Five Ways I Intend to Create More Content in 2022
Once upon a time, I created a lot of content. At least, it was a lot for me. Life got busy and I focused on other things. Now, I’m aiming to create content once again. In this article, I’ll communicate five ways that I want to create content in 2022. Then, I’ll cover the questions that I have and may explore. My hope is that you’ll find this article helpful, and perhaps give you ideas as well.
My Five Approaches for Creating Content
There are plenty of opportunities to create and distribute content today. There are trade-offs with the different approaches and available options. The fact is, I’m one person with the same 24 hours a day / 7 days a week as anyone else. With the time I have, I want to work efficiently towards my goals. Focus can improve efficiency. So, I’ve decided to focus on the five methods I’ve listed in this section.
Read a Book for 30 Minutes Each Day
Yes. I intend to create more content by consuming more content. Not just any content though. I want to focus on reading books for 30 minutes each day. I believe books provide benefits that are not as prevalent in other mediums. Specifically, I think books provide:
Higher Signal-to-Noise Ratio: This means that the content I’m consuming is in line with my goals. Books focus on a subject and can provide a level of depth that is often lacking with other types of content. This allows deeper exploration of a topic.
Deeper Exploration of a Topic: Books often cover a subject with analogies, metaphors, and similes that reinforce an idea. These writing tools can lead to a deeper understanding of a subject. These tools can also get you to think in ways you may not have thought of before. In my opinion this helps one understand a subject better. Books also expose you to other writing styles.
Exposure to Other Writing Styles: Reading books exposes you to other writing styles. This can influence your own writing and possibly improve it. My hope is that I can improve as a writer by improving my style. I also hope to learn about other topics.
Introduction to Other Topics: Reading books can introduce you to topics that you’re not familiar with. For example, I recently read “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert M. Pirsig. Personally, I know nothing about motorcycles. As of the time of writing, I’ve never ridden one. This book forced me outside of my comfort zones and provided a different perspective on topics that are relevant to my expertise (software engineering).
By experiencing these four benefits of reading books, I believe I’ll become a better writer. I believe this will surface in my articles, and my microblogs as well.
Microblog Daily
I consider a microblog a post that’s less than 500 words. There isn’t a formal definition that I’m aware of. However, anything longer likely requires structure including introductions, outlines, setup, and sections. Regardless, I want to post on Twitter once a day. Except for Sundays. I won’t post anything on Sundays. When I do make these posts, I want them to be more than just status updates or quick thoughts. I want to include the following in my posts:
- Statistics when applicable
- Images that are code snippets, screenshots, charts, or graphs.
- Threads for longer microblogs
- Emojis to be more engaging
- Short bulleted lists
- Hashtags like the #publicMaker hashtag I intend to use
If this interests you, I encourage you to follow me @chadcampbell. Beyond microblogging each day, I want to publish a longer article once a week.
Publish an Article Weekly
I want to post an article on Medium each week in 2022. For me, this is a taller order than it sounds. The reason why is because of the type of content I intend to write. As an independent software engineer / solopreneur, my content will fit into one of two general buckets:
- Technical: address topics experienced by other software engineers and developers
- Business: tackle challenges other freelancers, solopreneurs, and independent creators experience.
Technical writing typically takes longer due to the depth and objective nature of it. As a general rule, I aim for at least 1,000 words in an article. Medium recommends at least 1,500 words. This means, in a work week I need to write at least 200–300 words per day. My goal isn’t just words though. I want to create valuable content. I question if I can write 200–300 quality words per day with my other responsibilities. I believe quality writing can separate my content from the ~2.5 billion other blog posts that are published each year based on Internet Live Stats. For that reason, I encourage you to follow me here on Medium to see how it goes. I think a great way to get ideas for quality content is to “feel the pain”. I intend to expose myself to this pain by trying to deliver a product every three months.
Deliver a New Product Quarterly
A critical part of being an independent creator is keeping a close eye on the bottom line. My avenue to grow revenue as a solopreneur comes from small, focused products. Sometimes products work and sometimes they don’t. To find success, I intend to cast a wide net of “wee wagers”. Even if a wee wager falls short, it should still give me ideas for a) microblogs b) articles and c) other products. I think of this process as a content flywheel that looks like this:
When I work on a product, I attempt to recognize the challenges, document the solution, and share it. This isn’t a revolutionary idea. My goal isn’t to regurgitate this idea though. My goal is to provide unique content with my own voice. The reality is, some folks won’t like what I create. They may disagree with what I write or simply not like my style. That’s part of the creative process. I do believe there are folks that do like my style and content though. Those individuals may be interested in my newsletter.
Start a Newsletter
Finally, I intend to start a newsletter. I believe a newsletter will help me connect beyond my articles and microblogs. In the past, I relied on specific social media platforms. However, I want to use a platform agnostic approach. I want to ensure when the next fabulous platform emerges, I can use it. At the same time, I want to ensure that I stay connected with folks like you. To address this goal, I’m starting a newsletter.
To sign up for my newsletter, please visit https://www.ecofic.com/learning/subscribe.
This newsletter will inform you as content I write becomes available. This newsletter is just one of the five ways I intend to create more content in 2022. I’ll be interested to see if these five things are successful. It’s going to be a lot of work. So, I hope I can live up to my own goals. At the same time, I still have some lingering questions.
Questions
I don’t have all of the answers. In fact, I have a lot of concerns and questions. This list of questions and concerns will likely change over the year. Currently, the following questions are on my mind:
Can I grow my influence using the five methods discussed in this article?
There are a lot of content creators. Maybe I’m just another ship in a crowded sea? It doesn’t matter though. I enjoy technical writing. While I’d like to be popular, I’d like to be popular for the right reasons. For me, the right reasons include adding useful content. Let’s see if my writing does that.
Should I create videos and/or live streams?
Everyone will likely say “yes” to this. Believe me, I would like to create videos and live streams. Creating videos the way I want to takes a lot of effort. Scripting, recording, editing, it all takes time. For me to do this, I would need to figure out a way to do it quicker. This is perhaps an experiment during this year. I don’t know yet though.
How should I report progress?
This is a tough one for me. I believe transparency creates trust. I think that independent creators have to earn trust. I believe this trust can be earned by reporting progress in line with goals. In regards to goals for 2022, I think that progress can be shared as:
- Summary of social media numbers
- Relative numbers (i.e. percentages)
- Income and expense numbers
In relation to each other, these options go from least transparent to most transparent. If I ask the question, “should I share a, b, or c?”, I’d guess the majority would want the most transparent option (answer “c”). After all, the “cool kids” seem to publish their income/expense reports. The challenge with this is, I see trolls accusing them of bragging. I can’t speak for the “cool kids”, but I can say that my goal isn’t to brag. My goal is to educate and learn together.
The “cool kids” likely have honest intentions. The extreme transparency they use draws extra attention. If they’re comfortable with that, I’m happy for them. Personally, I would prefer to draw the right kind of attention. Quality over quantity. Trolls can be a distraction that I personally don’t want. With this in mind, I’m considering something in-between the two worlds.
Income and expense numbers can be useful information. At the same time, I view money as a private subject. I have zero desire to have the annoyance of some trolls. For this reason, and others, I’m leaning towards publishing “a” and “b”. The number in “c” could be made available as a “premium” subscriber offering later. I’m unsure which direction I’ll go with yet though. If you have ideas for other ways to report progress, please share them in the comments below.
Can I actually deliver one product each quarter?
I’m skeptical that I can reach this goal. Quality products go through a refinement phase. For me, I need to get done what I can, leave it, and revisit it later. If I’m happy with it when I revisit it, then I know it’s time to release. Oftentimes though, I think of adjustments and tweaks to enhance a product after I think I’m done. This takes time.
If I were to guess, I would guess that my product ambitions will get dialed back to one product every 6 months. We’ll see how it goes though.
These are the questions I have as of the start of 2022. I’m confident more will rise up as I create content using the five ways mentioned in this article. If you found this article interesting, or helpful, please clap 👏 for this article. This will help others discover this article. Have a great 2022 🥳!