Great Books Distilled: Summaries of Bestselling Business and Investing Books

Bonus: Snow Leopard: How Legendary Writers Create a Category Of One | Nicolas Cole, Author and Co-Founder of Category Pirates

Sep 9, 2023

Nicolas Cole, one of the internet's most-read writers, shares insights on category creation, the importance of finding a unique niche, and the myth of views as the sole measure of success. They discuss transitioning from service-based to software-style businesses, the Ship 30 for 30 consistent writing challenge, and the progression from level three to level four thinking in content creation. They also explore competing on differentiation, the concept of demand creation, and strategies for category creation.

01:20:17

Creator website

Episode guests

Nicolas Cole

AI Summary

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

The content pyramid consists of four levels, with each level focusing on a different aspect of content creation: consumption, curation, making obvious connections, and making non-obvious connections.

When creating content, it is important to prioritize impact over vanity metrics or sales, and to challenge conventional wisdom in order to make a significant and lasting impact.

Developing a unique point of view and questioning existing ideas in a specific field are crucial for category creation, allowing creators to differentiate themselves and cater to niche audiences with real value and monetization potential.

Deep dives

Level One: Consumption

Level one of the content pyramid is focused on consumption, where individuals primarily consume content without actively creating or curating it. This level involves being aware of the digital game, understanding the role of one's social profile as an avatar, and recognizing the importance of actively participating in the online world.

Acid Tests for Content Free Content

01:20

Create a Different Kind of Party

02:01

Content Strategy and Audience Size

00:45

How to Encourage People to Develop and Hone a Point of View

01:20

Introduction

2min

Transitioning from Service-Based to Software-Style Businesses

8min

Ship 30 for 30: Consistent Writing Challenge

10min

Competing with Differentiation

24min

Level Four Thinking and Non-Obvious Connections

20min

The Myth of Views as the Sole Measure of Success

10min

Moving from Competing on Better to Category Creation

4min

Guest's Writing Course, Social Media Promotion, and Preview of Upcoming Episodes

2min

“Writers without niches are starving artists. Because again, they’re just competing in these massive competitions. Writers with niches are category kings.” — Nicolas Cole Nicolas Cole shares the lessons he’s learned as one of the internet’s most-read writers, including why he’s fascinated with reverse engineering written work—from James Patterson novels to Twitter threads—into templates writers can use, why all great writing changes the reader, why his superpower is his ability to endure boring things for longer than others, and so much more. EPISODE GUIDE AND TRANSCRIPT https://www.outlieracademy.com/episode/140 WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5QJhLoabFV1ZZfgVIIWmGqjKzbhe0N7o CHAPTERS (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:07:37) - Service Businesses, Linear vs Infinite Scaling, and Picking a Bag of Problems (00:10:02) - Ship 30 for 30 and Finding Your Niche (00:17:01) - The Origin Story of Category Pirates and Snow Leopard (00:20:13) - Category Creation, Competition, and Being Different vs Better (00:28:48) - Content-Free Content and Blinding Glimpses of the Obvious (00:35:34) - The Content Pyramid: Levels One, Two, and Three (00:49:44) - The Content Pyramid: Level Four (Making Non-Obvious Connections) (00:55:32) - Debunking Common Myths About Writing and Category Creation (01:04:10) - The Difference Between More Views and More Dollars (01:11:37) - What is Category Creation? (01:14:27) - How to Create a Category: Weird Problem + Weird Solution ABOUT THE BOOK Snow Leopard: How Legendary Writers Create A Category Of One by Category Pirates (Nicolas Cole, Christopher Lochhead, and Eddie Yoon) shares why all legendary writers who stand the test of time create a category of one. In decades past, David Ogilvy, Gary Halbert, Leo Burnett, Gary Bencivenga, Al Ries & Jack Trout, and many more master communicators have all written about the psychology behind how messages spread. Snow Leopard builds on their work with dozens of new insights and frameworks, and brings category creation and design into the digital age. 💌 FREE NEWSLETTER https://newsletter.outlieracademy.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more