How to overcome the fear of publishing your content
The other day, I grabbed a coffee with an investor I admire in the New York tech ecosystem and she told me about her backlog of almost-finished blog posts. That night, at a happy hour, a founder told me about his folder of drafted Tweets, which he wasn’t sure he was ready to share.
And that got me thinking, why (after the hard part: writing) can we freeze up when we’re finally ready to hit publish?
The short answer is that sharing your personal thoughts and talking as a person online (versus talking as a business) is really hard. By sharing anything publicly, you’re letting yourself be vulnerable and opening yourself up to possible criticism, for better or worse. But I feel strongly that the rewards can outweigh the risks — depending on what you’re aiming to get out of it. We miss out on a lot of great insights from folks who are nervous to share them publicly.
As someone who writes and creates content for a living, I have to publish, or I’d probably be out of a job. So I end up having a lot of conversations with people, usually in the tech and venture capital community, about publishing. Namely, why is it so hard? And how do we overcome the fear of publishing? “Fear” being their most-used word.
These are a couple common hold-ups I often hear, and my thoughts on how to combat them.
“I don’t think my perspective would really add anything.”
I am a huge proponent of workshopping ideas online. If you’re not sure whether or not your perspective would further the conversation, ask the internet. Trying tweeting: “Would anyone be interested in my thoughts on [topic]? Thinking about writing about it.” See what you get back. If you’re active on Twitter, you quite literally already have an audience interested in hearing your perspective. By blogging, you’d be able to dive further into things that most interest you/them.
“I’m afraid of sounding stupid.”
Wherever you may be in your career, you’ve spent years developing some kind of special skill set or knowledge that’s set you up to talk about topics in your specific domain or wheelhouse. If you’re writing about something you know intimately, believe that you have all the necessary tools you need to talk from a place of experience. If you’re nervous that you might sound stupid, think about why you’re qualified to talk about the topic in the first place and use that as reassurance. On the flip side, just because you might not be the leading thought leader on a specific topic, that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to have an opinion on it.
“I’m not a very strong writer.”
I was completely spoiled in my last job before joining VC because, as a reporter, I had access to a ton of editors. The same isn’t always true when writing for a business or blogging for yourself. Whether you’re unsure of the “contents” of your content or the actual writing itself, tapping an editor can be incredibly helpful. Do you have a friend or colleague who’s a good writer? Ask him or her to take a look. Don’t be upset if they have edits or constructive feedback. A second (or third or fourth) set of eyes can only help you zoom back out if you find yourself too in the weeds. This feedback can also be the encouragement you need to convince yourself that your perspective is valuable and worth sharing.
“I get bad writer’s block.”
I can’t emphasize enough how helpful it is to try real-time writing. If you’re struck with inspiration, drop everything you’re doing, open a Google doc, and go. I personally find it impossible to sit down and write when my calendar tells me to. Write in your Notes app on your phone if you’re on the go. Try to figure out a writing schedule that works for you and if you do have to stop, commit to coming back to it later.
“I’m afraid of being vulnerable.”
I am no expert on content, but, alas, people are interested (maybe) in hearing my thoughts. It’s really hard to build up the confidence to publish because once it’s out there, it’s out there. That could mean harassment, haters, trolls, mean internet people, you name it. Unfortunately, they are inevitable and the best way to handle them is to accept that they might make an appearance. Your way to fight back is to stand behind what you’ve written.
“I don’t even know if it’s good.”
My absolute number one piece of advice on this whole subject is to write something and, if you’re not ready to publish just yet, come back to it later. I have waited a couple days or even a couple weeks to publish a post because I wanted to sit with the idea a little longer. I also have quite literally dozens of drafted Tweets I’m sitting on. If you need to, come back to it later and with fresh eyes and you’ll have a better sense of if it’s good or if it needs some more work.
What’d I miss? Share what you think is important in content and brand strategy in the comments or tweet at me.
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