To Write Phenomenally Well, Forget ROI

Why the idea of content marketing kills your creativity.

I regularly get requests to write stories or social media posts for money. Last Wednesday, I got another request to do so. With each request, my gut feels slightly off and I find myself saying no, quickly.

Writing stories with the goal of making money is a huge turn-off.

Creativity is a fickle thing that can be destroyed when you don’t let it be free from the requirement to make a return on investment that people who pay you for stories require.

The best writing forgets ROI and focuses on making a human connection that brings a reader in.

The “C” word

One of my least favorite words is “content.” Content sounds dry, uninteresting and without purpose. It lacks the human feel that a better word “story” brings to the table. Platforms like Medium use the word story over content for a reason.

When we consume content, we feel like we are being manipulated for a business’s purpose to profit from our attention.

A story is not like a piece of content. A story inspires us or entertains us or makes us laugh or teaches us a new skill. And that’s a beautiful thing that shouldn’t be messed with — especially not by business.

Making a living from writing

I had the option this year to make all of my income from writing and decided not to. It was a brave choice and it was again because of ROI.

Writing full-time would have required me to go from writing stories without the attachment of money to writing content with the sole focus of being able to communicate an ROI back to the income providers.

Writing full-time is exhausting at best and without a regular career, for me, there’s not that much to write about. The days off from writing are the days where my thoughts meander in a hot stew of potential stories and the best work I’m capable of is later created.

As soon as writing becomes your only way to make money, it becomes a death sentence for so many people.

Money distorts authenticity

The word authenticity is thrown around a lot in the humblebrag influencer community, so I’ll try not to go down that path.

Authenticity as a writer is being yourself and sharing stories for the benefit of the reader rather than to make money. Authenticity is about including the small details that are often overlooked in content marketing like the color of a person’s clothes, or the way the tears flowed down their cheeks, or the look of disgust on their mother’s face.

Being truly authentic as a writer involves you using moments of courage and vulnerability to reach a reader at the deepest level and being OK to harm your ego in the process. It’s not being afraid of how you’re perceived so that you can reach the goal to be helpful rather than the need to monetize.

The few times I’ve accepted paid writing gigs, my authenticity has been flushed down the toilet and replaced with useless copy that informs but doesn’t inspire contemplation or action.

Good stories stand on their own

The idea of content marketing as a writer is that you create an article and then market it to people so they’ll find it and either be drawn towards a company’s brand or do the thing that the call to action says to do.

But good stories don’t need to be marketed. Good stories stand on their own and people find their way to them through friends, family, and co-workers. When you write a story that has value, you don’t need to force-market it to manipulate people into reading it.

Most of the stories I’ve published online have never been marketed, and to date, I’ve never spent one dollar in paid advertising to promote my work.

The key to becoming a better writer is not to force your work down people’s throats or make them believe something that isn’t true.

You reach more people by being helpful.

Resist the temptation

If you write anything on the internet, I urge you to play the long game. Writing stories takes longer than creating content, but it pays off in the long run. Needing your art to make money is the quickest way to destroy the creativity you need to create your best work.

It’s for this reason that I say no to pretty much all opportunities to write for a guaranteed ROI. It just feels shit and the opposite of what art is about.

Disconnect from ROI/money, write from the heart, show up for long enough, find a purpose in your work, and enjoy the process.

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