Many newcomers to Steem must be going through similar phases of adaptation to the new environment I had when I first arrived. I know that because I sometimes read their comments and posts. And one thing they have trouble with is... what to write about.
Before I came to Steem I had a writing habit of one post a week. That seemed and probably was ok, since blogging was not the main activity I was doing online.
But once here -- and back then Steem and the entire ecosystem was more content creation oriented than it is today -- I felt I needed to improve my writing skills.
While I knew I would unlikely become an awarded creative author -- my high-school literature teacher made it clear for me -- I do have some skills and natural inclinations I can improve on.
One of them is that I have a tech background, so I understand tech talk. Another is that I probably have an above average observation spirit.
I'm pretty sure sometimes my posts feel a little techy for a regular person, and I rarely try to make them more accessible, because they don't represent me.
Although I can and did that occasionally. I was teaching for a living once and I also acquired other skills in time, which can help.
My vacation posts are not techy hopefully. :)
So, why these paragraphs about myself?
Because that's what you have to do as well, when you start writing.
1. Choose a niche and style you are comfortable writing in
Maybe add a little variation, like I do with the vacation posts. Others do that with lifestyle posts.
2. Choose a writing rhythm and stick with it
If you don't have experience writing, go for daily posts. If you are already an accomplished writer, you know what you want, you don't need my advice.
Writing daily creates the premises for consistent improvement over time, but probably no significant change from one post to the next.
It is the best course of action for people patient enough to wait for the long term benefits. Not the best strategy for impatient inexperienced content producers, because they'll give up easily after not seeing immediate results.
There is one more reason why one should choose writing daily, a reason that is specific to Steem. The payout window is set to 7 days, which means that a post will only be rewarded directly from the reward pool during the first 7 days after being published. That often tips the balance in favor of regular content, compared to evergreen one.
3. Research
The problem new content producers feel most acutely is they don't know what to write about.
The problem is rarely about writing. The problem is about research.
Once you have a topic to write about and a few general ideas, writing comes easy, or at least easier.
But if you don't know what to write about and you stare at the blank screen, that seems like a huge problem, especially if you have a set time in which you should complete the post. I've experienced a few of those moments too over time, and I can't say you can completely eliminate them, but it goes much easier with practice.
So, how can research help you with writing?
- it offers you topics to write about for now and future
- it brings you different perspectives and other stories you can relate to and / or link in your post
How to do the research?
Now, that's too vague. It depends on what you are researching for, your niche, what type of post you want to write (how long, how deep), etc.
I write a lot about Steem. So I read many Steem-related posts. I also read blockchain/cryptocurrency or other relevant articles.
Although I read books in physical form, I haven't read one about crypto or blockchain yet. That still helps with your overall knowledge and your capacity to express yourself more easily (especially if you are not a native English speaker).
4. Writing
If I have a great idea (usually through research, but sometimes it just pops in my mind and do research based on it), I start writing the post as soon as I finish researching for it, to not lose the train of thoughts.
Otherwise, I at least make a draft with the title and a few key points, so I can refer to it later.
Writing in the morning seemed to be the best time for me, as it is probably for any activity which requires some sort of brain focus. Although you can't always write when you want. Easy posts are ok to write at any time of the day I guess.
Don't write long paragraphs! Maybe unlike physical books, where it's permitted, on a computer screen, even more on a phone screen, a long paragraph will kill attention for your post, because it's much harder for the reader to keep the line. If it's long, split it!
Ah, one more thing! Don't try to make all your posts "hard", "super-quality stuff", or the vice-versa - all easy posts. Try to combine them!
Don't get your readers bored to death with one style, or thinking you can't do anything better than easy posts (you know how they are called...).
5. Proofreading, Editing and Publishing
Read your post before you publish it! Always!
You'd be surprised how many mistakes sneak in, even if you are a native speaker. And I'm not talking about typos or small grammatical mistakes. I'm talking about phrase logic. Like in some cases, when you start a phrase one way, stop writing, then, without reading what you have written previously, continue it in a different logic, and they don't sense when put together.
Does your post need a better organization into sections (maybe subsections)?
Should you have used a list when you used an enumeration?
Do you need to exemplify something with a photo or more?
Have you chosen the right tags?
Do you need additional (advanced) options set before posting?
You can do all that in this phase, before publishing.
On my blog I use a minimal approach, not necessarily the best one. I only add a photo or more if they are relevant to the topic, not because posts with photos look better and attract more attention.
That way, I accomplish two things in my opinion:
- when I add a photo, it really means something in the context of the post
- if I don't add a photo, the text should be the focus (and I try not to keep it too long, unlike today's post, which is very long for my standards here)
In a long post like mine from today, you can and should use photos and sections to break up the text.
6. Engage with people who comment on your posts!
Even if engagement on posts has dropped significantly after HF21, this is common sense, to respond to someone who says something to add value to your post or simply to congratulate you for a great write-up. Maybe this is more necessary now than before HF21, when engagement was better incentivized.
Final Words
If you don't have experience as a content creator, the best way is to follow a step-by-step process (like this one or another you prefer). In time, you will get to a level where you will refine your own style and writing process.
Until then... Steem On!