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Hey,

Ghostwriting agency is expected to grow to USD 2.23 Billion by 2030. And you will see, a lot of people are trying to enter this ghostwriting industry.

The term ghostwriting was first invented by Christy Walsh in 1921.

But in the modern era, if you ask me about Ghostwriting then the name which always pops us in my mind is none other than the man behind world biggest writing education business. Welcome today’s featured creator, internet famous

Nicolas Cole

Creator Spotlight:

Nicolas Cole began his online writing career at the age of 17 with a gaming blog focused on World of Warcraft. In 2007, he was one of the highest-ranked players in North America and attracted over 10,000 daily readers.

After that he completed his education at Columbia College Chicago. And graduated in 2013 with a degree in Fiction writing, and got a job as an entry-level copywriter at a boutique advertising agency downtown Chicago

Cole started writing on quora with 1 quora answers daily. And soon in 2015 he was the #1 most-read writer on all of Quora.

But his journey with Ghostwriting started in 2017, after living his fulltime job.

After working with top founders and agency owners, In 2021, he started 3 new businesses:

1. Ship 30 for 30, a cohort-based writing program with Dickie Bush;

2. Typeshare, a SaaS platform for digital writers with Sam Shore and Dickie;

3. Category Pirates, a paid newsletter & category design consultancy with Eddie Yoon & Christopher Lochhead.

How did he grow his email list?

A. Educational email courses as lead magnets

No one gives anything for free, specially when it comes to their email. So, you’ve to offer them something valuable which should be more than other’s paid stuff and in exchange without any friction they will give their emails.

Nicolas Cole has built two 5 days EEC where he taught about writing online and ghostwriting.

After that he has built the trust and start sending weekly newsletters.

In 2025, EEC is the best lead magnet you can make.

B. Deep industry knowledge:

Nicolas cole has a wide knowledge of the industry, as he is writing from the age of 17.

So people easily trust him and think of him as the person who knows it all. And that’s why it is easy to get people in his email list.

C. Omichannel presence

I myself is active on

• LinkedIn

• Twitter

• Youtube

• Instagram and

• newsletter

But, as a solo business owner I find it so difficult to manage it all alone.

The same goes with Nicolas Cole he is active on Instagram, YouTube and X.

Two long-form Threads/LI posts per week.

On X, he add his free EEC as a helpful resource and lead magnet which helps him drive more people

How Nicolas makes money using email

Special mention → 20-Email Sequence

After the 5 days EEC, Nicolas cole starts his 20 email sequence.

You can check the medium blog where Ismael mentioned about the 20 days email sequence or if you want to quickly look into this

Here is how it look like:

1. Pitch

2. The story

3. Problem and solution

4. Social proof

5. Value proposition

6. Objection handling

7. Offer

8. Urgency & scarcity

9. Case Study

10. FAQ

11. Testimonial

12. Bonus

13. Reminder 1

14. Reminder 2

15. Last chance

16. Reengagement

17. Thank you

18. Upsell

19. Follow up

20. Feedback

I joined his EEC just to understand the pattern, and yeah that’s how he built his million dollar business.

Paid subscription

He runs two paid newsletters. Write with AI and Category Pirates but he quitted the later one.

And the monthly pay is showed below ⤵

Sponsor deals

Nicolas cole gets brand partnerships which helps him monetize his email newsletter.

But again, we’ve to remember that we generally use email in 2 ways either as newsletter or marketing emails to sell our services.

Nicolas mostly uses his emails to leverage the email list to make money by seling his courses/cohort

Key takeaways

After reading his emails, and following him for last 1 years. Here are the takeaways I’ve:

1. Sending more emails doesn’t mean you’re spamming. But, it increases the sales.

2. Give a lot of value and that will be become a people magnet.

3. Write everyday without fail, With a schedule.

Thanks for reading 71st of Dark Chocolate.

So I will see you the next week at 10:00 AM sharp.

Till then, byeeee.

Your “email guy” Anirban.

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