Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is And What You Can Do About It

by Steven Pressfield

How can a voice establish authority? 1) It can come pre-loaded by reputation in the field, like Stephen King’s in On Writing or Twyla Tharp’s in The Creative Habit. 2) It can speak with the backing of extensive academic research, as Susan Cain did in Quiet. 3) It can cite its own professional or academic credentials, like Dr. Phil or Dr. Oz or Dr. Gupta. 4) Or its record of sales and success, like Tony Robbins or Eckhart Tolle. 5) The voice in self-help can establish credibility via its TV or web show, its podcast, its blog, its YouTube channel, its number of followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or by its dominating presence in social media. Look how much credibility a gal named K got from a single sex tape. I’m serious. In that specific field, a flash of homemade porn established authority. It set the bar. 6) The hardest and maybe the best way to establish authority is through the quality and integrity of the voice itself. Nature cannot be tricked or cheated. She will give up to you the object of your struggles only after you have paid her price.