TOP 10 SECRET TIPS:
7. WRITE WITH A PURPOSE AND OUTCOME IN MIND. Like DUHHH! Everyone is bombarded with material to read in every form coming from every direction. Why are you writing? Why should anybody read what you write, even the niche you identified in Tip 8?
Answer these questions:
What can you contribute that’s new? (Or, tell me something I don’t know.)
What can you contribute with a different spin from anyone else?
What problem can you solve?
How can you help someone?
Who will benefit or gain?
Who cares?
How can you make a colleague a better researcher, teacher, or clinician?
How can you make someone’s life
• easier?
• healthier?
• safer?
• more meaningful?
• more productive?
• more efficient?
• more influential?
• more satisfying?
In other words, “Your writing is all about your readers; it’s not about you. It’s what you can do for them that counts” (Berk’s Law, 2010). Match your expertise to your readers’ needs.
These questions have to be answered whether you’re writing a blog, report, research article, or book. If the outcome isn’t a significant contribution to your discipline or to your readership, they won’t read your blog or article or buy your book. Your writing must be salable to your readers.
(Up Close & Personal: You’re probably thinking: “Where are the jokes you promised?” They’re sprinkled here and there, hither and yon, ying and yang. What you really wanted to ask was: “Why am I writing another piece on ‘writing’ in an already overcrowded field?” Great question. I thought I answered it previously, but maybe you were busy checking out my French derivation of niche. Wasn’t that a pip?
Although writing [but not necessarily publishing] is expected of all academicians, I don’t think most search for sources on how to write [or publish], no matter how much they may struggle. I thought my blog series could not only suggest a few new pointers, but also provide an easily accessible, anonymous, high security, secretive, covert, and free platform for a concise Berk’sNotes® resource. No one will ever know you peeked. Go ahead. Peek. I know you want to.)
My next blog will take you to Tip 6: how to pick topics about which you are passionate. We’re back to the heart of writing agaaain!
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
TOP 10 SECRET TIPS:
8. WRITE FOR A NICHE. You can’t write for everybody. Well, maybe some people can, but most can’t. It’s best to carve out a piece of your own territory, turf, piece of the rock, and put yourself in good hands with Allstate. I bet you have an itch to know your niche. Pick a niche (derived from the French words, “enrique iglesias,” meaning literally, “your retina’s detached”).
Key Questions. Answer these questions:
- Who is interested in your writing?
- Who cares about what you have to contribute?
- What definable group do you know well enough that could benefit from your work?
- What is your demographic?
- What do they read and need?
- Could you put yourself in there jobs and see their professional worlds through their detached retinas?
Define Your Niche. Clearly define your readership or audience. Draft a profile of what they look like, for example, 30–80 year-old, male and female, all ethnic, semi- to fully-pretentious university professors. YIIIKES! That a tough group!
Target Your Writing. Write specifically for your audience and think about your niche in what you write and how you write it. Your writing must connect with that group. It drives your writing by providing the focus, direction, purpose, and style. Custom tailor your writing (and humor) to fit your target readership. Within the above example group, your writing will be very different for researchers, teachers, general practitioners, and clinicians.Take careful aim to tantalize, captivate, and dazzle those readers with your writing gifts and messages that they will improve their professional lives.
My next blog will consider Tip 7: how you determine WHAT to write. What's your purpose and intended outcome?
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
TOP 10 SECRET TIPS:
9. WRITE EVERYWHERE YOU CAN (continued)
Leverage Putrid Service: The quality of service provided by many businesses and institutions is putrid. We can experience extremely long wait times and delays at all of the preceding venues. My charge to you is: Leverage that putrid service to the benefit of your writing. Don't waste your energy with negative self-talk, complaining about delays you can't control; seize them as opportunities to write.
No Access Needed: Although most of the venues now have Internet access (some for free), except some prisons, that doesn’t matter for most major writing activities. You don’t need to be online to write blogs, reports, articles, books, etc. Any piece of writing can be copied and pasted onto any platform or site later. You will be amazed at how much you can complete in 15–30 minutes if you're able to rivet your attention on your writing. Be prepared to write at any of those venues. You can accomplish a lot.
(Up Close & Personal: I have gotten used to writing, editing, proofing, and weeping over reviewers’ comments at many of the previous sites. I’ve cried at the Toyota dealer, sweated buckets while writing on torn, uncomfortable chairs at a non-air-conditioned Midas Muffler, and written piles of blogs and articles in hospital emergency and waiting rooms, doctors’ offices, airports, and the MVA. I’ve been stuck in airports or on the tarmac for 3–9 hours on several occasions. That’s solid writing time. You can either get angry or write; it's your attitude and choice. The more you write in these public settings, except prison, the more you can build up your concentration skills. Since you’re writing every day, writing on the fly becomes a habit; writing in your office becomes a luxury. There is no excuse for not writing. “You can do it!”)
Tomorrow, I will discuss Tip 8: how to pick and write for a niche audience. I know you’re itching to read about niches.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
