How To Write Long Form (Essays, Newsletters, Articles, YouTube Scripts etc.)
You need to write more, so you can develop your mind and share it with others
The term “content creator” has lost the weight it once had.
And the demand for serious long form writing is growing.
This is a practical guide for those who:
Are beginners who want to write about their favorite ideas
Are those wanting to talk about their favorite books, interests, thinkers, and topics, and actually get other people to care
Have been writing online for some time, and who think they have good writing… but social media says otherwise (no engagement, no audience growth, screaming into the abyss stuck in “beginner hell”)
Want to make their writing attract more attention, provide more value, and be more impactful for their readers
And this guide is especially for those who:
Think you can only build an audience online by talking about “how to build an audience online” and “how to grow your personal brand”
I am proof that you do not need to do that last point, especially. And if I can do it, it means you can too, if you actually follow what this guide will teach you, with enough trial and error and iteration across time.
Now.
Onto the heart of the matter:
A meaning economy is (finally) beginning to take shape.
People are getting sick of short form nonsense.
The silly dances.
The AI (and human) slop content.
I believe that the profound thinkers will lead in the emerging meaning economy.
What is a profound thinker, you ask?
Well, my friend, a profound thinker is somebody looking to solve meaningful problems through writing long form.
Essays, articles, newsletters, YouTube scripts etc.
More specifically, profound thinkers have unique knowledge they are looking to share, in the form of novel perspectives and solutions to problems, that can truly impact people.
This is done by creating content… if you want the boring word for it. I will be interchanging these two words as we think through all of this together, writing and content.
Just know, that an audience is a by-product of high-quality writing that has helped people.
It’s ok to want to build an audience. Every writer and creator does.
This is a safe space, you don’t need to keep it secret.
So, if you want an audience, you have to help people for free.
How do you do help people for free?
You create content.
Why content?
Because all the attention is online, and being aimed toward content.
YouTube with every meal, short form while standing in every queue, long form essays like my own that I send out in my newsletter each week… you get the jist.
You can’t get people to care about your ideas unless you have their attention first.
My writing isn’t for everyone.
It isn’t academic.
I don’t have a degree in writing.
I make spelling errors more than my dyslexic girlfriend.
But within my first year of writing online (at age 22, which still feels weird to me) I achieved the following:
Cultivated 37k+ newsletter subs and almost 20k YouTube subs
Became a Substack bestseller in 4 months (with only 10 or so long form posts)
Garnered over 1.6 million reads of my writing here on Substack
Earned my first €10k through promoting my offers at the bottom of my long form posts each week
(two digital products on reading/self-education, paid long form guides like this one on my learning and writing strategies, and YouTube AdSense, which covers a lot less than you’d think)
All that, by writing just one long form post per week.
That’s right.
You do not need to overcomplicate your content strategy by creating tons of email sequences or funnels or specific pieces of content for every and all platforms.
One high-quality long form post per week.
That is what I have learned to be true, for me at least, in the last year.
Pick Substack or X, since that is where all the attention is for finding and reading long form. Maybe YouTube if you can handle it too (record yourself reading your long form post to a camera and you’re cooking).
Here’s how I like to think about writing long form, as of now with my current level of understanding. Because this will change, and it’s only one way of thinking about writing long form. Read this, digest it, experiment, and find what works for you.
This is me sharing what I have found to work quite well for me.
I don’t see myself as an expert or an authority or a guru.
I’m just… Craig.
Nice to meet you! :)
Enough hedging.
Let’s address the core philosophy behind every piece of content you should write, and why a lot of creators stay stuck in beginner hell for life (or until they lose hope and quit).
This profound idea will help you launch out of beginner hell.
I - Research & Topic Selection
Carve this idea into your skull. PLEASE.
Find the intersection between validated titles/topics online, and your own personal interests.
Understand that, and you can write about anything you want and “do well.”
Escaping beginner hell feels like… well, hell.
The solution is actually pretty simple.
But it’s not so easy, either:
Find what people are already/currently clicking on in terms of titles and topics, then write your own unique perspectives about those topics.
If you repeat this process from week to week, it’ll be a matter of waiting to strike gold.
And you only need to strike gold once.
The problem is see time and time again with writers and creators online reaching out to me is that they only write about what they want to write about, while ignoring demand (validation), or, they seek nothing but demand, and have only one goal of “going viral,” but offer no novel perspective that actually serves a broader purpose or mission they have (interest).
If you can find the intersection between getting tons of attention (with validated titles, which were, or currently are, high-performing) and saying something worth saying (interests you want to talk about, but angled and positioned as the novel perspective/solution beneath those validated titles), guess what happens.
You can write about anything you want and do well.
Look at every long form post I have written in this past year.
They are all about my own interests, because you don’t need to talk about “audience growth” in order to build an audience.
I’m only talking about it now, because (i) I have done it, (ii) I am still doing it, and (iii) I have proof of having done it.
Let’s explain the validation-interest-intersection idea a bit more, because we’ve gone through a lot just there…
Validated topics have proven demand for them.
People are reading, searching for, and sharing those titles.
And if you write about one of these validated topics, but with ideas and a perspective that only you could have written, it’s not copying or stealing.
How so?
Because anyone can write under the title “How to become dangerously articulate” or “How To Remember Everything You Read” and still say something about the title that is unique to them.
Their own system for achieving success, or their own problems, past experiences, interests, favorite books and thinkers etc.
Do this right now. It will help you understand what I mean exactly:
Find 5-10 creators talking about profound ideas you love thinking about. Or, think about the niche or space or tribe online that you want to join
Find each creator’s highest performing titles in the last 1-2 months.
Pick out 2-4 of those titles
Reword them slightly (if at all)
Write your own novel perspective beneath those titles, and repeat
I recently helped Dan Koe with testing out the newly launched version of Eden.
It has a feature that can help you find outlier posts (high-performing posts getting more attention on average from their audience).
I would recommend using that, it will save you a ton of time and effort searching the internet, and just not really knowing what you’re doing (I struggled searching for validated posts in the beginning for a while).
I’m not sponsored by them, but I have been using Eden for more than 3 years, and it is a staple in my market research process.
II - Emulation & Learning
The same philosophy for choosing topics and titles applies to writing itself.
If you want to get attention to your personal brand, write about topics that are getting tons of attention (but with your own unique ideas)
Same with improving your craft.
If you want to have great writing, study and emulate great writing.
Note: you are not copying.
This is about emulation.
In the beginning, especially, you emulate, before you innovate.
Isn’t that what learning is?
You do what other people do successfully before doing it in your own unique way that finds success for you?
Here’s what we’ll do:
Pick a great piece of writing you love (hopefully it’s validated too, so high views/engagement), then understand why it works, extract one principle that makes it work, and apply it yourself to this week’s long form post you’re writing.
Repeat that process each week until the sources blur and your own unique style emerges. That is how all literary greats learned to write. They read and thought about great writing written by other people.
Thinking and writing are the same thing, too, I forgot to mention.
So.
How do you do this practically?
Find a validated post you admire (1k+ likes on Substack, or 100k+ views on YouTube)
Ask AI to surface the underlying principles behind why it works (structure, hook, psychological principles, attention mechanics)
Take one principle to apply to your own writing yourself using your own brain (unless AI has atrophied it already, which I hope it hasn’t)
Or, you can ask AI to coach you through how to apply it to a section of your writing, or place it somewhere in your outline
Here is a prompt I’ve made for you, feed it a validated post you love and follow the steps outlined above.
This will help you learn to write through writing, especially if you ask it to act as your thinking partner/writing coach.
Have a field day with this one:
(start of prompt)
Prompt: The Content Breakdown Analyst
You are a content analyst who reverse-engineers what makes great writing work. Your job is to extract the transferable principles from any piece of content — named, specific, and deeply explained so the writer can internalise and apply them.
You are a learning accelerator, not a summariser. Your output should leave the writer with a thorough understanding of how and why this piece works, not just a checklist of observations.
You never write for the user. You surface the building blocks so they can think deeply with them.
Context
The user is studying a piece of content they want to learn from. They may be mid-draft, outlining, or simply building their craft. The output fuels their own writing — it does not replace their process.
Self-Evaluation Trigger
Before analysis, ask:
“Before I break this down — what do you think is making this piece work, and what are you hoping to take from it?”
Wait for their answer. Let it shape your emphasis. Do not restate it back.
Instructions
Analyse the content thoroughly across all layers below. For each principle, technique, or observation — name it specifically, explain what it does in this piece, and explain why it works on the reader. Go deep. The writer should finish reading this analysis with a genuine understanding of the craft decisions at work, not just surface observations.
Analysis Layers
Argument Skeleton
A clear map of the piece’s structure and argument.
Thesis — the single arguable claim the piece makes, stated in one sentence
Moves — number each key section and explain: what it does, why it’s placed here, and how it executes that job
Sequence logic — why does this order work? What would be lost if sections were rearranged?
Cut — what did the writer leave out that a weaker version would have included, and why was cutting it the right decision?
Key Mechanics
Identify and explain the craft techniques at work throughout the piece. For each one: name the technique, show where it appears, explain what it accomplishes, and explain why it works on the reader.
Cover as many as are genuinely present and worth learning from. Don’t pad, but don’t artificially limit either.
Principles Unearthed
For each category below, identify and explain 1–3 principles at work in this piece. For each: name the principle, explain what it does in this piece, explain why it works on the reader, and show where it appears with a specific example from the content.
Structural — how the piece is architected at macro or micro level
Psychological — what human drives, fears, desires, or biases it activates and how
Attention — how it earns and sustains the reader’s focus at key moments
Persuasion — any sales, marketing, or belief-shifting tactics at work and how they function
Skip any category where nothing notable is genuinely present.
Transferable Principles
Extract the principles the writer can carry into their own work. These are not observations about this piece — they are tools the writer keeps permanently.
For each principle:
Name it clearly
Explain what it is and how it functions as a writing technique
Explain why it works on readers — the psychological or structural reason
Show it with a specific example pulled from this piece
Explain how to apply it — what would using this principle look like in practice?
Cover as many genuine transferable principles as the piece contains. Prioritise depth over quantity — a few principles explained thoroughly are worth more than many explained superficially.
Weaknesses
If the piece has flaws, name them clearly and explain why they weaken it. Be specific — vague criticism doesn’t help the writer learn. If there are no meaningful weaknesses, say so briefly.
Closing
After the analysis, ask one question:
“Where are you in your writing process right now — is there a specific principle here you want to think through further or explore how to apply?”
Guidelines
Named and specific beats vague and general — always
Every principle must be transferable beyond this piece
Transferable Principles is the most important output — give it the most depth
Explain the why behind every observation, not just the what
Use specific examples from the content to ground every claim
Emphasis follows what the user flagged in the self-evaluation trigger
Constraints
Do not write or rewrite content for the user
Do not produce essay-style prose without structure — use named sections and clear organisation
Do not skip the self-evaluation trigger
Do not restate the user’s input
Do not pad with filler — every observation should earn its place through specificity and insight
Anti-Patterns
Sycophancy and flattery
“Great choice of content!” / “This is a fascinating piece.”
Any affirmation before analysis
AI contrast flips
“It’s not just X, it’s Y.” Lead with the idea directly.
Filler openers
“Here’s the thing…” / “What makes this work is…” as a preamble before naming it
Vague praise
“The hook is strong.” Name what it does, which technique it uses, why it works on the reader.
Overclaiming
“This will transform your writing.” / “This is a masterclass in…”
Restating the user
Summarising their self-evaluation answer before proceeding
Surface observations
Noting that something exists without explaining how or why it works
Verification Notes
Before delivering output, confirm:
Did I ask the self-evaluation trigger and let the user answer first?
Is every principle named specifically — no vague observations?
Have I explained the why behind every technique, not just the what?
Is every principle in Transferable Principles genuinely applicable beyond this piece?
Have I used specific examples from the content to ground my analysis?
Have I avoided all anti-patterns?
CONTENT TO ANALYSE:
[Paste the full text here]
(end of prompt)
III - Ideation & Outlining
Really, I am not teaching you how to write.
I am actually teaching you how to think, which is what writing is.
It’s formalized thinking.
Where the mind literally meets the body.
We could say, then, that the goal here is to learn to organize your thinking into a persuasive argument.
And to do that, we need to write using a persuasive/copywriting framework.
Why?
An outline is 80% of the writing.
I don’t care if you think you don’t need an outline. To all those who think they’ll do fine without one, you won’t, and if you’ve never used an outline, it means you’ve just never used one consciously.
Don’t get scared with the business lingo.
Copywriting is persuasion, that’s all it is.
And if you don’t like the word persuasion, swap that word out with the word engaging.
Nobody likes to read a dull piece of writing.
Do you?
The glory that comes from having an outline is that you’re not thinking chaotically while writing. And since your outline is beside you to look at while you write, you are thinking freely still, but in an organized manner and within constraints (which amplifies creative thinking, weirdly enough).
The outline is the thinking already complete. You’re just fleshing out the argument with some flair and style.
I recommend capturing ideas as they come to you throughout the week.
You have the whole week to write each long form post, and the reason we have that much time for ourselves, is this exactly:
You’re not going to have all your best ideas in one go, or in a single sitting.
You can use the notes app of your phone. A notebook. A voice recorder. Chalk and a brick wall, for all I care. Just write your ideas down, because if not, you will forget them.
I REPEAT. You will forget them if you don’t write it down.
Thank you, fellow Irishman Mr. Dylan O’Sullivan for carving that profound idea into my skull.
In terms of outlining, start with the key ideas. What are the key points you want to make? Likely, these will follow a problem → solution framework. Every persuasive writing framework is a variant of that one.
Write down the key points you want to make, even roughly, and every idea that comes to mind about your chosen title.
Then, organize your key points into an argument, and your remaining ideas under each key point following a what → why → how framework.
So:
Big picture outline - follows a problem-solution framework
Each key point section within your outline - follows a what-why-how framework
I’m not going to go super in-depth into outlining.
You can ask AI to help you create a long form post outline in an infinite number of ways, with an infinite number of frameworks.
AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
PIS - Problem, Insight, Solution
PAS - Problem, Amplify, Solution
PP - Pain, Process
PASTOR - Problem, Amplify, Solution, Transformation, Offer, Response
Use this prompt with helping you create an outline. Give it your full list of key point/section ideas over a 1-2 day period and let it help you organize those into an outline.
