Impact: What Nonfiction Writers Really Want to Achieve

Impact. That’s what you want to achieve with your nonfiction writing projects. I don’t care if you write an essay, a blog post, an article, or a nonfiction book. If your work doesn’t positively or meaningfully impact your ideal readers, those people in your target market, that piece of nonfiction writing fails to do its job. You fail to do your job.

The goal for each nonfiction writing project you begin should be to create impact. If you can achieve that, your work will succeed and so will you.

The reason for this is simple: You’ll transform your readers’ lives. You’ll become a change agent through the vehicle of written words. I call this authoring change.

To achieve impact with your work, however, you must know three things:

Why You Write

If you know why you write, each project you begin (and finish) shares your purpose. Most nonfiction writers want to help their readers in some way. Maybe you want to inspire them, give the hope, provide answers or solutions, or in some way help them make positive and meaningful changes in their lives, communities, organizations, or the world. You might feel you have a calling, or a soul purpose. You want to create a movement or advance a cause. This is why you write.

What Your Readers Want

Hopefully, your readers want what you have to offer. If what they want and what you have are the same, you will impact their lives in a meaningful and positive manner. Your work will have impact.

For that to happen, you must understand your readers. You must know your target market and those who exist in it. This means you must get inside their heads and hearts and “feel” them. What are their emotional triggers and pain points? Transform those and you truly impact their lives for the better. And that’s what they want. They want to be relieved of their pain and suffering, whether that is emotional, physical, mental, personal, or professional.

How to Transform Your Readers’ Lives

To transform your readers’ lives, provide them with information, facts, tips, tools, steps, ways, answers, solutions, or secrets that relieve their pain and suffering on whatever level they experience it and in whatever situation is most pressing—and in which you have expertise. (Or become an expert by researching the topic, interview experts, blogging, writing articles, etc.) It’s that simple. That’s how you write nonfiction that positively and meaningfully impacts your readers and makes you an author of change, a change agent in your readers’ lives.

Become an Author of Change

Are you ready to become an author of change? Put this information to use in your next essay, article or nonfiction book. Set out to impact your readers in a big way…a way they won’t forget because you changed their lives. There’s simply nothing more rewarding as an author than to have a reader say to you, “You transformed my life.” You can sell thousands of books and make thousands of dollars on those books—or even millions, but positive and meaningful impact is the true payoff—the true measure of success—for a nonfiction writer.

If you want to learn more about authoring change, sign up for my Author of Change mailing list to learn more about this topic and be informed the next time I offer a course as part of my Author of Change Transformational Program.

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