By: Angela Booth
Whether you're selling your writing, or writing as a hobby, you want and need readers. Even if you're writing just for yourself - as therapy, or for entertainment - you're always your own first reader, so keep these tips in mind.
These tips work for all writing, whether fiction, nonfiction or copywriting (writing for business):
1. Be Interesting - Don't Be Boring
"Be interesting" should go without saying. However, writing is complex. If you're a new writer (in your first five years of writing seriously), you're highly self-conscious. It takes a lot of writing for that to wear off, so that you're as comfortable writing as you are in speaking. Someone once said that you need to write a million words before you can get yourself out of the way, so that you focus only on the reader, and on your message.
The more I write, the more convinced I am that the "million words" rule is real - my writing now flows more easily than it did even five years ago.
Write the old copywriter's dictum, AIDA (Attract attention, inspire Interest, arouse Desire/ Emotion, motivate Action) onto a sticky note and attach it to your monitor. Follow it. AIDA is the engine that powers "be interesting".
2. Be Original - Don't Rehash
The Internet is the kingdom of copy, reword slightly, and paste. There are thousands of so-called "writers" online whose sole literary output consists of the ability to copy words and ideas and pass them on as their own. This rehash-mentality hurts them. Ultimately, it will destroy them as a writer, because they haven't trained themselves to write.
It's too easy to fall into the rehash-trap. THINK. Be original. It's better to be thought a fool than it is to steal - and it's much more profitable. Some highly paid writers deliberately make outrageous statements. It gets them lots of attention. And money.
If you rehash: you won't sell (except online, to people who buy words in bulk as search engine fodder), you won't get readers ("I've read this before. Why would I read it again?") and you won't build a profile or reputation - no one will even notice that you're a writer, because you're showing them very clearly that you're not.
3. Use Short Sentences - Be Clear
You have to understand a subject before you write about it. This applies especially to copywriters. Read and think until you understand the subject area, then write about it in short sentences. Follow Hemingway's easy rules for writing - Use short sentences and short first paragraphs, use vigorous English (make your verbs work) and be positive, rather than negative.
4. Know Your Audience
Before you start writing, think about your reader. Visualize A READER in your mind. (One person, not a crowd.) Who is he/ she? What does she want? Why? What can she take away from your words?
See (or hear) a single reader in your mind. Keep the reader in mind as you write. Many famous writers mention that they can see their reader's reaction clearly - laughter, tears, excitement - as they write.
5. Aim For A Response
The response of your reader(s) is vital. For a novelist, the response might be to get the reader to read to the end of the novel and write a positive Amazon.com review, or just to feel that they've been completely entertained for a few hours.
For a copywriter, the response is action - you want the reader to place an order, pick up the phone, buy an item, etc.
If you're writing nonfiction, the response you want might be an action - to sell more books, get a contributing editor gig, or make a persuasive argument that generates letters to the editor, or gets readers to think about a topic.
There you have it: five ways to get your writing read. Use them, and not only will your writing be read, but you'll also become a successful writer.
