What Makes a Great Nonfiction Book?

You’ve been writing articles for a while and would like to step up to writing a nonfiction book. While there’s a lot of information out there about writing novels, there isn’t as much about writing good nonfiction books.

Remember the Bob Newhardt Show on which the main character, a writer of nonfiction how-to books,  ran a bed and breakfast in Vermont with his wife.  The subjects of his books would have been great for insomniacs, but not all nonfiction books make readers yawn.

Today, nonfiction books have a lot of competition from the Internet. Readers can find all sorts of information online, so why would they want to purchase a book—even an inexpensive ebook—when they can search for what they need. The truth is that most people don’t really know how to search the Web, so they still need nonfiction books to give them information in an orderly manner.

It’s how a writer assembles the facts in a book that makes all the difference. The key to nonfiction book success is information synthesis. To make sure a nonfiction book is worth paying for, you need to bring your own fresh a perspective to the subject matter—a perspective that readers can’t find online. What’s more important today is your ability to synthesize the facts and give them context and perspective.

First and foremost, make sure your nonfiction book has a strong focus. It’s better to limit the focus than ramble all over the place. To do this, you’ll need to think out your book before doing research. You’ll most likely find a mess of facts on your subject. How you make sense of those facts is the key.

To make sense of all the information you collect, you need to give meaning to it. And that requires a point of view. What are your feelings about your subject? Who will be telling your story? Except for memoirs, most nonfiction books are told from another person’s perspective.

Offer insight by weaving current events and trends into the context of your book, even if it’s historical in nature.

Present the bigger picture about your subject so that readers will be able to make more global sense of it.  And if your subject is more complicated, simplify it for the average reader. Don’t talk down to your readers to prove how smart you are. Instead, write in plain language and explain difficult words or phrases.

A nonfiction book goes deeper than an article or blog on a subject. While the shortness of both only gives the reader the basics, a book can delve deeper into a subject. Take a common theme or one that has been written about heavily in the past and give it a fresh approach.

Above all, make sure your nonfiction book gives readers information in a way they won’t find it anywhere else, in a way only you can deliver it.
   
   

Writing Articles That Get Published

Non-fiction writing is meant to be published. It’s not something that you create to please yourself or your friends. It’s writing that you share with a number of readers, perhaps thousands. Unlike short fiction, which often gets stashed in a drawer incomplete, articles should go straight from your computer to either a print publication or online.

The neat thing about articles is that you can write and publish them even if you’re not planning to write for a living but just want to promote a product or service of yours or your company.

If you’re not writing articles yet, even if you write fiction, here are three reasons you should consider it:

•  They’re an easy way to gain credibility in your subject field.
•  They can drive quality traffic to your Web site or sales page.
•  You can get paid to write them. 

So what’s the secret that all non-fiction writers use to guarantee that their articles get published? You don’t have to have a genie in a bottle granting three wishes to succeed. All you need do is follow these simple steps to prepare yourself before you begin to write.

Choose the right type of article for the purpose.
All articles can be classified in one of these types: advice, how-to, profile, and review. Each has a specific purpose and must be written differently to correspond to its intended purpose. 

Know the direction of your article.
Before you begin, you need to know the direction your article will take. Once you know that, you need to ensure that every word you write supports that direction.

Define the specific thought, feeling, or action you want to stimulate in your readers.
Just like advertising people do when writing good direct-response copy, you want to think about the purpose of your article. Do you want your readers to feel inspired? Visit a Web site or purchase a product? Become more informed on a subject?

Note how your article will help your readers.
This step is similar to defining the benefits of the product or service you’re selling in a sales letter. It’s critical, because along with helping you write the article, the list of benefits will reveal if it’s worthwhile for you to write it. Make a list of the benefits your article will provide your readers. Some people say you should have at least six, but you don’t need to include that many if the ones you do include are strong.

Include useful instruction on your topic.
Identify some type of instruction you can give your readers. Just like with a sales letter, you want to engage them. Everyone likes to learn something new. Useful instruction ensures that that will happen.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that every article you write needs to be a “how-to.” The instruction could just be as simple as explaining how a marketing process works or providing examples of what others do when faced with a similar situation.

Identify how your readers will identify with your article.
It’s important that your readers identify with what you’ve written. Have they been in similar situations? What have you told them that will help them next time? As much as you want to engage your readers, you also want them to identify themselves as people who will benefit from the advice or instructions given in your article.

Answer the questions your readers will ask themselves.
As interactive as Facebook and other social media sites are, readers may find it hard to seek you out to get answers to questions that may arise as they read your article. To help make sure that you include answers to some of the frequently asked questions in your article, you should make a list of them to use as a guide before you begin writing.

The next time you sit down to write an article, create a worksheet for it and fill in the details before you begin writing. Not only will this help you to write your article faster, it will also guarantee that the content will be directed to your readers—and that’s what makes an article publishable.