What should I write for my first paid note? The 3 criteria I decided on after coming up with 10 candidates while having 0 characters written

*This article was originally written as the fifth installment of the 200-yen series.

However, I realized it on the 19th at 2:00 PM after publishing it on July 17, 2026, at 4:48 PM.

It had become free. I did it again.

But in less than two days, it got 248 views and 104 likes. Thank you. It grew at a monstrous rate (lol).

So, for those who are wondering what to write for their first paid note, it might be better to have people read it for free first.

That's what I thought, so I decided to leave it as it is for free.

I was taking notes on potential themes for a paid note in front of my computer.

Monetizing note.

How to increase followers.

How to write sentences.

How to use ChatGPT.

My own failure stories.

Every time I wrote one down,

"This might also be useful"

I thought, and added another one.

Before I knew it, there were about 10 candidates.

But the note editing screen was completely blank.

There were 10 theme candidates.

The article had 0 characters.

Only the planning meeting was going well.

I am the only participant.

Since it was the first one, I was trying to write about a grand theme.

Because it's my first paid note, I want to put out something proper.

If possible, I want content that is useful to many people.

I want a theme that might sell for a slightly higher price.

I want an article that makes the reader think,

This person is knowledgeable.

That is what I was thinking.

That is what I was thinking.

Therefore, the themes I chose also became grand.

How to make an income with note.

How beginners can sell paid notes.

How to turn your own experience into a product.

None of these are bad.

However, when I tried to start writing, I didn't know where to begin.

For example,

I try typing the title,

How beginners can sell paid notes.

Then, underneath that,

How to decide on a theme for your posts.

The reader's mindset.

The article title.

The price.

The free and paid sections.

The announcement after publication.

A variety of topics become necessary.

When you create one heading,
the headings needed to explain it increase as well.

I intended to write one article,
but the table of contents alone looked like it could become a course.

I still have 0 characters written in the main text.

The preparation alone was quite impressive.

The more I looked for themes that seemed like they would sell, the further I drifted from myself.

At first, I

thought it was better to choose themes that would sell
rather than what I wanted to write about.

Even if you write about things readers don't want to know,
it's hard to get them to buy it.

This remains the same even now.

However,

when I only thought about

"what might sell,"
I gradually drifted away from my own experiences.

How to make 100,000 yen a month with paid notes.

How to sell high-priced products even with few followers.

How to sell many copies in a short period.

Even things I haven't achieved myself end up on the list of candidates.

Certainly, there seem to be people who would be interested.

But I cannot write about them in my own words.

Even if I could line up the information I researched,

where I got lost,

what I tried,

where I failed,

and what I learned from that.

I cannot write about these things.

If I did, the meaning of me writing it would be diminished.

It felt like I would just be gathering information written by someone else and reading it out in order.

I narrowed it down to just a small question and published a 200-yen note

That was when I set the big theme aside for a moment.

What I chose instead was,

"How much should I price a paid note?"

a small question like that.

I myself,

whether to make it 100 yen,

or 200 yen.

Is 500 yen okay?

I was really struggling with it.

I opened the pricing screen and entered 100 yen.

But,

I thought, "I put so much effort into writing this, isn't it too cheap?"

and changed it to 500 yen.

Then,

I thought, "Is 500 yen too expensive for a first article?"

and changed it back again.

I decided on a price, changed it back, then decided again and changed it back.

It was quite a long meeting just about the price.

But since it was something I actually struggled with,

I wrote about why I struggled,

what criteria I used to think about it,

and what the difference is between 100 yen, 200 yen, and 500 yen,

all in my own words.

This is not everything about monetizing note.

It is also not everything about how to sell paid notes.

It is only about the price.

When I saw the purchase email, one of my criteria crumbled.

Even after publishing that 200-yen note,
honestly, I didn't have high expectations.

It is a short article.

If you look for similar information,
you might be able to find it for free.

"I guess it won't sell with just this much content after all."

Thinking that, I checked my email.

Then, I received a purchase notification from note.

One copy.

It didn't sell dozens of copies.

Even so, when I saw that email,
one of the criteria I had arbitrarily created collapsed.

You don't have to explain the entire big theme.

You don't need to have amazing achievements.

If you can provide your own answer to a single question, there will be people who read it.

It was one copy that made me realize that.

From there,

"The 5-minute solution paid note series"

I thought I would try making.

The first theme is to look for things that I myself was confused about a little while ago

Right now,

"What can I teach others?"

I am trying not to think from that perspective.

For me, this question was too big.

When I started thinking about it,

I have no track record.

I am not an expert.

I am not knowledgeable enough to teach others.

All I could come up with were things I lacked.

Instead,

what was I confused about and what stopped me in my tracks a little while ago?

I will start thinking from here.

I didn't know how to price a paid note.

I didn't know where to cut off the free section.

I didn't know how many characters were needed to make it a paid post.

I was unsure whether to keep articles that didn't sell.

Looking at note as a whole,
these are all small questions.

But for me at that time, they were not small.

Because I couldn't decide on the answers, I couldn't publish the article.

I would write and then revise.

I would search, find different opinions, and get lost again.

Yesterday I thought 500 yen was good, but
today I feel like 200 yen is the right price.

Every day, my standards were shifting.

If you can put an end to one of those hesitations,
it will become a theme for a paid note.

*This article is the 5th installment of the "5-Minute Solution Paid Note Series."

In this series,
I solve one common point of confusion for paid note beginners in each article.

I plan to add a total of about 10 articles in the future,
and I will review the magazine price as the number of articles increases.

If you want to read them all together,
it is more economical to read them from the magazine.

→ Read the "5-Minute Solution Paid Note Series"
I have now changed direction
and it has evolved into a "Magazine that solves paid note hesitations one by one."

However,

not everything you have struggled with in the past
can become your first theme.

I also, after writing down my small questions,

wondered which one I should write about first.

How much should I narrow it down?

Is it okay to charge money just for my own experience?

Here, I hesitated again.

From here on,
I will introduce the 3 criteria I check when narrowing down my theme candidates to one.

After you finish reading,

"I will write my first paid note on this theme"

I have summarized this so that you can make one decision.

Everything from this point on is the paid section.

First, write down just 3 theme candidates

To start,
write down 3 things that you were struggling with a little while ago.

It is not 10.

It is 3.

I came up with 10, but
I couldn't decide which one to choose.

I thought the more options the better, but
the more there are, the longer the one-person planning meeting takes.

For example,

• I couldn't decide on the price of the paid note

• I was unsure where to cut the free section

• I was worried about the character count of the paid note

This much is enough.

Next,
I turn those hesitations into questions.

• How much should the first paid note cost?

• How much should I write for the free section?

• How many characters should a paid note have?

When you break it down this small,
the content to be answered in a single article becomes easier to see.

"About note monetization"

If it ends with words like that,
it might still be a bit too broad.

1. Can I write about the situation at that time?

The first one is,

Can I write about the situation where I was actually struggling?

.

Not just knowing it as knowledge, but

Where I was.

What I was looking at.

What I changed and then changed back.

What I was thinking at that time.

I choose themes where I can write about these things.

When I wrote the article about pricing,
I compared 100 yen, 500 yen, and 980 yen on the pricing screen over and over again.

If it were a free article,
I would write too much and trim it, then think I trimmed too much and add it back in.

If it were an article about character counts,
I would check 2,000 characters, 3,000 characters, and 5,000 characters repeatedly.

When those scenes exist,
it is hard for the article to become just an explanation.

Conversely,

I can only write about things I have researched.

I haven't tried it myself yet.

I haven't come up with my own answer yet.

I temporarily remove such themes from my initial candidates.

It's not that I'm not allowed to write about them.

First,
I start with things I can write about in my own words.

2. What one thing can the reader decide at the end?

The second point is,

What one thing can the reader decide after finishing reading?

is.

For example,

"Learning about paid notes in detail"

is a bit too broad.

Rather than that,

Deciding whether to set your article to 200 yen.

Deciding where to switch between free and paid.

Deciding whether to publish with the current character count.

Deciding whether to keep articles that didn't sell.

This way, the role of the article is clearer.

Once you have written your theme candidates,

apply it to this sentence.

For example,

This is one thing.

However,

If it becomes this, it is a bit too much.

It was supposed to be one article, but it has become a course again.

For your first one,
I think it's enough to just end one hesitation.

3. Can I provide my own reasons and concrete examples?

The third one is,

Can I explain the reason I thought that way and provide my own examples?

.

If it's just the conclusion, you can find it by searching.

For example,

"It's better to release your first paid note at a low price"

is not enough for readers to decide their own pricing.

Why start cheap?

What is the difference between 100 yen and 200 yen?

What kind of content is okay even at 500 yen?

Which article did I struggle with?

When you have this much,
it becomes easier for readers to apply it to their own articles.

You don't need a major track record.

I didn't write this based on the experience of selling dozens of books either.

I actually struggled, and then I published an article.

And then, one customer bought it.

I wrote down the criteria I decided on based on that experience.

However,

Instead of just ending with

"This is what I think,"

I will keep themes where I can also write about why I thought that way and what actually happened.

Comparing 3 candidates

For example, let's assume there were the following 3 candidates.

Candidate 1: How to generate income on note

I have experienced being lost myself.

However, what the reader can decide at the end is too broad.

Free articles.

Paid articles.

Attracting customers.

Products.

Email.

Various topics would be included.

This is not suitable for an initial 200-yen note, but rather for a larger educational resource.

Candidate 2: How much to price the first paid note

I have actually experienced being lost about pricing.

I can also write about the times I looked at the price setting screen over and over.

Readers can decide the price of their own articles.

This is a specific action.

You can also set differences like 100 yen, 200 yen, and 500 yen.

All three apply.

It is an easy theme to write about as a first article.

Candidate 3: How to write articles using ChatGPT

I use ChatGPT myself, so I have experience with it.

However,

Creating text.

Rewriting it into one's own words.

Creating a title.

Checking the article.

It involves various topics.

As it stands, it is still too broad.

For example,

How about narrowing it down to something like, 'How to reduce the AI-like feel of text created by ChatGPT?'

If you narrow it down to that extent, you can make it into one article.

Broad themes are not bad.

For your first 200-yen note, you just need to see if it is a bit too big.

If two remain, choose the one where you can visualize the initial scene

Even after applying the 3 criteria, you may still have two candidates left.

In such cases,

Choose the one where you can easily imagine the scene you will write at the beginning of the article.

I choose this.

On the pricing screen,
I went back and forth between 100 yen and 500 yen many times.

I wrote too much of the free section,
and ended up cutting the text many times.

I felt 2,000 characters was too short,
so I added more explanations with similar meanings.

Themes where you can imagine these scenes
are easier to write in your own words.

Conversely,

It might seem useful.

But, I can't imagine any scenes where I struggled.

Such themes tend to become just explanations.

For your first piece,
choose the one where you can start from your own hesitations or failures.

Finally, try writing this one sentence

Once you have chosen a theme,
write this one sentence at the end.

For example,

If there is only one answer that fits into XX,
I think it is easy to proceed as your first theme.

If two or three fit,
break it down a little smaller.

The order in which I decide on my first theme

I currently decide using the following order.

1. Write down 3 things that you, as you were a little while ago, were confused about
2. Turn that confusion into a single question
3. See if you can write about the actual situation where you were confused
4. Think about what one thing the reader can decide at the end
5. Confirm if you can provide your own reasons and concrete examples
6. If two remain, choose the one where the initial scene comes to mind

From the start,

A theme that will definitely sell.

A theme that you won't lose to anyone on.

A theme that will keep selling forever.

If you try to decide that much,
your one-man planning meeting starts all over again.

And, the article remains at 0 characters.

For your first piece,
you don't need to include all of your experience.

Answer one thing that you, as you were a little while ago, were confused about, using your current self.

I think it's fine to start there.

When I was coming up with 10 candidates,
I couldn't write anything either.

But, when I narrowed it down to one question,
I was finally able to put text into the edit screen.

After the theme was decided, my hands stopped again

One theme to write in my first paid note
is decided.

With this,
I can finally start writing.

That's what I thought, but

Next, I

wondered, "How much should I write for free,
and where should I start charging?"

I stopped there.

Since I'm writing a paid note,

from the beginning,

up to this point is free.

From here on is paid.

I thought it would be better to write it by separating it like that.

That's what I thought.

But,

the moment I thought,

“This is the part where I charge money,”

the sentences that I felt I could write until just a moment ago
stopped coming out again.

Even though the theme was decided,
this time I stopped at the boundary between free and paid.

Every time one thing is decided,
the next meeting begins.

So, I

stopped writing by separating the free part and the paid part
from the beginning.

First,

I write to the end with the intention of answering one reader's problem.

Separating the free and paid parts comes after that.

Changing to this order
made it much easier to write.

I wrote about that time
in the next article.

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