The writing mistake you’re making which is turning 25% of your readers off

Did you know your readers each have their own preferred way of learning a new thing? And that if you don’t cater for each way within your business book or blog post, you’ll be turning a chunk of them right off – without even realising it? You see, we each have our own personal bias when it comes to learning, which can lead us astray when it comes to writing for a broad audience.

You might feel it’s a bit of a tall order to cater for everyone’s needs individually, and you’d be right. But there’s an easier way, and that’s to use the following technique when you’re structuring your writing:

Why, What, How, What if?

Let me explain.

Why

Some of us have to know WHY we’re doing something new, before we feel committed to it; if we don’t have an insight into what the purpose of it is, we find it hard to motivate ourselves to put the effort into whatever it is we want to achieve.

What

Others of us aren’t so bothered by ‘why’, but we have to know WHAT to do. If we’re learning a new thing, and it’s not clear what steps we need to take in order to do it, we feel discouraged: ‘Just tell me what to do, and I’ll be happy!’

How

Then there’s the group which really values being told HOW to do something. For them, it’s not enough to know ‘why’ or ‘what’; if there’s no guidance on how to actually go about doing this new thing, then they switch off.

What if?

And finally there are those who ask ‘WHAT IF?’ whenever they come across a new concept. They want to know how it will work in the real world; what could go right and what could go wrong. Theory isn’t enough for them, they need real life examples.

Which club do you belong in – the ‘why’, ‘what’, ‘how’ or ‘what if’? Of course, we all fall into each to a certain extent, but I’ll bet there are a couple which are more important to you than the others.

Equally, you’ll have one or two which don’t bother you too much. For instance, I’m very much a ‘why’ and ‘what if?’ person, but I don’t care too much about ‘how’. Once I realised this a few years ago, it became clear to me my writing was a bit light on advising my readers how to do things, so now I make sure I take this into account.

Because that’s what will happen if you don’t get clear with yourself on your own personal bias; your readers who do care about that aspect of learning won’t get full value from your writing (or your training programmes, and so on), because you’re unconsciously missing them out. They’ll be turned off what you have to say, and they might not even realise why (nor will you!).

What to do next

We’ve covered off the ‘why’ you need to cater for all your readers, so now for ‘what’ (see what I did there?).

Next time you’re planning out a chapter of  your book, or your next blog post, write the 4 elements as mock sub titles. Arrange your points under each heading, ensuring that you cover off each element fully. You’ll find you need to force yourself to do one or two of them more than the others, as those are the ones that don’t come so easily to you (they’re the ones you don’t care about yourself).

This goes for your whole book as well as each chapter. Readers need to know why they’re reading the book, what they need to do in order to achieve the changes you offer, how they should do the tasks, and what could happen in the real world once they’ve done them.

How to take your readers through it

The methods you use to write about this will depend on what you’re asking your readers to do, and nature of the transformation you’re guiding them through. It could encompass exercises, a step by step series of actions, examples of how other people have done it, and so on. Your ‘how’ will be very much linked to your personality and style.

It also means being prepared to go into some detail for your readers, as ‘how’ can be a more descriptive way of writing than ‘what’.

Talking about the real world

Your ‘what if?’ section can be a great place to include case studies and examples.

What problems might your readers have when they put into practice what you’re teaching them? How can you anticipate these issues, and advise them on how to overcome them? What good results might your readers get? Are there any knock-on benefits, and what could they do to capitalise on them?

When you’re thinking this through, you might find this post about what to do if your readers don’t believe you helpful. Once you’ve incorporated the ‘what if?’ into your writing, your work will have more credibility, as it will be rooted in actual life rather than just theory.

My book coaching clients find this an invaluable technique, as their books now help 100% of their audience instead of 50-75%. And I have to give thanks to the Extraordinary Coaching Company who taught me this in one of their training courses (it’s a fantastic tool for training, naturally).

So what’s your bias? And were you aware of it before now? Spill the beans in the comments below!