This post is about a recent phenomenon in writing that I hope helps people just starting out avoid blind spots. Of course, I don't dare claim I'm particularly skilled, but to avoid criticism, let me put my personal background up front:

  • 4 years of online article writing experience
  • Former TVBS text reporter / Hong Kong 01 financial feature reporter / ETtoday community editor, contributing reporter, columnist / T談談, 生鮮時書, 換日線 columnist / startup company media consultant
  • Peak output: 13 articles per day / single article record: 800,000 views
  • 20 publishing house partners
  • Personal brand management

I've been writing for about four years now, and managing my Wordpress site for about three. The first few years were somewhat lonely—many people didn't understand, and some even thought writing is simply unimportant in this era. Yet I kept writing happily.

Unexpectedly, in recent years, the trend of encouraging writing has boomed. More and more people are jumping into writing, hoping to use it as a marketing tool for personal expertise and polish their brand. Of course, claps and social engagement can grab attention in the shortest time, but what comes after is what really matters.

The key question is: do you truly love writing, or are you just using it as a tool? What's your purpose in writing?

This post is mainly about a phenomenon I've observed, and one particular phenomenon I especially struggle to accept: "organizing information."

Of course, compiling knowledge from various sources and organizing collected data in a neat and orderly way is the simplest and easiest entry point. But you can't still be in the "organizing information" phase after half a year or a year of writing, right?

The reason I say this is: if you want to attract more advanced readers, you should move toward "sharing experience"—and that means sharing your own experience, not others'. Even when recommending books, aren't you basically just describing which chapter says what, which is basically the same as a book data card? Everyone can just check that on Bookstore.com!

There's another reason: unless you're the one digging up historical data from the National Taiwan University Library from 20 years ago, in this age where Google can return hundreds of millions of results in a second, and most people only look at the first page of search results—when so many people are organizing information, isn't your article just lacking creativity and differentiation?

When you fail to stand out, readers might applaud and like your article, but they'll probably forget who you are afterward. They'll only remember a certain case or theory mentioned in the piece, not "what you once said."

Here's the most important point: information you spend an entire evening organizing? Advanced professionals already know it, or people familiar with that field already understand it. Over time, this information-organizing approach will probably only attract two types of people: beginners and novices.

Eventually you might notice: why am I answering the same questions over and over? Why isn't my readership changing or growing?

I don't know how it is for others, but for me, that's painful. After all, documenting things is about wanting people to understand...

I believe writing itself shouldn't just be organizing information for others or listing key points—that actually erases your personal style. I think it should have blood, have flesh, without flaunting language; that's the kind of article that resonates, has warmth, has authenticity.

Because modern internet writing isn't literature—nobody will spend time savoring it carefully—so don't be so reserved, and don't worry too much about being colloquial:

Writing is dialogue—with yourself and with your audience. Record the deepest feelings of the moment, write down emotions and actions truthfully, and only then will your brand shine brighter and brighter.