Possible New Trend in Sight: Focus on Useful for Prescriptive Non-fictions (13/30)
I'm writing 30 posts in 30 days. This is number 13.
I’m noticing a possible new trend coming. I might be wrong. I’m noticing it from the books, articles, paid courses, and so on. These sources are usually in content-heavy domains such as SEO, course building, landing-page copy, and book writing. And they assume their readers are people who create content that lean towards prescriptive non-fictions like tutorials.
Their advice, in so many words, focus on three things:
Be clear and upfront rather than clever about the outcome you promise.
Show the readers concrete results as quickly as possible.
Cut the fluff. Focus on outcomes.
Be Clear about Outcome Upfront
If it’s a book teaching how to fry an egg, then the title is “How to Fry an Egg”. If it’s a course teaching how to make money selling courses, then it’s “Make Profitable Courses”. Don’t be cute or clever with the claim. Make a bold claim when you’re in a competitive space but back it up with evidence.
Show Concrete Results Quickly
If it’s a book you need to teach something quickly that the reader can immediately apply and see some small results in Chapter 1. Better yet, if they can see some results after applying before they even finish Chapter 1.
If it’s a course, the first 2-3 lessons need to provide immediately useful value.
If it’s a blogpost covering a how-to tutorial, it needs to give enough information for the reader by itself. No Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 like a Lord of the Rings trilogy spread across multiple blogposts to juice up your page-views. It needs to be on target right there and then within one article.
Cut the Fluff. Focus on Outcomes
The entire book, course, product needs to be relentlessly focused on producing outcomes for the reader-consumer. It needs to be jam-packed with benefits and goodies so that the reader-consumer keeps coming back to replay the steps. They replay the steps to reproduce the same results they first had when they gave your content the first go.
And it cannot be just run-of-the-mill results. No, it has to be results that make a difference to the reader-consumer.
Rising Trend?
It might still be a coincidence to see the same theme being preached in the resources I consume. Especially when they are produced in the last 2 years or so. However, if this is indeed a trend, I’m waiting to see if it ever reaches mainstream thinking. I’m rooting for this trend to take center-stage.