Sources: David Perell youtube
Today topic is rather different because I came across this interview by David Perell with Ben Thompson on X and I wanted to share it across my blog on how to start writing and become good at it. I think Ben advice is timeless and he made a few good points about it.
For those who don’t know Ben Thompson, he is basically the writer behind the blog “Stratechery”. He is probably one of the best tech analyst with a non- tech background. He makes millions by just selling subscriptions across the world with thousands of subscribers (estimates to be around 40k) and he is the guy that inspired the creation of Substack. No joke. Click here to read why Hamish created Substack.
One of the Ben Thompson best theory is the “aggregation theory”. In the age of internet, he argued that it has democratised the distribution of information. There is basically no incremental cost for an additional distribution unlike the old days. It enabled the rise of one person media company. Ben said he is early and ride the waves. (I think he is just humble)
However, when there is so much information available, discovery becomes crucial. So, companies like Google or Meta or Tiktok was born to aggregate all the information in a single place and enable easy discovery. As a result, they becomes the gatekeeper/the key to access customers. The one with the scale will likely to win in this race. (lowest cost per discovery)
In the age of abundance, how to standout will be the key questions that haunt many of us (the writers). Luckily, Ben Thompson is willing to share his wisdom with us and below are some lessons that I would like to share it with anyone who wanted to be good a writing.
How to standout?
“Be opinionated”. Ben Thompson
Ben Thompson said that the reason he started blogging is because he is really opinionated. You must be willing to stick your neck out by not hedging too much. If you are just repeating or in the middle, there is no value creation. Even if you are wrong, be quick to admit and change your view. However, you must take your stand.
He remembers vividly the first day he went to a business school and he realised that there is no technology related newsletter offer by the traditional media companies because the lecturer said the audience is not interested in it. He don’t think so. Thus, he created his blog specifically dedicated to technology.
“Write about topics that you are really interested”. Ben Thompson
Secondly, you should only write about topics that you are really interested to avoid burnout. He mentioned that the only reason he can write for years is because he really like about the subject he wrote which is tech related and enjoy writing. As for my case, it is about high quality investing. It is something I truly embraced and hope to continue to write for the years to come.
“Be a big fish in a small pond”. Ben Thompson
Next, he mentioned that the internet rewards the scale or niche writers. Pick a side. Those in the middle die. You rather be big fish in small pond than a small fish in the big pond in the age of single person media. Know your things and be really good at it.
He mentioned about Dylan Patel, he is the author of semi analysis and he writes deeply about the semiconductor topic. He managed gather a massive crowd of following with close to 125k subscribers in his Substack alone. Talk about small pond !!!
"The most important article you write is the second article somebody reads.” Ben Thompson
Lastly, consistently produce good quality contents. It is no brainer but it comes from years of intentionally practicing. Imagine he wakes up at 3am to start writing (Occasionally I believe) and he can’t sleep well if he produced low quality contents. (always) Or he specifically designed his site with custom font, hand drawings, and a distinct orange color because he wanted to capitalize on people's ability to remember the site visually.
This is the kind of obsession you need to have to be a good writer. I am still early in my writing journey (to be exact, one year and eight months) and he has been writing since his high school years. You can only be good at it when you constantly writing and reading. (he only read when he wanted to learn about a certain subject)
There is just no short cut to be good at anything even in the age of AI. It can helps but not replace you. You can’t just ask Chatgpt to write a good article for you. It comes from years of diligently writing and learning from the process.
Conclusion
I am not writing this because I wanted to start charging my subscribers. I sincerely believe that if people think that I created enough value for them, they will appreciate and pay for it. If no, I am fine and a like or share will really help to motivate me to write further. By the way, Ben Thompson is a strong advocate on paid subscriptions and he believe that writer should be paid because they spent hours of research to write a good piece.
I will stick to my mission to continue to share knowledge and contribute my meagre effort to make the world a better place. To help educate people who sincerely wanted to learn about the subject of high quality investing or investing as a whole. If you make it this far, I would like to sincerely thank you.
Disclosure: I am one of his subscribers and I might be biased but I will let you be the judge. This post is just for educational purpose and i am not associated with any of them.
Great summary of the interview!
Thanks