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Expertise vs. Humility – A Writer’s Battle Royale?

Expertise or humility?

You’re an expert on something.

Maybe that’s one of the reasons you started writing.

Unfortunately, experts tend to be a bit self-promoting and arrogant, and arrogance is a sure way to lose your readers.

The opposite approach won’t work either. Timid, non-confrontational storytelling doesn’t do justice to the value you can contribute to your readers.

So, what’s a writer to do?

This is precisely the question I asked myself at the outset of my blogging journey.

Starting On The Wrong Foot

Whatever I’ve learned was a result of doing things wrong at first. When I began blogging, I imagined a Battle Royale between writing with humility and demonstrating expertise.

I believed that inserting too much “me” into a post would reveal my lack of age and experience, and that everyone would just get bored.

I veered toward broad generalizations, making concise assertions that I believed were true based on what little experience I had.

The resulting posts were preachy and flimsy. I sounded like an egotistical computer. HAL, maybe.

Finally, I did something smart and started to study the pros, bloggers like Leo Babauta who write with a perfectly unassuming authority.

Eventually, I noticed that humility and expertise are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, they make for a powerful combination.

Humility & Expertise Go Hand In Hand

How can we achieve both humility and expertise in the same breath? Here are 7 lessons I’ve learned so far.

1. Remember that humility is endearing and demonstrates strength.

Humility creates a natural connection to your reader. Acknowledging failures makes you seem human to your readers. On top of that, your failure validates how you came into the knowledge that you’re presenting. Failures can even be a great source of humor.

Being authentic and vulnerable also shows confidence. You’re willing to lay it on the line, imperfections and all. This confidence – without arrogance – is exactly what will draw readers to you.

2. Stay present to your own learning journey.

In our excitement to share what we know, it’s easy to forget that whatever knowledge we now possess is the result of a learning process.

Recounting your experience allows your reader to relate to you. By identifying with your story, your readers can make inferences and convince themselves of the relevance of what you have to say.

By staying present to your own journey – where you started, how you transformed, where you are now – you give your knowledge necessary context.

3. Limit generalizations.

Generalizations have their time and place – they’re great for headers, topic sentences and summarizing points. I think of them as structure – the pathway, walls and doors that guide your reader to the place you want them to go.

Once you’ve used generalizations to create structure, you can dive right into the details, which bring your expertise to life.

4. Get your narrative voices straight (“I” vs. “you” vs. “we”).

“I” is the most powerful way to tell a story. Your stories are powerful credentials and hooks. They draw your reader in, letting them know who you are (a human, just like them!). Telling a story in the first person is also a kind of evidence-based approach to making an argument. Just as citing your sources lends you credibility, citing your experience does so as well.

“You” is the voice we use when speaking to a friend. This is the riskiest voice because it can easily become preachy, but it is also essential in order to connect with your reader. Every time you use this voice, try speaking the lines aloud as if to an imagined friend over a drink or dinner. If you don’t feel comfortable saying it to a friend, it won’t sound right to your reader either.

“We” is a great voice for making generalizations. Just because we know something and want to share it with our readers doesn’t mean we’re superior, right? “We” is a great way to humbly make assertions about the way things are because we show ourselves as equals to our readers.

5. Demonstrate humility and expertise in separate parts of the post.

A (brief) personal back-story gives necessary context, makes you seem more human, and validates your expertise. This is a good time to foreshadow your learning but you don’t need to make assertions yet.

Once you’ve established context and humility, you’re ready to share the lessons you’ve learned. Now you can switch to the second person or first person plural.

6. Stand for what you believe, while acknowledging it’s just your belief.

Just because you’re humble doesn’t mean you aren’t going to put a stake in the ground.

Equivocating – reporting information without adding your perspective – will bore your readers to death. After all, it’s your perspective that your readers are after.

We merely need to recognize that what we’re presenting is not a dogma handed down from on high. It is not a universal truth. It is a truth in our lives, at this moment.

Acknowledge the limits of your knowledge and you can largely preempt the challengers and naysayers.

7. Re-read and re-write your post aloud a few days later (or more).

Even using every trick in the book, we can’t always strike the proper tone. Putting our writing aside and revising it later may still be the best tool of all.

Hear yourself reacting to the tone and word choice, and re-write the post while you can still feel that reaction. Your instinct will easily recognize places where you’ve been too abstract or impersonal, too assertive or preachy, or just too verbose.

No need to be down on yourself for missing the mark on the first try – that’s what you and countless other great writers throughout history have had to do to get to the right end result.

Please share your own experience in the comments: How do you strike a balance between humility and expertise?

About The Author:
Taylor Jacobson is an adventurer, entrepreneur and blogger at 21 Switchbacks, a community of thoughtful people committed to creating remarkable lives. Join him and get instant access to 10 Resources To Change Your Mind & Life.

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8 Sneaky Little Ways To Make Your Blog Posts More Shareable

Are your blog posts shareable?

I’ve been blogging for over two and a half years now, and during that time, I’ve learned a thing or two about how to make blog posts shareable.

But before I get into the details of just how to do this, I have to let you know that I have a very different viewpoint on why anyone should want to make their blog post go “viral”.

I don’t believe in getting more numbers for the sake of getting more numbers. I repeat: if all you want to do is get more people to see your blog post just so you can brag about the numbers you can get, this post is probably not for you.

However, if you want to get your blog post shared by more people because what you have written is really going to help a lot of people, or change people’s lives for the better, then this post for you.

If you believe that blogging is a way of serving humanity for the greater good, then this post is for you.

It’s important that you come to this post from a place of magnanimity, or else none of what I share with you today will work for you.

Got it?

Okay.

Now that we’ve got that covered, let’s talk about how you can make your blog post more shareable.

1. Make your blog post primarily about your reader

(Now can you see why none of these tools are going to work for you if all you have in mind is yourself?)

The only reason your post will get shared is if it is useful to your readers. It has to inform them, inspire them, help them, guide them, motivate them, entertain them, or clarify something for them.

If you want your post to go “viral”, you have to remember why going viral is such a great thing in the first place: it’s a great thing because your helpful blog post has a chance to reach more people.

If your helpful blog post reaches more people, then more people will be helped. And that’s a good thing.

Also, when people land on a blog post that they find truly helpful, they like to share it with others.

Why?

Because most people like helping other people.

Why?

Because most people are pretty awesome and actually want others succeed. (Believe it or not.)

If this were not true, people wouldn’t share anything at all. They would just keep all the “success secrets” to themselves.

2. Make your blog post timely

Follow the news, read your readers’ blogs, study your niche and see what blogs and websites your readers frequent. Try to get into your readers’ heads to see what concerns are on their minds right now—at this very moment. Then address their current concerns in a blog post.

Solve a timely problem for your readers and your readers will show you their appreciation by sharing your post with their networks.

(Oh, and by the way, the more timely your post is, the more likely it will come up in search results. Why? Because if your post is timely, it is far more likely that people are searching for articles on the very subject you are writing about.)

3. Make your blog post well-written

Make sure to review your post several times before you press “publish”.

4. Make your blog post easy to read

People are very busy these days, and they often read tons and tons of material every single day. So by the time they get to your post, their eyes are tired and sore. This is why readers will reward you if you put your post into an easy-to-read format. (Like a list, for example.)

Also, try not to make the language too complicated. It’s not that your reader wants you to dumb down your language; it’s just that they are likely coming to you after reading tons of complicated material at work and at this point, they really can’t handle convoluted sentences any more.

5. Make your blog post about one subject

Even if you address two subjects brilliantly, these two subjects will cancel each other out.

(I know this from experience. Trust me.)

I’ve realized that when it comes to blogging, readers can’t digest two complex subjects at the same time. No, your readers aren’t “dumb”. It’s just that something about the style of blogging lends itself to extreme simplicity.

The more simple a blog post is, the more effective it is and therefore, the more it will be shared.

6. Understand that these are just the rules of the game—you can always break them

A smart blogger knows when to follow the rules and when to break them.

She will design simple and direct posts that are meant to be widely shared to bring in newer audiences to her blog. Then, she will design other posts that are a bit more complex – posts that are meant for her established audience, and not intended for newbies.

7. Give your post an attention-grabbing headline

The first thing a person usually sees is your headline.

A reader uses your headline to judge whether or not she wants to take time out of her busy schedule to read what you’ve written.

Again, your readers are very busy people who have a lot of responsibilities. Reading your blog post is probably near the end of their list of important tasks to cross off of their “to-do” list.

Think of your headline as an argument. You are trying to prove to a reader why reading your blog post is worth their precious time. If your post doesn’t seem important (or intriguing) enough to read, it is likely to be skipped, or it will be put on the “will-read-later-when-I-have-free-time” list.

So make a strong case with your blog post headline. Prove to readers that your blog post is worth their precious time.

This will ensure your blog post gets read and then shared.

8. Field-test your blog post subject

The best way to make your blog post more shareable is if you first “field-test” your blog post subject.

You can do this in several ways: you can “field-test” your subject in a Twitter Chat, in the Comments section of your blog (or in the Comments section of another person’s blog), or even by responding to a reader’s e-mail.

If you get a huge response through field-testing your subject (for instance, if your subject gets a lot of re-tweets during your Twitter Chat), you are almost guaranteed that a blog post on a similar subject will be shared like crazy.

(Again, I can tell you from experience that this strategy works wonders.)

The reason this strategy works is because you have already seen proof that the subject of your blog post can get people talking.

Now, go use your new powers

Now that you know how to make your blog post more shareable, implement these strategies on your blog and see if they work for you.

But remember: use these tools only in the service of others. If you use these tools just so you can get higher numbers for the sake of getting higher numbers, they probably won’t work for you.

However, if you use these tools to help others, they will likely make your next blog post very successful.

In your experience, what do you think makes a blog post more shareable? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

A guest post by Ollin Morales. He is a fiction writer and professional blogger. His blog, Courage 2 Create, chronicles his journey as he writes his first fiction novel. His blog offers writing advice as well as strategies to deal with life’s tough challenges. His blog was named one of The Top Ten Blogs for Writers by Write To Done two years in a row (2010, 2011).

Have you nominated YOUR favorite blog for the Top Ten Blogs for Writers Contest 2012? Click here for nominations.

<small>Image: children sharing icecream courtesy of Bigstock.com</small>

5 Tips to Speed Up Your Writing and Skyrocket Your Quality

Can you write faster?

So, how much spare time do you have?

A lot? Enough?

If you’re a writer, marketer, entrepreneur, member of a family, or part of a social group, the answer is probably a resounding–NOT ENOUGH!

There aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything that you want to do and sometimes there aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything you need to do. So if there’s a way you can shave a few minutes (or more) off a task you do often, that can represent a big change in your life.

Writing for the internet is one of those things that can be done in a lot less time than we usually give it.

Here are five ideas that can help you slash your post-writing time. (And probably make the posts a bit better, too!)

Hammer Out Your Angle

The worst thing you can do (that we’ve ALL done) is sit down in front of a blank page and wait for inspiration to strike.

You need to figure out a few things first.

Who you’re writing for, and
What they’re interested in reading.

You can do this by figuring out who your ideal reader is, and researching the type of blog posts, articles etc. that they most frequently enjoy. Look at other blogs in your industry, and see what style of writing, and range of topics perform the best.

Draft Your Outline

After you know your audience and angle, spend some time drafting your article.

Write an exciting, attention-grabbing introduction, and then create the sub-headings you’ll be using to divide your writing into chunks. This will save you a huge amount of time when it comes to writing your piece, because you already know what belongs where – all you have to do is fill in the blanks.

Make sure your headings are interesting and give a good indication of the content you’ll be discussing in each section. If you think you’ll need it, you can also add a few notes about the important points you’ll cover in the section.

Jot Down Brilliant Thoughts As You Go

Have you ever thought of an excellent way to say something, swear to yourself you’ll write it down as soon as you get to the right place, and when you do – it’s lost in the ether of your mind?

This often happens when researching, reading or outlining – pretty much any time that’s not a great time to develop the idea further.

Yep. It’s so frustrating. Sometimes you remember it, but usually only after the piece has been published.

If you try to develop the ideas as you have them, though, you’ll derail yourself from concentrating on the rest of the piece and you may get one great line in, but the overall quality of the piece will suffer.

Save yourself the pain by keeping a running list of pithy observations, stirring conclusions or mind-bending opening lines.

Prepare Dazzling Quotations

Other people say lots of wonderful things that illuminate a point you want to make. That is why we quote.

Whenever you notice a line, a paragraph or a thought that speaks to you, dump it (with a reference link) into a text or word file on your computer.

Having these on hand is amazingly helpful when writing posts because you won’t have that “someone said something about this – it was so good, who was it?” moment that happens to avid readers.

Prepare Your Useful Links

Finding and adding links is one of those simple tasks that can eat up time really quickly.

Not every post requires external links, but plenty of them do. After the thing is written it’s simply a pain in the butt to go through and find everything you want to link to, then go find the right links and then go back again to insert them.

Just do it first.

And Bring It All Together

Once you have your prep work done, you’ll be amazed at how fast a blog post can come together.

Everything just runs smoothly and the end result is clear, concise and filled with fantastic tidbits that your readers will love and respond to.

This is especially true when you use a proven and effective formula. Everyone who has tried it says that the Write Like Freddy training program has sped up their writing (sometimes by huge margins) and allowed them to get in front of much, much bigger audiences to loud applause. ;-)

Danny Iny (@DannyIny) is the co-founder of Firepole Marketing, the “Freddy Krueger of Blogging”, and the co-author (with Guy Kawasaki, Brian Clark, and many others) of Engagement from Scratch! (available on Amazon, or as a free download). The latest and greatest thing you can get from him (for free, of course) is his Naked Marketing Manifesto, about marketing that really works!
Image: Speed by BigstockPhoto

5 Essential Elements of Getting from Blog to Book Deal

Author Gretl Claggett

Even though some people have declared the death of traditional publishing and the rise of self publishing, getting a book deal is still one of the highest levels of achievement for any blogger.

Out of millions of bloggers on the web, only a handful are deemed worthy by publishers. There’s really no denying the fact that getting a book deal from a traditional publisher puts you on a different level both in terms of achievement and credibility.

But what does it take to successfully get from blog to book deal? After hundreds of interviews with successful bloggers, many of whom have made the journey to a book deal, I’ve narrowed it down to 5 essential elements.

1. Content

If your blog was a house, the content is the foundation. If the foundation is faulty nothing else matters. That’s why it’s important to continually perfect your craft. If you’re wondering how you do it, I’ve got some bad news. There are no shortcuts.

A best-selling author I recently spoke with said that the unpopular truth about how you get good is by putting in the time. So rather than waste your time looking for the magic bullet, put your fingers to your keyboard every morning and do the work. If you look at the earliest work of any successful blogger you’ll notice it is not nearly as good as it is today. They’ve evolved over time.

So before you worry about how you’re going to make the journey from blog to book deal, focus on creating killer content.

2. Platform

You might be the best writer in the world, maybe even the next F. Scott Fitzgerald in the making. But without a platform, you’ve got no shot at a book deal. So let’s look at the essential elements of a platform.

Blog

Your blog is the most essential element of your platform. An actively maintained blog gives publishers concrete evidence of your ability to write. It also enables you to build a portfolio of work, and above all, allows you to build an audience for the book you want to write. It might sound completely obvious, but publishers are in the business of selling books. Without an audience, you won’t have anybody to sell your book to.

Podcast/Vcast

As a prolific podcaster I want to make note of the fact that a blog is a multi-format platform which can host video, audio, pictures, and text. In fact Mignon Fogarty is a perfect example of somebody who has made the journey from podcast to book deal to podcasting empire. So don’t discount other content formats in the process of building your platform.

Email List

There isn’t a single successful blogger, author, or entrepreneur who hasn’t uttered the words “the money is in the list”. Ignoring their email list is always cited as one of the biggest mistakes people make in the early days of blogging. Often the people who comment on your blog are other bloggers and not necessarily people who will buy anything from you. So naturally publishers want to see a relatively sizable email list as part of your platform.

Facebook/Twitter/Google+

All social networks are not created equal. In the eyes of a publisher what’s probably going to matter most is where the most substantial audience for your book will be. An active Facebook fan page with a substantial audience is a multiplier of your reach. In addition to increasing the size of your audience, it provides a great incubator for testing book ideas with your readers and getting feedback.

In a recent chat with my friend Kristina Holmes (who is a literary agent), she mentioned that while twitter can’t be ignored, it’s not as important as many people think because it hasn’t been as successful as other platform components in increasing book sales.

Whether you love or hate Google+, it’s probably not going anywhere considering it’s owned by one of the 800 pound gorillas of the internet. While some people say that all they hear is crickets chirping on Google+, early adopters like Ryan Crowe have grown a following of over 60,000 people. So don’t write it it off.

3. Agent

Every published author I’ve spoken with always tells me about the instrumental role a literary agent has played in the process of helping them get from blog to book deal. The nuances of publishing companies, contracts, book advances and all the elements that go into a book deal are usually beyond the comprehension of most bloggers. That’s where an agent comes in. A good agent will help you shape the best proposal possible and get you the best deal possible. This allows you to focus on what you wanted to do in the first place, which is write the best book possible.

4. Original Concept

These days it might appear that all you have do is create a popular blog about blogging or social media and a publisher comes knocking on your door with an opportunity for you to write the next great marketing book. But dig under the surface and you’ll realize that an original concept is really important in a publisher’s decision to bet on you. If your concept isn’t completely original, you might have to bring in a new perspective on an old topic. But the more likely you are to add to the echo chamber, the less likely you are to get a book deal.

5. Marketing/Promotion Plan

You might be under the impression that getting a book deal will make you more well known. The reality is that the publisher has come to you with the goal of selling as many books as possible. Since you have the platform they look to you to come up with the marketing and promotion plan. Given that the marketing plan is what will help a publisher accomplish their ultimate goal, a solid marketing plan is essential to sealing the deal.

The journey from blog to book deal is clearly a lot of work. The dream and the reality are often very different. Do you have dreams of getting a book deal? If so, do you have the essential elements in place?

Srinivas Rao is the host and co-founder of BlogcastFM, where he has interviewed nearly 300 of the world’s most successful bloggers. He’ s also the author of Blog to Book Deal How They Did It.
Image of Gretl Claggett by 85Photos

How to Become a Writer

Become a writer

There is a big gap between wondering how to become a writer – and actually becoming a published author.

Here’s the weird story of how I got a contract with a publishing company, as well as some tips on how you too can find success as a writer.

This is what happened …

Some years ago – before I became a blogger – I decided to fulfill a childhood dream and write a book.

I started telling everyone that I was going to write a book. Some people laughed behind my back, but my friends urged me on.

Yes, something powerful happens when you commit to your calling. Something is set in motion.

At the time I wasn’t web-savvy, but I had a sense that it would be good to publish some articles on the Net. So I started a simple site and published just three articles.

I then went on holiday to visit my family in Europe. When I came back home, I found a big pile of unopened letters. I was about to push them aside, when my eyes fell upon a letter from Duncan Baird Publishers in London.

A letter from a publisher?

I ripped it open.

Dear Mary Jaksch, it said, we would like to offer you a contract to write a book on how to improve relationships. However, we would need a test chapter from you to ensure that you would be a good fit for us.

My jaw dropped – a book contract? Whaaat?

I raced around my home, squealing.

Then I read on and found that they were planning to co-produce the book with the US publishing house, Chronicle Books. Apparently they had spotted my articles on the Net. I got more and more excited.

They said I was shortlisted as a possible author and they were waiting for a test chapter from me. The letter went on to say that the deadline for the test chapter was

… the very next day.

My joyful squeals were choked off. By tomorrow…? Oh, NO!

I sat down at my desk and tried to forget about jet lag, hunger, and the bags waiting to be unpacked.

I worked all night, grinding out the test chapter the publishers had requested. Finally, I emailed them my chapter - and then three very slow weeks went by.

Finally, a letter arrived from the publisher. It took me six hours to muster enough courage to open it. When I looked inside, I saw the contract for my first book, Learn to Love.

This time I screamed so loudly that my son ran to my rescue, and my cat fled under the bed.

What a moment! Imagine if that was you …

It was like a miracle: once I had made the decision to write a book, it took only eight weeks to get a contract with a publisher .

I have to admit though, this book wasn’t all plain sailing. The advance amounted to a year’s income – which was fantastic, but there were some quirks in the contract that my lawyer failed to spot. For example, I never got any royalties for copies of Learn to Love published in other countries. My book was translated into eight languages, so I missed out on a lot of royalties.

However, being a published author isn’t just about the money.

One of the highlights was arriving in Brazil to find a whole shop-window decorated with my book – which had just been just translated into Portuguese!

Was getting this book contract just plain good luck? Or is there something to be learned from my experience?

I think there are five lessons here:

Lesson #1: Broadcast your dream

Tell everyone about your decision, even though you might still harbor some doubts about your plans. It can feel a bit scary to broadcast your dream, but it makes it much more likely that you will make your dream come true.

Lesson #2: Meet good fortune half way

There is a difference between luck and good fortune. Luck is random, but good fortune isn’t. If you want to have good fortune, you need to meet it half-way. You need to put all your energy into making your dream come true. When you do that, chances are that good fortune will do the rest.

Lesson #3: Be visible

If you look at how my book contract came about, the key thing was that I had published some articles on the Net. This is how they found me.

These days, it’s much easier to have a presence on the Net, especially if you have a blog. A blog is a great platform to show off your writing. It doesn’t matter whether you write fiction or non-fiction. A blog will hone your writing and attract readers who will buy your book.

Lesson #4: Improve your writing

The more you write, the better your writing gets. This is one of the upsides of having a blog: it forces you to write regularly.

Lesson #5: Get feedback

The problem with publishing a traditional print book is that it takes a long time before you get feedback. This is another nifty thing about blogging: you get immediate feedback from your readers in the comment section.

I think my best decision as a writer was starting a blog. Blogging has transformed my writing. It’s an exciting way to connect with readers and get the feedback that helps you improve.

As you may know, I co-founded the A-List Blogger Club and have taught over 4,000 bloggers, many of whom are now super successful.

However, there are some new, exciting developments on the Net that are going to revolutionize online education. So I’ve decided to create a new evolution of A-List Blogging, the A-List Blogging Masterclass. It’s not quite ready yet, but we’re working hard behind the scenes.

What are your dreams? Please share in the comments.

About the author:
Mary Jaksch is Chief Editor of Write to Done. She runs the A-List Blogger Club and is the blogger behind GoodlifeZEN.com.