I’ve spent the past three days in Las Vegas at the National Strength and Conditioning Association Conference and have met a lot of really cool people, including Andy Haley, my editor at Stack.com. I’ve been writing for Stack since December of 2013 and it’s given me an amazing opportunity to expand my audience. I’ve been able to reach literally hundreds of thousands of people, even placing an article on the front page of Yahoo.
It was nice to finally meet Andy after working with him online for half a year and I helped man the Stack booth in the exhibition hall. While we were there, a young fitness professional approached me and asked how she could get involved with writing for Stack. After talking for a few minutes, our conversation shifted toward writing in general: how to start writing online, how to get good at it and, most importantly, how to get people to listen.
This got me thinking. I’m extremely lucky that I started writing early and often. I would scribble my own stories about dinosaurs or Power Rangers or the Legend of Zelda and read them to anyone within earshot. And since writing quality content is such an essential piece of being a fitness professional, I’m glad I got a head start.
During our conversation, I came up with three points that I hope were helpful. Others in the industry have touched upon this topic (specifically Tony Gentilcore and Bryan Krahn), so I won’t repeat what they’ve said. Here’s my take:
#1 – WRITE HOW YOU TALK
I hesitated to say this at first, cuz some people ain’t good at talkin’, but I realized it’s crucial to sounding authentic and too important to omit.
One of the first times I had my lovely girlfriend proofread one of my posts, she paid me a compliment that meant more to me than she realized. She laughed, handed me the paper and said, “You write just like you talk.” I kinda cocked my head to the side and she reiterated: “People will know it’s you.”
Authenticity is SO important when writing for fitness. You have to stand out among the bandwagon-hoping, trend-riding copycats. And certainly no intelligent person is gonna hire a trainer who sets off everyone’s bullshit detector.
That’s why reading your writing aloud before you publish it is a good habit. If you hear your words, and they don’t sound familiar, delete and try again.
And apply this to language, not length, so if you’re a rambler, don’t ramble. Writing how you talk keeps you from writing above your level of expertise. If you wouldn’t feel comfortable speaking about methylhexanamine and its effects on sports performance in front of a room full of people, you shouldn’t write about it on the internet either.
Bottom line, if you write how you’d talk to a person face-to-face, people will probably enjoy your writing. So if you’re simple, be simple. If you’re nerdy, be nerdy. And if you’re funny, be funny (but don’t try too hard).
#2 – READ NEWSPAPERS
My guess is that it’s been at least a year since most people who frequent this site have unfolded and read a newspaper. But even they’re going the way of the brontosaurus, newspapers are some of the best examples in the world of how to write well.
But newspapers are BOOOORING! Oh, trust me. I know.
I’ve worked at three of them.
They’re what taught me that I didn’t want to work at a newspaper for a living. But writing for newspapers (and the training I got leading up to that during four years of studying journalism in college… AND writing for three different college sports programs, including an Ivy League school with insane typo-finding helicopter parents) taught me how to write…
- Concisely
- Under deadlines
- To cite my gosh damn sources
- Check my facts
- And take criticism like a champ
So pick up a newspaper and take note of what you read in the very first paragraph. I guarantee you will find:
- The who, what, why, where and when
- An identifiable source
- All in a single sentence that makes sense from start to finish
In school, I had to spend months learning to write a lead ‘graph. It’s so simple, but it takes practice.
I encourage everyone to read a newspaper and pay attention to how concise and readable everything is. And most importantly, how every fact has a “he said” or “she said” or “according to” attached to it. That’s called attribution, and if we made EVERYONE do it, all the fucking fitness phonies and all their bullshit would be outed really fast.
#3 – SHARE YOUR WORK WITH EVERYONE
When I was writing about T-Rexes and Megazords and the Ocarina of Time, nobody in my house wanted to hear my nonsense. But I specifically remember one morning screaming bloody murder when my mom wouldn’t listen to my story before leaving for work. She stayed, listened, and was late for work. Thanks mom.
It’s persistence like that that will get you the widest possible range of feedback and, therefore, the widest range of opinions. That way, not only can you fix things like typos and unclear phrasing, but you can understand what different types of people will take from your message.
For example, I have a network of friends to whom I often send articles for proofing before I publish. One is a fellow journalist, so I know he’ll find the grammar errors. One is a physical therapy student, so he’ll let me know how the highly-educated audience will view my piece. One is an old lifting buddy who’s just a bro that lifts weights, so he represents my audience that just wants to know how to get jacked and tan. Another is a female who doesn’t lift, so she helps me talk to girls, cuz I still suck at that.
Most importantly, don’t be afraid to share you work. The internet is a scary place to bare your soul, but you’ve gotta face the crowd if you ever hope to spread your message.
Brian Cain gave a tremendous presentation this weekend about having a million-dollar mindset. Brian was my high school athletic director and has gone on to become one of the world’s greatest mental conditioning coaches, having worked with NCAA championship teams, pro clubs and six UFC champions. After the talk, I congratulated him and, knowing it was the first time he’d presented to this particular audience, I asked him how he thought it went. He said something I’ll never forget:
“It’s the 10/10/80 rule: 10 percent of people will love what you have to say no matter what. 10 percent will think you’re an idiot. It’s the 80 percent in the middle that you have to fight to reach.”
Man, I wish I had heard that years ago when I was scared to death to start my blog!
You can’t be afraid that people will hate what you have to say. Because they will anyways. Write how you talk. Be clear, concise and report the facts. And share with everyone who will listen. That will sharpen your writing skills as fast as anything.