How This 15-Year-Old is Making Sense of Writing Online

I was always interested in reading and writing but little did I know that there can be so much to discover.

I knew nothing about writing online a year ago. “Well, what’s that?” I’d ask you. But now I think these topics keep my brain occupied almost all of the time.

What is online/digital writing? How it’s different from its so-called traditional counterpart? What are its pros and cons? …and a million more things.

Lately, I realised that if I have to leverage the knowledge I have I should make some sense of it all. And a small effort of that is this article.

Oh, I forgot to introduce myself

Hi, I’m Vritant and I’m 15 years old. I’m interested in a million different things and some of them are writing, making money, creator economy, life and spirituality, and philosophy. Keep pineapple pizza away from me. Just saying!

When did I first come to know about writing online?

Well, how am I supposed to know the exact date? But what I can say for sure is that it would have definitely been after September 2020. How? Because I created my Twitter account back then and I can say for sure that I was dumb as hell before that. I still consider making my account one of my best decisions so far—except on the days on which I overuse and regret it.

What is there to make sense of, Vritant?

I think writing online is a complex yet easily simplifiable concept apart from being a treasure trove of opportunities all in itself.

Let me first break down what I mean by writing online, as I’m not limiting it to only writing blogs only:

• writing blog posts (obviously!)

• writing threads on Twitter

• writing articles on LinkedIn and Medium

• self-publishing your eBook and selling it on Amazon or Gumroad

• writing and maintaining your newsletter

• ghostwriting or writing for clients on Upwork or Fiverr

• writing for other websites on demand

• writing posts on platforms like Patreon or BMC where you have your most loyal fans

As you can see only the sky is the limit.

This is the one tweet, by Nicolas Cole , that single-handedly made me enthusiastic about this concept and thenceforth I’m like “Voila! I found something new”:

I look at this tweet as the foundation of making sense of it all. Apart from conveying so much, I think it will also resonate with a large chunk of writers. That’s what makes this tweet so special—and important.

What I used to think was that the more platforms you’re on, the better. But that mindset has completely changed now.

That is why I’m on Instagram and LinkedIn even though I don’t take that many pictures and LinkedIn, well… that’s not a great fit for a 15-year-old, is it? But I’ll be active on LinkedIn once I turn 18 or so.

How I like to think of that as of now is that focus on two to three platforms that suits you the best and be consistent there. It’s not like one platform has more possibilities than the other. NO. It’s more like which platform you feel comfortable and least exhausting creating content on.

That's why now I’m only focused on Twitter and Medium cause I know adding too many platforms would create a mess and a ton of distraction. Nevertheless, you can also post the same content across platforms with slight modifications to make the algorithm happy like converting your LinkedIn articles into Twitter threads. That would be brilliant.

How I’d want myself to continue?

I don’t think making plans work for me. So I would not make one either. It’s just a rough sketch of how I would want myself to continue.

For me,

Long term plans <<< short term actions.

If it were to be the other case, I’d simply procrastinate. I can go as far as to say that I’d not even be writing this article!

So this is my present scenario:

• I post regularly on Twitter
• I write on Medium

As of now, I’ve no intention of making any money off it. I just want to hone my craft and polish my arguments. When the right time will come, I hope I’ll be able to do so!

As far as I can see now I only want to diverse to this extent:

• Create and manage a newsletter
• Bring my most loyal supporters to a platform like Patreon, etc.

I think more than this will do nothing but distract me. I would also like to add that since I don’t know a lot about cryptocurrency, I would not comment on that.

So what you can take from this:

This article has been all about me, I know. But I’d like to leave you with some points to ponder over as takeaway:

• Remember that making money is not a zero-sum game.
• Think long-term and avoid all the get-rich-quick traps.
• Choose a few platforms and start writing. There’s no need to build a website so that you can start writing. Utilize pre-existing platforms.
• Focus more on building community than obsessing over the number of followers. Don’t track vanity metrics, my friend.
• Start now. It’s never too late.
• Writing online is only beneficial if you’re genuinely interested in writing. Understand that it’s a long-term game and if you’re genuinely not interested in it you’re more likely to quit it in the middle.

Originally published on Medium. Republished here on Vocal Media with slight changes.