Hey,

There are two lazy words most of us are guilty of using in our headlines. The words work. They get clicks.

…but you also erode the reader’s trust.

This story I just published will help you create better headlines that still get opened, while building more trust with the reader.

In the attention economy trust is everything.

In your service,

August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic)

A compelling headline doesn’t have to be clickbait. Although most people have abused the word ‘clickbait’ to mean any headline that compels a reader to open your article, that’s not the definition at all.

Clickbait is deliberate deception.

Honest headlines that encourage readers to open articles are just damn good copywriting.

Big difference.

I can (and have) written hundreds of headlines that get opened a lot. But lately I’m working on the second half of this agreement — trust.

Trust?

When you convince someone to open your article/email/story/ad/whatever you enter into an arrangement. You are buying a little piece of…

Hey,

If there’s one thing I’ve figured out recently, it’s the importance of adding some kind of digital goods to your creative business.

The kind where you create it once and sell it repeatedly.

When you have to trade time for money it’s really hard to scale your work.

Micro-courses are a great, additional income stream that will help almost any creator.

Here’s a new story I wrote about the power of micro-courses in your creative business. Check it out.

In your service,

August birch (AKA the Book Mechanic)

Most people who buy online courses never finish them. An even smaller group of people implement the training they learned.

Yet, everywhere we look, best-selling gurus recommend we create these giant, ultra-mega, high-ticket courses. “You only need a few customers to make a living,” they say…

Today I read some of the customer comments from a popular four-figure course. Although most of these ratings were five-stars, the reviewers went on to say there was so much content they’ve had the course two years and still hadn’t made it through half the content!

Five star ratings on this kind of course…

Hey,

I just published a quick story about the better alternative to grow your creative business. While social is a great way to engage with fans, if you want to sell your work that matters to people who care, read this story to build a walled garden around your creative business.

Avoid the competition altogether.

Sell more of your best work.

In your service,

August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic)

There’s this thing that happens when you bet all your creative traffic on someone else’s platform. While they make it so easy (and so free) to build a giant following on social, you don’t own the land under your creative business.

Contrast your social following with building your own tribe.

When you have direct contact to your readership, usually via email (because that’s the last great frontier of direct connection, save for physical mail) — you build a walled garden around your best work.

You can’t take your social following with you.

If you get cancelled, you write something that…

Hey,

I just finished a new story and figured it might help.

I’m facing a serious case of impostor syndrome right now, and it just so happens I read a tiny book this morning that helped put EVERYTHING in perspective.

One short sentence changed the way I look at all my projects, moving-forward.

The book is a classic and you might’ve read it yourself.

Here’s the most-important motivational secret I learned today

In your service,

August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic)

This morning I started and finished the classic personal growth parable, Who Moved My Cheese? At the end of the book there’s a little interview with the author, Dr. Spencer Johnson, where he shared the number-one, most-highlighted lesson, where everyone he meets asks him to sign this one page.

What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

This lesson hit me where I needed it today, because I’m about to launch a new course and I’m in the middle of a full-blown impostor syndrome attack.

If you create anything work making, you’ll feel this too.

Questions of self-worth, skill, and…