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I get at least one email a month from a bright-eyed young thing asking me how to be a writer. To be more precise, what these aspirants are asking isn’t how to get better at the craft of using words to tell stories, but how to convince the world to give them money and attention in exchange for their written output. It's a lot like asking me to kindly share a list of the 11 secret herbs and spices that KFC has relied on for decades. Here’s the unpopular advice I usually dispense:
Specialize
Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer recently hired someone to fill the position of ‘LeBron James Beat Reporter.’ No lie. This guy’s job is to exclusively report on all things LeBron. While that might sound nutty, it’s also inspiring. There are opportunities out there for specialists. Being an expert on a niche topic makes you both rare and valuable , especially in a time when we can increasingly use technology to customize the flow of information we receive and the platforms on which we engage according to our own idiosyncratic tastes.
The same advice that applies to startups (narrowly and specifically define your target market) applies to writers when it comes to subject matter. Get really, really good at writing about one thing, whether that’s budget travel in southeast Asia or paranormal fiction set at British boarding schools. Let your interests guide you to a niche and start staking your claim there.
Have opinions
It doesn’t matter how well you write if you don’t have anything interesting to say . Technical skills can be taught (or cleaned up by a copy editor), but voice can’t. It has to be discovered. You need to have a strong, clear voice to cut through the noise and get readers to pay attention. You need to have a point of view and no shyness about sharing it. You want people to feel something when they read your work, even if that something is vehement disagreement. Have the guts to have a position and put it out there.
Be disruptive
Believe it or not, a young Northwestern student used Twitter to get a job at The Atlantic. He applied his conversational contributions and savvy networking abilities to land the attention of an editor who eventually recruited him for an internship and then brought him on board full time. How many of his equally qualified peers got turned down for that same role because they followed the rules and simply submitted a resume and clippings to a generic email address when the call for intern applications went out? When it comes to getting the attention of those who can offer you a byline or a book deal, you have to choose between being a petitioner or a performer . It’s more empowering to focus on creating artistic value than it is to spend your time trying to build a persuasive case for yourself as a writer. Do something (blog, create a YouTube channel, participate in an event like The Moth) and then aggressively share that something with those you want to influence. I guarantee it will be more compelling than the most meticulously crafted resume. You as a person will always win out over you on paper .
Understand your ego
You can be a very successful writer without having a byline in The Economist or a novel on The New York Times bestseller list. If your goal is to use your facility with language to make a living, open your mind to possibilities outside the limelight. I once had a fascinating chat at a birthday party with a guy who wrote product descriptions for Nordstrom. His job was to apply his creative talents to describing this season’s footwear trends. Would he rather have been penning the next Lolita? Maybe, but he enjoyed the challenge of writing persuasively about espadrilles and it paid his bills. Similarly, I know writers who specialize in annual reports for not-for-profits and I have a friend who is paid very handsomely to author articles for commercial real estate trade publications. It’s all writing.
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