Beginner’s Guide to Becoming a Text-Based Creator

There are text-based creators making millions of dollars a year.

I have made millions of dollars online with my words.

And in this deep dive we're going to be going through a step-by-step guide for growing and monetizing your writing online [as a text-based creator].

But first, let's discuss what a text-based creator is...

🔎 What Is A Text-Based Creator?

A text-based creator is a creator and/or writer (it doesn't matter which one you consider yourself as you get started) who strictly uses text-based platforms to build their online business.

As a text-based creator the goal isn't to make hundreds of millions of dollars.

Millions? Sure.

But not hundreds of millions at the cost of trading freedom.

The goal is to be able to work:

• When we want.
• Where we want.
• On What we want.
• With Who we want.

We know that staying text-based (rather than caving in when people tell us we're losing money by not creating video content) allows us to stay hyper focused and get ahead by prioritizing our strengths and Zone Of Genius.

The goal of a text-based creator is the dream life of a writer.

We want our words to be the fuel to our business, and any layers that are added on after that are by choice.

🔎 The Typical Strategy Of A Text-Based Creator

Similar to other creator businesses, text-based creators have a flow that looks like this:

1. Discovery Platform = Social Media, SEO, YouTube, etc.
2. Relationship Platform = Email, Podcast, SMS, Community
3. Paid Products (Value Ladder) = eBooks, Courses, Communities, Cohorts, etc.

And then additional layers like paid acquisition, coaching, services, and other things can be added on top.

Which means that for us text-based creators, our flow will usually look like this:

1. Text-Based Discovery Platform = Threads*, Bluesky, LinkedIn, X
2. Relationship Platform = Newsletter (Email)
3. Paid Products (Value Ladder) = Variable, but methodical. Refer to this deep dive.

*Now that Twitter is X and the algorithm is dead and it has become a pretty horrible place to hang out (the majority of the time), LinkedIn is pushing video content and not a "true" text-based platform (carousels and videos win for reach), and Bluesky is still trying to figure itself out: Threads is the place to be in 2025.

SEO is another tool we can build on (depending on our niche) as we make use of these other layers, but it's not applicable to all text-based creators, has only become more competitive and volatile with AI, and takes A LOT of time.

That said, this deep dive will be doing a couple different things:

• Giving you the step-by-step guide to becoming a text-based creator.
• Going through each step in the typical strategy and flow of a text-based creator to give you inspiration and allow you to replicate for yourself.

BONUS NOTES: Many text-based creators start text-based, end up hitting 100,000+ followers and then decide to add a layer of alternative content that is within their comfort zone. And that's completely fine! This additional layer is often YouTube and/or podcasting.

The important part is knowing that time and time again you'll find that the world's top creators hyper-focused on ONE platform (usually to over 100,000 followers) before repurposing and trying to grow on multiple.

✍️ Step One: Your Fuel

Writing On Discovery Platforms

Discovery Platforms are the fuel to our entire text-based creator business.

Being that we already know we are text-based creators we can skip the step that would have been "Choose Your Format".

We already know our format: it's writing.

Which brings us to part one of step one...

🔎 Choosing Your Text-Based Discovery Platform

Let me make one thing extremely clear to start:

You are starting with only ONE platform.

Once you dominate that platform (I'm talkin' tens of thousands of followers, if not 100K+, THEN you can begin exploring other platforms).

I won't be going into too much depth on this point, but if you want a little more insight (or even just proof) you can read my SuperThread on how top creators do this here.

We only have a handful of text-based platforms to choose from:

1. Threads (The best right now)
2. Bluesky (Still watching this)
3. Twitter/X (Growth is dead)
4. LinkedIn (Not true text-based, no reach)

I could go into some more depth for each of these, but basically this is the quick TLDR:

1. Many text-based creators blew up in the golden days of Twitter, but now the reach there is dead and some have lost upwards of 90% of their income.

Platforms like Threads and Bluesky have been created to compete in the space of the dying Twitter and Threads is winning the race, giving creators another chance at the golden days of Twitter, but we're still watching Bluesky.

1. LinkedIn continues to kill reach and compete in video content and carousels, more similar to Instagram.

At the end of the day, the choice is obviously yours, but I'm currently ALL IN on Threads, while watching Bluesky in the background.

🔎 Getting Started With Your Writing

Now it's time to start writing on whatever platform you chose.

I have TONS of resources to get you started (which I'll share in a bit), but for now let's stay focused.

In this stage of step one you're still a beginner.

So there are couple things we're looking to accomplish when we first get started on these platforms:

1. Develop your writing habit.
2. Find your obsession.

We start writing daily content and feeling out what topics we really LOVE writing about, learning about and researching DAILY.

Once we find our obsession we can begin to work towards deciding on our niche and eventually even build our Brand Identity.

I'm not going to go too deep into finding your niche and working towards building your Brand Identity in this one, but here are a handful of resources that will help you if you're working on your niche:

• How To Niche Down But Brand Wide For Growth
• A Deep Dive Of The Top Creators Niche Down Process
• How To Own A Brand Identity And Scale With Sub-Niches

So now your daily writing habit is flowing and you've found your obsession.

What's next?

🔎 Growing On Text-Based Platforms

The key to your growth on text-based platforms are SuperThreads (long form, high value threaded-threads).

You see me talk about this a lot, and some of the world's largest text-based creators in the world are in agreement. 

Dan Koe says:

“Threads are how you:

• Build a following fast.
  

• Deliver more value on social media.
  

• Build authority and trust with your readers.

• Funnel people to your newsletter, products and other platforms.
  

• You can do these things with posts, but you’re better off writing threads.”
  

(Note: Keep an eye on that second to last one. We'll be seeing it again soon.)

It's the exact reason I have SuperThread Mastery and The Summit for you guys, and why I'm all-in on Threads as the fuel to my business.

You can also use my free resources like these to help you grow on Threads (and other text-based platforms):

• SuperThreads Of The Week (Steal These Hooks)
• The Anatomy Of A Perfect Text-Based Social Post

But what is the overall goal of our growth on these platforms?

We have two goals when growing on text-based discovery platforms:

1. Begin building trust and authority in our niche / brand identity.
2. Get our audience to sign up for our newsletter / email list.

Our newsletter is going to be where we make the LARGE percentage of our income.

Which brings us to step two...

✍️ Step Two: Your Engine

Launching And Scaling Your Newsletter

These quotes you see above don't even begin to scratch the surface.

I have a list of 15 quotes here on Threads that STILL doesn't even do the job (but you're more than welcome to more top creators talk about the importance of your newsletter).

Your newsletter is the entire engine of your business.

This goes for both text-based creators AND all other creators out there.

As text-based creators we just hit the jackpot and the engine of a creator's entire online business happens to be text-based!

So while our initial goal of writing on our text-based discovery platforms was to find our obsession and start building a following, authority and some trust with our audience; the ultimate goal is to get them to subscribe to our newsletter and continue building a deeper relationship.

🔎 Starting Your Newsletter

One of the goals of writing on platforms like Threads is to find your obsession and begin developing your niche and Brand Identity.

That's why one of the goals in The Summit is to use our 30 days of writing to do just that.

So for this step we're going to assume you've taken the time to do that, you have the value proposition for your newsletter, and now it's time to start building it.

Luckily for you, I have some of the top free resources on the internet for helping you start, grow and monetize your newsletter...

Here are some deep dives to get you started in the process:

• The Top Five Beginner Newsletter Mistakes To Avoid
• The Ultimate Guide To Newsletter Types and Styles
• The 5 Must Have Sections Of A Creator Newsletter
• How To Build The Best Newsletter Welcome Flow

You can find loads of other resources just combing through the deep dives here.

And if you still need help making your way through the process I have a full video course, The Creator Newsletter Blueprint, that takes you through the entire proven blueprint for building your creator newsletter.

🔎 Your Newsletter Content Flywheel

The next phase in your text-based creator journey is building your newsletter content flywheel.

This is the content system that allows you to begin repurposing your content directly from your newsletter to SuperThreads (discovery platforms) and bring readers back to your newsletter.

Here's a sample of the flow:

• Test short-form content on Threads.
• Expand on winning topics in your newsletter.
• Repurpose to Threads as a SuperThread to drive growth.
• Drive followers back to your newsletter to gain subscribers.
• Rinse and repeat and build out your content library.

Eventually, as you build out your content library, your newsletter flywheel will allow you to write a couple hours a day while continuing to grow.

Your newsletter is your engine. 

Here are a few resources to see exactly what this process can look like:

• How To Build A Newsletter Content Flywheel For Growth
• Dan Koe’s Newsletter Repurposing Content System

And if you want to step it up a notch, I have an entire section titled The 2-Hour Newsletter Flywheel inside my Creator Newsletter Blueprint course.

Your newsletter content flywheel is a large part of your newsletter growth, but there's an entire secondary layer you're going to have to master if you want to monetize your writing online.

🔎 Growing Your Newsletter

All roads should lead to your newsletter.

But, unfortunately, social platforms don't want you sending people off their platform, so they suppress our reach when we add external links. 

Tack that on the fact that asking someone to give you their email address is a big ask - getting a much larger commitment of their attention - and we have our work cut out for us.

Thankfully, if we use the right tactics, we can still grow with the right CTAs.

Here are a couple resources to help you master your newsletter growth CTAs:

• The Best CTAs To Grow Your Newsletter Organically
• Grow Your Newsletter With Pre-Newsletter CTAs

Note: Eventually, after you've validated your offers and built your value ladder a bit, you can begin adding in other growth layers like paid acquisition and SEO.

✍️ Step Three: Your Accelerator

Building Out Your Value Ladder

You've probably noticed that each of these steps has been covered in depth within multiple different deep dives.

And this section is no different. 

I have written tens of thousands of words relevant to growing your value ladder, but we're going to start way back from the top.

🔎 Deciding On Your Monetization Methodology

My goal was always to live the dream life of a writer.

I'm not fond of trading dollars for hours with services, consulting and 1-1 coaching.

I especially don't want to have to block off my calendar and be tied down to an office and calls in order to make money.

Remember the goals?

The ability to work:

• When we want.
• Where we want.
• On What we want.
• With Who we want.

I prefer selling digital products like eBooks and courses, and then raising the price by offering cohorts (group coaching sprints).

But you'll need to decide on what the best offers are for you and your style.

You can read my deep dive on Paid Offer Rankings By Freedom And Price Scale.

🔎 Selling Your First Offer

A lot of creators will teach you to go out and sell a high ticket offer first. 

This is usually services, client work and coaching. 

I personally think that's backwards if the goal isn't to actually sell services, client work and coaching.

It's essentially just trying to chase quick cash - which usually ends in chasing quick burnout.

I like selling a low ticket offer first and learning from the experience.

This can even eventually become a tripwire offer (a more advanced tactic), but the initial goal is to use it to validate your flow.

You're looking to validate:

• That your list actually wants your offer.
• That your value prop for your newsletter makes sense with your offer.
• That your social platforms are bringing in newsletter subs that want your offer.

And of course even more layers that stem from each of those things.

🔎 Building Out Your Value Ladder

Over time your first launch will lead to another and another. 

And you'll need to start thinking about building out your value ladder.

We did a massive deep dive on this last week that branched out to all my other resources on the topic, so that's the best place to start.

My one note would be to also go into my deep dive on how to make your newsletter the engine of your entire business and take a look at the section that breaks down how you can turn your newsletter into paid products as well.

At the end of the day your newsletter is the engine of everything you do online.

BUT, making sure you build out the systems that turn it into a flywheel is what is important.

Here's your flow as a text-based creator:

• Fuel: Threads (Discovery Platform)
• Engine: Newsletter (Relationship Platform)
• Accelerator: Offer Stack (Full Value Ladder)

Now get out there and start writing!