Write from the Heart

No one engages the art and craft of writing unless they have a passion and commitment to either entertain or inform. Dedicated writers learn the creative and technical aspects, work with an editor, and involve themselves in every action that gets them published and read.

Let’s say you’ve done all of the above. The other part of this is promotion. This can get tricky for many people. Whether you write your own promotional materials or work with someone who’s an expert, what’s key to long-term success is to build a relationship with readers. The best way to build a relationship is to write from the heart.

A first step is to identify who your ideal readers are. New writers wish their audience included everyone, but it doesn’t happen that way. If you know your niche, you have a starting place you can expand over time.

People want to know why they should engage with you. When you write from the heart, you shift from telling to being. People get to know and interact with the real you, not a commercial version. When you’re clear about who you are and what you offer (what’s unique about you), and if you understand what your people look for and how you provide it, finding the right words to reach them is far easier. Write from the heart and you shift from selling to serving. This creates connection, and this connection creates relationship.

Here are some key questions to ask when you’re creating or approving promotional materials:

What are your ideal readers interested in?

How can you serve, benefit, co-create, or co-partner with them?

What do you feel when you think of them?

How do you want them to feel when they think of you?

Do you appreciate and value them? Do they feel this way about you?

Writing, just as creating true connection with others, is an outer-level experience, but both start at the inner level. You can ask yourself right questions to get clear about every aspect of being a writer and promoter. You can get clear on how, who, and what your ideals are then never settle for less from yourself and others based on this understanding.

When you approach your ideal readers from the heart of who you are, they’ll respond. Trust gets established. A relationship starts and grows, right from the heart.

Make Shift Happen! Joyce Shafer, LEC (jls1422@yahoo.com) is an author and creator of the Reinvent Yourself: Refuse to Settle for Less in Life and Business coaching program: http://www.freewebs.com/coach4lifebalance. Want the program materials, but not the coaching? Reinvent Yourself eCourse available at lulu.com (discounted at her Web Store).