Writing for the Blockchain Industry? Here’s a Secret Formula!

For over a week I have been thinking, what is the one topic related to blockchain that I can write about. As a content writer by profession and with some recent work in this sector, it should not be a tough task. That’s what I told myself.

Spoiler alert (don’t worry, it’s not about Avengers Infinity War as much as I want it to be)- it’s just that writing a blog on blockchain is harder than what appears.

In fact, writing a blog on any topic whatsoever is like trying to cook a delicious meal without knowing what it’s going to be. So, you cannot arrange the ingredients, you cannot start preparing it until you think about what to cook and there’s no right or wrong; what matters is the final dish.

Thank God, I am not a cook or else the people would have starved for a week.

So, here’s my final dish- a blog on the what and how of writing in the blockchain and crypto sector.

This sector is still emerging, as it’s little under a decade old. However, it has taken over the globe by storm. And that’s precisely why every professional- millennial or baby boomer is interested in this technology. This tribe of inquisitive minds includes writers as well.

Magazines, publications, blogs, web pages, and news portals- you can find just so many of these talking about blockchain that it can be difficult to follow them all. Global giants like EY, KPMG and Deloitte are also publishing reports and research papers about this revolution.

Lists are being compiled of the top contributors in the writing space. The ones who can genuinely influence the market sentiment and add value by their words. So, what is it that they did differently?

I think it’s similar to every great thing that humankind has ever accomplished. The recipe the same old-

1. Take risk

2. Start early

3. Don’t give up

Like John Keating said in the Dead Poets Society-

“you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, ‘Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.’ Don’t be resigned to that. Break out!”

While it applies to every writer in this world, it particularly makes sense for something as revolutionary as blockchain.

Agreed, this is a young technology and hence it can be tough to know what and how to write. However, this comes later.

The real problem is that not enough people are willing to give it the time that it requires to be understood. Not everyone who understands it is ready to take the risk. And lastly, the ones who do make out time and are risk-ready, find it tough to know the mysterious ways in which this sector functions.

So, after trying hard not to give up, I think certain things have been unraveled about the curious case of blockchain communication.

Let’s see if we can categorize the type of writing-

• The one with news

With a million possible use cases, blockchain is being used across multiple sectors globally. When such efforts, hours and ideas are put into something, there are indeed some newsworthy results.

To top it all, there are global leaders and governments making groundbreaking statements, which deserve the headline space.

How to write? While there are certain rules you need to follow depending on where it will be published, there are a few common ones. New pieces are usually shorter and can range from 300–700 words.

Try to provide the primary concern of the news in the first 2–3 lines and then expand on it. Quotes from the concerned parties are a great highlight. Keep it to the point and talk about its implications (if any).

However, not everything that happens is newsworthy. It has become common practice to talk about anything that’s going around. But it’s time that we focus on the ones that deserve attention.

• The one with a product or service

A product or service is most often developed to ease the life of people or to add some value. If you are working with a shampoo firm, you can easily sell it because people know what shampoo is and what scalp or hair problems feel like.

If you are working with a data provider, you know that speed, price and data limit are the points you must write about.

Do you see where we might be going wrong? We are trying to explain the end users and consumers how blockchain is integrated into a particular product or service. Why do they want to know about it?

Would you explain how every input and machine contributes to making that shampoo, instead of focusing on how the shampoo would help the customer?

The Internet also had a similar boom around five decades ago, but no one ever tried to explain the technology to us, unless we were curious. We used it and realized how deprived our lives had been.

So, this writing can be categorical. When writing for the end user, focus on how the product or service will make their lives so much better. When writing for the tech geeks and buffs, focus on the technology that’s making the product possible.

• The one with whitepapers

Whitepapers commonly follow a pattern. And that’s why they can be the toughest to be perfected. Strange?

Not really. Over and over again, researchers have proven that routine can kill creativity. It is a herculean task when you have to make an informative piece like a whitepaper creative and readable.

I really think that on days that are dominated by routine, I can feel the right hemisphere of my brain disappear into the left one.

But then again, that’s an art we got to develop. Include the problem, solution, market size, team, market research, roadmap and tokenomics. But, don’t forget to make it appealing.

Other pro-tips: Highlight the existing data to support your product or service, keep it easy to understand, don’t make it heavy on content, avoid jargon and wear your thinking cap!

• The one with a blog

Some consider crypto to be a boom and some a bubble. But, we have all heard how there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

So, with such popularity, anything meaningful around this industry can be a great way to give your blog a push. However, it is not for you if you don’t feel like working with magic spells at Hogwarts when you’re writing about it.

Make people read what you wrote. Let’s accept it; there are not a lot of references that exist when it comes to writing for this particular sector. So, a possible hope to reach that perfect article is by making people around you read (well, until you’re on the verge of breaking friendships)

Yes, I made a lot of my closed ones read this article. Thankfully, they haven’t disowned me yet!

This compiles my list of learnings or the problems faced- depends you’re a glass-half-full person or glass-half-empty. But whatever your philosophical bend of mind be, I hope you find these tips, suggestions and observations useful.

An end in need is an end indeed. (If you read this pun, I assume you took out the time to read the article, big thanks!)