Nathan Baugh

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

In light of Sanderson’s Apple TV deal I’d like to remind you one of the best selling authors in the world has 17+ hours of free lectures on writing and storytelling on youtube:

-> Brandon Sanderson
-> Playlists
-> Writing Lectures (2025)

An insane amount of value.

I’ll share my notes on the class this weekend: https://lnkd.in/gXaqKe2u

Ghostwriter. Exploring the art and science of storytelling. Debut fantasy novel sometime ~soon.

Turned 30, hiked the Inca Trail, went to two great friends’ wedding in Lima, and finalized the cover of my debut novel. What a month.

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After my freshman year, I did freelance writing to the tune of $0.04 per word. I'm a horrendously slow writer -- I like to take my time with each sentence, it's a habit I've tried to break for years -- and the clients were the sketchiest sites you can imagine.

The experience taught me you can't make good money as a writer, that writing is a commodity paid for by the word. A dream killer.

I could not have been more wrong.

When we moved to Madrid, someone liked my tweets and asked how much I charged for writing. Without a clue, I told him $2k per month. I made up this number. It felt like a loonshot.

He said sure sounds good, and I worked for his agency for the next year. Eventually, I went out on my own, and his advice was basically charge a lot more.

So I did, and today ghostwriting makes up about 60% of my revenue -- the rest comes from newsletter ads and info product sales.

Are there ups and downs? Absolutely. But I'm more convinced than ever now's the best time in history to be a writer. There's demand for the work, and there's non-gate kept access to distribution and knowledge.

***

My friend Nicolas Cole taught me more about this world than just about anybody. His ship30 program changed my life, and his PGA is incredible for anybody thinking about ghostwriting as a business or side gig.

They're doing a free masterclass tomorrow on nailing your client's voice. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/eKQ-E67v

It's my favorite part of ghostwriting because it's the most like fiction writing. Essentially, I create a character for each client and part of my editing process is, "Would this character actually write / say this?"

If yes, it's good to go. If not, then back to the chopping block.

A friend asked me what metric his company isn’t measuring about their linkedin activity but should be.

I could tell he expected me to pull out some obscure metric but instead I simply told him number of posts per month.

Everyone tracks impressions, followers, leads, etc etc

But those are all outputs. The only input is the post, of which volume and quality are the only things that matter.

Quality is an intuition thing, but volume is a number. 

More volume, almost always good.

Decided I’m taking my own advice. Gonna post here more often, even off the cuff like this.

Aiming for 5x per week.

Here’s a collection of the 10 best books I read in 2025 — probably the most eclectic mix you’ll see:

In no particular order.

1. The Inner Compass by Lawrence Yeo
2. The entire Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruocchio
3. The Pathless Path by Paul Millerd
4. Mists of Avalon by Marion Bradley
5. You Can Just Do Things by Jay Yang
6. Persians by Lloyd Jones
7. Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk
8. The Sword of Kaigen by ML Wang
9. Hyperion by Dan Simmons
10. East of Eden by Steinbeck

Tried to read very little business books given I consume that content all day. What’d you read? What’d you enjoy?

The fact Randall Wallace is casually on linkedin teaching screenwriting and storytelling with examples from his incredible career is the most underappreciated wonder of this site.

This morning I got to read the novel Tommy Clark’s working on and I regret to inform you he’s as good a fiction writer as he is on the internet.

I ghostwrite content for your brand while you can focus on your business | 900+ followers on 𝕏 (Aka Twitter)

You don't need a personal brand.

You need a freedom brand.

A brand that works for you while you enjoy vacation with your loved ones.

Sounds impossible, right?

It’s absolutely possible.

It comes down to these 3 things:

• Creating the right content.
• Attracting the right people who can buy.
• Positioning yourself as the expert in your industry.

In the past 330 days on LinkedIn, I’ve:

• Attracted over 20 leads.
• Grown to over 3546 followers.
• Generated over 382,265 impressions.

Here’s how I can help you:

Create content that brings the right people to your profile.
Revamp your profile's designs that make you look premium.
Design content visuals that make your brand unforgettable.

And with that, you get freedom.

Freedom to work with anyone.
Freedom to see your parents often.
Freedom to wake up when you want.
Freedom to go on a vacation on Monday.
Freedom to spend most time with your kids.
Freedom to spend more time with your partner.
Freedom to go to the gym on Tuesday noon.
Freedom to decide when you want to work.
Freedom to take a walk at 3 pm in nature.
Freedom to play golf on Wednesday.
Freedom to work from anywhere.

What’s next?

Just drop me a message with the word “CD” and let’s get to work.

Zayden N

“LinkedIn is not working for me.” 

Because you’re tracking the wrong things.

Troll comments.
Algorithm changes.
The “best time to post.”
Who engages with you.

None of that is in your hands.

You know what is?

Showing up every day.
Writing content that helps others.
Building relationships, not just followers.
Starting conversations that go beyond “nice post.”
Responding to comments like you care.
Having an actual point of view.
Making it clear what you do.

Still, most people won't do this. 

They’ll keep blaming LinkedIn.
They'll keep checking their notifications.
They’ll keep waiting for some magic to happen. 

LinkedIn isn’t out to get you.

Focus on what you can control and let go of what you can’t.

- - -

P.S. What's your biggest LinkedIn distraction?

LinkedIn content + design for founders who want to close more deals | Helped a CEO hit 10k+ followers in 122 days

Every week, executives tell me why they can't post online. 

Yet they spend millions on ads for attention they could get for free.

Here's what I tell them:

1/ “I’ve built a solid business offline. Why do I need to post online?”

Because attention is shifting online. That's where your next customers are. Online visibility = leverage.

2/ “I can't be consistent. My business needs me.” 

You don't need to post daily. You need to stay visible. Batch content once a month. Outsource the writing. Just don't disappear completely. 

3/ “I'm not a content guy. I run a company.” 

Exactly. Your insights hit harder because you actually run something. You just need to start sharing them. 

4/ “I have a marketing team. Isn't that their job?” 

You are the brand. People follow you, not your company's page. Your voice carries more weight than any ad they'll ever run.

5/ “Everyone's stories are more interesting than mine.” 

You don't need a rags-to-riches story. Share how you handled your worst month in business. How you handled a difficult client. Your angle is what makes it interesting. 

6/ “My space is boring - no one cares about what I do.” 

Your industry might be “boring.” But your perspective isn't. Talk about the people you help. The mistakes you see. The lessons you learn. That's what people remember. 

7/ “What if my clients see my content and judge me?” 

They will. And that's good. The right clients will respect you more. The wrong ones will filter themselves out.

Your sales team makes 100 calls to book 5 meetings. 

Your post gets seen by 5,000 decision-makers while you sleep.

Do the math.

I’ve written over 350+ posts so far on LinkedIn.

That’s:

350 ideas.
350 lessons.
350 attempts.

But most people give up on their 3rd.

Codie Sanchez.
Alex Hormozi.
Justin Welsh.

None of them had clarity on day one.

They wanted to quit too.

Go back to the world they came from, the safe, familiar one.

But did they?

Progress is almost invisible in the beginning.

But it compounds.

350 reps doesn’t mean I’ve made it.

I’m not even close.

There are days I feel like quitting.

But I show up anyway.

So if you're in the middle of something hard… 

Learning a skill.
Building a business.
Creating something from nothing.

And it feels pointless right now…

Good.

That’s where most people leave.

Stick around.

It will all be worth it.

What school taught me about writing:

Avoid starting with “And” or “But.”
Don’t leave things open-ended.
The more words, the better.
Write long sentences.
Explain everything.
Use fancy words.
Sound formal.

What I learned from 3 years of writing on the Internet:

Write like you’re talking to a friend.
Give your text some whitespace.
Open loops in reader’s mind.
Start with “And” or “But.”
Use simple language.
Use short sentences.
Format your text.
Clear > Clever.

In short,

Aim for skimmability.
Aim for readability.
Aim for brevity.

Writing on the internet is a whole nother game.

Make your content easier to read and engage with.

Most people aren't actually building anything.

They've got strategy docs.
Content calendars.
Big goals.

They say they're building.

But:

They haven't shipped.
They haven't tested.
They haven't sold.
They haven't led.

They do everything but execute.

And then wonder why it’s not working.

Momentum lives in the boring stuff.

Build > Wait
Build > Draft
Build > Copy
Build > Hope
Build > Panic
Build > Pause
Build > Gossip
Build > Browse
Build > Compare
Build > Brainstorm

You won't feel ready. 
You won't have all the answers. 
You won't know what you're doing.

But build anyway.

- - -

P.S. What are you building?

I’ve written thousands of posts for myself and my clients. 

And one thing is clear: 

Great content isn’t an accident. 

Every post that performs follows a formula.

And that formula starts with asking the right questions.

I don’t hit publish until it’s a “yes” to these 9 questions:

1/ Is it easy to understand?
2/ Is it written in an active voice?
3/ Is there a clear call-to-action (CTA)?
4/ Have I removed any unnecessary fluff?
5/ Does it have a hook that stops the scroll?
6/ Does it have a confident, authoritative tone?
7/ Is it formatted for easy skimming and readability?
8/ Does it reflect the author's personality & perspective?
9/ Are there bullet points to break up the text (if relevant)?

This winning formula has helped me create content that resonates and drives results.

Creating content is like training in the gym. 
You don’t lift once and expect results.

You track progress. 
You refine your approach. 
You improve over time.

That’s how you create content that demands attention and drives results.

- - -

P.S. Do you use CTA in your posts?

taplio

The Battle

Nathan Baugh

Zayden N

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Performance ScoreNathan Baugh's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Nathan Baugh

Zayden N

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Nathan Baugh's LinkedIn Performance

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Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreNathan Baugh's LinkedIn Performance