3 modes of creating content online

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Hello friend,

Over the past couple of weeks, I had similar conversations with 3 different people.

They all centered around this newsletter:

• What do you write about in your newsletter?
• Do you cover a specific theme?
• How do you decide topics?

It took me some time to ponder, reflect, and respond given that I have not yet positioned this newsletter in a specific format or theme. In other words, I do not have a niche yet.

Looking back, I realized that even though I do not have a niche, I do have some topic types. They fall under 3 broad buckets and sometimes a newsletter can be a combination of 2 or more types.

If you are someone who struggles with the ‘dilemma of niche’ and frequently struggles with what to write about, it could be helpful to follow these modes of creating:

1. Personal

Personal, as the name suggests, is where you document any personal event from your life. It can be a past event or anything that happened recently. Usually, this documentation is followed by some insight or lesson (Perspective) or additional reading material (Curation).

For example, in this edition, I talked about my experience of going on stage as an actor and what I learned from it.

Some of my favorite newsletters like Transparent Tuesdays by Charlie Bleecker and The Letter by Simone follow a similar approach where the writing is deeply personal, reflective, insightful, and simply fun to read!

Usually, documenting your personal life automatically comes with some perspective as you process your experience via writing.

Documenting without any insight or lesson has a risk of sounding like a personal diary. I am guilty of writing in this way sometimes and in retrospect, I don’t like those editions as they don’t add any value to readers.

2. Curation

Curation is probably the best way to start writing online when you don’t know what to write about. You just share the best content you have already consumed and share it with a line or two about your thoughts on the piece.

It can be from diverse topics or around a specific theme.

A good example of diverse curation without any specific perspective/insight is the popular newsletter called Recomendo which gives you 6 brief personal recommendations of cool stuff with no underlying theme.

On the contrary, the International Intrigue newsletter curates content around one theme- global affairs.

If you have multiple interests, you can explore them with a combination of curation and perspective.

For example, in this edition, I curated a few things related to AI and combined them with some of my thoughts and reflections.

3. Perspective

Having a unique perspective is going to become rarer in the age of AI-generated content. But that is what would make you stand apart.

Usually, this comes from a combination of expertise, experience, and credibility in a particular area. This is usually the zone of no-fluff content and newsletters that have a specific value proposition.

For example, I love reading Kevin Indig for his insights on organic growth, content, and SEO.

Another example of this kind of content is my recent favorite newsletter by Dan Koe who writes insightful deep dives on human potential, lifestyle design, & one-person businesses.

Arriving at a unique perspective and identifying a specific niche/theme is my current goal with this newsletter. It would allow me to position this newsletter and create content that could help a wider group of readers.

But these three buckets are not mutually exclusive and can come together as a singular narrative also in some of your pieces.

This is what happened with one of the most popular editions of this newsletter. It was on my rocky relationship with bodyweight, self-image, and food. It was deeply personal with a helpful external article to explain a concept while I developed a useful perspective in relation to what was happening in my personal life.

I believe that using Personal and Curation modes mixed with Perspective to create content is how you eventually identify your niche and develop a unique perspective.

This goes for writing as well as any other content like YouTube videos or Instagram Reels.

What are your favorite newsletters?
Who are your favorite creators?
Can you observe a similar pattern in their writing or your writing?

Share your thoughts by hitting reply! 🙂

That’s all from me this week, folks!

Until next time
Love
Vishal

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