How I Wrote 501 Articles After Less than One Year of Content Writing

…or here’s how I wrote over 600,000 words without running out of ideas

In just shy of a single year on Medium, I’ve written 501 articles (including this one). Not all of those were a hit. A few did very well. Many earn nothing. But I’ve added a significant income stream to my indie publishing business, as well as grown my reader’s list substantially.

What I did wasn’t magic.

Some writers have written a lot more than me. Most, a lot less.

Here, I’ll share my process for prolific content creation. Maybe it will help grow your publishing business in a more productive way. We’re all tiny media companies. As creators, if we want to promote our work, we’ve got to tell the others.

Content creation is a great way to spread your message, but if you don’t have a steady stream of ideas, daily writing can get really tough — fast.

With less content come fewer customers. No one wants fewer customers. If you don’t have a way to create a steady stream of content on a regular basis (whatever steady means to you. It doesn’t have to be 500+ articles a year), you won’t keep the momentum going.

Your readership will drop like a hot beer on a hot day.

I don’t remember writing 500 articles. I wrote them one at a time. The next day I wrote a few more. There was never a thermometer on the wall, with some huge goal to make me feel bad about myself. No grand plan to hit a certain landmark by the end of the year. I knew the process would take care of the output for me.

I write as a professional. I write every day. No matter what.

Many days I don’t want to write. I don’t want to write now, but I choose to be a professional, so what I want doesn’t matter. I put on my cape and start typing. The lazy version of me will still be there, on the couch, when the professional in me returns from a day’s work.

Hundreds of thousands of words later, this process works well for me. I’ve got tens of millions of words under my belt. I’ve published over a dozen books and thousands of articles (under another pseudonym) in my lifetime — years before Medium existed.

The big secret is daily, cumulative practice.

I now run an international publishing business, with customers in over 67 countries. All the happened, not by envisioning some giant goal, but through cumulative, daily, thoughtful, productive writing.

How to ensure you’ll never run out of writing ideas

Content writing is a different animal than, say a novel or non-fiction book. When we create content, there’s a secondary purpose to the work. In my case, I use the content to help build a tribe on a platform I own and control.

When I write articles, it’s all business.

I don’t want to waste one second chair-spinning and navel-gazing. I come to the keyboard (or phone) ready to write. I spend the early morning planning in my mind, and once I get a chance to type, the writing comes fast.

I didn’t used to write this way.

I’d open a document, stare at my thumb and think, “Damn. Now what?”

The old way was terribly unproductive. I took me a couple hours to write a single article. Now I can bang-out an idea in twenty minutes. Only because I did all the work in my mind, ahead of the writing session.

Now, I have no time for lack of preparation. I keep an ongoing list of content ideas in my phone. I also ensure I’ve got a steady stream of new ideas dumping into my skull at all times.

I listen to podcasts and audio books.

I watch educational and inspiring YouTube videos (not junk stuff) religiously, every night. Late into the night.

I read like a maniac.

As all this content comes in, I’ll have various a-ha moments throughout the day. Sometimes I’m driving, walking, or showering. You can’t control when the ideas strike. But you can control if you keep them or let them fly.

I collect every good idea that comes my way. The idea capture device is key to the process. Every content creator should have an idea capture device (be it your phone, digital recorder, notebook, or carrier pigeon).

I don’t curate the ideas until I prepare to write for the day.

As my coffee brews, I open my phone and start scrolling through the idea capture list. Most of the ideas aren’t great a few days after they come to me. This is fine. My morning time is used for the idea-curation process. I have to wake-up a little first before I can write.

I don’t sleep as much as I should. I know better. But I still operate on six-seven hours of sleep. This needs to change, but we’ll talk about that another day.

I find topics that resonate with me, fixate on them a few minutes, so I don’t forget, and I allow my brain to start mentally writing for me, until I’m ready to type the mental article in my head.

Is the process perfect? Nope. Some days are harder than others.

But this way I choose only to write about the topics that motivate me. I don’t have to come up with some ho-hum piece of space-filler content at the last minute (as many writers do).

I write every day

Instead of vomit-writing ten articles in a sitting, then taking a week off — I write up to three articles per day. Typically, two at a minimum. Some are scheduled for later. Some, I publish now.

If I were a vomit-writer, I’d have burnt-out months ago.

I’m the turtle. I like to do the same thing every day. I plod along. I get the words written. Then I close the computer (or phone) and do something else. I go through the rest of my day capturing more ideas in collection, all to be curated tomorrow.

Is this a lot of work? Yep. But so is digging holes. I have no interest in digging holes anymore.

I believe it’s important to choose a single platform where you future tribe hangs-out, then dominate that platform. I spend zero time on Facespace and maybe ten minutes a week on the Tweeeeter.

My marketing and engagement time is spent here [index finger presses desk]. My people are here.

If I wrote a little over here and a little over there, I’d have a whole lot of writing that went nowhere. Someday I’ll compile all this writing and stick on my own site for safe-keeping, but I don’t even keep a blog. There’s no reason to. All the eyeballs are here.

Focus is important. Choosing one platform is also more-productive.

Yes, you can always re-purpose your content later (and I will), but that’s for playtime, not serious time. If you want to create a real body of work, you’ve got to dominate one platform at a time. Otherwise you’ll flame-out. I’ve done it. And it didn’t feel good.

The inch-wide, mile-deep content strategy

I serve writers and creators who want to make stuff that sells and sell more of the stuff they make. I don’t serve cake-bakers. I don’t serve wedding planners. I don’t give job interview advice to millennials. I don’t know a thing about Java or Python. I’m the last person who should give relationship advice.

What I can do is write all day about this stuff I care about — more valuable stuff to serve my people. My content was never meant for anyone else. In fact, I hope my content dissuades people who aren’t in my tribe. This keeps me from weeding them out later.

I recommend you do the same.

We can’t be everything to everyone. We’ve got to be someone to just a tiny slice of the population. We get specific. We choose an inch-wide niche so we can dominate it (in our own way, not some macho, bruiser way if that’s not your thing), and we go a mile-deep with our content.

Every day is a new opportunity to dig a little deeper.

“But I don’t know what to write about!”

OK.

I’m going to get back to work while you keep spinning your chair.

I can’t imagine what that feels like. I’ve always got too much to write about. But the only way I feel this endless well of content, is through my up-front work with idea capture. If I didn’t have 100 content ideas in my pocket, I’d be chair-spinning and nail-biting too.

The niche helps me eliminate the noise.

The niche makes the writing decisions for me.

The niche makes me more productive.

Sure, I can write about the time my dog pooped in the living room, or that time I was robbed by gunpoint, for my Halloween candy, in high school. But I don’t have room for those stories in my niche. I don’t have to burden myself with the extra bandwidth of over-choice.

But the big magic is where all this content-writing leads. I use the content to build my own tribe, not the platform someone else owns.

… and if you want to build your professional tribe now, you’ll have a rabid audience as you launch your future work. This should be a list you own (instead of relying on social media or some other big-business platform). Tap the link below. Enroll in my Tribe 1K indie email masterclass. I’ll show you how to get your first 1,000 subscribers (and your next 1,000) without spending one hot nickel on ads.

We’re waiting for you.

Enroll in my Free Email Masterclass. Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers

August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. As a self-appointed guardian of writers and creators, August teaches indies how to make work that sells and how to sell more of that work once it’s created. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing, August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.