What Are Writers' Biggest Struggles in 2025?

Welcome back to 3 Tech Polls, HackerNoon's brand-new Weekly Newsletter that curates Results from our Poll of the Week, and 2 related polls around the web. Thank you for voting in our polls and tell us your take on the hottest topic each week!

\ This time, we’re circling back to the reason why we are where we are right now - technical writing, blogging, creative writing… whatever you call it. Writing is hard, especially in the age of AI, when a machine’s creative power is creeping close to that of a human being, it’s time to talk about the struggles we writers are facing 😬

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:::info Today’s edition is a special one, read till the end for a little surprise from the HackerNoon team 😉

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:::tip Vote on this week’s poll: Would You Use a Smart Toilet That Analyzes Your Waste For Health Insights?

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This Week’s Poll From HackerNoon

What’s Your Biggest Struggle As a Writer in 2025?

Hey fellow technical writers, what's the hardest part of writing right now? Whether you're writing about code, startups, AI, or something else entirely… what's the thing you keep getting stuck on?

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\ With 31% of respondents choosing “Finding your niche,” it is clear that even with an increasingly saturated online space, personality still trumps volume. Writers constantly yearn for a unique voice - a meaningful topic that resonates and makes a personal impact in a noisy, algorithm-fed landscape.

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\ “Staying consistent” and “Getting noticed” followed closely behind, tied at 28%. These results reflect the never-ending writer’s dilemma:

\ What’s surprising is that only 13% of writers confirmed “Using AI effectively” was their biggest challenge. Amidst an AI content explosion, this hints at something deeper: most writers don’t feel AI is replacing the hard parts of the craft just yet. They’re not struggling with prompts and chatbots but rather finding purpose, showing up, and standing out - being a human in the age of AI.

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:::tip Share your thoughts on the poll results here.

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\ However, we should not underestimate the importance of AI in this context. AI is not the enemy; improper application is. Relying on AI to replace your creativity would ruin your writing, but employing it to improve your process? That's a whole other story. In fact, a brief HackerNoon survey conducted at our July "Writing, Internet-ing, and Existing in The Age of AI" event in Ho Chi Minh City revealed a neutral, but positive-leaning outlook on AI usage, where artificial intelligence is viewed as a supporting tool, rather than a replacement for human creativity.

https://hackernoon.com/writing-internet-ing-and-existing-in-the-age-of-ai?embedable=true

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How HackerNoon Can Help New Aspiring Writers in Their Journey

Understand the struggles of new writers - you’ve got ideas, but how to turn them into something clear, consistent, and worth reading is a whole other battle. Whether you're attempting to establish your voice, form a habit, or just get someone (anyone!) to read what you wrote, it might be lonely. And when the internet evolves so quickly, it's easy to feel left behind. If you've ever thought, "I don't know where to begin," you're not alone. That is precisely why we want to help.

\ The HackerNoon Team proudly introduces the HackerNoon Blogging Course - the kind of resource we wish existed when we started publishing online. Treat this as a guide to finding your niche, sharpening your voice, and writing in a way that gets noticed by both readers and algorithms.

\ You'll learn from experienced editors, seasoned contributors, and real humans who’ve been through the grind. Whether you’re a dev with insights, a founder with stories, or just someone who wants to write better, this course is for you.

\ Interested? The course is coming soon this November! Follow HackerNoon on X, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram for the latest announcements and the release date of the HackerNoon Blogging Course.

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:::tip Don’t forget to vote on this week’s poll: Would You Use a Smart Toilet That Analyzes Your Waste For Health Insights?

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💚 Hack the Future With Your Vote

That’s it, folks! We’ll be back next week with more data, more debates, and more donut charts 🍩.

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