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Synopsis
Sincerity is extremely important to all of us because it helps to build trust with each other. And trust is one of the fundamental building blocks to developing a lasting and rewarding relationship. It’s especially important for non-fiction writers to display sincerity with their words. Readers can sense this, and will reward writers that they trust by following them, reading their articles, and buying their books. Here is a short discussion on the importance of writing with sincerity.
What You Will Learn In This Post
1. You’ll learn why sincerity is important to non-fiction writing.
2. You’ll learn how to define and understand sincerity.
3. You’ll learn about the important connection between sincerity and tone in your writing.
Introduction
Sincerity is extremely important to all of us because it helps to build trust with each other. And trust is one of the fundamental building blocks to developing a lasting and rewarding relationship. It’s especially important for non-fiction writers to display sincerity with their words. Sincerity, honesty, and respect for the subject matter and for the reader are essential in order to build up a tribe of followers, readers, and buyers.
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One of the main ways non-fiction writers display sincerity is by being transparent, straight-forward, and honest with their readers. Readers can very quickly sense this and will reward writers that they trust by following them, reading their articles, and buying their books.
Your writing voice, and the connection you make with your reader, is heavily influenced by your sincerity for the subject matter, your sincerity in your desire to help the reader, and the tone that you use when you write.

Thank you to Joel Friedlander of TheBookDesigner.com for linking to my blog post from his blog Carnival Of The Indies #113
Here are three terms that you must understand in order to write with sincerity:
Term # 1. Writing voice: this refers to when your writing reflects your personality – your individual characteristics – your readers start to understand and connect with you on an emotional level. The tone that you use in your writing helps to reveal to your readers how you feel about the topic you are writing about.
Term # 2. Sincerity: this means having no pretense, deceit, or hypocrisy. Being honest, genuine, truthful, open, transparent, and candid, for example. Sincerity should never be faked or feigned because, in order for your readers to believe what you’re writing about, they must truly believe that you’re being honest with them.
“Sincerity is one of the fundamental building blocks to developing trust between you the writer, and your readers.” (Tweet)
In order to write with sincerity, you must first have respect for yourself, then respect for the subject matter, and more importantly, the reader. Readers, especially today, can detect phony-baloney (aka hypocrisy – sorry I couldn’t resist – I’ve never written that word in a sentence, and it’s such a fun word) a mile away. Once you lose the reader’s respect, they’ll never come back to you to read your articles, or buy your books, ever again.
Term # 3. Tone: this refers to your attitude, such as formal, informal, ironic, serious, sophisticated, comedic, sarcastic, sad, dark, or cheerful, for example. The tone reflects your attitude toward your subject matter, AND your attitude toward the reader, and will greatly influence how your readers interpret your message.
Conclusion
Sincerity is one of the fundamental building blocks to developing trust between you the writer, and your readers. One of the main ways non-fiction writers display sincerity is by being transparent, straight-forward, and honest with their readers. Your writing voice helps convey your sincerity and attitude for the subject matter, and your sincere desire to help the reader. All of this will help you build a following of readers that will respect you and what you do, which in turn will help you sell more books.
Questions For Us To Think About And Discuss
1. What specific techniques have you used to improve your writing voice?
2. What are some of the changes you’ve made to your tone when writing?
• This article also appears in Elizabeth Spann Craig’s “Twitterific Writing Links” issue #278
The Importance of Sincerity When Writing Non-Fiction https://t.co/XtDuzOG3rO via @jckunzjr
— Joel Friedlander (@JFbookman) September 25, 2020
The Importance of Sincerity When Writing Non-Fiction https://t.co/Lb1RcMuC2l via @jckunzjr pic.twitter.com/Bf7PdOsixm
— Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin) April 7, 2020
"Twitterific" from @elizabethscraig & @Hiveword : https://t.co/HlDkIrJTH8 @Ellen__Jacobson @lisadaily @jckunzjr @damyantig
— Porter Anderson (@Porter_Anderson) May 6, 2020
The Importance of Sincerity When Writing Non-Fiction: @jckunzjr https://t.co/zxNYRzS2vK
— TheIWSG (@TheIWSG) July 15, 2020
The Importance of Sincerity When Writing Non-Fiction: https://t.co/fQWARcuv64 @jckunzjr #wkb49
— Elizabeth S Craig (@elizabethscraig) April 29, 2020
Maybe especially for #memoir writers: The Importance of Sincerity When Writing Non-Fiction https://t.co/eRa2kJl6C1 via @jckunzjr #writingcommunity
— Linda Austin (@moonbridgebooks) January 30, 2020
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