How to start writing online
I was a terrible writer growing up.
I moved to the United States when I was 13 years old without knowing how to put together a sentence. I spent my first two years in High School taking ELD classes. ELD stands for English Language Development. These are classes designed specifically for English language learners to develop their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in English. For half of my high school experience, I had the vocabulary of a toddler.
It wasn’t until my junior year that I started taking “regular” English classes. For some reason, my counselor thought it’d be a good idea to enroll me in AP Literature. By the time the year ended, I had missed 28 classes. The class was just way too advanced for me. Plus, I didn’t see the value in reading the classics, much less writing about them. I could barely hold a conversation.
So how did I fall in love with writing?
I started writing because my therapist couldn’t keep up. I’m serious. I started writing as a way to cope, process my emotions, and get to know myself on a deeper level. I started writing because I felt intellectually isolated. I’ve always loved big ideas and philosophy, but had nobody to talk about them with. I was alone, overstimulated, and unfulfilled.
I started writing out of necessity — survival almost.
So I started writing an email newsletter. First to a few close friends, then, through word of mouth, to a few strangers. I wrote to no more than 20 people for over a year. But every week, despite my imposter syndrome, fear, and self-loathing, I hit publish, and with each article, my writing and my life got a little better.
For the first time in my life, I made use of all the information I consumed. I started to make new friends who shared my obsession with ideas, creativity, and building a digital presence. Every article I published became a magnet for opportunities I didn’t know were possible. Some notable brands in the creator space started reaching out asking to work with me, and so did other aspiring writers, educators, and creators. It was both thrilling and terrifying, to realize my words had the power to connect with others and open doors to worlds I didn’t know existed.
It’s only been two years since I took the plunge and committed to publishing my ideas online, but I can confidently say it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made. The 60 to 90 minutes (depending on the day) I spend writing every morning is my most rewarding habit and the highlight of my day. It’s helped me in every aspect of my life and has shown me that I can succeed by bringing more of myself into my work — and so can you.
I thought the writer’s path was only reserved for novelists, essayists, or journalists. That’s no longer true. Anybody can walk it now — including you.
My life now revolves around publishing my ideas online and helping others do the same. My writing has reached dozens of millions of people, has landed me opportunities beyond anything I could have imagined, and has given me a sense of confidence and fulfillment I spent 30 years seeking. I know 13 year old me is probably in disbelief that I’m doing this. I also know that he’s extremely proud.
In this not-so-short guide, I’ve distilled the most important principles, insights, and tips I’ve learned over the course of my time writing online and building an audience so you can do the same.
The game of online writing rewards what I like to call “high quantity quality.” The internet rewards people who publish a lot of good stuff. Think of writing online as going to a nightclub. Frequency is the cover charge — how you get in — but quality is how you have the night of your life. If your ideas resonate and help people, you’re guaranteed a spot in VIP. If you can consistently publish good work, you’ll gain an audience, cultivate a strong reputation, and build bridges to people and places beyond your wildest dreams.
This guide will help you do just that. By the end of this guide, you’ll have not just the tools to get started but a roadmap to do it well.
Ready to learn what it takes to become a successful online writer? Let’s get it!
The Antidote for Writer’s Block: Write From Abundance
There’s nothing more frustrating than staring at a blinking cursor on a blank page, especially when ideas swarm you when you’re away from your desk. I experienced this frustration daily. I had good ideas, but every time I’d sit down to write, I’d just stare at my screen for hours, struggling to get a sentence out. It felt like I was 13 again. It pissed me off.
What I didn’t know is that I was making a big mistake that was causing my writer’s block. I was trying to write from scratch. Fortunately, I found the remedy: writing from abundance.
To write from abundance, I had to build a bank of inspiration. I started writing down my realizations, collecting the best quotes I found, jotting down ideas that resonated. I had to build a capture habit
Writing from abundance is the art of collecting ideas so you always have a starting point. It’s all about living an inspired life, and inspiration is everywhere — articles, books, dinner parties, group chats, and shower thoughts. If you capture ideas as they arise, you won’t have to pray for the muse to pay you a visit when it’s time to write.
Modern writing is a lot like making maple syrup. To make maple syrup, maple trees are tapped by drilling holes into their trunks and collecting the sap, which is processed by heating to evaporate much of the water, leaving the concentrated syrup. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. Your notes and captured ideas are the sap for your writing.
To effectively write from abundance you need three things:
- A high-quality information diet
- A capture habit
- A note-taking system
1. Your Information Diet
The internet is the best thing to happen for the human mind since Alexandria, but it is widely misused. Most people don’t use the internet to learn. They use it to distract themselves and get high on cheap dopamine. Neither of which are effective strategies for generating better ideas.
There is a concept in computer science that can be applied to many areas of our lives, especially writing: garbage in, garbage out (GIGO). A friend of mine used to be the head chef at a restaurant I love. When my girlfriend at the time asked him what his secret was for making delicious meals, he replied, “high-quality ingredients.” The smirk on his face let me know he meant it. A dish can only be as good as its ingredients. Similarly, your input — experiences, conversations, and information — are the raw ingredients for your writing. The secret to better output is better input.
If you know the quality of your information diet is lacking, you need to upgrade it by curating what you consume.
Pay attention to these three content forms:
Short-form: I’m not a fan of social media as a learning tool or source of quality information, but I’d be lying if I said it’s not a great discovery tool. Unfollow celebrities, high school friends you never talk to, and anyone else who does not share your interests or stimulates your heart and intellect. Instead, replace them with accounts that make you smarter and bring you joy.
Medium-form: Subscribe to magazines, blogs, YouTube channels, and newsletters that post timeless ideas. Read essays, articles, and speeches that have stood the test of time.
Long-form: Read more books. Start a book club with your friends or find one online. Read the classics. Watch the classics — films, documentaries, TV series. Enroll in courses (in-person or online), watch lectures, create your own syllabus.
Own your learning.
2. The Capture Habit
Now that you’ve turned down the noise and turned up the signal to make sure your input is high-quality, you need a way to harness it. If you think reading 52 books a year so you can brag to your friends or strangers on the internet is enough, it’s not. You need to save the best parts of what you read. Capture ideas as you read, and when you sit down to write, your essays will practically write themselves.
Good notes are central to my writing process. Writing without them is like trying to drive a car with no gas. It just ain’t happening. Because I’m diligent about taking notes, I rarely need to start research from scratch when writing a new article. Instead, I pull from ideas I’ve already captured. All my notes act as intellectual building blocks for future pieces. By the time I sit down to write about a topic, I’ve already done most of the research.
A bit of proactivity goes a long way. You already consume a ton of media, have shower thoughts, and share ideas with your friends. When you practice the habit of capturing what’s already happening, you’ll find that you have all the material you need to start writing.
CAPTURE OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS
Most people keep hundreds of tabs open on their browser because they’re afraid to lose the valuable articles they intend to read (but never do). I used to be that person. Luckily, I found read-it-later apps.
I rarely read articles on my browser. When I come across an interesting article, I save it to an app that automatically downloads it to my phone so I can read it later. This is what I do instead of scrolling through social media when I’m bored (or taking a poop). I read articles. Saving articles this way gets me out of a reactivity loop, where I read things immediately after I find them. I want all aspects of my life to be intentional, including my reading. This process also acts as a filter for my reading. When I save articles to read later, I raise the bar for what deserves my attention. With read-it-later apps, you have dozens of articles to choose from so you allocate your time and attention to the best ones.
Read-it-later apps will also help you see how many ideas you consume not because they’re high-quality or important, but because they’re marketed well.
CAPTURE YOUR OWN IDEAS
If you’re anything like most people, you probably forget ideas — constantly. Remember that insight you had from a conversation with your best friend, or that breakthrough in therapy a few weeks ago? Yeah, me neither.
The human mind is a powerful idea-generating machine, but it’s horrible at storing them.
Many of your best ideas will come when you’re away from your computer — while shopping, in the car, or on a walk. Ideas are fleeting. That’s why so many of history’s greatest creative minds always carried a notebook. I do the same. Whenever I have an important idea, insight, or experience I jot it down as soon as possible.
Note-taking is the closest thing we have to time travel. The Pulitzer prize winning rapper, Kendrick Lamar, attributes his world-renowned lyricism and storytelling to his note-taking process. In his famous conversation with Rick Rubin, he said: “I have to write them down. and then months later, I have to find that same emotion … I dig deep to see what triggered the idea… It comes back because I have key words that bring me back to the exact emotion which drew the inspiration.” Humans are better at writing down events than remembering them.
Writing down your observations makes you more observant; the act of recording details forces you to pay closer attention to the world around you. Similarly, writing down your insights makes you more insightful. Once you commit to capturing your ideas, your brain will naturally generate more of them. Ask any photographer. They’ll tell you every moment as a photo opportunity, which is why they carry their cameras everywhere they go. As a writer, you need to carry your notebook — or preferred capture tool — everywhere you go.
3. Build a Note-Taking System
How many ideas have you written down only to never see them again? If you’re anything like me, the answer is “too many.” The brain is good at making connections, but terrible at remembering details. You know what’s good at remembering things, though? Computers. Note-taking works best when your ideas are saved in a centralized location that contains your and others’ best ideas. Computers help you store ideas and make it easy for you to find them. It’s a win-win.
I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of hours building dozens of note-taking systems. There are hundreds of YouTube videos and articles promising the perfect note-taking system for Notion, Evernote, Obsidian, Roam, Amplenote, Kortex, or my personal favorite, Tana. But here’s the truth: there isn’t a perfect note-taking system. The only perfect system is the one that works for you — the one that gets you writing.
Again, it doesn’t matter which tool you use. And the point isn’t to have a perfect system. The point of taking notes is to get you (and keep you) writing.
Don’t be like me. Don’t waste your time building complex or pretty looking systems. Just keep your notes in one place, revisit them often, make connections, and write.
COLLECT THE DOTS
Many of history’s greatest minds, including Leonardo Da Vinci, kept a commonplace book — a central place where you save ideas, quotes, epiphanies, photos, drawings, and whatever else you want to remember. Marcus Aurelius, who is arguably the greatest Roman emperor to have ever lived, used his commonplace book to write Meditations; Virginia Woolf kept one, so did Napoleon, Thomas Jefferson, and Langston Hughes.
Since ideas appear when you least expect them, capturing them should be almost automatic. It shouldn’t take more than 10 seconds to jot an idea now. The notes app on your phone or a pocket notebook should be more than enough. Just make sure you transfer those ideas to your note-taking system — ideally by the end of the day. There, you can briefly expand on the idea by adding context or relevant details.
Taking notes while reading is equally important for connecting ideas. For your digital reads — Kindle, Instapaper, Blogs, Emails, Tweets — Readwise is the most elegant solution. Everytime you highlight an interesting idea, it’ll shoot it to your highlights library where they’ll live until your bones return to the earth or the internet burns down, whichever comes first. You can also tag your highlights, making finding and connecting ideas breezy. Oh, and you can sync Readwise to your note-taking system so your quotes pull automatically. It’s honestly one of my favorite apps.
Over time, you’ll have developed a personal library of the best, most interesting ideas you’ve ever seen. All you have to do is (1) capture ideas, and (2) make sure those ideas end up in the same place.
CONNECT THE DOTS
Michelangelo once said: “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” The writer who writes from abundance is less like a painter and more like a sculptor.
Let me explain.
I start my essays in split-screen mode. On the left, I have my marble block (my captured notes). On the right, I have my chisel (my blank document). To gain creative momentum, I’ll run a few searches through my note-taking system, and copy & paste the best stuff onto my blank page. As ideas fill the page, patterns emerge and begin to shape the piece. At this point, most of the time, all I have to do is fill in the gaps, add transitions, and polish the prose until it portrays precisely what I’m trying to communicate to the reader. Just as Michelangelo chiseled away the excess stone to reveal the masterpiece within, when I write from abundance, I refine and connect my notes to uncover the core message I want to convey.
We read to collect the dots. We write to connect them.
NOTE: It’s worth spending some time designing a note-taking system. Notice I said designing and not building. You will build the system as you engage with it. This is how you build systems that work for you. And remember, your system doesn’t have to be perfect — mine isn’t. The purpose of your system is to inspire and mobilize you when you’re sitting in front of the blinking cursor and get you writing by serving you the best ideas you’ve ever had.
4. Test Your Ideas
Writing doesn’t have to be a lonesome pursuit. In fact, the best writing is collaborative. Conversation makes you a better writer by helping you identify high-potential ideas and tweak their delivery until they’re accurate representations of your best thinking and resonate with your readers. My ideas reached new levels once I started talking about them.
This isn’t anything new. Many sacred texts, like the Bible, the Vedas and the Quran, were spoken long before they were written. Most Greek tragedies were also spoken before being written down. Even Ralph Waldo Emerson developed his famous essays through public lectures. These examples illustrate how collaboration and conversation can shape and refine even the most profound works.
Improvement comes from feedback. This is true in many areas of society — from software to relationships. When you’re too close to an idea, it’s hard to see the full picture — you develop blindspots. While trusting your taste is important in the creative process, testing your taste is equally important. Instead of assuming what’s good and committing hours to writing about it, test it by talking about it.
The best comedians, like Chris Rock, are always testing ideas. He once said: “When I start a tour, it’s not like I start out in arenas. Before this last tour, I performed in this place in New Brunswick called the Stress Factory. I did about 40 or 50 shows getting ready for the tour.”
The Netflix special you see is the result of dozens, if not hundreds, of conversations. The jokes have been tested and refined many times. So when you sit down to watch the latest stand-up special, you don’t get the jokes that bombed. You get the crème de la crème.
I’m not a comedian, and my years as a professional lecturer are behind me. But as it turns out you don’t have to be either to test your ideas. One of my favorite ways to test my ideas is with my girlfriend and friends. If an idea surprises them or resonates, it’s probably good. But if they look bored or confused, I set it aside — maybe I communicated it poorly or the idea needs refinement.
TESTING YOUR IDEAS AT SCALE
Once an idea resonates with your immediate circle, it’s time to test it with readers online. The gift of the internet makes it easy to be in constant conversation with people around the world who can engage with and respond to your ideas. The internet is the perfect feedback loop.
I’ve been working in tech for the last 5 years. If there’s one thing I’ve learned is that great products are the result of a ton of feedback. The same is true for writing. Conversations with readers sharpen your ideas and free you from the curse of knowledge. When you publish your ideas online, the internet’s built-in feedback loop shines a light on your gaps, gives you insight into your readers’ needs, and helps you generate better ideas to write about.
The best way to test out half-baked (but still polished) ideas are text-based social platforms like Twitter, Threads, LinkedIn and email. My favorite, however, is asking questions directly to readers. When done right, the responses guide your thinking and lead you to discover ideas I wouldn’t have otherwise.
The sooner you can get readers to give you feedback, the sooner you’ll create remarkable, impactful, and memorable work.
4. Write in Public
THE FEAR OF PUTTING YOURSELF OUT THERE
You’ve spent months, if not years, thinking about a topic. You’ve captured your ideas, organized them, developed and tested them. You’ve blocked off your calendar to edit them and have spent hours over every sentence until there’s nothing left to change. The time to hit publish is finally here. You freeze. Doubt begins to occupy your every cell. Your imposter syndrome is at an all time high, but somehow, someway you find the courage to click publish.
You’re clueless about what’s next. Deep down, you want your work to spread like wildfire. Maybe you’ll get a book deal, or The New York Times will find your article and ask you to write for them. Actually, that’s not realistic. “Ok, maybe a few likes,” you think. Or at least a couple of kind replies. One text from a friend. You refresh the page, again and again, double, triple, quadruple-checking your inbox. Nothing. Your heart breaks. Your stomach ties up in knots. You feel invisible.
This section is all about overcoming that feeling of being invisible. Publishing is just the price you pay to get into the game. You still have to pay to stay in it and win. Here are the methods to spread your ideas, attract more eyeballs, and grow an audience that loves your work as much as you do.
MARKETING FOR PEOPLE WHO HATE MARKETING
Jesus of Nazareth invented viral marketing long before tech bros in Palo Alto ever touched a computer. The 12 disciples were the OG brand evangelists. Jesus turned 12 true fans into 2.4 billion followers, and he did this without paid ads, dance challenges, or viral hooks — just patience, value, and resonance. While creators today might not be able to walk on water or heal the blind, the principles of building a devoted audience remain the same.
Building an audience takes time. It’s a slow process, and that’s what makes having an audience so powerful. If building an audience was quick and easy, it wouldn’t be valuable. It’s crucial you don’t confuse having an audience with having attention. You can buy attention, but you can’t buy trust. Trust has to be earned.
Many social media influencers have attention — a lot of it — hundreds of thousands of followers, but that doesn’t mean they have an audience. An audience isn’t the number of people who know your name. It’s the number of people you can contact at any time without relying on social media platforms or unpredictable algorithms.
So, how do you build an audience?
The work begins with attracting people on public platforms or what I like to refer to as rented platforms — Twitter, Threads, Reddit. These platforms are governed by algorithms that divide their millions of users into tiny subcultures with shared interests — commonly known as “niches.”
These rented platforms are great in the sense that they provide you with free reach, but they’re horrible in creating an environment that allows you to make meaningful connections with your readers. Plus, they can kick you off the platform at any time, limit your reach, and since they own your data, you can’t download your followers and move them over to a different network.
“Building an audience on a public platform is like building a castle out of sand.” — Naval
One second, you have a nice, big number of followers to show your friends. Next, you’ve been kicked off your favorite platform with nothing to show for all your hard work.
Don’t let the big tech landlords control the relationship with your audience. If the president of the United States can get the boot, so can you.
Find attention on public platforms. Build your audience in private ones.
James Clear, author of the worldwide bestseller Atomic Habits, has an audience of over 3,000,000 readers who he can contact at any time. How did he do it? He grew his audience on the back of Google, Instagram, and Twitter and converted them into email subscribers. He found attention on public platforms and built relationships on a private one.
Unfortunately, you can’t launch a random blog or a no-name newsletter and expect people to magically find it. Your first task in building an audience is identifying the places on the internet where your readers like to hang out. You have two options:
Big Social Networks: Places like Twitter, Threads, and Reddit where millions of people can learn about niche topics or subscribe to specific sub-communities.
Small Forums: If you’re not down with massive networks, you can find intimate public spaces where like-minded people come together. This could be through industry-specific forums, Slack, or Discord. These platforms won’t give you the reach and scale of big social networks, but they’re a great way to find people who share your interests.
NOTE: Resist the temptation to build an audience on multiple platforms at once. You’ll get overwhelmed or worse, burn out. It’s ok to initially experiment with a few, but you should go all-in on one of them.
ADD VALUE (IN PUBLIC)
Platforms reward users who make the platform a better place. They reward good actors and punish the bad ones. If you want to attract the right audience, you need to be a good actor.
As Harry Dry, the founder of Marketing Examples wrote: “The best self-promoters aren’t self-promoters. They take the time to become a genuine member of each community. Share others’ content. Write detailed comments. Make friends.” Good actors are simply people who are dying to help.
Most people use people to grow on social media. My advice to you is use social media to grow on people. Audiences aren’t built on hustle, clickbait, or viral trends. They’re built on empathy. Focus on serving your target audience as best as you can and they’ll return the favor tenfold.
If you do this well enough (and for long enough), you will start attracting more and more attention, but that doesn’t mean you have an audience. Your next step is to make it easy for people to engage with your work more deeply. You need to get these eyeballs off the rented platform and onto your own, private digital home.
5. Build in Private
GETTING STARTED
Start with a personal website that is simple but distinct. I’ve built a number of personal sites, and after many iterations I landed on this simple, text-first layout. The best part? It costs me $5 a month to run. Not too shabby.
Remember: what matters most is writing and publishing.
With the rise of platforms like Substack and Beehiiv, you might be wondering: “Do you even need a website anymore?”
Yes.
Your website is your online resume, business card, store, portfolio, and whatever else you want to make it. It is a reflection of you. Platforms like Substack lack personality. And without personality, it’s harder to build trust.
If you want to get started with a blog-like newsletter platform like the ones above, go for it. Just make sure to save a few dollars for building a website as soon as you can.
Oh, and for the love of God, please get a custom domain. Mine cost me $3 after tax. If you aren’t willing to invest in yourself, why should anyone else?
START AN EMAIL NEWSLETTER
Every writer needs an email list.
Having people visit your website just isn’t enough. The goal is to turn as many passing visitors into email subscribers. If you’re posting on rented platforms without directing people to your owned platforms, you’re leaving cash, connections, and a plethora of opportunities on the table. Online relationships are no different than real-world relationships. They are built on consistency. If someone isn’t on your email list, they either have to seek you out directly, or you better pray to the algorithm gods they find you again.
I used to be part of the “email is dead” club. Luckily, I came to my senses. Email was here long before social media platforms, and will be here long after they’re gone. Tech companies know this. Why do you think you need an email to create an account? Email, to this day, is the best tool to communicate — one-to-one and at scale.
On Instagram, the average follower reach rate for brands with large followings is 12%. That means out of 100,000 followers, only 1,200 people will see their content. We can assume the follower reach is about the same for other rented platforms and a lot lower for smaller brands.
When I send a newsletter to my email list, I reach every single person on that list. I don’t have to worry about pleasing algorithms or chasing silly trends. That’s because when you send enough quality emails, you don’t just have an email list. You have a group of people who trust you, care about what you have to say, and have chosen to hear from you consistently and indefinitely.
6. The Craft of Writing
While good marketing is key in growing an audience, even the best marketing can’t make up for bad writing. Writing well is crucial for attracting eyes, building trust, and making sure your ideas not only spread but stick.
Unfortunately, the craft of writing is beyond the scope of this guide. However, I’ll leave you with some of the best books on writing I’ve ever read and a couple of articles I’ve written to help you become a better scribbler.
BOOKS ON WRITING
- On Writing by Stephen King
- Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
- Sense of Style by Steven Pinker
- The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White
- On Writing Well by William Zinsser
ARTICLES I’VE WRITTEN ON WRITING
Conclusion
There are many ways to get started writing online. Your system won’t look like mine — it shouldn’t. So think of this guide as a launchpad, not a set of rules you need to follow to a tee. My intention for the advice in this guide has been for it to be broad enough to be widely applicable, but specific enough to be practical.
Your next step depends on your experience.
If you’re a beginner who’s just starting out:
Build your system: Learn to write from abundance, test your ideas, and write in public. Don’t get caught in complexity until you’re doing those three things consistently. You don’t need fancy websites, expensive courses, or “perfect” note-taking systems. Don’t stress about your niche either. That’ll come with time and output.
Develop a writing routine: Set up a note-taking system so you can start capturing ideas and turn them into essays. I recommend you aim to publish weekly. To achieve that, you’ll likely want to set aside 30-60 minutes every day to get some writing done. Also, make sure you unplug, go for a walk, and give your mind time to wander. Creativity needs space to breathe.
Learn to see: If your ideas are boring, get a life. If you have a life and your ideas are still boring, you’re not paying attention. Writing isn’t some creative or intellectual pursuit separate from your life. Writing is the transcribing of your life.
Most importantly, take what resonates and leave what doesn’t. And write. It’s easy to spend your time learning about writing and not writing. Don’t forget what’s actually important: writing and publishing.
If you’re an intermediate writer with some pieces under your belt:
Stay consistent: Write a lot. Publish a lot. Put yourself on deadlines to make sure you stay in the process. Nourish your mind and heart with high-quality reading, deep conversations, travel, and silence.
Build your audience: Pick one social platform and promote your work. Learn the basics of marketing and copywriting. Have an email list. Collaborate with other writers to get exposure to their audience. Be a good actor.
Develop a niche: If you publish dozens of essays, two things will happen: (1) the topic you love will become evident, and (2) you’ll start to develop content-market fit — content your audience loves to consume and you love to create. Both of these will help you build authority, credibility, and expertise.
If you’re an advanced writer with a ton of published work and a massive audience:
Holla at me: I’d love to learn from you. But in case you haven’t …
Turn your words into cash: Start a business, grow your existing one, launch a paid newsletter, find a better job. Become the go-to person in your niche, field, or industry and start getting paid for your ideas.
The world we live in is a different world. Writing isn’t a path reserved for journalists and professional authors. Today, anybody can do it, including you.
All you have to do is write.
Oh, and hit publish.