Writing

Non-money-related reasons to write emails

by

In no particular order:

  • It’s incredibly fun and fulfilling

  • Writing emails brings forth more ideas and inspiration which can be used for other projects

  • You get to do whatever you want, whenever you want it, without any platform limitations

  • Your own email list is probably the closest thing you’ll ever got to free speech on a large scale

  • Allows you to talk to and bond with tons of people across many walks of life individually with the benefits of large scale efficiency

  • Incredibly easy to do—especially if you’ve been doing it for a long time already—making it the perfect way to start your day off right by checking something off your to-do list

  • Everything you write is reusable in some way, giving you unlimited benefits that keep scaling indefinitely the longer you do it

  • The best way to notify people about important announcements

Announcements such as the one you’ll see tomorrow.

See keep your eyes open for that one.


Brandon Sanderson’s 3-question character writing rule

by

The quality of a story depends almost entirely upon the quality of the characters and their development.

Even more so if your story is told from the perspective of one main character the audience follows throughout the story. No matter how deep you explore real-life relatable topics, how detailed your worldbuilding is, how new and exciting your magic system is, or how epic your large-scale battles are, none of it will help you if the characters are lifeless, unrelatable, and devoid of true meaning, emotion, or ambition.

Writing good characters, however, is a whole art in itself.

But, luckily you can get almost 80% of the way there by simply asking yourself the following three questions, which I’ve first heard mentioned by Brandon Sanderson, best-selling author known for his works such as the Mistborn series or the Stormlight Archive (as well as many, many more):

  1. What does your character desperately want?

  2. What does your character need?

  3. Why can’t they have both?

Answering this will not only set you up with a good, lifelike character, but if done correctly, it could potentially help you create your entire story from start to finish with just these three questions in mind.

More.

You could ask the same question about your readers/customers/clients/whoever and come up with interesting and valuable information about how to 1) treat them as best you can and 2) dramatically improve your business because of it.

Hell, I’d even argue this could be the base of your entire marketing strategy.

  1. What does your average customer want?

  2. What does he actually need?

  3. What stopping you from giving them both of these?

Figure out the answers to these questions, entice your customers with what they think they want, then include the thing they actually want, and you’ll have yourself your golden ticket to success.

Let’s take you as an example.

I’m guessing, since you’re on my email list, you’d want to earn more money selling your own products, books, courses, art, services, whatever. But what you actually need is a simple and reliable way to get your stuff in front of your target audience so you can make sales while focusing on the stuff you do best—creating.

Well, the thing that’s been stopping me so far from giving you both is the fact that my paid ad course (which would give you both of these things) isn’t out yet… but it’s almost here!

All that’s left to do is for you to wait a little while longer and for me to finish the last bits and pieces of the course.

So definitely keep an eye out for that.

In the meantime, check out my flagship course, Email Valhalla, which makes for an extremely powerful—and profitable—addition on top of said paid ads course I’ll be releasing shortly.

Click here to learn more about Email Valhalla: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


The best confusing piece of advice for new and upcoming writers

by

When asked about advice for new and upcoming writers, the great George R. R. Martin often goes into a story about how, when he was still a “new and upcoming writer”, he’d get advice along the lines of, “Write what you know.”

This always confused him.

Because here he is, wanting to write about dragons, medieval empires, large-scale military battles, lots of politics, shady spy networks, and all kinds of weird and ancient magic. Yet he’s told to “write what he knows”, which, strangely enough, doesn’t include any of the above, let alone dragons and magic.

Fair enough, right?

But it wasn’t until George got older, wiser, and more experienced that he truly started to understand the meaning and intention behind “Write what you know”.

It’s not so much about the big central topic as it is about the underlying emotions and relationships that carry the story—after all, as the great Chris Claremont, who single-handedly revived the entire X-Men series when nobody thought anything of it and turned it into the giant that it is today, used the say, “the fights are bullshit”

For example:

You might not know anything about dragons, magic, or the ruling of kingdoms but you might know how it feels to be disconnected from a loved one, to be scared to death not knowing if you’ll ever see a relative again during a period of war and chaos, to be raised in a broken family full of alcohol and abuse, or even to do everything you can, hoping for someone to tell you they’re proud of you, only it feels like nothing is ever good enough.

Those are the things you know which you should write about.

Do this right and other people will be able to relate to a dragon-riding, empire-ruling, 5,000-year-old vampire assassin. Because it’s never about what’s on the cover. It’s always been about what’s underneath.

Coincidentally, “Write what you know” isn’t only good fiction writing advice.

It’s good writing advice in general, including writing emails that get you paid and keep your readers coming back day after day.

If that’s something you’d like to learn more about, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Something something, overhyped claims

by

Soon after launch, I received the following review of my book “The Art of Loving to Write”:

(I originally received this email in Dutch from Victor, a long-time reader and fellow Belgian, so the translation is entirely mine but I kept it as close to the original meaning as I could)

===

BRO.

I bought your book this morning and immediately finished reading it in an hour.

That's when I put aside my Kindle, picked up my MacBook, and wrote 7 emails in the next 2 hours.

Amazing tips (The one about [how to never have writer’s block ever again] for example)

It motivated me to start writing again. Your book showed me that writing doesn't have to be a drag; in fact, it can be the highlight of my day.

Thanks Alex.

Your philosophy of writing, marketing, and online business just resonates with me. It's so simple, so logical, and so fun.

I look forward to seeing what I'll achieve with this in the coming year.

Cheers,

Victor.

===

And so it goes in my world.

If I say something is immediately practically, instantly useable, and will help you write more than you do now, better than you do now, so you can earn more than you do now, all the while learning how to enjoy every second of it so it becomes the highlight of your day…

Then, my dear friend, I’m not just making it up.

That’s, unfortunately, something this industry often gets wrong. So many people out there make extremely overhyped claims they can never hope to deliver on.

Sure, it works to get the initial sale.

But nobody earns a living from the first sale. It’s the second, third, and even tenth sale that helps you earn a living.

And no way in hell will someone who’s lying about their claims ever get repeat customers.

Those people simply aren’t capable of playing the long game.

If, instead, you are one of the people who knows how important it is to play the long game, and build yourself a business that’s meaningful and worthwhile (not just a get-rich-quick scheme).

Then I’ve got an important suggestion for you.

Learn how to write a lot and, even more importantly in my biased, yet correct, but humble opinion, learn how to enjoy every second of the writing process. Because you’ll be doing this for a long loooooong time.

And man, would I hate to see you “suck it up” for years because you never learned how to enjoy the writing process.

Which brings me to my book, “The Art of Loving to Write”, which Victor just told you all about.

“The Art of Loving to Write“.

You can find it on Amazon all over the world in both paperback and Kindle format.

It’s an incredibly short, yet powerful, read. And one so inexpensive (as opposed to some of my other products) everyone can afford it.

No matter who you are or what market you’re in. If you do any type of writing in your life (professional or personal), I can guarantee this book can and will be useful to you—so useful in fact that you’re likely to see immediate improvements the same day after you finish reading the book.

Which, good news, the book is short enough for you to finish it in one sitting if that’s what you like

Anyway.

Go check out The Art of Loving to Write here: https://alexvandromme.com/loving


What’s the purpose of entertainment?

by

Henry David Thoreau, the American essayist, poet, and philosopher once wrote:

“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”

“For books are not to teach us how to live,” writes Frederic Gros in his book A Philosophy of Walking, “but to make us want to live, to live differently: to find in ourselves the possibility of life, its principle.”

Both Thoreau and Gros argue that true, valuable, and insightful books can only be written when combined with lots and lots of walking.

True walking.

Not the kind you do when you’re out shopping, rushing to get to the train station, or going to the hairdresser around the corner.

True walking is when you’re out in nature without a destination or goal to achieve, with no purpose whatsoever. It’s just you, Mother Nature, and your thoughts. Often for hours on end—even though it’ll only feel like a few minutes at most after you’re done. That’s how time functions when out in the open, connected to the world around you, and without a care in your mind; the flow gets all tangled up and you have no idea how many seconds, minutes, or even hours have passed.

“What’s the point of telling me all this?” you might ask.

Well, it’s simple really.

First, it might be a worthwhile idea to go on more walks, experience life more clearly, and inspire you to write your next masterpiece.

Second, and this is where today’s marketing lesson comes in, the first Thoreau quote I shared helps you answer the question of “What problem does an author solve?”.

To clarify what I mean, take a look at the following quote by famous comic book writer, publisher, and producer, Stan Lee, who single-handedly grew one of the biggest multimedia enterprises to date:

===

“Entertainment is one of the most important things in people's lives. Without it they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you're able to entertain people, you're doing a good thing.”

===

Or in other words, you’re helping people want to live (and live differently).

You can prove this to yourself by looking at people’s expenditures during difficult economic times, filled with doubt, uncertainty, and anxiety. You’d expect people to start saving more and only spending their hard-earned money on basic needs for survival such as food, shelter, hygiene, and transportation.

Instead what you’ll find is, yes people will spend more of their budget on those things (relatively speaking), yet they’ll also start spending a lot more money on entertainment as well.

After all, what good is mere survival without the will to live?

Now, you might nod your head while reading this and think “okay that’s cool”, but not so fast. Because this is truly important news for you to keep in mind as long as you work in the entertainment industry—which, at this point, almost everyone does to a certain extent.

Why?

Because that’s the key to all your marketing!

The big question people always have is “what can you do for me?”, no matter if they’re buying new clothes, booking a vacation, taking a language course, or shopping for new books in their local Barnes & Noble.

You simply cannot succeed in your marketing endeavor if you’re not aware of ‘what you can do for them’, or in other words, ‘what problem you’re solving’—a question that is a lot easier to answer in non-entertainment-related markets.

Speaking of marketing…

I’ve been busy working on a paid ad course, specifically for independent creatives active in the entertainment industry, which will help you create profitable ads, built upon age-old direct marketing knowledge, in such a simple and streamlined way that you don’t have to waste years of your life getting a PhD in advertising, so you have more to do what you love most.

It’s not quite here yet, but it will be soon…

So keep an eye out for that.


Why do I write daily emails?

by

The short answer: I enjoy it

The longer answer: I enjoy it and it makes me more money.

Jokes aside, I could go over all the reasons why I write daily emails—aside from helping me make more money, being top of mind, having a better connection with you, my reader, and getting better at writing infinitely faster than someone writing monthly, weekly, or semi-daily emails.

But I won’t go into that today.

Another reason is that I find it motivating as well.

First of all, I get more responses. More people reply sharing how they liked my emails. It helps me stay accountable making it so I can’t take a single day off. I have to show up every single day, even when don’t feel like it—especially when I don’t feel like it.

I simply have to write something, come up with ideas, write a (hopefully) engaging story, and share the lesson in a way that hits just right, so it’ll be impactful to you as a reader, ensuring you’re getting a benefit from it and continue reading my emails the following day as well.

That’s far from an exhaustive list of why I write daily emails.

But it should be more than good enough to get you started.

So if you’d like to learn the craft of writing emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day, then check out Email Valhalla right here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Late-night drinks turns into a motivational speech

by

Last night I went to get some drinks with a few friends.

One of those friends had already previously expressed her long-time interest in writing her own novels at one point in time. We’d often chat about the act of writing a book and what type of genre/direction she’d want to go in.

So much so she even considered pursuing some form of creative writing education in the UK (don’t remember all the details—this was quite a while ago).

That said.

Like most people’s dreams, that’s all that happened; talking about the dream, never making any real steps towards accomplishing, or even starting, that dream.

Well. until now at least.

Apparently she started taking notes, creating outlines, doing research, brainstorming about ideas, learning about the trade, and picking up both writing and marketing tips and tricks from people she looks up to (or at least that’s who I’m assuming she got it from), even getting set up with useful writing tools and software to make her life easier.

Now, I’m still unsure how much writing has been accomplished already—if any.

But at least she’s actually fired up and making considerable progress towards her final goal—all of which is to be applauded and supported—I sincerely hope she goes through with it until the end, I really do.

All of this, however, reminded me of an important lesson.

Something I learned quite some years ago from (in)famous psychologist, author, speaker, deep thinker, and celebrity with an extremely engaged and almost cult-like following, Jordan B. Peterson. Love or hate the guy, I don’t care and that’s not what really matters here anyway. If you’re not wise and intelligent enough to realize you don’t have to like, or even agree with, someone in order to learn from, get inspired by, and broaden your perspective on how you view the world, then you’ve got much bigger issues to focus on in your life.

I’m not even sure if this is something I should attribute to Peterson, but it’s who I heard it from first and who comes up first in my mind whenever I think about this.

And that specific valuable lesson in the following:

You have no idea how little encouragement people need to drastically improve every single aspect of their lives. Yet most people still aren’t getting any encouragement at all.

Imagine how much better the world would be. How many more creative masterpieces, technological breakthroughs, or truly revolutionary thinkers we’d have if more people simply got told “I believe in you" or “Go give it everything you’ve got” at least once?

Truly a shame.

Anyway.

Let this be your reminder to believe in yourself and go give it everything you’ve got. You’ve only got one life. Nobody else is going to write that book you’ve been dreaming about, direct the movie you once envisioned, record the song you keep humming to yourself, build that life-changing product you once thought about when you couldn’t sleep, but never did anything about it because you weren’t sure if you were up to the task.

Well, I’m here telling you that you are.

Even more.

It’s almost laughably easy to produce and create anything you put your mind to in today’s digital age where you can reason billions of people all across the globe from the luxury of your home just by pressing a few buttons on your computer.

In fact, using today’s advertising technology it’s truly never been easier to reach anyone you want (you have no idea how specific and niche your target audience can be).

And I’ll show you exactly how to make that dream of yours a reality in my paid advertising course… once it’s finished, which will be sooner than you might think, so keep your eyes open.

In the meantime, consider learning how to write daily emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day by getting my flagship course Email Valhalla today:

Click here for more information: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla 


The best piece of writing advice I’ve ever gotten

by

Yet it’s also the most overlooked, often thought of as “unhelpful”, and sadly not even considered to be “good advice” by most people.

Sucks to be them I’d say because there truly isn’t a better way to become a better writer—or a better anything for that matter.

See, this piece of writing advice isn’t just applicable to becoming a better writer.

No, no.

It’s applicable to every single thing you’ve ever done, everything you do, and everything else you will do in both the near and distant future alike.

This is the closest to a “Theory of everything” we’ll ever get.

Now, that I’ve got the preliminary pieces of warning out of the way, it’s finally time to share with you the best piece of advice you could ever get which, once again, can be applied to everything you can ever think of.

Yet, it’ll also be the most obvious and boring thing you’ll ever hear me say—probably to the point where many people will dismiss it altogether, only to go chasing newer, shinier, and cooler (yet a whole lot less effective) ways of improving at their craft; only to end up asking themselves why they’re barely making any progress after putting in, what they claim to be, "tons and tons” of effort.

The golden piece of advice?

Here it is, exactly as it was written in the gem of a book, “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser:

“You learn to write by writing. It’s a truism, but what makes it a truism is that it’s true. The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis.”

I told you it was boring.

Yet I’ve never heard better advice than this, nor do I think I’ll ever hear something better in the future.

But so it goes for everything else you do in life.

For example.

It’s been the exact same for me recently when I got into the world of creating and running ads online.

My first ad was shit. My second one was shit. And my third one was shyte.

But the fourth one?

Also shit.

It wasn’t until I got enough practice in. Learned what makes people click, what makes an ad demand attention, how to get people to finish reading the ad, click through on the offer, match the landing page to the ad, make sure there’s enough hurdles for the customer to jump through (to pre-qualify them so you don’t end up wasting more money than necessary), but at the same time limit the amount of hurdles so you don’t scare away the good customers, and much much more.

Sure I devoured everything I could get my hands on when it came to creating ads.

But none of it would’ve mattered if I didn’t get my hands dirty and experimented dozens of ads to compare what worked (and what didn’t).

True knowledge can only ever come from practical hands-on experience.

Which is why I’m putting a heavy emphasis on practical experimentation in my upcoming course all about how to successfully run ads that get you paid, while making sure those “practice ads” remain as cheap as possible so you’re not punished simply because you want to learn.

But more about my course in the future.

For now, if you’d like to learn how to write daily emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day, a practice that’s invaluable if you combine it with the power of running online ads to sell your products and grow your list at the same time, then consider checking out my flagship course Email Valhalla.

Click here for more information: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


When 2+2 doesn’t equal 4

by

A while back I came across a Ted Talk by famous film director, screenwriter, and producer, Andrew Stanton, who worked on films such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, WALL-E, Up, Cars, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Coco, and many, many more.

Long story short: he knows what’s up. He’s a master of his craft.

One of the storytelling devices he spoke about is, what he calls, The Unifying Theory of 2+2—where, when telling stories, you don’t simply give the audience the answer.

So instead of giving them 4. You give them 2+2. The audience wants to work for their meal; they just don’t want to know they’re doing it.

Basically, don’t tell the audience everything that’s going on.

Give them just enough information that they’re able to put the pieces together themselves.

If you’re writing a character in a story who’s running late for a job interview and has to wait for the bus.

Don’t make him say, “That damn bus is always late. I’m never going to get to my job interview in time.”

Make him pace around nervously. Have him look at his watch repeatedly and wipe some sweat off his face while adjusting his tie.

He’s in the same scenario, but it’s so much more enticing to watch. The audience has all the necessary information to deduct what’s going on.

Make your audience invested.

Now, you might be thinking. “That’s great, Alex. But I’m not a screenwriter. I just want people to buy my products.”

And that’s great.

See, this simple Unifying Theory of 2+2 works for everyone, even for you (regardless of what you’re selling or which market you’re in).

You might expect me to give you an example right now as to how I’m using it or how you could be using it for your own business. But I’m not going to give it to you.

You’ve already got all the pieces to figure it out for yourself.

So why don’t you simply head on over to the following link and, do whatever makes sense: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


A pirates’s guide to email marketing

by

If you’ve ever seen Pirates of the Caribbean (which you should—shame on you if you haven’t), then you came across a wonderful quote (one of many) by Captain Barbossa when Elizabeth Swann demanded him to release her (and bring her back to shore).

The famous quote goes as follows:

“The code is more of what you call guidelines than actual rules.”

In case you truly haven’t seen the film, the [Pirate] code refers to a set of ‘rules’ every pirate is expected to uphold, no matter how foul, devious, or unethical their plans or desires are.

After all, a society without rules is nothing but pure chaos—even one ruled by pirates, rule breakers, and miscreants.

Now, I’m no pirate. And I’m guessing you aren’t either.

So what does this have to do with either of us?

Well, the same principle of the pirate code being more guidelines than actual rules applies to almost everything we do.

As a beginner learning a new skill, you’ll be taught to adhere to and follow certain rules. Rules such as “Always follow the rule of one” for persuasive writing, “Show, don’t tell” for storytelling, or even the instrument pallet you should use to evoke certain emotions while creating music.

All of these serve a purpose, they will help you develop your skills and ability.

But as you grow, you’ll start to realize that every single rule you’ve been taught, isn’t really a “rule” as much as it is a “guideline”.

Many great copywriters have broken the rule of one on occasion.

Many great authors bombarded their readers with exposition being told to them instead of it being shown.

Many world-class composers have completely gone against common expectations when it came to instrument choice for certain musical styles—just look at Hans Zimmer using the organ as a device for the science fiction hit Interstellar.

William Zinsser said it best when he wrote, “Writing is no respecter of blueprints” in his book "On Writing Well” (a must-read).

And so it goes for email marketing as well.

While I do focus on teaching you a few basic “rules” to keep in mind in my flagship offer, Email Valhalla, I’ll also show you when to apply these and, more importantly, when not to apply them—after all, they’re only guidelines.

Click this link to find out more: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla