The Simple Rules of a Profitable Writing Business (Most Writers Ignore Them)
Follow these rules, or keep spinning your wheels
Writing online for three years has taught me the must-follow rules of this business.
And I’m not talking about common things like staying consistent or giving value. It goes deeper than that.
In 2023, I had zero followers, zero income, and no clue how to succeed in writing online. Now? Thousands of people read my words each week.
Here’s what I learned the hard way.
Write for resonance, not likes
Content that gets likes feels good, but the reward only lasts for a moment.
Chasing likes is the same as trying to hit a moving target. You might land a shot but cannot rely on it consistently.
What you should aim for is resonance.
Resonance is when your content makes people feel something. It happens when people say, “Wow, this makes so much sense,” or “I’ve never thought about it like this before.”
Writing for resonance creates loyal brand fans who keep coming back and sharing your work.
You can improve and increase the resonance of your writing by using:
stories (personal or fictional)
personal opinions
controversy
analogies
The point isn’t to get likes. It’s to get a reaction.
Without this, your content will feel one-dimensional, boring, and uninspiring.
Content without research is a waste of time
Most readers aren’t looking for average ideas.
They want winners—big, proven, hard-hitting ideas that deliver results.
Yet, many creators jump into content without understanding what their audience actually struggles with.
The answers are already out there. Forums, discussion groups, and social media are goldmines of user-generated content. Pay attention to the topics people discuss, the questions they ask, and the problems they need solved.
Content that fixes a real problem gets traction. Content that doesn’t? It gets ignored.
Start with the problems. Then, create content that provides solutions.
It’s no different from building a product or service—if your audience doesn’t care, you can’t force them to pay attention.
Skip this step, and you’ll struggle to grow.
Selling is not optional
It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or an experienced writer. If you create but don’t sell, you’re like a farmer who refuses to take his crops to the market.
You cannot skip selling.
The problem is that selling feels wrong to some writers, especially introverts like me.
I hate putting myself out there, but I learned to sell without feeling weird about it after a while. It’s just part of the business. Now, every newsletter or blog post I write has a call to action.
What beginners do instead of selling is rely on pay-per-view models.
These are the least profitable ones. As a beginner, you won’t get many views anyway. But because selling is hard, they get stuck with these and miss out on the real revenue that selling digital products or services can generate for them.
Don’t get comfortable. If you want to make money, start creating your own products.
Your social accounts are disposable
It can happen at any time. Poof, and they’re gone.
I went through something similar with Medium. One day, I got 600 people to read my articles. Then, one day, only 10. I thought it would pass and kept writing there, but it didn’t. My reach got annihilated.
We’re using social media to rent space and post content, hoping to get likes, shares, and comments.
But the only thing social media is good for is getting attention.
The real goal is to get people to sign up for our newsletters.
As Nicolas Cole put it: "Once you've built and are running a digital business, you realize your newsletter is everything. The whole business."
That’s why social media cannot be the main focus of your content marketing. The only purpose of social media is to help build your newsletter.
You don’t own your social media accounts. Facebook, Instagram, or X can ban your accounts without telling you why. Focus on what you can control, and that’s your email newsletter.
Learning these rules took me years, but you don’t have to figure it out the hard way. My paid newsletter gives you the exact tools to write better, grow faster, and make money from your words—without the guesswork.
Here’s what you’ll get:
✅ Monthly content templates to help you write short-form content faster
✅ AI prompts that take the stress out of content creation
✅ Full access to every paywalled post and comment section
If you’re serious about growing as a writer, this is for you.