Nathan Baugh

World Builders

Founder / Writer

Senior Consultant

Clemson University

Tutor

Teach For America

Accelerate Fellow

Consultant → writer. I study the best storytellers ever and share with you what I learn. Writing fiction and writing to 77K storytellers every Saturday. Join us 👇

Founder

Roast my potential book covers. 

What do you like? What don't you like? Which would get you to pick it up off the shelf?

Ghostwriter. Exploring the art and science of storytelling. Debut fantasy novel this fall. Building something new.

A few years ago, I went to a $15 open mic in Austin. First comedy show I’d seen.

Dude gets on stage. The crowd goes nuts. It’s Shane Gillis, one of the most popular comedians in the world.

He pulls out a notebook and a pen, grabs the mic, and starts telling jokes.

When the crowd gives one of those loud, genuine laughs, he jots down a note. When the crowd looks at each other, confused, he jots down a note. When the crowd stares at him, expecting more, he jots down a note.

You get the idea. He’s testing jokes. Making a note of what’s connecting and, even more importantly, what’s not.

Then, I imagine, he cuts or changes the parts that don’t connect. Tests them again another night. And repeats the process until the joke, his story, is tight and compelling throughout.

He made me realize:

This is how you can treat Storytelling, too.

Your story is flexible. You can constantly test, get feedback, improve, repeat. Like Shane, what you’re looking for is moments of connection:

- Your boss starts nodding along.
- Someone leans forward in their chair.
- Your beta reader leaves a great comment.
- There’s a spark of interest in your partner’s eye.

You get the idea. You’re searching for that visceral reaction in your audience. When you see it, you double down.

Stories are iterative.

I've created 2 new landing pages over the last 6 months. One converts horribly while the other converts incredibly well. Some weird stats:

- The horrible converting one is priced at $99.
- The incredibly well converting one is priced at $499.

The obvious answer is an audience mismatch -- people expect story related stuff from me, not 'grow your writing business.'

Sure that matters but let's be real not a <1% to 18%+ jump.

So what's the difference?

Very simply -- I ran the second LP through 🇺🇦 Eddie Shleyner's entire Transformational Landing Pages training... and haven't put that effort into the first.

One idea that -- in my opinion -- made the biggest difference:

Fascinations

Eddie says a fascination is "any sentence designed to conjure intense curiosity and compel action, in that order."

Capture the attention, then direct it.

I loved the idea. Loved the entire course.

Eddie's running a crazy BFCM sale. From $999 to $249.

This is my affiliate code, which I'm proud to share: https://lnkd.in/gbKDPAqr

Hands down the most effective course I've taken all year. If you'd like your landing pages to convert more people, it is a no brainer.

PS. Here's the LP that actually converts: https://lnkd.in/gZwScNBr

LinkedIn constantly shocks me how helpful people are. So many people took time to share great feedback on the covers for my novel.

Thank you thank you thank you.

To keep up w the project - just monthly notes - plop your email here for the waitlist: https://lnkd.in/gTeaFfwE

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