Let me open with an apology to my daily email cabin crew.

I wrote all this up yesterday…

…and then I forgot to send it.

I guess there are some mistakes that even the incredibly helpful BerserkerMail software* I use for my daily emails can’t quite catch. mea culpa

But then as I looked over it, I decided it would make a good Write Way newsletter instead, so here we are.

Earlier today, (well, yesterday now) I was bouncing a few emails back and forth with Ben Settle and in the course of the chat I found myself saying:

Which made me realise, I haven't actually said that lately.

And so, let me correct that.

Dear reader, I write for myself and you're just along for the ride…

…which is good news for you.

Why? Because it means you get far better content and courses than if it was any other way.

Most writing gurus, let's be honest, are not writing gurus at all.

Most writing gurus are savvy marketers who view writing as an easy niche to make money in. So they zero in on the repeatable messages that get engagement, run the metrics, focus group the ideas, and churn out low-effort engagement bait until the cash comes home.

Meanwhile, like the sucker for writing that I am, I just keep tappity-typing away regardless of whether I get paid.

Because it's the tappity-typing away part that I live for.

The “get paid part” just lets me spend more time on the tappity-typing away.

On my call with Ben Settle last week, he asked about whether my move into options trading was going to shift what I did with my writing, if my goal would be to be an options trader who writes, rather than a writer who trades.

And I said yes, and no.

Yes, in the sense that if I can generate a full-time income from trading a few hours a week (definitely possible using the Low Stress Trading framework*) then I’ll do that and drop all my “for the money” projects.

…but no in the sense that I’ll still be a writer and I’ll still keep writing.

As I explained, when I started the getpaidwrite brand, I saw it as getting paid in order to write more. Not writing in order to get paid more.

Well, life is often very expensive everywhere and those children of mine like to eat.

So if I want to tappity-type away all day, I need to find a way to make tappity-typing pay the bills. Or else I need to pay the bills much faster so I still have time for tappity-typing.

All this to say that regardless of anything else that goes on in my life…

…I will keep writing.

Because I’m not thinking about you, dear reader, and writing what I think you want to hear. I’m writing what you need to hear. Because I’m writing what I want to write instead of chasing the profits.

Take my current birthday course project that I've been hammering away at for the last few days.

Did I validate the idea before I started?

No.

Did I brainstorm the most marketable angles?

No.

Did I conduct a survey to ask what you wanted to spend money on?

No.

I just had an idea I wanted to write, and I started writing. In one sense, I could not care less if you picked it up or not. Of course, I'd love it if you do because it would help justify taking this time away from other paid projects to write what I want to. Especially for the next time that I get the hankering to create a fun new writing product for you.

(It would also help justify the pipe I ordered for myself, and the set of nice books.)

So it's not been focus tested, brainstormed, surveyed and market researched to make sure it's going to sell a bundle.

But that means it's also not just the same tired advice that ends up in all those focus tested, brainstormed, surveyed and market researched bundles...

It's something I've never seen before

and I don't know a single other writing guru that could pull it off.

Will I make less money from it this way? Well, yes.

But then I'm selling a ~$99 product (3x33) for 33 hours only and capping the total sales at 33. That's not exactly writing a recipe for big money.

If that was the goal, I'd be selling it at $333, rolling it into the regular product line, flashing it up with video and audio content, setting up affiliates, making big promises and testing marketing angles.

But I'm not. Because that's not the goal.

The goal is to enjoy writing it.

To write what needs to be written.

That’s what matters to me, and it’s what’s best for you. Because the truth is that my subject line way back up at the start is very carefully worded.

See, the CAW-CAWs, the gurus, the manipulative marketers, they think a lot about their audience because they think little of their audience. They view them like a slot machine to be manipulated into yielding up their wallets.

That’s never been my approach, for all it could have made me rich.

I think little about you, dear reader, because I think a lot of you. And so I want to write my best words. Not just for myself, or for the audience of one that I ultimately answer to, but also for the audience of thousands that read these emails regularly.

Writing for myself means I write better content for you, based on what’s true and not what’s popular right now.

I create better courses for you, based on what you need to learn and not what’s marketable.

And it means I will create for longer and learn and teach far more because I won’t burn out chasing the dragon on social media, so I’ll still be here in decades to come.

If I won the lottery tonight, tomorrow I’d sit down and write.

So may it be for you all.

And do keep a weather eye out for more details on my Birthday course launching for 33 hours only on this coming Monday. Join the cabin crew for first notice and more details as we get closer to the day…

Meanwhile, may you smoke and write for yourself, not because you focus tested it and found it was popular,

James Carran, Craftsman Writer

fin

*Affiliate/referral links that earn yours truly a small payment if you purchase. I promote them only because I use them and love them, but if I can help fund this writing habit at the same time, why not?