Writing AND Marketing Tip  

 The Heart of Success: What Makes People Want to Read You

by Diane Eble

I've been thinking a lot about the heart.

No, not that internal organ doctors can listen to.

I'm talking about that internal, invisible "center" of your being.

The place of your passion. (Again, I'm not talking about sex here, but the things that move you most deeply, that you care about most passionately.)

The other day, I listened to an excellent teleseminar in which Alex Carroll interviewed Tom Bird about writing. "People want to feel something," Tom said. "They will read you if your writing takes them out of their everyday life and makes them feel something."

He added that we will never write anything worth reading unless we ourselves, as writers, feel something deeply first.

I couldn't agree more.

You must write from the heart, with passion. You must see vividly in your imagination, feel deeply in your heart, what you want others to see and feel.

Then your words will sing. Then people will "hear" your heart.

This is true for whatever you write. Your stories. Your advice.

Even your emails and your web copy.

If you're a business person, your communications will ignite the "know/like/trust" factor if you are real, if you communicate person-to-person, from the heart.

The two most powerful forces, I believe, are truth and love. Both reside in the heart. When you communicate from a place of truth and love, you will communicate powerfully.

No matter what you say, or to whom.

Remember this. Do a "heart check' every time you send something out.

Do your words come from a place of truth? Of love?

If not, don't send them until you've corrected any heart issues. Solomon, the wisest person who ever lived (besides Jesus, in my opinion), said, "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life" (Proverbs 4:23).

The course of your life ... including your life as an author or business person.

Further Resources on Heart-Based Writing:

• Example of heart-based blog post: Read Paul Hartunian's description of Susan Boyle's performance. (Every time I want to feel something, I rewatch this video. If you haven't seen it yet, click here now--and grab the tissues! The song is from Les Miserables--another great piece of art that makes you feel.)
• New book on Heart-Based Marketing: FINALLY there's a resource for those of us who aren't comfortable with over-hyped marketing, yet we do want to sell our books and products. The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back is all about "soft sell marketing" that focuses on what the subtitle says: loving your customer. Get the book from amazon for only $10.17 and then click here to get $8,400 in free gifts AND an example of a "soft sell" book marketing site AND lots of great bonuses. Pretty good use of $10, I'd say.

By the way, I don't make any money from recommending these things. They're resources I think are well worth the small investment of your time and/or money.