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Reading habit improves writing by 43% (research-backed)
Womenpreneur
thGuardian of the Enchanted
February 25, 2025
🕊️
Why your reading habit determines your writing success
Dear Beloved Reader,
That night, she dreamed of a magical library. 📚✨
Books flew open. Pages whispered secrets.
"Your words can only be as rich as what you feed your mind," one journal told her.
Penelope woke with clarity. She needed a plan of action.
She cleared her schedule. No more random reading and consumption. Instead, she created a content diet:
Mornings: Three newsletters from six-figure creators
Lunch: One chapter on persuasive writing
Evenings: One podcast on storytelling techniques
When she wrote again, magic happened. Her fingers flew. Ideas connected. Stories flowed.
Her subscriber count tripled in one week. Then, a reader offered to pay for premium content, that she had’t even created yet.
But she had understood that her subscribers wanted more from her.
The difference? She stopped consuming randomly and started consuming strategically.
Lesson: Plan Your Content Diet
Most people consume content like they're at an all-you-can-eat buffet. A little of this. A lot of that. Nothing planned.
Great writers are different. They choose their influences deliberately.
Save your best podcasts and books and have a dummy account from your favorite newsletters to be able to narrow your focus.
The Research
Writers who plan their reading improve writing persuasiveness by 43% over 12 weeks (Journal of Applied Psychology).
My Bold Take
Stop consuming whatever appears in your feed.
Start planning what enters your mind.
I made a rule: For every newsletter I write, I read three newsletters from masters (including this one you're reading now).
My open rates jumped from 23% to 51% in five weeks.
Your Next Step
This week:
Choose three newsletters to read weekly (including this one!), using a separate dummy email address, away from distractions.
Pick one book on your industry to read for 15 minutes daily
Select one podcast about your industry to consume on the go.
Write it down. Schedule it. Follow through.
Become a better writer. Become a better creator.
With magic and wisdom,
The Guardian of the Enchanted 🕊️
Next week: The ancient practice of "copywork" and how it transforms your writing overnight.