Writing, Money

The Best Paid And Most Successful Writers Use the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon

Here is how you can also use it to improve your writing and increase your earnings

I recall the thrill of buying my first car rather vividly.

First, I went online and did an extensive search of the cars that could fit within my budget. I compared their appearances, weighed their pros and cons against each other, and settled down on the final two contenders.

I downloaded images of the final two in the same color so that it was not a determining factor. And then set up a poll, asking the people who know me well to choose which would be the better car for me.

At the time, I was a very active aunt and always took my niblings out on an adventure every other weekend. The Toyota Ipsum 240i won hands down over the Subaru Imprezza for its effective use of space.

I was ecstatic. It was a beautiful car, and I had not seen it anywhere before. My decision was made. I placed an order to have the car shipped and was given an estimated time of arrival of three weeks.

Fast forward to one week later and I was seeing my car everywhere!

Many times in the same color, and the exact same model! I was crestfallen. And now it was too late to change my mind.

Was this a mind trick? How come I had never noticed this car before?

Has this ever happened to you?

You decide you want something and all of a sudden, it starts manifesting everywhere?

Some say this is the Law of Attraction at work.

In the New Thought spiritual movement, the Law of Attraction is a pseudoscience based on the belief that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences into a person’s life.

It has a name! It is called the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon.

What is the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon?

I had not realized this thing had a name until I read this brilliant article by Evan Wildstein where he was reflecting about his writing journey 150,000 words later. You should give it a read! Thank you, Evan.

The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon is also known as frequency illusion or frequency bias.

According to Wikipedia, the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon is a psychological cognitive bias in which, after noticing something for the first time, there is a tendency to notice it more often, leading someone to believe that it has a high frequency of occurrence.

This occurs when increased awareness of something creates the illusion that it is appearing more often.

Put plainly, the frequency illusion is when “a concept or thing you just found out about suddenly seems to crop up everywhere”.

In my case, my car started to pop up everywhere.

But how does this relate to writing?

How can the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon help you as a writer?

According to the Medium algorithm, I have been a top writer in love, relationships, mental health, and psychology. My writing has reached over quarter of a million people, and counting.

I enjoy writing about mental health and psychology and life and happiness and the birds and trees and whatever tickles my fancy. However, writing here, I quickly realized I was not going to build an audience writing about anything as it crossed my mind.

People who had found success on the platform advised that it is best to niche down on 1–3 topics so I did that. And surprisingly, it eased my struggle with finding inspiration to write. I no longer had to try to find a story in everything that happened around me.

When I chose my main niche as love and relationships for this platform, I noticed that I paid more attention to people’s love stories. Positive and negative alike.

Every story I hear is like fodder for my next article.

After I rediscovered the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, I realized the best paid and most successful writers use it, too.

Abena Talks (one of my favorites) implies it in her article This Will Hit You Like a Ton of Bricks.

Tim Denning advises it when he says you should proactively read (or become a recycling bin)

Jenn Leach (also one of my favorites) shared how she made extra money joining a free Facebook group.

Groups of similar-minded people are always a good platform for the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon to come into play.

James Altucher strongly recommends it in his book Choose Yourself where he also taught me how to become an idea machine.

Why not use it to your advantage?

4 Steps Any Writer Can Follow Using the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon for Increased Success and Earnings

Here are 4 specific steps you can follow to use this phenomenon to your advantage.

1. Ideate what you want to write about

It can be anything. But just think of the idea. The headline.

Thinking about an entire story is overwhelming, its flow, its structure, accompanying image, or related quotes. That will keep you stuck with writer’s block.

Instead, think about just the headline and subtitle. The simple idea of what you want to write about.

And then step away from your writing. Allow the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon to bring you your content through your daily experiences.

2. Start a journal where you jot all your story ideas

You can use a physical journal, or you can do it electronically.

I had a physical journal where I would jot my ideas, but then as I filled it with more and more ideas, I realized that was not sustainable. To find an idea I wanted to flesh out, I had to flip through pages and sometimes still failed.

I instead created an Excel template that helps me with this. I love it because it is searchable. I can also make edits quite easily without making a mess.

If there is enough interest, I will create a shell of the template and update this article so that anyone who wants to can replicate it.

3. Read other related articles

More ideas will pop up as you read.

Take note of the stories that engulf you, and note the ones that bore you or cause your mind to wander. You want your story to be like the former. It should be captivating.

Plus you will identify the kind of article you do not want to write.

If you do not know where to find related articles, you can write the idea of your topic in Google and see what comes up. You can check Medium or other blogs for your keywords and see what comes up.

If you are writing more scholarly articles, you can use Library Search, A-Z databases, or a search engine like Google Scholar.

4. You are a writer. Write

“You are an author. Write.” — Matt Rudnitsky

That is your sole responsibility as a writer. So, remember this whenever you are held back by procrastination in the quest for perfection. It will save you emotional destruction. You are an author.

Write!

Use the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon to your advantage, and use everything that happens around you as fodder for your next piece. As I shared in a previous article, you will destroy yourself emotionally if you do not write.

So, write!

And now your thoughts…

Were you already aware of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon? How do you plan to use it to your advantage in your writing?

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

P.S.: First, you should get my posts in your inbox. Do that here! Second, to better experience Medium yourself, consider supporting me and thousands of other writers by signing up for a membership. It only costs $5 per month, and you have the chance to make money with your writing as well. When I started seriously writing here, I made $3500 in 7 months. By signing up with this link, you’ll support me directly with a portion of your fee, it won’t cost you more. If you do so, thank you a trillion times!