Why writers fail at thinking like a business.
… and what they can do to become better at it.
Let’s start with a quote from Gary Vaynerchuk’s book on becoming a successful influencer:
“I know that not everybody who’s reading this book is cut out for video, which is why I’m so thankful that other alternatives exist to beautifully show-case the written word, still images, and audio.
However, let’s be real. With perhaps the notable exception of J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, and a handful of other writers, in the general over the last thirty years, video stars have financially outperformed stars in every other medium”.
He is right.
Writers in particular, are still struggling heavily to monetize their work. Here is the result of a 2014 Digital Book World survey, which includes data from more than 9,000 writers.
As you can see, even among the traditionally published authors, less than 80% of people earn more than $14,999 per year. Only five percent of traditionally published authors, earn $30,000 or more per year.
It is horrifying, really.
The large majority of writers simply can not make a living from their work, and consequently are forced to do other kind of work. There are a few writers who earn a lot from their craft, and the rest earns hardly anything at all.
What’s the main difference between writers and video stars?
I think that besides the obvious reality that video has a much stronger mass appeal compared to the written word, video producers also have quite a different mentality compared to writers.
Writers sit lonely in front of their desks and publish their own thoughts. Video stars build movements.
Let’s take the guys from Yes Theory as an example. They are video producers, who have come to relative fame on Youtube with about 1,5 million subscribers.
Their concept is quite simple:
They produce videos, in which they are doing things, which most people consider to be impossible.
For example, they ring the door bells of billionaires, and ask them to go for a swim in their pools. Or, they enter some of the most exclusive events, without an invitation. Or, they challenge Will Smith to bungee jump out of a helicopter.
They have slogans like:
“Seek discomfort”.
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone”.
They have a very simple belief system, which says that you should say yes to more things in life. Everything they do is reflecting these beliefs, inspiring their followers to do the same.
In other words, the center of these videos is not necessarily the stars themselves. It is their followers. It is the community, which they are building. It is the cause, that they are building towards.
Their viewers want to…
… be a part of these movements.
… be a member of the community.
… apply these beliefs in their own lives.
As a result, people are much more engaged in the work of these video stars, than they are in the work of most writers. They may read plenty of articles on the internet — without caring much about who has written them.
Although readers certainly do have some favorite writers, they certainly won’t feel attached to a community behind this writer.
Because most writers don’t have such a thing.
Well, but some writers do.
I am thinking about people like Mr. Money Mustache, who is facilitating a tribe of people, whom he calls the “Mustachians”. They are the people who are excited about the belief system, which he propagates.
The idea he is trying to share, is around early retirement.
He is trying to teach people how to save enough money every single day, in order to retire at a very young age.
The crazy thing I have noticed about his website, is not the blog itself. The crazy thing is his forum. It has about 38,000 members, with about 1.8 million posts.
Most of the content on his website, is not from the writer himself.
It is from the community, which is helping each other, to apply his advice in their own lives. And that’s where the real value is coming from.
His readers identify as “Mustachians”. They share a common belief system and lifestyle. They are super passionate about this lifestyle — which is why they are so incredibly active on his website.
He primarily serves as the first example, who has turned this lifestyle idea into reality.
In short, his readers are part of a movement.
Writing businesses need to be like movements.
When you are sitting lonely in your chair and only focus on sharing your thoughts, you are simply not thinking like a business. There is only a very limited number of ways, in which you can make money:
- publishing books
- freelance writing
- consulting/coaching
- online video courses
- speaking/webinars
Most writers are stuck either trying to make money by publishing books, or doing freelance writing work. Few people succeed at making a living from those two things alone.
The second layer of writers is actually embracing other potential income streams, such as consulting, selling online video courses, or running a speaking business.
People who are embracing these income streams, are making a lot more money, than people who only sell their books.
But many writers struggle to get clients.
They simply don’t have a large-enough following to get a constant stream of potential customers coming their way.
That’s because they haven’t built a movement.
They are just writers, not leaders of a community.
Not only will being a community leader enable the writer to get much more clients for these traditional income sources, but completely new income sources will suddenly appear, too.
For example, I believe that it is perfectly possible for a writer, to earn the majority of his income by selling t-shirts and other merchandise (in fact, Tim Urban from Wait But Why is already doing this).
These would be t-shirts that have the slogans of the writer’s movement on them. Quite in the same way, in which video celebrities do it.
Of course, this requires the writer to go beyond their comfort zone. For example, he or she would have to start an Instagram account to sell their merchandise, in addition to writing exclusively.
And, most importantly, he or she would have to figure out a way, in order to get the community to be actively involved in the development of the movement and everything that relates to it.
The writer would no longer be exclusively writing.
Instead, he or she would use the writing as the source of inspiration for a community, which aims for a common goal.
The characteristics of a movement.
In order for writers to build a movement, they need to make a large shift in their thinking. Whereas usually they focus on generating ideas and sharing them with the world, they now need to do much more than that.
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They need to become the leader of a community.
They need to rally people behind a common cause. Establish a belief system that people can follow. Allow people to participate actively in the community. Put clear identity markers in place.
But let’s look at each of these points more deeply.
A common cause:
The writer needs to establish a goal, that this community is striving for. This has to be something that is desirable to people, and which they are willing to work towards.
Mr. Money Moustache, for example, says that if you follow his belief system, you are going to be able to retire in 10 years, and live your life the way you really want it to be.
A belief system:
It needs to be clear what you believe in, so that the members of your tribe have something to follow and implement in their own lives.
Take Arianna Huffington’s Thrive movement. She has clearly outlined in her book with the same title, that she believes in a world, where overwork and work addiction should no longer exist.
The pillars of her belief system are to bring more well-being, wisdom, wonder and purpose in people’s lives.
She is using her media platform Thrive Global, for sharing more information on how to implement those beliefs in people’s daily lives, and for community members to share their own stories in achieving that goal.
Community involvement:
This brings me to the next point, which is community involvement. A movement doesn’t work, if it’s only the leader sharing his worldview with the world.
For movements, the large majority of the work is done by the people themselves.
If you visit the Thrive Global website, you will find that there are many sections of the website, which is run by the staff of the company. But there is also the community section, where people who believe in the cause, can contribute their own stories.
I myself am a contributor to the website.
Every week, the moderators of the platform will send out e-mails, in which they prompt you as a writer, to share your experiences about a certain topic, that helps to further the movement’s cause.
For example, a few weeks back, they were asking me and other contributors to share our stories, on how we are dealing with stress.
Everything they do will resolve around their cause and their belief system — but it happens in the form of co-creation between Arianna herself, the moderators of her platform, and the community.
Identity markers/slogans/symbols:
This is what I have already been talking about a little bit before, when I was sharing my thoughts on the Yes Theory movement. They have these slogans, which they repeat again and again.
They do this in the videos themselves, but also in everything else they do. For example, they would offer merchandise, on which exactly these slogans are written.
Why is this important?
Because it gives community members a way of identifying themselves with the movement. By buying a Yes Theory t-shirt and wearing it, they say to the world that they are a member of this particular community.
Not only is this great for community members, but it is also great advertising for the movement itself.
Let’s say you walk around with your t-shirt, and somebody compliments you on it.
This gives you a chance to share what this t-shirt is all about, what the community is, what you guys believe in, and why you think this other person should have a look at it, too.
Rituals/traditions:
Movements also have their own internal traditions. In the case of Yes Theory, one of their traditions is that every single day of your life, you should say yes to something new and unexpected.
Something outside of your comfort zone.
Rituals like these remind your community every single day, that they are a part of it, and that they should adjust their lives accordingly.
In other words, it gives people the chance to act instead and implement your ideas in their own lives, instead of merely consuming your work.
Getting somebody to act, is always more powerful in attracting them to your cause, than merely getting them to think.
Rituals are a great way of keeping people loyal to the cause.
Conclusion:
Most writers are focused on quietly sitting in front of their desks, and producing great ideas. While this is great and certainly helpful, it is rarely good enough for these people to make a living from their work.
By shifting their mind-set from that of a writer to that of the leader of a movement, writers can overcome this problem. Being the leader of a movement opens up the opportunity for many different income streams.
These writers don’t make the majority of their income from their books.
All sorts of opportunities for making money will arise, once a writer has succeeded in building a movement.
They might still make their money from speaking, holding webinars, or selling online courses.
But they could just as well make the majority of their income from selling their own products, or doing affiliate marketing, or being in the advertising business.
I am just thinking about the Rich Dad, Poor Dad movement of Robert Kiyosaki. The cause of this movement is to provide financial literacy education for everybody, and help these people to make passive income by investing.
One of his main sources of income is the educational Cashflow board game.
The purpose of this game is to help people to learn how to invest the right way. You start by randomly being assigned certain life circumstances and then trying how to make the most out of it by making different investments.
In other words, this is a community which depends on people who are inspired by Kiyosaki’s teachings, to become community advocates by buying Kiyosaki’s board game and organizing real life events all over the world.
As you can see, there is plenty of ways for writers to make money.
Their primary activity every single day, is still writing.
But they need to invest a part of their time into forming- and maintaining a movement. In this way, all sorts of opportunities open up for them, which they have never even thought of.
Here are some examples to study:
- Quiet revolution [helps introverts to make their mark on the world]
- The art of manliness [has the goal to revive the lost art of manliness]
- Thrive Global [ensuring that nobody in the world has to suffer from over-work, work addiction and burnout]
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad [providing the financial education of millionaires to ordinary people, in order to make them financially free]
- The Mustachians [helping people to retire early and spending their time in the way they choose to]
Now, if you excuse me…
I’m going to head off and focus on building a movement.
It’s goal is to help creatives embrace the struggle of the early years. I want to see creatives survive all those years, during which they have to sacrifice almost everything for the sake of building something that truly matters.
Why?
Because the last thing I want to see, is millions of people giving up on their dreams of making a real contribution to this world.
I want to see people to embrace the struggle, until they succeed. Because the only time you’ve truly failed, is when you quit.
Join us, if you feel like it.
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