Writing to Win

Even when winning isn't your focus.

What’s your first thought when you see a title like:

The Business of Writing?

For some, perhaps for many, we don’t want writing to be a business. We don’t want it to be work. The truth is, we don’t want to focus on money either, and one reason for that is there’s no promise of wealth in what brings us fulfillment.

Lenny Rachitsky

recently released his conversation with Roger Martin about his “5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy.” I was browsing through some 1-minute reads when the 82-minute podcast caught my eye. Even though I subscribe to Lenny, I’d still never listened to a podcast. His business-focused topics didn’t feel relevant to a guy who only wants to be able to afford time to write his books and to engage with an audience who loves his work.

Then I saw one of the bullet points Roger Martin would cover: How to avoid “playing to play” instead of playing to win.

That resonated with me, even if I wasn’t entirely certain why. If the “play” of writing brings fulfillment, then that’s winning. Substack brings me engagement with an audience that loves The Last Temptation of Winnie-the-Pooh.

What more do I need to win?

I have at least one answer for that, and I bet you do too. All this work I’m doing on Substack, I want it to provide a successful launch of my WIP. I want that novel to be a success at a level I didn’t and couldn’t attain before.

Before we dig into ideas about a strategy, I want to ask you the same thing. What does it mean for you to win? Tell me in the comments—right now—so that the rest of what we talk about will build on that idea.

Writing to Win

Ironically, the first question we have to answer, we just did. You have to know what it means for you to win because that answer will drive your other decisions.

Midway through the podcast, Martin clarifies that this isn’t an impolitic game of winners and losers. Others don’t have to lose if you win. This is about knowing what you want to achieve and implementing a strategy to achieve it.

Before we get into the rest of the four questions, there are two choices businesses face when they want to compete for market share. As authors we want our share of readers. Businesses can either be the low cost leader or they can differentiate themselves. Failure to differentiate results in a reader looking at her options and being able to decide by coin toss because there really is no difference.

How can I differentiate myself as an author? How can I differentiate my substack(s)? Ultimately, how can I differentiate my book so when I reader has their choices before them, mine is the obvious choice?

One key way of making your book stand out is to conceptually connect with the reader on a deeper level than the other options. You can’t achieve that with every reader, but if you gather readers who connect with your themes already, then you have an audience ready to choose your work. Ultimately, this is what the Right-Reader Method gives you.

The second question Martin would have us answer to make sure we’re playing to win and not merely playing to play is this: where will you play?

Now you might have multiple intermittent advertising plans, but where are you going to establish yourself as a writer, build a reputation, and secure a mailing list of readers ready to purchase your book? It seems obvious that the answer is Substack because we’re here, but it makes sense to reconsider your options. Is this the best place to invest your effort?

I came to Substack because I lost my website and mailing list and needed to rebuild. Substack’s no cost entry won me over. That choice could be questioned when you see the frustration of fiction writers trying to use a system that seems built for nonfiction, but we’ve sidestepped that frustration by choosing a method that turns those weaknesses into strengths.

I’ve also looked at other systems since, looking for options that could be used alongside what we’re doing here…and if there was a reasonable replacement, I think I’d recognize that as well. For my money (or the lack thereof), this is the place to be,

The third question is: How can you win?

The important thing here is to apply this to all aspects of our strategy, because if you’re following the Right-Reader Method, all these questions have already been asked and answered on the scale of how-do-I-gather-the-right-readers-in-my-mailing-list. Every single question. I’m tickled about that, because I didn’t know the questions I was answering when I created the marketing plan. Still, there’s more we have to do.

I’ve tasked you with building at least one non-fiction site, and I’ve told you how to determine the theme that will attract potential readers for your stories and novels. There’s much more involved in building up a successful non-fiction substack, however, and I’m trying to build up systems for us to use and succeed together. That includes Post Op and (surprisingly) The Free Bookstore. As we grow together, we’re building communities that will help us succeed while we bring our unique knowledge as fiction authors to conquer non-fiction in unique ways, but there’s still more to do.

What does it mean to win and, given the areas in which you’ve chosen to play, how can you win? A super-charged mailing list is one answer. Substack is part of the answer of the “where will you play” question, but ultimately you have to decide how and where you want to sell your book.

You have to determine how you will win. So far I’ve given you a possible answer for how you gather that responsive mailing list, but there’s more to it. Once you have that mailing list, how can you best transition them from subscribers to book buyers? One of the keys for a successful book is getting reviews. How will you get your mailing list to not only buy the book but leave a review? As I tackle those questions, I’ll share my answers with you, but my answers won’t always be right for you.

Once you’ve determined how you can win, then you can ask—

The fourth question: What capabilities must I have?

As we answer these questions, the answers will become more personal and specific. For many of us, we’ve seen that one of the key components we need is community. It gives us a strength we don’t have on our own.

To follow my marketing plan, you need to be able to identify the key themes in your writing, and you have to be willing and able to write non-fiction articles pertaining to that theme.

You have to be able to write a book that satisfies the needs of your particular audience.

As we understand what capabilities we must have, we may identify shortcomings and weaknesses that we need to overcome. Some of you may choose to use our budding community to find others with themes similar to yours, partnerships where one another’s strengths balance the weaknesses. You may decide to collaborate on non-fiction publications, sharing that particular mailing list as a marketing tool for all the collaborators.

In fact, I’ve just invited another author to do that very thing, someone who’s themes overlap my own. If he accepts, we’d be marketing to the same pool, but I believe that pool will be larger than if we do it on our own.

Finally, the fifth question: What enabling management systems do you need?

You can listen to the podcast yourself here:

5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy | Roger Martin (author, advisor, speaker)

As for the management systems, you’ll choose if you’re using Amazon or Ingram Spark or find a publishing house. You’ll decide if you’re using Substack, and each of these decisions comes with their own software systems. When we choose Substack, we’re prioritizing some capabilities over others.

Along these same lines, the Authors Guild Launchpad just dropped a video called “Platform Building for Self-Publishing Authors” that may help us answer some of these questions. I’m listening to it now as I write these words. I’m hoping they’ll give some helpful insight on the author site from which I turned a lot of our focus.

Michael’s first point: build a website. Second: build a community. Third: keep writing.

Matty adds: Establish a mailing list.

Let’s listen and talk about it in the comments.

Until then,

I’m Thaddeus Thomas