Do You Have to Change to Inspire Readers to Change?

I’m the type of nonfiction writer with a mission. Maybe you feel the same way. I don’t simply write for my own sake. I write to fulfill my mission: to author change. I want to help my readers create change on some level. No matter the topic I choose to write about–writing and publishing, human potential, practical spirituality, dance, or something else–I almost always focus on inspiring my readers to positive change.

As a writer, I discovered that I needed to change first before I could author change. My writing alone would not inspire readers to change. My good ideas would not inspire them to change either.

As a writer, you might be thinking, “Well, my writing and ideas are good enough to inspire my readers to change.”

And they may be–but not on their own. Let me explain.

It’s not that my writing or ideas weren’t good enough to get my readers to act–to change. They were. But a writer must have readers before anyone can be inspired to action.A writer must have impact.  If you simply churn out good content based on good ideas in a vacuum, no one ever changes. Why? Because no one ever reads your content–your blog posts, your books, your essays.

I didn’t always have readers for my writing. (Maybe you can relate.) But I do now.

I changed that status by changing myself. I became a good promoter of my great content and great ideas. I embraced promotion of myself, my ideas and my content. That’s what you have to do, too, if you want to become an “author of change.”

If you wan to become an author of change, here are 10 activities that will ensure you have readers to receive your message:

1. Start a blog.
2. Post to your blog a minimum of twice a week.
3. Stick to 1-3 topics on your blog.
4. Share your blog posts on your social networks
5. Use the top social networks–Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest
6. Post status updates on your social networks daily
7. Get out  and meet people at conferences, MeetUps and other events.
8. Begin speaking.
9. Write for publications and websites (even if it doesn’t pay)
10. Look for media opportunities using www.haro.com

Now use the rule of 5: Do five promotional activities every day.  For example, write a blog post, promote it on your social networks, schedule a speaking engagement (or try to do so), query a magazine or blog, and check the haro.com listings and pitch to those that apply to you. If you follow this formula every day, you will build an author platform, a built-in readership for your content. Then, when you do write something meant to inspire someone to change, you will have many readers to inspire. You will actually author change.

Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles