Maintaining Your Authority as an Expert Author

By Joan Whetzel

There are probably a million ways to kill your authority as an author, and they're all easy traps to fall into. The best way to maintain your authority is to be original. Look for ideas that others are writing about, certainly; by all means. But look for the questions they aren't answering, and make their topics your own, written in your own quirky, unique style.  How do you maintain your authority?

·         Avoid clichés, overused quotes, jargon, and modern day slang and colloquialisms. slang and colloquialisms go out of date quickly and lose their meaning. They others have been so overused that readers are tired of reading them and hearing them.

·         Keep learning new things. Nothing exudes enthusiasm for your topic like the fact that you've just learned something new about it, or found some new way to connect it to other ideas. Learning new things also keeps boredom at bay and keeps you from repeating stories and information that have been around for awhile.

·         Fact Check. Making sure you have the background information you need and have double checked your facts shows that you know what you're talking about.

·         Take risks with your ideas and opinions. This allows you to stand out from other writers who tend to share opinions. But don't be so far out there that you get slammed for libel or inciting someone to violence or criminal acts. Just have a good strong opinion and back it up. Then sit back and enjoy the debate it stirs. Or better yet, watch others quote you.

·         Write about multiple aspects of the same topic, rather than tweaking the same story over and over again. If you can't find anything new about a topic (rainbows), move onto another topic of interest (light, color, rain).

·         Find your audience(s). Figure out what different audiences that content websites, blog sites, and magazines have, then tweak your favorite topics for those audiences. You can get multiple sales off just one article that has been tweaked to appeal to different readers.\

·         Use social media and social networking to promote your writing and let people know where they can read your articles.

·         When your articles and stories are answering a question, be precise and to the point with your answers. Then back up your statements with examples and evidence.

·         Write from a positive point of view. Leave the negative comments and observations outside the door to your writing space. Yes, even an opposing viewpoint has validity, so give it the positive observation it deserves.

·         Keep It Simple Sweetheart  - the KISS method. Keep the language easy to read. Break it down into small to medium length paragraphs. And break your stories and articles down into 3 to 5 subheadings. It breaks up the subject into small, manageable "sound bites" that readers love. The can see what's coming at a glance and it's so much easier to read short blurbs than one big, run-on article with no way to tell what the sub-topics are. It's like getting 3 to 5 mini-articles for the price of one.

All these things should help set you apart from other writers and make readers stand up and take notice. Some of my best selling articles have been the ones that offered more than other writers on a specific topic.