Why Persuasive Writing Sells More Books
Kalinda Rose Stevenson, PhD
Persuasive writing is a mindset that focuses on the reader rather than the topic. Writing to persuade means that you never forget that you are writing to persuade a reader.
This is a perspective that will keep you from falling into the "topic trap" that affects so many writers. The topic trap is the tendency to pay so much attention to the topic of your book that you don't pay enough attention to your potential reader. The topic trap mindset fails to identify why any potential reader would be interested in buying and reading your book.
In fact, a book is an interactive medium. You might not think so when you spend so many hours working by yourself to write it, facing the blank page or the empty screen.
Your objective, as you write your book, is to keep your potential reader involved every step of the way. You can easily lose sight of this objective while you are working alone on your book. The more you can remind yourself that your ultimate objective is to persuade potential readers to buy and read your book, the better your book will be.
When writers start their books from the "topic trap" perspective, the first question they ask is: What is the book about? In contrast, when writers start their books with a persuasive writing mindset, they ask a different first question: Who would want to read this book? An even better question is to ask: Who would actually pay to read this book?
For a moment, imagine that your book is finished and available in the bookstores. When a potential book buyer picks up your book, you only have a few seconds to turn your book browser into a book buyer.
The persuasive writing mindset knows the difference between providing information and providing the solution to a problem. We might be living in the Information Age, but most of us are already swamped with information. Many book buyers don't want more information. They want a solution to some sort of problem.
The tried-and-true way to make sure that your book solves a problem for your readers is to write the book with a clear thesis that identifies and solves a problem for a particular type of reader.
Writing to persuade is fundamentally an effort to prove your thesis, in a way that solves your reader's problem.
This is why a persuasive writing mindset is your best strategy to sell more books. The more successful you are at persuading potential readers that your book will solve their problem, the more readers will want to buy your book.
About the Author:
Kalinda Rose Stevenson, PhD. www.WriteToPersuade.com.If you want an easy guide to the contrast between the "topic trap" and writing a book with a thesis, "What's Your Point? A Writer's Guide To The Simple Idea Behind A Great Book," shows you how to identify your book thesis.
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