You have an idea – a really good idea – for a book, but it’s not a fantasy sci fi rom com with a twist, it’s a book about ant life or how to invest or any number of amazing and interesting non-fiction themes and topics. You do your research, have a few interviews with knowledgeable people in the field (or are the expert in the field), and now you want to take all of that good information and share it with the public. How do you boil down all of the facts, opinions and learnings into an interesting book that someone would want to read?
I’ve spent most of my publishing life (okay, all of it) developing, acquiring and editing non-fiction books. These books range in topic and format (academic vs commercial), but every book I’ve worked on has a few standard common features to make them engaging and interesting.
It tells a memorable story.
The examples, stories, and interesting narrative fill the gaps between the research and factual information – all of which are necessary for a well-supported argument and theory. If you don’t explain what you mean or why you feel the way you do about your theory, statement or argument, the reader is left wondering why they should care. And ultimately, if the readers don’t care or connect with the story and the author writing it, they’ll put the book down and forget it exists until that one day when they are cleaning out their garage and come across a box of old books to donate. Don’t write a book that is relegated to a dusty box in the garage; write a book that is featured on a bookshelf among all of the other read treasures.
It hooks your audience/readers in from the start.
Always try to start your story, piece or chapter with a bang, an interesting quote, a story (personal or otherwise), which is relevant to the overall theme you discuss in the piece. This is REALLY important. You need to engage your reader right from the start – pull them in and then keep them there with your interesting narrative and powerful facts.
It uses powerful active language.
Use words that pull on the readers’ imaginations, emotions, or that pack a punch. Use active verbs – instead of “I began to wonder,” use “I wondered.” Be strong in your word usage – it’s your book, your thoughts, your opinion, so don’t be afraid to express it. The reader may disagree, but if you use confident language and also back it up with some science or data or experience, they can’t help but see your side of it.
It conveys the information in a clear, concise, yet simple, manner.
Keep your sentence structure clean and concise, don’t muddy the readers’ minds with compound, complex sentences that they then have to unpack to understand your meaning. Don’t put an obstacle in the way that they have to overcome, but also don’t spoonfeed them either.
It surprises the reader.
Ask a question and then answer it in a way that is unexpected. Tell a story that appears unconnected, have some narrative in between, and then wrap the narrative back around to finish the story in a way that shows its connection. Find ways to keep the reader on their toes and continually turning the page.
Go back to your favorite non-fiction books and look for the elements that kept you hooked – did they include personal stories? Were there examples that seemed out of place but then made complete sense once the explanation was fully revealed? Did it pull on your heartstrings? Dive in and see what it was about that book, the narrative and the format that worked so well to keep you interested and engaged. And then, start writing.
Stay tuned for part 2 – how to write a great memoir. Coming soon to a blog (well, my blog) near you!