Knowing why you write can make a huge difference in your success as a nonfiction writer. It often determines what you write about and defines who you are as a writer and how you are known by your readers—your brand. Plus, your reasons can fuel your passion for your topic and for your writing. It gives you and your work purpose.
Purpose may show up as a sense of cause or mission. It could feel like a calling or a passion. It inspires you. When you write about a purpose-related topic, your writing shares that purpose and helps you fulfill it.
What is Purpose?
According to the Merriam-Webster.com, purpose is:
- the reason why something is done or used: the aim or intention of something
- the feeling of being determined to do or achieve something
- the aim or goal of a person: what a person is trying to do, become, etc.
It’s also defined by many sources as why something (or someone) exists. No wonder many of us feel we have a life or soul purpose, and this serves as a driving force in our work.
Purpose in Writing
A strong sense of purpose might cause you to choose a particular topic about which to write because you feel it helps you fulfill your life or soul purpose. Your essays, articles, blog posts, and books then take on your purpose as well and help you accomplish your mission.
Your work, filled with your passion and purpose, inspire readers. It gives them reason to take up your cause, adopt your change or achieve mutual goals. Readers sense your passion and purpose as well.
Purpose Leads to Focus and Value
The fact that your nonfiction book shares your purpose makes it easy to focus it on the goals it will achieve for readers and the benefits it will provide for your audience. That’s why a book that fulfills a purpose has a higher likelihood of success. A nonfiction book, after all, must deliver value to readers.
When that value is packaged up in your passion and fulfills your purpose, you will impact many. Why? Because most often a person’s sense of purpose is not ego driven or self-centered; it’s focused on serving others. That means the book provides what readers seek: solutions, answers and ways to ease their pain. It’s focused on them, not on you.
Too often, writers get caught up in their own story and their own desires as they write. When you try to fulfill your purpose, you will focus on serving your readers. Your book will have this same angle. Readers will notice, and your book will succeed, which means sell.
Photo courtesy of adamr | freedigitalphotos.net
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