Stop Censoring Your Real Voice If You Want People To Actually Care
Niche & Voice Masterclass #3
A few months ago, I came across
here on Substack.Here’s an example of her writing.
What stands out to you about her?
I’ll go first.
Megan writes like someone texting their best friend.
Megan has this lovable, whimsical vibe about her.
Megan’s work gets DEEP a lot of times.
Megan is not afraid to be vulgar.
I love Megan because nobody—literally nobody—on Substack writes like her. Why? Is she the only person who writes like this on earth? Obviously not.
But she IS the only person who writes like this publicly on Substack.
And she IS the only person who marries whimsical energy with profundity so naturally.
Megan’s reading this and going “Tom, did you just describe my work with the word profundity?”
You’re gosh darn right I did Megan, because I refuse to cockblock my own energy!
Let’s talk about Megan for a second.
Megan Writes Fearlessly
Let’s be honest.. How many of us write like we ACTUALLY text? I don’t. I’m a little ridiculous when I text my brother. You all are not ready to see that level of unhinged from me.
But also, it kind of terrifies me to show that part of myself in public.
Megan doesn’t have that fear. She just, shows up as 100% of herself. It’s really brave, actually.
“But Tom, she just used the word ‘cockblock’ in a note!”
So? That’s brave as hell. Would you do that? Exactly.
But then Megan also writes articles like this one:
It kind of breaks my brain how someone can be so whimsical in their writing, yet so deep and vulnerable at the same time.
That’s what makes Megan stand apart. She shows us ALL the sides of herself, fearlessly, in her writing.
It’s the fact that she does both so well that’s fascinating. You might mistake her whimsicality for superficiality, but in reality her writing hits with the emotional weight of Thor’s Hammer.
And that’s what’s surprising about her. She does both so f*cking well. She’s a paradox. It’s a sight to behold watching Megan at the top of her game.
You don’t have to love Megan’s style. It’s okay if you don’t. But the thing is.. saying something like that after showing you Megan’s work kind of shows she’s doing something right.
If someone reads your work, and they feel NOTHING—no laughter, anger, inspiration, or even disgust—you’re doing something wrong.
The fact I feel the need to say “you don’t have to love Megan’s style” means she’s absolutely nailed her voice.
Megan’s Not For Everyone, And That’s Okay
Will people dislike Megan’s style? For sure! And that’s okay. You can have your own opinion about it.
But that’s actually a good thing.
The people who love Megan’s style REALLY love it, and the folks who dislike it were never part of her target audience anyway.
Staying radically true to your voice, therefore, does two amazing things:
It attracts your target audience like a tractor beam.
It repels folks who aren’t your target audience like “Off!” does to mosquitos.
And the more radically true to yourself you are with your own voice, the stronger it attracts and repels audiences.
It’s a natural filter! And to use it, all you have to do is be yourself online.
Megan Is 1 Of 1
The most important part of this, though, is that Megan’s voice helps her immediately stand out in this saturated sea of Substackers.
If you placed Megan’s writing against anybody else’s, and took out the author names on the posts, I could tell you which post is Megan’s 99.9% of the time.
That’s the power of a strong voice. People just know it’s you immediately.
Imagine Quentin Tarantino made a movie that never got released, and a clip from that movie got posted on Youtube for you to see. Watching it, you’d probably say something like “Is this Tarantino?”
Because his style is so distinct that you can recognize it immediately.
His style IS his branding. It’s not just what he’s trying to say in his movies, or what he typically makes movies about..it’s that his style sets him apart because he is so radically different from everyone else.
Take me, for example. I’ll be the first to admit, my writing can be cocky sometimes. I say what I mean with authority. I capitalize words for emphasis. I like to string together a few short sentences in succession for emphasis.
What I write is what I feel, 100 percent, and I think that’s served me very well in my creative career. I say what I mean exactly the way I want to say it.
I think Megan does the same. There is no holding back from her. Tarantino is the same, too. He doesn’t care if audiences don’t like explicit gore.
He just puts it into his movies anyway.
There’s a really powerful lesson about branding there, and it matches up with everything we’ve talked about so far in this “Niche & Voice” masterclass I’m giving you this July..
The best way to stand out is to just be radically yourself.
It sounds so basic, but so few of us are really brave enough to do it.
I’m not brave enough to write publicly like I text. I mean, it’s close, but it’s definitely not 100% there.
To me, effective branding is often more about being brave than being strategic.
Mistakes Most Writers Make With Their Voice
Many creators hide their personality in their writing. This is a death sentence if you want to grow a following. Without a personality, you’re dead in the water and nothing can save you.
It doesn’t matter if you write genuinely life-changing stuff. If there’s zero personality or emotion in the words, nobody will care.
People are scared. I get that.
It’s terrifying to be your whole self online, because you might attract haters.
Here’s the thing, though: Seeing haters in the comments most likely means you’re doing something right.
A very wise woman once told me “The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference.”
We don’t want indifference when folks read our words. We want a reaction. Now, we don’t want to be provocative just to be provocative either, but we also don’t want to censor ourselves.
So playing it safe in your writing is literally an express ticket to obscurity. Nothing will get you there faster, unfortunately.
That’s why I’m spending a whole month focusing on Voice! I’m trying to help you reverse this HUGE mistake!
Ready to Find And Use Your Signature Voice?
Are you sick of bleaching your own voice online?
Not showing up—100 percent—as yourself?
One of my favorite things about my new IdentitySmith tool is that it automatically detects your true voice.
Here's how it works:
You have a 20-minute conversation about your biggest life stories
It analyzes how you naturally write (not how you think you should)
Shows you exactly why your authentic voice works for your specific audience
It will, 100 percent, surprise you.
Talking to a personal branding chatbot is different from publishing your words publicly online. It gets a really authentic view of your voice this way, because you’re not censoring yourself.
Then it shows you HOW and WHY your authentic voice can fit within your niche and appeal to your audience, step-by-step.
It’s pretty darn magical.
Sign up for a free trial here to get 3 credits, or 3 messages, you can send to the IdentitySmith.
Fair warning: 3 credits will give you a taste, but to get the full IdentitySmith experience, you’ll need more credits.
Become a paid subscriber to this publication for $20/month or $160/year to get 50 monthly credits to use the IdentitySmith, NoteSmith, TitleSmith, and all my AI tools in the Writing Long Game Lab. 50 credits is plenty to get the full IdentitySmith experience right now.
I am with Megan!! We have turned to a neutered self censored people. We are not embracing truth. For me if you are not embracing truth and not censoring yourself then why are you writing for to be published?
Great post, Tom, thank you! I'm heading over to check Megan out.