest! Increase your web optimization!
Someplace alongside the best way, writing turned a system. A viral efficiency. A content material treadmill.
And I wasn’t immune. Chasing metrics made me higher at content material, however worse at writing.
One thing wanted to vary.
The Detour That Broke (and Rebuilt) My Writing
Throughout the early months of the pandemic, my good friend Kyle got here to me with an concept. It was a website known as Course Reviewers. The concept was easy: assist individuals discover the most effective on-line programs.
We began small. I constructed the positioning from scratch and wrote the entire evaluations myself. Every thing felt like an experiment. We obsessed over the small print: the positioning design, web optimization, backlinks, analytics, all of the invisible gears that make an internet site tick.
Then, after three years, we offered it.
And for the primary time in my life I had nothing to write down about.
I had spent so lengthy optimizing, testing, tinkering, and rising that I forgot what it felt like to sit down down and simply write as a result of I needed to.
I may have gone the guru-route (the guroute? Ugh, I hate myself slightly for typing that), writing about how I turned “so profitable” and the way you, too, could make a bajillion buckaroos. However I didn’t. I simply don’t discover any of that attention-grabbing.
What I do discover attention-grabbing, is the intersection of two worlds: the enjoyment of constructing one thing and the artwork of writing.
That’s when the thought for Author Devices began to take form.
What if we may construct an area to assist writers get higher, and develop alongside the best way?
What Writers Actually Want
From my expertise, writers don’t fall for guru magic beans as a result of they’re lazy or undisciplined, they’re overwhelmed by noise.
In every single place you look, somebody’s promising a brand new hack, template, or “secret system.” However if you strip away all that noise, what most writers really need is easy: focus, suggestions, and instruments that assist them really end one thing.
After promoting Course Reviewers, Kyle and I got down to construct Author Devices.
The timing couldn’t have been higher. Kyle had simply signed a six-figure publishing cope with a Penguin Random Home imprint, and I used to be knee-deep in ending my novel. We have been each dwelling the method — juggling creativity, self-discipline, and doubt in actual time.
Writing in regards to the instruments and workflows that helped us alongside the best way gave us a singular type of empathy for writers at each stage: the dreamers outlining their first concepts, the weekend warriors making an attempt to remain constant, and the revealed authors nonetheless determining how you can hold their momentum.
Most writers don’t want extra motivation; they want higher methods that make progress really feel attainable.
The Philosophy Behind Author Devices
I understand that is the a part of the article the place you go, Okay, what’s the gross sales pitch Mr. Anti-guru Man? I don’t have one. I don’t have a course, or a funnel, or a “content material technique” to promote you.
That isn’t the type of place I intend to construct with Author Devices.
The concept behind it’s easy: writing is a craft, not content material.
And as I’ve already lamented, the web has made “being a author” synonymous with “constructing a model.” However writing isn’t any of that. To not me, at the least.
Writing isn’t a efficiency, it’s apply. It’s exhibiting as much as wrestle a muddy pit of phrases till one thing wise emerges.
Kyle and I constructed Author Devices for writers who care about that half, the messy, curious, obsessive technique of getting higher at writing.
Every thing on the positioning is organized round how actual writers work:
- Writing Instruments & Apps — the stuff that makes the method simpler.
- Writing Craft & Course of — the strategies that make the work stronger.
- Publishing & Writer Enterprise — the sensible facet of sharing it with the world.
Our aim has by no means been to inform writers what to do, however to create an area that helps them discover what works for them.
Author Devices is a workshop. A spot to experiment, to be taught, and to recollect why we began writing within the first place.
What’s Subsequent
Phew. That felt good to get off my chest. I’ve missed writing right here.
I plan on sticking round, to not chase claps (are they nonetheless claps?) or share life hacks, however to write down extra personally. About constructing issues. About writing. About exhibiting up even when nobody’s watching.
Should you’ve learn this far, I’ll fancy a guess you in all probability care about these issues too. You’ll be able to observe me right here for extra essays on the craft, or go to Author Devices in order for you deeper dives.
No paywall. No funnel. Simply writing.
I’ve spent a decade chasing platforms, algorithms, and progress hacks.
Seems all I actually wanted was a clean web page, and a cause to begin writing once more.