Write Like A New York Times Best Seller

So you just joined Chris Brogan's Blog Topics Master Class and you're somewhat apprehensive. More than likely you experienced a few moments of indecision before joining.  Afterwards you probably had some level of buyer’s remorse. At some point you may have even thought you would live to regret this.

It's A Thin Line, Between Like and Like.

But then you are mentioned in the group by Chris. All of a sudden you are the main subject of a group of people that 'like' you.  You began to feel more comfortable, but still have questions.  Questions like: “If they 'like' you, why don't they 'friend' you?” Are you too late to the party?  Has everything already been discussed?  Everyone seems to be rocking along and you didn't even get a chance to see the guy drawing the circles on the board!  Regret is slowly being replaced by resignation.  The resignation that you are going to have to make an effort to figure out what you bought. Spending time in the group might help, so you log in to Facebook and visit the group.

Trolling For Scholars

After a few laps around the group threads, you figure you'd better at least introduce yourself. You wouldn't want to be considered a stalker or troll before you even got started. You find the thread with your name in it and start reading. You see a couple of warm hellos, a few “glad you're here's”, and a couple of tips.  You also noticed some warnings about a few team members from some of the other team members. "Thanks for the welcome!" you say, and begin the task of trying to find your bearings. It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. And where the hell is this Brogan guy?  How are you supposed to learn how to write like Chris Brogan, when he's very rarely here?  Most of the time, the only thing you see from him is an email on Sunday mornings. And why did you get a discount just for subscribing to a free newsletter?

This Ain't Your Momma's Writing Class

Allow me to give you a 'How To" on figuring some of this out. You can count on it being as short as possible. Although helpful, it won't be about how to use find, search, and replace to count specific words. You should know how to do that if you are enrolled in a writing class. It's about writing like a New York Times Best Seller, or at least one of them.

• Open one of the emails you've received from Chris. 
• Count the number of times you find these words. "I, Me, Mine". We are looking for these because we are looking to see how many times Chris draws attention to himself.  In my email the total is 36. 
• Now count the number of times Chris uses these words "You, Yours, Us, And We.  These are the words Chris is using when he is focusing on the reader... or YOU.  The total for these words is 119.
• Do the math.

'Splain It To ME Some More Please 

The lessons aren't about the group. The lessons aren't about Chris.  If you think the lessons are about YOU, then you're right! But only if you're name is Chris Brogan. It's one of them reverse parallel universe deals. All of it, everything there, the total focus in the class is on one thing.
The Audience.

That's The Way...Uh Huh Uh Huh...We Like It...Uh Huh Uh Huh

Whether he does it because that’s the way he is, or because he plans it that way, I can’t say.  I ain't him.  He ain't me. I do know it’s consistent with what he teaches though.

And that's how you write like Chris Brogan, New York Times Best Seller

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial.  I've explained it to the best of my ability using what I've learned so far.

Go ahead.  Count the I,Me,My, Mine, You, Yours, US, and We words in this article!