Picking up STEEM - #23 - Can I write something loved by steemians AND non-steemians?

Sharing a new strategy for creating work focused on improving content quality and introducing new people to Steem.

It’s been about a week since I posted the Picking up Steem #22. I took some time off to think and strategize. I had been posting daily for a few weeks. Because of limited time, I was often unsatisfied with the quality of the work. While I believe posting often is a fly-wheel for success on Steem and other platforms, I started to think more and more about content quality.

What caused me to take pause is a guy named Cal Newport. I look up to him as a writer, because he’s published multiple best-selling books including “So Good They Can’t Ignore You”, “Deep Work”, and “Digital Minimalism”. These books cover topics including things like how to launch and succeed in a career, how to create work that stands out from the crowd, how to minimize digital distractions so that you can create such work that matters to you. The concept of career capital discussed in “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” especially inspired me and helped me make career decisions.

In one of the interviews with Cal Newport he discussed techniques for quickly building skills. One of the main examples was writing, which he knows personally. He said that writing lots of blog posts isn’t enough. You need to find feedback mechanisms that tell you if your work is better or worse. His example was submitting articles to media outlets where an editor reviews you work. The editor’s decision to accept or reject your work should help you know if your work is good enough for their standards.

So this got me thinking: Can I write an article about STEEM that gets accepted by a major news site? It would certainly be challenging. It would certainly be outside my comfort zone. I would certainly learn something in the process. So let’s do it.

For another data point, consider my Google Alert Steem digest. If you’re not familiar with Google Alerts, they allow you to define search queries to hunt for new content on the internet and automatically send you an email with the new stuff. It’s usually the top 10 links with a content preview for new content matching your search query. You can set the alert to run daily or weekly or as near-real-time.

I’ve had a Google Alert for a while for the query “Steem OR Steemit”. And usually what I see is 75% of the links are auto generated stories about Steem market prices. Really? That’s the most interesting news Google has to share about Steem. Let’s look at an example weekly digest from November 23rd.

1. Crypto Voucher Allows Users to Buy BNB, Steem, and ONT Token Through Credit Cards
   CryptoNewsZ
2. Steem Price Changed by -4.58 percent
   ICO Brothers
3. Steem Price Changed by 2.99 percent
   ICO Brothers
4. Steem Price Changed by 0.94 percent
   ICO Brothers
5. Steem Reaches Market Capitalization of $47.26 Million (STEEM)
   Mitchell Messenger
6. Steem Dollars (SBD) Trading Up 4.9% This Week
   Riverton Roll
7. Steem Dollars (SBD) Price Tops $0.65 on Top Exchanges
   Slater Sentinel
8. Want Zero Payment Fees? Try Crypto Voucher
   Altcoin Buzz
9. Steem Dollars Price Changed by -5.12 percent
   ICO Brothers
10. Blockchain Social Media Market Opportunities, Growth and Forecasting for next Upcoming Year ...
    Market Report Gazette

As you can see, 7 out of 10 are what look like auto-generated market reports. 2 out of 10 are related to the CryptoVoucher adoption of STEEM, and the last one from Market Report Gazette is a sales pitch for a premium investor report. Overall this view of Steem makes it seem like there’s nothing going on at all during that week on the Steem blockchain. Weird!

Most of these stories are not what I want to see in my feed. So, there is a need to go outside of Steem blockchain communities to external media sites and create what we want to see. Can we craft stories that so good they are loved both on and off Steem?

What led me to Steem in the first place as an article on Medium.com and an eBook about Steem written by an author named David Kadavy (@kadavy) who unfortunately is no longer active here. I hope he comes back!

So the general strategy which I’m now working towards is: write lots, and crank up the quality. Try to get content syndication approved at some media outlets. Listen and adapt to feedback, grow in writing skill.