In the last decade the expert industry has exploded. It seems like anyone and everyone is setting themselves up as an expert, competing to show off how many feathers they have in their caps and letters behind their names, or how their case studies yielded bigger better results than that other person’s did.

With all these experts, how do you stand out?

You ask a different question… WHY?

• Why should the reader care?

• Why does this information matter to them?

• Why does changing anything about their lives really matter?

Then, ask yourself: How will I provide the information they really want, need and crave in a way that will inspire as well as teach and provide answers?

Facts position you as an expert. But it is in answering the WHY behind the facts that your audience begins to care, to buy in, and to embrace the message from the inside out.

It is the WHY that inspires the reader, not the facts. It is the impact on their own lives that makes the reader sit up and take notice, not the facts.

I see a lot of books on shelves in bookstores, the library and in people’s homes that provide a lot of information, case studies, and data. It is a wonderful place to start!

But let’s face it: The internet is constipated with roughly the same information. At best, readers will skim for answers to specific questions and then move on. The reader who reads a nonfiction book front to back just for the sake of reading is very rare now.

So, how do you get the reader hooked? How do you get them so engaged that they talk to their friends about what they’re reading? How do you get them so engaged that they are inspired to change from the inside out?

After all, that is really how you begin to matter in their lives and make a really powerful difference with your message.

Focus first on allowing your personal passion to come through. Share the WHY. Make the reader care first, then use the data to back it all up.

Remember, decisions are made emotionally. So if you want your readers to take action in some way, you have got to find a way to connect with them emotionally. The more deeply you can connect with them, the more powerfully you’ll be able to influence them into taking action.

Bottom line is that you have to let your heart shine through your work. Allow your passion, your purpose, and YOU to shine through your words. Be conversational. Be real. Invite your reader to join you in conversation.

Write as if you’re sitting down for a drink with your reader to discuss things, rather than standing at a podium spewing on them. Each book, when read, becomes a one-to-one conversation between the mind of the author and the mind of a single reader. Write it that way.

Let yourself be surprised by how engaging being YOU can be and you’ll be giving your reader that ‘something more’ they’re craving.

January 2014 Issue