We are not owed readers’ attention

So here's one strategy to establish credibility and help readers stick with you

Harsh but true: nobody owes you their time and attention. As writers, we might luxuriate in the long navel-gazing preamble with flowery language, and there is a time and place for that, I suppose, but also, when the stakes are high, you have to get to your point right off the bat.

Many of us are socialized to buffer bold statements with “throat-clearing” language, and “I think” and such, but, look: sooner or later, you’re going to have to get to your point, and if you don’t come out with it, you risk your reader not making it beyond the first line.

One rule I stress with a lot with those I’ve edited is that in any non-fiction sort of writing, you absolutely must establish who the hell you are and why anyone should listen to you before the words “I”/“me”/“my”/“mine” show up in your piece. (I’ve made one exception to this, and it was because the first sentence was basically, “I was shot and left for dead in my driveway.” The piece went on to explain, and in that instance, the writer wasn’t leaning on professional credentials as much as they were leaning on lived experience, so to “I” was, actually, rather powerful and important to be arranged in such a way.)

Anyway, for the rest of us, establishing credibility in our writing can be as simple as starting a sentence with, “As a professor of X…” or “As a mental health professional…” or even, “In my two decades as an educator….” early on in your piece. Make your point and state the relevant high-level argument or info, and get your readers’ attention in your lede, then establish why we need to listen to you in order to help readers understand you are a credible person with something important to say.