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No, You Don’t Have to Write What People Want to Read

The Venn diagram to mastering your content

Cal Axe
Practice in Public
4 min readDec 5, 2024

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Photo by Christine slay on Unsplash

Do you remember writing book reviews in middle school?

They’re the worst. Believe it or not, that’s how I started my online writing career.

I created a book review website called YoProLibrary, where I reviewed business books for young professionals. No joke! I published insights, key points, and lessons from each book and even graded each book from 1 to 10. You laugh, but book reviews were popular in 2020.

I love reading, but writing book reviews bored me to death. I remember staying up all night reading “The 4-Hour Workweek” and feeling like I wanted to jump into the river the next morning.

The website did well at first, but by book nine, which I think was Gary Vaynerchuck’s “Crush It,” I had consumed enough business jargon for a lifetime. All the books said the same thing: Forget graduate school and maximize productivity.

I threw Gary’s book across the room, shut down the website, and never spoke of it again until now.

I wrote what people wanted and burned out.

Don’t Publish What People Want to Read

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Practice in Public
Practice in Public

Published in Practice in Public

If you want to become a better writer, you have to hit the publish button. Notes and drafts don’t count. Practice in public helps writers get off the sidelines and turn pro.

Cal Axe
Cal Axe

Written by Cal Axe

Practical advice about writing and running | Subscribe https://runwithcalaxe.substack.com

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