I grew up watching the classic British comedies.

Blackadder

Black books

The IT Crowd

Fawlty Towers

etc.

And there’s a brilliant moment in season two of Blackadder that came to mind as I typed this edition of the Write Way:

You can google the clip if you wish. Go watch the whole of seasons 2-4, while you’re at it. It’s brilliant comedic writing.

But I remembered it because I’ve been going over the soon to be improved Write Way Course that you got as you signed up.

You may remember my old uni friend Kyle who had a perfect question to puncture pretentious presentations...

I studied Biochemistry, the first time round. And every time we practiced presentations, you’d have some young and innocent presenter spend twenty minutes talking about the amazing research they'd done…

…the cool techniques they used…

…the impressive results they got…

…how successful their experiments were…

…and so on.

Honestly, dear reader, eighty percent of the time it was a balloon of hot air. A balloon that Kyle would pop with one well-placed question:

“Uh…” would be the typical response.

Because nine times out of ten, the presenter had forgotten to tell the audience why they should care. They had forgotten the only thing that matters: the purpose.

More than that, most of the time?

They were so wrapped up in their approach, the nitty-gritty of the experiments and presentations and reports, that they’d plain forgotten what the whole point of it was. To cure some disease, to gain some understanding, to disprove some received wisdom…

Whatever it was they’d buried it under the fluff.

Those who remember that story in the Write Way Course will remember me talking about the “one big idea” you need for everything you write, because if you don’t know the point of your piece…

…how the heck do you expect to communicate it?

After all, the success or failure of any piece of writing is in whether it accomplishes its aim - and you can only assess that if you know what the aim is in the first place.

Yes, you need “one big idea” for your email, your book, your tweet, whatever you’re writing. We’ll look at that afresh next week.

But you also need “one big idea” behind your writing practice itself, behind your business, behind your email list etc.

You need to actually sit down and do some thinking.

Otherwise your writing practice is like Blackadder’s broken pencil.

Pointless.

Say it’s an email list.

Why are you building and mailing your list?

Is it to build 1,000 true fans? Is it to keep the lights on while you work on other things? Is it about getting rich? Is it about exposing your writing to more people? Is it about persuading people to change their mindset? Is it because Ben Settle does it? Is it because your friends or fellow authors all have email lists?

Which is it?

What is the point in your email list?

Asking questions like that two years ago made me realise I’d been doing the whole thing wrong. The Write Way back then was a confusing blend of content and commerce. After thinking it all through, I split out the newsletter - which exists for the point of building my authority and growing my list - and the email list - which exists for the point of deepening the relationship with my customers and selling them products that improve their lives.

Now, instead of scratching out a message with a broken pencil, I have two finely sharpened ones.

You should ask the same questions of your social media audience, your books, your writing as a whole.

Because until you fix your pencil, until you figure out your point, you’ll never succeed.

If you don’t know what your writing is for, you’ll never use it right. You’ll never achieve your goals

You’ll also waste a lot of time and be less effective.

Not to sound all woo-woo but people can sense a man (or woman) on a mission, and they can sure sense someone who waffles. They can tell if you don’t really have a goal or a purpose behind your building.

To put it in online-interweb-audience-building terms…

So many so-called digital writers, online marketing gurus, CAW-CAWs and the like - they all fall into this trap.

They want to build an audience for…

…reasons.

Maybe they saw people with big audiences making money (or pretending to) and decided they wanted that, or they like the ego-boost of having people listen to them, or they failed at real writing and didn’t know what else to do.

So they build a marketing machine with no mission.

Alas, that lasts for a time and then collapses because there’s no substance behind the style.

If you don’t have something to say, people won’t listen.

If you don’t have somewhere to go, people won’t follow.

You’ll end up like we’ve talked about before, captured by your audience and unable to create anything meaningful. All your writing will be like Blackadder’s broken pencil.

See WWN38 : Beware the CAW-CAW bird my son! and WWN39 : And shun, the furious bantersnatch for more.

But even those with more substance behind their style can forget this. Remember back in WWN55 : The Biggest Listbuilding Mistake Writers Make we talked about how many writers make the mistake of building an audience of writers…

…forgetting that they started building an audience to sell their book.

They forgot their one big idea behind their business (sell book x) and ended up building an asset that’s 80% focused somewhere else. Yes, they have an audience of ten-thousand, but only three-hundred of those are people who buy books.

They let their metaphorical pencil snap and just kept on trying to push through.

You need to keep focused.

You need to keep asking again and again.

What’s the point?!

It’s a question we all ask on bad days.

Why am I even writing? Why not just go take a nap? What’s the point in writing this email? Building my business? Writing at all? What’s the point of this email? What am I trying to say? Why?

But it’s a question we should be asking on good days too.

What’s the point?

More next week on how that applies to the world of the individual piece, but if you want some help and direct coaching on how to create a writing business that has a clearly defined point - earning $1,000 or more per client on a recurring revenue basis for a deliverable that takes a few hours a week so that you can free up time to write?

Join the waitlist for the Ghostletter Seminars. Wade and I will be running another season of those very soon, but I’m only keeping a waitlist in Carran’s cabin this time. If you want more details before anyone else, sign up for the waitlist here.

Meanwhile, may your pipe be round and full and your pencil sharp and unbroken,

James Carran, Craftsman Writer

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