WRITING
The 3 Insights Giving Your Stories Strong Wings
Abundance mindset, honest connection, and experimenting are flight enhancers towards success
We love our own stories. They’re like babies. We have just birthed them, love them to bits, and then… nothing happens. No one reads them. No one cares.
Writers do not write for themselves. They want an audience. And you and I are no different. Stories are for impact. Stories are for telling and hearing. And stories can create their own wings.
Look at viral stories. They fly.
Here are some insights into what I have done to give my stories strong wings.
Building Your Audience
An audience is a bit like an onion. You and your stories are in the center. The layer closest to you are your hardcore fans. Further from the core are the loose layers. These readers drift in for one story or other and drift out never to be heard of again.
My audience is like an aura to me. Energetic layers, belonging to my storytelling self. And I honestly connect to every single person in there. I reach out actively to my networks and tell the stories that matter to their lives. In my own unique storytelling voice.
Social media have made life for storytellers easier than ever. Building your audience is a bit of a challenge in the beginning. But the further you come, the more the algorithms do the work for you.
My relationship with Medium started only last year. My audience has a good foundation of 3.5K followers now. And I do have loyal fans who reach out to me often and add their wisdom to my stories. I treasure them.
For me, rational branding isn’t required. I have promised myself to be all of me, so I write about everything that interests me. It does mean that some people don’t stay in my audience for long, though.
My audience is like an aura for me. Energetic layers, belonging to my storytelling self.
One man connected to me saying: you know so much about the new economy and money. But I’m not interested in your emotional stuff and poetry. How can I follow you without having to read it all?
My answer was: Sadly, you can’t search my Medium profile by category. On LinkedIn, I share more rational stories. But also there, I’m all of me and share poetry, wisdom, and knowledge. I follow my own path. Like it. Or not.
But of course, the man has a point. He wants to read my stories but not all. So I keep on hoping that Medium will give us profiles like on YouTube. So we can make categories. I really like the way Charles Eisenstein has set up his channel by topic. Earlier work can be easily accessed like this.
I’m afraid Medium is going the other way, though. No topics to scroll. No top writers anymore. It’s the scarcity mindset speaking. Make a story scarce and it’ll become more valuable. I hope they will see in the future that the abundance mindset is the better way to go. Give stories a longer lifespan and they will build value upon value upon value like a cascading waterfall.
We can deal with it. My next step is to structure my most important stories on my own website with tags. I just have to find the most efficient way still. And I’ve just recorded my first YouTube film and I’m making the categories. My readers request I do my teachings via YouTube. So I do my best to make it as professional as I can with as little effort. I want to have time connecting to my family and taking long walks in nature as well!
Being a writer is a journey. You take the next step every day.
Takeaway
- Tell stories that matter to the lives of your audience
- Make the synergy you create with your stories, the build-up of value, work for your goals
- Structure your stories on different platforms, so the algorithms can find your work. Dr Mehmet Yildiz pointed me to Linktree and I must say, it’s a great way to structure my social media presence
“There’s no glimpse of the light without walking the path. You can’t get it from anyone else, nor can you give it to anyone. Just take whatever steps seem easiest for you, and as you take a few steps it will be easier for you to take a few more.” — Peace Pilgrim.
Honest Connection
The biggest secret to success as a writer in my opinion is honest connection. My main platforms are Medium and LinkedIn. I reach out actively. I read many stories by others and often add comments.
If I don’t like the story, I often stay silent. But especially with my fans, I do criticize sometimes. Not harshly. But explaining. The other day, one of the writers I admire (and he admires me) used a very cliche example of an innovative company: Apple.
But Apple is greenwashing. They claim to be innovative but it’s a manipulative kind of innovation that’s killing this world. Their latest trick in the book is to lure their customers to engrave their names on their phones for free to kill the resell market.
When I said something about it to my friend, he reflected and gave me a long answer. We chatted a bit and are still huge fans of each other’s work.
Honest connections are all. They’ll build our success.
Takeaway
- Social media are meant to be social. Make it a dialogue, no monologue
- Read, comment, and give before you even think about receiving
- Talk online like you would do offline. Be friends. Build honest relationships. Cultivate a conversational writing style
Experimenting
Experimenting is fun and it’s key to success. Some you win, some you lose. And in the end, if you stick to your values and your unique writing voice, you will have made an impact on whatever it is you’re passionate about.
The new Medium profile makes me experiment again. I was a top writer in many categories. From Innovation to Climate Change. From Future to Art and Poetry. But the categories are no more. So how do I stand out now and make my relevant stories last longer?
If Medium doesn’t give me any headway, I’ll create opportunities with Google.
I make my SEO as strong as I can. I create relevant titles with some creativity and SEO words. I always fill in the SEO settings of my story (they can be found behind the three dots … ). One of my old stories became successful because it took off by its Google search word: connect to nature.
And I experimented with many social media platforms before I settled for what works for me and my kind of writing. I now spend my time mainly with Medium and LinkedIn to enhance my visibility. Vocal and CoFoudersTown are my new experiments.
On LinkedIn I have many honest connections, my tribe grows with 4–5 people every day. They reach out and I welcome them warmly. And new freelance opportunities come to me via LinkedIn as well. And I share lines that inspire me in stories from others via Twitter.
Takeaway
- Google SEO is where it all comes together. Feed it!
- In Blue Economy we often say: don’t be a panda. Be a cockroach
- Adapt to the ever-changing circumstances and you’ll survive and thrive
Happy writing! Happy experimenting!
If you want to connect, you can find me in my food forest. Or via LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, ManyStories, Quora, Patreon, and my website.
© Désirée Driesenaar
