Women’s Writing: Ten Ways to Increase Your Power Through Language

Copyright (c) 2007 Gail Richards

It's the thing we don't talk about. We want to write successful books, but we're not 110% sure of our ideas, or we're afraid they will be judged. The bad news: That message is coming through loud and clear in your writing. Your readers can sense that insecurity reading between the lines.

The good news: There are ten things women can do to increase the power of their writing and their influence.

# 1 Use Active Language to Communicate Your Ideas Switch to active voice in the first person wherever you can in your book. Too many women use passive voice and passive sentence structures throughout. Whether you realize you are doing it or not, this reduces the impact of your words. Many women feel that the messages they want to convey have been channeled to them from a greater power. This comes through in their writing when they use sentences such as "The coffee spilled." instead of "I spilled the coffee."

#2 Give Credit to the Right Person Read some of your past work. Are you likely to say "The idea came to me all of a sudden, when I was sitting in a seminar" instead of launching into the idea directly? We use this mechanism to keep ourselves from feeling overwhelmed by our own ideas. If it just came to you while you were listening to a much wiser person speak at a seminar, then there was a reason for it - other than that you are a powerful, enlightened person. You are crediting the environment, other people, etc. for your good ideas. Women quote from others extensively, and are much more likely than men to say they learned something in a seminar, or from a particular coach.

While it is appropriate to give credit where credit is due, no one's ideas are completely new. What is new is your spin, how you bring your own experiences and thoughts to your learning and teaching.

#3 Tone down acknowledgments and introductions You can generally tell a book written by a woman, just from the acknowledgments and introduction. Men use these elements as tools to get the book and themselves where they want to go next, by acknowledging the most powerful people they know. Women use them to thank everyone they've ever been touched by since they were born.

Thank people who genuinely have helped you as mentors, including family, but limit the number. Also, assume there will be a second book - you don't have to thank everyone all at once, giving the impression that this is your first and only book.

#4 Write your bio from a media perspective A poorly written author bio, on the back cover or in the book can sink all the credibility you've worked so hard to establish with the book itself. When women don't consider their accomplishments significant, they don't tell their best story. People who don't know you need a reason to buy your book. They want to believe you can help them. Having a strong bio gives the buyer the confidence that he or she is making a good choice.

#5 Seek to transform yourself and your reader One of the most important elements in writing a book is to always focus on the reader. While you may be telling your story, never forget that you aren't telling it for your benefit, you are telling it in hopes of benefiting the reader. There has to be point beyond the telling. Writing a book is a transformative process - you will be in a new stage of your life when you have done so. You must be transformed by your own words and your own process to expect the reader to be similarly transformed.

Expect to feel fear, shame, anger, doubt - all the emotions when writing a book. The process of writing is to help you work through your own doubts about your ideas, to challenge them and improve them while writing.

The reason many women never become authors is that they don't work through the fear. They stop short - sometimes they never get their ideas on paper, other times they actually finish the first draft and then put away in a closet for years.

#6 Use appropriate type font and other graphics that adds to and is consistent with the message of the book A great book deserves a great design, inside and out. Would you feel the same about the functionality of your IPOD if it didn't have that wonderful sleek design? We are all drawn in by beauty, and clearly some books are more beautiful than others.

The typeface chosen for a book is an important decision, as is the type size and the number of words on a page. Take a trip to the bookstore and find books that appeal to you, strictly because of their graphic design. Maybe they have interesting graphics, or are formatted to really bring the words to life on the page. Don't write a spectacular book only to have it lose the audience with unappealing design.

#7 Have your cover professionally designed Just as it is vital to have the interior of the book professionally designed, books are judged by their covers - at least at first. The largest publishers have spent millions of dollars studying how covers can influence book buying decisions. How do most people buy in bookstores? Most books take up about 1/2 inch of shelf space - since they are shelved sideways. We see the spine of most books before we see anything else. If the spine is interesting enough, and the title catches our attention, we might pull the book off the shelf. Studies tell us most people spend less than 5 seconds looking at the front cover, and then spend another 10 to 15 seconds reading the back cover. If we are still interested we probably will flip through the book, maybe looking at the table of contents. In under 30 seconds we make that buying decision.

The book cover has a number of important elements - the front graphic must fit the feel and tone of the book, testimonials are most effective at the top of the back cover, followed by a short synopsis and at the bottom, an author bio. A professional book designer (not just a graphic designer) is trained to make the most of your books' unique elements.

#8 Include an index An index is an absolute essential for most non-fiction books. Realizing this and creating a useful index separates the amateurs from the professionals. Think how often you use an index to find just what you are looking for in a book. Most of us don't read non-fiction books cover to cover, but use them for reference. And even if we do read them start to finish, when we come back to them, we are generally looking for a particular topic we want to review. A professionally-done index is an important element in increasing the power of your book.

#9 Learn the publishing industry When you have a book published you are entering a brand new industry. Know who your competition is, who publishes books like yours, and how books like yours are profitably sold. A great way to experience the publishing world first hand is to attend the Book Expo America, held each May or June in a different city in the United States. Most publishers attend and show off their next season titles to encourage booksellers to place early orders.

#10 Get to the right people Networking well is a part of doing business in any industry and publishing is no exception. The most successful authors are those who are well connected. They have an advantage in getting reviews, testimonials, having a well-known person writing a foreword, and getting to the media outlets who will help sell the book. And even before promotion begins, well-connected people find publishers with personal introductions to editors and others.

Women will continue to make strides and bring their voices to the important issues through their books. The better they can bring the passion and confidence they feel to their writing, the more their ideas will be seriously considered.

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