Last week, David Meerman Scott provided a case study in writing & blogging success in his post, Entrenched Music Business Hates Free Content (Again) & Blasts Amanda Palmer.

Rarely, do we get an opportunity to peek behind a successful blog post and enjoy a candid, first-hand look at the writing habits of one of today’s top bestselling authors and speakers.

David’s books, including his Real Time Marketing & PR, have been translated into over 25 languages–from Bulgarian to Vietnamese.

Context

There are 3 background elements that you should know before we go further:

1. One of David’s passion is music. Indeed, one of his most impressive achievements was Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead, which he coauthored with Hubspot’s Bill Halligan. (See how this book broke the rules, but became a weekend bestseller.)
2. David teaches others how to become Newsjackers. Newsjacking is David Meerman Scott’s latest book. It describes how business owners can connect their story to breaking news stories in order to gain more impact. (See analysis and infographic.
3. David practices what he preaches. Most important, David doesn’t just teach Real Time PR and Newsjacking, he practices them, as he proved last week.

610-words, 37 comments

David’s post about Amanda Palmer went live at 5:00 AM ET last Thursday.

Within 15 minutes, his post began to elicit strong pro and con comments, many from professional musicians and music lovers who debated the legitimacy of Amanda Palmer’s decision not to pay her opening acts at live concerts.

I discovered David’s blog post when it was picked-up and recommended by portal sites, like Zite, an iPad app.

The pro and con comments picked-up in volume throughout the day. There were many fascinating opinions and detailed first-person experiences and perspectives.

David, as always, monitors comments and–in true Real Time Marketing & PR fashion–quickly responded to comments throughout the day.

I was fascinated by the passion and strength in David’s post, so I decided to ask him a simple question:

How long does it take him to write a blog post about a newsworthy event that becomes its own momentum-building news?

As always, he quickly responded.

David’s response

Here are the key points:

• Timeline. The post began when he turned on his computer at 4:00 AM ET and discovered notifications of the Amanda Palmer story sent by members of his network.
• Writing time. He “dropped everything” and spent about an hour writing and editing the post. (In his words, research, draft, and edit). The post contain 615 strong, carefully chosen words.
• Takeaway. What’s David’s secret–other than experience? David credits his passion for the topic for his ability to respond in Real Time to a breaking news story.

In his words:

Whenever I have an idea that must be told, I write quickly. My book “Newsjacking” was written in one month. Granted, it is short (about 12,000 words if I recall) but that’s quite quick — all because I had an idea that *needed* to be told.

David’s Amanda Palmer blog post teaches numerous lessons about successful writing and blogging. I encourage you to carefully read it, plus the comments and responses that follow.

But, the key takeaway is this, What’s the story that YOU *need* to tell?

Perhaps–if you’re having trouble writing with strength, conviction, and speed–maybe it’s because you haven’t identified the story that you **need** to tell!

If so, I’d like to help you discover your story. David’s story reminds me of my first book, Looking Good in Print: A Guide to Basic Design for Desktop Publishing. It was the story I had to tell. What’s yours? Use my online form to tell me about your story and your passion.