Question: How can I improve my writing here on Scorum?
Quality matters. The strength of your posts determine how many upvotes you receive, the percentage you're upvoted at, and if someone reading thinks you're worth a follow.
The fact that the quality of your writing matters on Scorum is a great sign that the platform is headed in the right direction. Whether you consider yourself a professional blogger or someone who is just getting started, you can ALWAYS improve your writing, and improving it comes with amazing benefits as mentioned above. The better you get, the more you'll earn.
On Episode 2 Part 1 of the Scorum Community Podcast, @swolesome and I answer a question from user @jonsnow1983, who wants to know how to improve his writing here on Scorum. Listen to our discussion here at 34:15.
If you want to be a better writer, and who doesn't (myself included), here are four tips I mentioned in the podcast followed by some additional thoughts:
#1. Read and Observe
Scorum makes top-earning posts easy to find, and unlike Steemit, trending posts are almost always deserving of their high payout. Read the articles of writers who consistently earn large payouts. Pay attention to their titles, formatting, images, style of writing, the topics they are writing about, and even their tags.
By looking for trends, you can adapt your style of writing to help you improve as a writer, and increase your payouts.
#2. Practice
I was told recently, after using the quote "practice makes perfect" in an article, that practice doesn't make perfect, but practice makes permanent. Due to how the brain operates, repitition creates a lasting impact.
I once wrote a brand new article on my LinkedIn page for six straight months. People kept asking me how I was able to do it. The practice of writing each and every day helped me create a consistent habit, and something began to happen. I began to think and write faster, and I adapted to needing to publish once a day. I soon had lists of article ideas and would write several days worth of posts ahead of time.
Do I really need to practice @mikey, or is writing a lot of posts practice enough?
The answer is both yes and no.
You have heard me mention this before and you'll hear it again -- freewriting can help you practice your writing while helping you get the good ideas out of your head. Set a timer (10-15 minutes) and write everything that comes to mind. Then use that to create articles and to get your brain in the habit of producing a lot of content in a little bit of time.
You should also practice by learning and putting that new knowledge to use. Watch online courses on Skillshare about blogging, learn the basics of journalism, and try to find other writers to follow and learn from on Twitter. Practice can involve many different activities, and it's important to do in order to grow as a writer.
#3. Organize
You should organize both the time you spend on Scorum and the structure of your articles. I have yelled about formatting for weeks, and there are still many posts with lines and lines of whitespace at the end of the article and painful gaps between images and paragraphs.
Doesn't that just hurt your brain?
To organize your time on Scorum, schedule time for writing articles and for reading and commenting on posts. I would suggest splitting this time 50/50 or 60/40, giving you plenty of time to network while working on your next post. I use Google Calendar to schedule an hour here and an hour there to write when I know I'll have some available time.
#4. Tool Up
Use tools to help improve your writing. I use Grammarly to help me avoid grammatical mistakes, Google Calendar for scheduling, and Google Docs to write articles in (it saves automatically so I never lose a post). I would also recommend checking out OneNote which is a note-taking app that can help you organize your writing projects.
On the image side of things, I use Canva.com to find free and cheap ($1) images to use for my posts. If you have tools you love, please list them below.
Other Tips:
- Always Proofread!
- Ask Others for Advice
- Read Out Loud Before Publishing
- Don't Focus on Editing Until You Have Finished a Draft
- Write for Someone Specific (Example: Male cricket fan, beginner, age 25 who lives in America)
- DRAPES (Listen at 40:50 here)
- Break Up Text with High Quality Images
- Trim Out Fluff Words
- Translation Tools Do Not Fix Sentence Structure
Here is an example taken from an article published here on Scorum that was translated using an online tool. The full version is below, followed by how I would rewrite the introduction of the post to sound better to an English-speaking audience.
Incorrect Version: "The World Cup 2018 has just ended. France emerged as champions after in the final beat Croatia with a score of 4-2. Although it has ended but many stories about the World Cup in Russia that can be revealed."
Corrected Version: The 2018 World Cup has just ended. France emerged as champions after beating Croatia in the final with a score of 4-2. Athough it's over, many stories from the World Cup in Russia have yet to be revealed.
Have any tips for other writers, questions about this topis, or feedback for me? Comment below!
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