Nope, I Don’t Want To Read Your Writing

You start off hopeful.

You start off with big dreams.

Your ego says: of course, people want to read what I write. Of course, people want to hear what I have to say.

You quickly realize this is not the case. No one has the time to sit through your poorly expressed thoughts, however cleverly crafted you may think them to be.

No one cares.

Absolutely no one.

So, you fall into the spiral of pity and self-deprecation. You stop writing. Your stats aren’t high enough. No one is responding.

Then comes the question.

WHY.

A loud, resounding why that echos into the furthest parts of your being.

Maybe I don’t express my thoughts the MOST clearly. (Ha! That sentence isn’t even grammatically correct.) Maybe I don’t have many fully original thoughts or ideas. Maybe everything I have to say has been said before.

But, surely someone out there cares enough to read the way I have to say things and the different perspectives I bring to the table.

If you still believe that; if you still think someone wants to read what you write just because: you’re a wannabe writer.

Real writers realize that absolutely no one cares. Recognizing this horrifically painful truth is the first and only step on the path to becoming a real writer.

So, how do businesses, brands, and writers catch attention? Someone out there has the key to people’s attention. If they didn’t, no one would find your business, no one would care about that movie, and no one would spend 20 minutes reading that blog.

The important part is finding WHY people don’t read your sh*t, or engage with your product, or listen to your talk. (hint: maybe people are actually REALLY BUSY.) So how do we figure out HOW to be worthy of their attention, what about that hero’s journey effective storytelling stuff? Or the importance of giving your gift correctly?

This excerpt from Stephen Pressfield’s book “Nobody Wants To Read Your Sh*t” Sums it up in a more concise way than I ever could:

“The first thing you learn in advertising is that no one wants to read your shit.

Your ads I mean.

People hate ads. I hate them myself.

I hate TV commercials.

Why should I waste my valuable time watching that lying garbage, trying to sell me crap I don’t need or want?

Sometimes young writers acquire the idea from their years in school that the world is waiting to read what they’ve written.

They get this idea because their teachers had to read their essays, or term papers, or dissertations.

In the real world no one is waiting to read what you’ve written.

Sight unseen they hate what you’ve written.

Why?

Because they might have to actually read it.

Nobody wants to read anything.

Let me repeat that.

Nobody — not even your dog or your mother — has the slightest interest in your commercial for Rice Crispies or Delco batteries or Preparation H.

Nor does anybody care about your one-act play, your Facebook page or your new sesame chicken joint at Canal and Tchoupitoulas.

It isn’t that people are mean or cruel.

They’re just busy.

Nobody wants to read your shit.

What’s the answer?

1) Streamline your message. Focus it and pare it down to its simplest, clearest, easiest-to-understand form.

2) Make its expression fun. Or sexy or interesting or scary or informative. Make it so compelling that a person would have to be crazy NOT to read it.

3) Apply that to all forms of writing or art or commerce.

When you understand that nobody wants to read your shit, your mind becomes powerfully concentrated.

You begin to understand that writing/reading is, above all, a transaction.

The reader donates his time and attention, which are supremely valuable commodities.

In return, you, the writer, must give him something worthy of his gift to you.

When you understand that nobody wants to read your shit, you develop empathy.

You acquire the skill that is indispensable to all artists and entrepreneurs — the ability to switch back and forth in your imagination from your own point of view as writer/painter/seller to the point of view of your reader/gallery-goer/customer.

You learn to ask yourself with every sentence and every phrase: Is this interesting?

Is it fun or challenging or inventive?

Am I giving the reader enough?

Is she bored?

Is she following where I want to lead her?”

As writers, we often make self-centered, ego-drive, completely uncultured demands for attention. Why should anyone want to read that? There’s nothing in it for them. Make your writing, whether it’s a blog, social-media copy, or a full-blown movie script, fun and sexy and interesting.

Then maybe someone will read it. We have to learn to leave space for the reader.

We must refine and filter the dirt and grit out of our craft until the finished product is refreshingly cold and crystal clear. Something that leaves the reader yearning for more.

Do that and maybe someone will read your writing.