I am going to share with you three powerful ideas about how you can keep your readers interested in what you have to say. These ideas work for articles, books, web pages and blogs. In fact one particular idea is so powerful that when used properly it will guarantee that 99% of your readership will read what you have to say.

Individually each of these ideas produces results but used in combination you can create some very powerful results. By the end of this article you will have the opportunity to see how you can use these ideas singly and together in an article.

Making Benefit Statements

If you tell your readers what they can expect to gain by reading your article, chapter, book, web page etc. then they are more likely to follow through. Obviously this needs to be modified slightly for each situation. A 500 word article may only need a paragraph or three bullet points. Whilst a book might have the whole of the first chapter, the front and back cover and the whole contents pages set up to sell the benefits of your book. Then each chapter might also start with benefit statements for that particular section.

Telling the Story

We are all socialised to listening to stories. Think about early childhood and having your parents reading to you in bed. How about your favourite TV programme, films and book? Stories intrigue, fascinate and most importantly for us keep your readers interested. Any anecdote, case study or example livens up the sometimes dry world of instructional text.

The other real benefit of stories is that they “make real” the points you are trying to get across. When used skilfully you can use a story to pre-teach your process or idea before outlining it in full. The result this creates in your reader’s mind is familiarity and therefore they are likely to take the point home more readily.

Opening the Loop

Imagine what would happen to a reader if you told them of three huge benefits they will receive from reading a particular chapter. You then in quick succession outline the first two and then explain each in depth. My guess is that you will keep reading through this to find out about the third, particularly if the third is the biggest and most powerful benefit statement. This is the basic idea of opening a loop.

Here is another way of opening a loop. Perhaps the start of a chapter might be an example of a big result you got from using the techniques you will explain in the chapter. You could build the drama of the story, perhaps the stakes were high and the results were critical with you only just finding the solution to the problem in the very last seconds.

You might even add in some pre-teaching or even how much better your life has become because of you taking on board the lessons you will share in the chapter.

All of a sudden what could have been a lifeless chapter on a specific technique can take on a life of its open and draw your reader into really wanting the information you have to give.

Putting it all together

When I first came across these ideas I was overwhelmed about how I would be able to use them and put them together in a meaningful way. This was because I had not yet really seen how easily these ideas can be put together and used.

What I needed were a couple of examples that I could analyse and work out how the concepts fitted together. So to that end I deliberately wrote two articles specifically packed full of these ideas so you can see how easily these ideas are to put together.

The first is the article you are reading now. Feel free to go back through this article and notice the techniques that I have used. The second is a case study I wrote on my own blog about finding markets. You can find the article here in the NLP Techniques Section.

Final Thoughts

In an upcoming article we will talk about techniques you can use to get your readers to backtrack and re-read sections that are important as well as anticipate what is coming up in new chapters. I will see you in a future article where we will explore these concepts more fully.

Every author is a writer, but not every writer is an author. Kind of like the every vegetable is a fruit, but not every fruit is a vegetable thing. So what’s the difference? When does a writer become an author?

Simply put, a writer is, well, one who writes. Rocket science – I know! Writers’ work can vary from freelance magazine and newspaper articles to copywriting for websites and corporate marketing. A writer typically writes for a living, often freelance, or on the payroll of a company large enough to have its own copywriting or journalistic department.
 
An author, however, is a special breed of writer. Don’t get me wrong, all writers are special! But authors see a larger vision. They see the world through the pages of books. Nonfiction, self-help, novels, children’s, fairy tales-you name it; they see it in book form. Authors don’t usually think in terms of “articles.” In fact, many authors I have met with consider writing articles to be difficult and a totally new concept.

Authors often think so big, they fail to think small enough to overcome writer’s block, which could be why authors tend to be struck with that dreaded ailment so often. If you are an author, I encourage you to keep your large vision in mind (the book-the goal) but think small enough to get that next sentence down on the page. Even if you have to take baby steps once in a while, that’s better than no steps at all. Eventually those baby steps will turn into a flat out dead run.
 
And for all you writers (non-authors), don’t dismiss your talents to being too small to ever fit into book form. A short story can be the synopsis of a best-selling novel. A collection of articles can become the Table of Contents for a how-to book. If you dream of writing a book one day, start calling yourself an “author” instead of simply a “writer.” And if you don’t dream of writing a book, keep doing what you do best-helping to change the world, one word at a time.

Your writing space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the ultimate writer. Your continuing mission to explore strange new words, to seek out new characters and new plot lines, to boldly go where no writer has gone before!

Yes, you know where I’m talking about-that final frontier you have avoided all day. Your story, or that great idea you have for a book. When was the last time you went there? How many weeks ago? Do you even know how to get there? As the “Starship” commander of your own writing destiny, it is your mission to save the lives of those characters, inform those greatly in need of your expertise, and get your great ideas onto paper. Those great story lines and expert opinions you have running around in your head are trapped on the planet “In-Your-Head” until you put that writing “ship” in gear. And that planet is light-years away from would-be agents, editors, and readers.

So, how do we get that ship started? I once read a quote from Tim LaHaye, the famed co-writer of the Left Behind series, that said, “The only way to write a book is with seat in chair.” Even Captain Kirk had a chair! So where’s your chair?

1. The Chair - It begins with a chair. Where is that chair found? You need to establish where your writing space is located. It should be a room of limited distractions. Beware of rooms with TV’s, video games, or other mind-numbing devices (Klingons). Rooms with doors that close are helpful if life partners, housemates, or mini reproduced humans exist. Finding that chair in a coffee shop establishment is fine provided you are not easily bothered by crowd noises or shelves of books or magazines.

Now that you have found your assigned seat on the deck of your writing “Enterprise,” look around you. Captain Kirk’s bridge was specifically designed for the overall mission. Each piece of equipment, every screen, every surface had a purpose and function. As the captain sat in his chair, you could see his deck encompassed everything the Enterprise was destined to be.

2. The Bridge – This is your environment. What surrounds you? What is within reach of your hand? Just as the Enterprise was set up to meet every need of the captain, is your writing “Enterprise” set up to meet your every need? Is your desk or table surface cluttered? Captain Kirk never had to push aside bills, stacks of papers, stray pens, or pencils to complete his mission. What do you have to push aside to complete yours? Have in reach everything you need and nothing you don’t.

(Side note: Use your control panels for their intended purpose only! Distant galaxies were not discovered via web surfing expeditions.)

And now it’s time to begin your journey. Now that you are seated in your chair distraction free, it’s time to engage the engines. The good news, your writing “enterprise” is actually much easier to activate than you think!

3. The Button – It really is that simple as pushing a button, just as the Enterprise was started with a single button and a joystick, so does your writing expedition. Open your current file or favorite word processing program, place fingers on key board and begin typing. Honest. Captain Kirk didn’t have to think about where he was going-it was already programmed into the systems, just as your next point, or that fabulous plot line is already in your head. It might take a few minutes to get your mind and keys on the same page, but don’t pause. Just begin and see where those words take you.

(Side note: turn off the “spell check” on your word processing program and write without fear of errors. Write first-edit later!)

And finally, as you begin your journey as the captain of your own writing “enterprise,” the leader of the ultimate writing “expedition,” as you travel into the unknown worlds of your amazing writing talents, make sure you surround yourself with the best from the Academy!

4. The Crew – Captain Kirk did not man the ship alone. Mr. Spock, Bones, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov were all high ranking lieutenants, chosen specifically to assist Captain Kirk. Who have you chosen to assist you? Get involved in writing groups, hang out with other writers, and seek those out who will encourage you and your talent. Beware of those wearing the same “uniform” but who have no purpose on your ship. Is there someone aboard who is sucking the life out of you? If they are not encouraging your talents, it’s time to beam them off into space! Choose your crew wisely and keep them close when needed.

Your writing space, your final frontier, this is your voyage-the voyage of ultimate writer-you! It is up to you to continue your mission, to explore strange new words, to seek out new characters and new plot lines, to boldly go where no writer has gone before! Begin your journey today, right now. Write now!

In this 5-part audio series, Rintu Basu, author of The Persuasion Skills Black Book and Romilla Ready, co-author of Neurolinguistic Programming for Dummies discuss the whole process from coming up with best selling book ideas, writing your book, getting it published and selling loads of copies.

In this 5-part audio series, Rintu Basu, author of The Persuasion Skills Black Book and Romilla Ready, co-author of Neurolinguistic Programming for Dummies discuss the whole process from coming up with best selling book ideas, writing your book, getting it published and selling loads of copies.

In this 5-part audio series, Rintu Basu, author of The Persuasion Skills Black Book and Romilla Ready, co-author of Neurolinguistic Programming for Dummies discuss the whole process from coming up with best selling book ideas, writing your book, getting it published and selling loads of copies.