Borrowed Wisdom

This week: Write blog posts that get read by millions

You can publish 30+ articles a week that millions of people read.

Sam Parr had a problem. He wasn't a great writer when he launched The Hustle.

His personal blog would get a few thousand readers at best. But he needed traffic, and lots of it. So he built a system.

This system helped The Hustle produce thousands of articles read by millions. They raised $500,000 in funding and became one of America's fastest-growing media companies.

With 3 writers, they were able to create a streamlined content process that anyone can copy.

For The Hustle, this process pumped out 10 articles a day. With 30% going viral.

Sam doesn't guess what to write. He combines what's already popular with his own spin. Quora for trending questions. Reddit comment sections for golden nuggets. Medium for what the community craves. CrowdTangle to see what's about to explode on Facebook.

The Hustle builds on what's already working. The only difference is they make it worth reading.

For example, someone wrote about living off Soylent for a few days. The Hustle wrote an article about living on Soylent for 30 days.

Your headlines will help dictate the article and decide 90% of your success.

He found an interview with Wish.com's founder. Original headline: "The Founder of Wish Explains How He Built His Amazon Competitor." Boring.

Sam's angle? "$3 Billion in Revenue by Year 3: How Wish.com Beat Amazon."

Your writing isn't about perfect grammar. Sam's rule is to be bold and come at your keyboard with confidence.

Most people suck at writing because they're scared. "Will people like my article?" That's loser talk.

His process destroys perfectionism. Dump everything in a first draft; it'll be terrible, and that's fine. Walk away.

Let it incubate. Good ideas come from moving around, not from sitting at your desk.

Your next step needs to be ruthless editing. Delete the first 10% (intros usually suck). Then cut another 35%.

Make the first sentence punch readers in the face.

The goal of the first sentence? Get them to read the second sentence. The goal of the second sentence? Get them to read the third. Let the readers fall down a slippery slope.

Make sure sentences are under 25 words and paragraphs are no more than 5 sentences.

Kill every adverb. Stephen King said it best: "Adverbs pave the way to hell."

Write at a 7th grade level. You can use the Hemingway App if you can't figure it out.

And length? Either 500 words or less, or 2,000+ words. Nothing in between.

Distribution will beat creation every time. You can write the best article in the world. But if nobody sees it, you failed.

Sam's social/sharing hierarchy is simple. Email dominates, Facebook is second, Reddit and Hacker News are third.

Your goal is simple.

Find what's already popular. Put a unique spin on it. Craft an emotional headline. Write boldly. Cut mercilessly. Distribute aggressively.

Most content bloggers would've blown their time trying to be original. While The Hustle gets millions of readers by being strategic.

To-Go Bites

1. Edit ruthlessly

2. Kill all adverbs

3. Write in first person

4. Be bold, not perfect

5. Create emotional reactions

6. Email dominates distribution

7. Headlines are 90% of success

8. Write in the slippery slope format

9. Either 500 words or less, OR 2,000+ words

10. The first sentence should punch readers in the face

Worth The Open

Favorite content from surfing the web this week

1. Making money the boring way

2. Alex Hormozi’s $500k gym HQ

3. Career advice from Marc Andreessen

4. If you know a recent college grad looking for a job

Thanks for reading

— Cam