::: hero
^ Twelve questions
# Twelve questions *I ask before anything else.*
::: lede
These are the questions that decide whether good work gets the acknowledgment it deserves. Most people can answer a few of these and have never been asked the rest.
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::: narrow
They run in order: who you are to your audience, then what you're saying, then how it travels. Each group lines up with one phase of an engagement. Answer them honestly on your own. If several give you pause, that's the work.

(These are optional. You don't need to answer any of them to [book a call](https://calendly.com/davidmoldawer/half-hour-call).)
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::: section
::: split
::: head
^ Foundations
## Who you are *to your audience.*
::: note
Answered in [Authority Foundation](/how-it-works/authority-foundation/).
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::: faq
### 01. Qualification
**Would you buy a book on this subject by you?**

Credentials, relevant experience, and a record of having done what you tell others to do. If the answer is no, that's the first thing to fix.

~> [Would you even bother to write it?](https://www.mavengame.com/p/would-you-buy-your-book)

### 02. Motive
**Why do you actually want this?**

"Impact" is always the first answer. The real ones (credibility, a bigger business, a promise to yourself) decide what the plan should be.

~> [The truth about "impact"](https://www.mavengame.com/p/the-truth-about-impact)

### 03. Audience
**Who already wants to hear from you on this?**

Your first audience buys anything you make on your subject; your second audience follows their recommendation. Neither follows you to a new subject.

~> [First and second audience](https://www.mavengame.com/p/first-and-second-audience)

### 04. Findability
**What does someone find when they look you up?**

A search, an editor, and an AI assistant all check before they invite you anywhere. Nobody tells you when the answer comes back thin.

~> [Radical narcissism](https://www.mavengame.com/p/radical-narcissism)
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::: band
::: split
::: head
^ The argument
## What you're *saying.*
::: note
Answered in [Idea Forge](/how-it-works/idea-forge/).
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::: faq
### 05. Noticing
**What do you see that others in your field miss?**

Start with what you can't help noticing. What's obvious to you is often exactly what someone else wishes they could see.

~> [Stating the obvious](https://www.mavengame.com/p/stating-the-obvious)

### 06. Surprise
**Where does your idea break an expectation?**

Readers call something original when it's unexpected against a tradition they know. Novelty for its own sake reads as noise.

~> [An element of surprise](https://www.mavengame.com/p/an-element-of-surprise)

### 07. Proof
**What have you tested yourself?**

Thirty books aren't a book. Direct observation, your own experiments, and trying to prove yourself wrong carry more weight than citations.

~> [Thirty books isn't a book](https://www.mavengame.com/p/thirty-books-isnt-a-book)

### 08. Language
**What will people repeat?**

Signature terms, a title that does what it says, the phrases that mark you as one of the people who know.

~> [Shape your shibboleths](https://www.mavengame.com/p/shape-your-shibboleths)

### 09. Candor
**What did it cost you to learn this?**

Advice without vulnerability doesn't land. Readers trust the person who tells them about the failures too.

~> [The truth about the truth](https://www.mavengame.com/p/the-truth-about-the-truth)
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::: section
::: split
::: head
^ The platform
## How it *travels.*
::: note
Answered in [Platform Strategy](/how-it-works/platform-strategy/).
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::: faq
### 10. Presence
**Will you show up?**

To publish is to make yourself known: talks, panels, interviews, for years. People who expect the work to travel on its own are disappointed.

~> [The Dick Cavett test](https://www.mavengame.com/p/the-dick-cavett-test)

### 11. Packaging
**Does it work at a glance?**

Title, opening line, the version someone reads on a phone between meetings. Surface choices change how the substance is judged.

~> [Winning the author metagame](https://www.mavengame.com/p/winning-the-author-metagame)

### 12. Real reach
**Who is actually listening?**

Potential reach is a map on the wall. The people who open, reply, and show up are the only reach that counts.

~> [The riddle of reach](https://www.mavengame.com/p/riddle-of-reach)
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::: closing
^ Next step
## If several gave you pause, *that's the work.*
=> [Book an exploratory call](https://calendly.com/davidmoldawer/half-hour-call)
~> [See how the work runs](/#three-phases-designed-to-work-in-sequence)
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