If you want to learn the steps to writing a book that’ll help you grow your business or increase your career profile, you’re making a wise choice. Nonfiction books are one of the most cost-effective means of promoting your business and your career, plus they create a legacy that will last a lifetime.

For example, let’s compare nonfiction books with a more traditional form of promotion, advertising:

Ads:

• Have a short life cycle
• People have a low regard for them
• People don’t consider them to be a credible source of information
• Must be continuously funded to produce results
• Do not establish you as an expert in your field

Nonfiction Books:

• Have a very long life cycle, measured in years
• People have a high regard for them
• People consider them to be a credible and trustworthy source of information
• Need funding one time only and can take advantage of earned media and paid speaking engagements for free promotion
• Establish you as an expert in your field

Now, you may think that writing a book from scratch is a tall order. In the world of fiction or creative nonfiction this can be true for many first-time authors.

But if you’re writing a nonfiction book based on your professional skills and experiences in order to solve a problem for your audience, you won’t encounter this problem. In fact, you’ll soon discover that your book will practically write itself.

The book you’re about to write is already inside of you and waiting to come out. All you need now is the roadmap that’ll unlock this information in your brain and transfer it to the written page. You’ll find this roadmap in the steps to writing a book below.

How Do I Become a Successful Writer?

Successful nonfiction writers are those who are able to create a deep bond with their audience. They can achieve that level of connection because:

1. They know their audience intimately
2. They know what problem keeps them up at night
3. They have a unique solution for that problem

Let’s now run this test with you in mind and see how you do:

First, you need to know who your audience is and know them intimately. When you think about it, you already have a solid audience made up of your current clients, and you already know them very well because you’ve been in business for several years. – check.

Second, you need to know the problem that keeps them up at night. Well, you already know your clients’ problems because they’ve hired you to solve them in the first place – check.

Third, you must have a unique solution for that problem. Your unique solution is the very reason you’re in business – check.

If you’re a business owner or entrepreneur, a professional, a practitioner or a coach, you’re the perfect candidate to become a nonfiction book author and you have a very good chance to be successful.

How do you measure success? By your ability to leverage your book through earned media, speaking engagements or simply by using your book as a calling card for prospects in order to generate new business.

There are plenty of stories from first-time nonfiction authors who managed to land lucrative contracts for their businesses simply because their competitors didn’t have the cachet of a book to back them up.

How Do You Begin to Write A Book?

As a first-time author, the book writing process will probably seem a bit confusing. There are so many resources out there that even doing online research can become an overwhelming task.

Yet, when you boil it down to the basics, writing a book is quite a simple process. Once you know what steps to follow, you’ll realize how much sense this process makes and you’ll also realize that you don’t require prior experience in order to create a successful outcome.

The only difference between you and someone with your credentials who’s already published a book is that they can go through the steps below faster. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll produce a better book.

Your solution is unique in the same way that your business is unique – nobody else will be able to duplicate what you bring to the table because you and your book are one and the same.

So let’s introduce the simple steps that will allow you to write a great nonfiction book.

What Are The 7 Steps to Writing a Book?

The following seven steps will guide you through the process of creating a powerful nonfiction book that will open new doors and markets for your business and raise your professional profile to the level of expert:

Step 1: Read Before You Write

The first step in the process is to learn from the masters. Before you begin to write your own book, you need to learn the best practices in nonfiction by reading the leading books in your field.

Pick two or three bestselling books in your niche and read them armed with a highlighter. What you’re looking for is:

• How did the author connect with you as a reader? What hooks did they use to get your attention?
• How did they make the book engaging? Did they use story telling? Did they make use of any visual elements to paint a better picture of their content?
• How was the book organized? How did the table of contents flow for you?
• How powerful was the book’s introduction? Did it convince you to keep on reading?
• What was it about the book cover and title that caught your eye?
• What kind of language did they use? Was it personal and conversational or technical and academic?
• Was the book a page-turner or more reflective in nature?

When you’re done reading those books, make a list of the best practices that you were able to extract from them and keep them in mind when you write your own book.

Step 2: Choose Your Book’s Main Idea

Now it’s time to turn the focus on you. During the course of your business, you probably solve a range of issues for your clients. But when it comes to nonfiction books, you’ll need to choose a sub-niche that allows you to focus on a single problem.

With very rare exceptions, books that focus on more than one problem at a time don’t do very well in the market. They’re more confusing than helpful. The rule of thumb is to identify the most significant problem that your audience faces and then focus just on that problem.

Step 3: Create Your Table of Contents

Once you know what your main topic is and how your unique solution will solve the one big problem you’re focusing on, it’s time to gather all the relevant information from your brain and “download” it to the written page.

To achieve this, you’ll be making use of the “mind mapping” technique. This is a powerful technique that allows you to map your brain onto a chart where you can organize your thoughts around your book’s main idea.

I’ve written a separate article to help you create the mind map for your book here. The great thing about mind maps is that the way they organize your thoughts around your main idea can be easily translated into a table of contents.

I’ve also written a article on how to create a book’s outline here which will walk you through each step. The mind mapping technique will not only allow you to generate the table of contents of your book – your main roadmap – but also create the writing prompts to help you begin writing each section.

These prompts are the reason I mentioned earlier that your book will write itself, because they’ll prompt you to recall information from your past experiences – client anecdotes, personal examples, success stories, and so on – stored in your long-term memory.

Thoughts and ideas will begin to flow, so it’s now time to create the right environment to more easily capture this information.

Step 4: Establish Your Writing Routine

In order to develop a writing routine you need to make the following choices:

• You need to choose a writing spot that inspires Some people like to work at home, some in the office, and some in a public place like a coffee shop or a public library.
• You need to write for an average of two hours a day, no less than six days a week. Make sure that you schedule the same time to write every day.
• Finally, you need to commit to a daily word count. If you’re a first-time author I recommend that you write between 400 and 500 words per hour, so that’s a maximum daily word count of 1,000 words.

Now come the caveats:

• Make sure your family or employees know that outside of an emergency, you’re not to be disturbed for any reason during your writing blocks.
• Eliminate all types of electronic distractions as well. Make sure you turn on the do-not-disturb feature in your phone and mute your computer. If someone really needs you, they’ll know where to find you.
• When you schedule your writing blocks, make sure that they fall outside of business hours and family time. Also, make sure that you don’t go on the Internet or check email inside your writing blocks.

Step 5: Write from Your Roadmap

Your book outline and table of contents combined are your writing roadmap. The table of contents will give you the logical flow of ideas in your book and the outline will provide you with the prompts to get you going.

When you sit down to write, simply browse your outline and choose a section or subsection that inspires you at that moment. If you feel inspired to write a section in the second-to-last chapter first, then do so. Nonfiction writing doesn’t need to be a linear process – your table of contents will keep things straight.

Step 6: Do Multiple Rewrites

Write from a stream of consciousness. Don’t “plan” what you’re going to write about, just begin writing with the aid of your prompts and don’t stop until you run out of juice. We aren’t looking for quality at this point, just quantity.

Let a day pass to gain some distance and go back to your original writing to rewrite it from top to bottom. This is where the quality comes in. Be prepared: at the beginning you’ll be doing a lot of rewriting!

With experience, the number of rewrites will decrease gradually as nonfiction writing becomes second nature.

Step 7: Set Up an Advance Reading Group

Last but not least, you need to create a feedback loop for your writing process. Remember that you’re writing for your audience not for yourself, so you’ll need to create an advance reading group made up of members of your target audience (current and past clients who are good at providing constructive criticism are ideal candidates).

To make sure the feedback you receive is valuable, try not to include family members of colleagues in your advance reading group unless they happen to fit the profile of your target audience.

You’re certainly welcome to invite your family and colleagues to read your writing separately; just take their feedback with a grain of salt – they’ll want to support you, not criticize you.

What’s Next?

Once you’ve completed the first draft of your manuscript, let a week or so pass and then begin a full top-to-bottom rewrite. During this self-editing phase, you’ll discover that some chapters or sections may need to be re-arranged.

You may also discover that you need to create a new chapter or a new section in order to improve the flow of your book. Sometimes, you may choose to remove a section altogether. This is an excellent time to check for message clarity and to tighten your writing.

I recommend that you repeat this full rewrite one or two more times before you’re ready for the final stage of the writing process: handing over your manuscript to a professional nonfiction editor. To find out why this is a critical part of the writing process, read my article entitled: How to Find A Book Editor That’s Perfect For Your Nonfiction Book.

I wish you the best on your writing journey!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related articles I highly recommend:

How to Write a Compelling Nonfiction Book in 12 Steps: A Must-Read Guide for Business Owners

How to Come Up With Killer Book Titles for Your Nonfiction Book

How to Find the Perfect Writing Coach for Your Nonfiction Book

 

Bennett R. Coles is the author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

If you want to learn how to write nonfiction to help your audience solve a problem, this article is for you. As nonfiction pros will tell you, when you’re writing a problem-solving book everything in it has to be addressed to your target audience and no one else.

This not only includes your solution but also your message, your tone and your choice of words.

Your book will have to communicate and to educate, while at the same time develop a strong bond with your audience. The deeper this bond, the more effective your book will be in making a meaningful difference to their lives.

If you fall short of this goal, you run the risk of limiting your book’s appeal to just becoming a resource guide instead of the change agent that it could be.

Bestselling nonfiction sells millions of books every year because it moves its readers. On the other hand, there are countless books published every year with as good information as the bestsellers that remain in obscurity because they fail to connect with their audiences.

In this post you’ll learn 12 tips to write nonfiction like a pro. Master these tips and you’ll be able to write a book that truly matters to your audience.

How Can I Learn to Write Better?

Granted, we all know how to write. But for the most part, we only develop the writing skills that are needed for the task at hand.

When you write an email to a client, an employee or a colleague, you’ll instinctively customize your message to achieve your immediate goal. You may be trying to troubleshoot a problem, communicate a policy change or request assistance.

But it’s unlikely that you’ll be writing to influence their thinking and persuade them to take actions to improve their lives.

On the other hand, when you’re writing to an audience of nonfiction readers that you’re trying to help solve a problem, the relationship needs to become much more intimate.

It’s in learning how to develop this author-reader intimacy through the written word that you’ll become an effective nonfiction writer.

How Do I Improve My Writing Skills?

In order to developing a deep level of connection with your audience, you need to first internalize and then master the following nonfiction writing tips. Your goal is to make this knowledge become second nature through practice.

Tip 1

Build a Bridge Between Minds

Successful nonfiction writers are bridge builders.

They’ve formulated a solution to a problem in their minds and know that in order to be successful they need to transfer this knowledge into the minds of their readers.

Therefore, the actual words that they use have to almost be transparent to the reader. They have to write in such a way that their language is “heard but not seen.”

This is how you’ll be able to truly deliver your message in a way that makes a difference in the lives of your readers. Choose language that makes your thought transfer smooth. Choose words that communicate but stay “out of the way.”

Tip 2

Become an Avid Reader

Every successful author (in any genre) is an avid reader. But they don’t just read anything that comes across their desks. They’re very selective in their choices. They’ll only choose authors they can learn from.

Make it a habit to read and analyze the best nonfiction books in your field. Feel the connection that those authors have been able to create with you as a reader and then try to reverse engineer it.

Try to figure out what it is that they’re doing to build this bridge between their mind and yours to the point that the words get relegated to the background.

Take lots of notes – there’s nothing more powerful than learning from the work of masters.

Tip 3

Know Your Audience

Before you write a single word, you have to truly know your audience inside and out. You have to understand what it is they’re feeling in relation to the problem you’re trying to help them solve.

You need to understand their fears, their challenges, their hopes and their desires. You need to be able to put yourself in their shoes before you can figure out how to reach out to them through your writing.

If you’re trying to solve a problem that you think your readers have, but they don’t see it the same way, your message will fall on deaf ears.

So it’s imperative that you know their state of mind: what they’re prepared to hear and, more importantly, what they’re not. A naked truth can hurt and turn people off, but a truth told with empathy and compassion doesn’t hurt as much.

Tip 4

Write for Your Audience, Not for Your Peers

As an extension of Tip 3, make sure that your language is always addressed to your intended audience and not to an audience of colleagues.

What do I mean by that? If your book is addressed to your readers but written in language meant for your colleagues, then you’re mixing two distinct groups and you’ll end up confusing them.

If you want to communicate your solution to an audience of peers, then publish your findings separately in a professional journal or equivalent publication. Target your book to a single audience – only those you want to help.

Tip 5

Use Simple Language

Since the language you choose is meant to be a bridge between your mind and the minds of your readers, don’t use complex words or jargon. They’re the equivalent of stones on the road.

Be concise. If you can express the same message with fewer words, err on the side of simplicity. Remember that your words need to serve your message, not obscure it.

If your words are front and center in the minds of your readers, if they need to be deciphered in any way, if they’re confusing to your readers, your flow will be broken and your connection will suffer.

You may be proud of your message, but don’t be proud of your words. That’s a sign that your ego is getting in the way. Your readers will only care about your message and what it means to them, they won’t care about your choice of words.

Tip 6

Never Write to Fill Empty Space

Use only the minimum number of words necessary to communicate your message – no more and no less. Stay away from tortured logic, run-around sentences and extremely long paragraphs.

Always be conscious about using an economy of words every time you sit down to write. If there’s no more to say about a particular subject, don’t belabor it; move on to the next subject.

Tip 7

Write with Authenticity

The goal of nonfiction writing is to connect first and then to communicate. What allows you to communicate is your language, but what allows you to connect is your authenticity – no different that when you work with clients in your business.

So, don’t use language that could be perceived as pretentious or condescending, because it’ll make you sound insincere.

Authenticity always clears the path; insincerity clutters it.

Tip 8

Write to Communicate, Not to Be Interpreted

Nonfiction pros always write in clear language, even if they have multiple PhD’s and are Nobel laureates.

Even though many of them operate at very high levels of abstraction in their day-to-day jobs, when it comes to communicating their thoughts in a book, they bring themselves down to a level playing field with their target audiences.

They don’t write in a way that forces readers to interpret what they’re saying, because that would break their bond. So when you sit down to write, make sure that your thoughts are always crystal clear in the eyes of your intended audience.

Readers will simply not be able to translate complex thought patterns unless they have the level of expertise necessary to do so. Always communicate at a level they’re comfortable with.

Tip 9

Write the Way People Think

Whenever you write, use personable, conversational language. Don’t write in a “formal” way, such as not using any contractions or common abbreviations, because it’ll muddy your connection.

As we established in Tip 1, your book is there to create a bridge between your mind and the minds of your readers, so you need to communicate in the same way they think. Any unnecessary formalism will throw them off your mind-to-mind wavelength.

Use active verbs, refrain from using elegant or “flowery” words, refrain from using excessive adjectives or adverbs, and avoid language that’s foreign to your audience’s way of thinking.

Tip 10

Fact Check Before You Publish

Make sure that you thoroughly fact check any information you quote from external sources. If you don’t corroborate facts and figures before publication, rest assured your readers will, at great risk to your credibility and professional reputation.

If you don’t have time, make sure you hire a professional proofreader to do this work on your behalf.

Tip 11

Rewrite Until It’s Right

Make sure that you take some distance from your writing on a regular basis in order to gain perspective.

Every time you finish a complete section (a chapter, a sub-chapter or a sub-subchapter) put it aside for a few days and move on to other sections. Later on, do a full rewrite wearing your editor’s hat.

Repeat the rewriting process until you get to a point where you feel your message is solid – there are no hard and fast rules for rewriting, you’ll simply know when you’re done.

Tip 12

Hire a Professional Editor

Last but not least, do what every single successful writer does – hire a professional nonfiction editor to make your manuscript publication-ready.

There are several successful authors who don’t use agents and many who don’t have business managers, but all of them, without exception, have editors.

There’s good reason for this. Writers are creators; editors are wordsmiths – these are two different skill sets and both are required in order to publish a professional book.

This is of particular importance if you’re a business owner, a consultant or a coach because you’ll be putting your reputation on the line, and you want to make sure that your book – your legacy – will be of the highest quality.

Investing in a good editor will pay off for years to come.

Next Steps

You now know how the pros do it! Make use of the above 12 writing tips and practice them until they become second nature – you’ll then be able to create a book that’ll truly make a difference in the life of your readers.

If you’d like to learn more granular nonfiction writing skills, check out this companion article: The 10 Must-Have Writing Skills For Entrepreneurial Authors.

I wish the best on your journey.

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related articles I highly recommend:

How to Write a Compelling Nonfiction Book in 12 Steps: A Must-Read Guide for Business Owners

The 7 Most Effective Writing Strategies for Entrepreneurial Authors

How to Find the Perfect Writing Coach for Your Nonfiction Book

How to Become a Great Book Writer in Business Nonfiction

How to Come Up With Killer Book Titles for Your Nonfiction Book

 

Bennett R. Coles is the author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

If you’re a business owner or a professional writing a book, you’ll need to use the expository writing style in addition to the narrative, descriptive and persuasive styles in order to create a well rounded book. More specifically, you’ll be using the expository style to establish your credentials as an expert in your field and to prove to your audience that you’re credible and trustworthy.

What Is Expository Writing?

The goal of expository writing is to provide your readers with the facts and figures that are necessary to back up your book’s problem-solving thesis.

This information is only meant to be relevant to your audience (not to your peers!) so while it needs to be accurate don’t make it too academic or encyclopedic; don’t make it read like a professional journal.

Expository writing is meant to reassure your readers that you have thoroughly researched your topic and that your solution is supported by facts and figures corroborated by external sources.

It’s perfectly okay for you to introduce a novel way to look at a problem or a new angle, but it must be based on existing research. Expository writing is a confidence-building style – the goal isn’t to persuade your readers but to instill trust in them.

Characteristics of Expository Writing

For expository writing to work, you must stay away from generalities and focus instead on specifics. When it comes to the information that you’ll be using to support your unique solution, you want to be clear, concise and avoid going off on unnecessary tangents.

You want your audience to get your points right away using simple language. Your nonfiction book must be written to convince your audience that your unique solution is the best one suited for solving their problem. It’s not there to showcase your scientific vocabulary or your writing prowess.

Last but not least: write to inform, not to confirm. Never assume that your audience already knows your subject matter.

In summary, expository writing has the following characteristics:

• It’s clear and concise
• It’s highly organized
• It’s devoid of personal opinions
• It’s fact rich
• If necessary, it can be supported by visuals (charts, graphs, tables, etc.)

What Are the Different Types of Expository Writing?

There are seven main types of expository writing. Although you could use any of them in your book, try to focus on a small number at first and see how it flows. The use of too many types could become distracting to your reader.

1^st Type: Comparative Expository Writing

Use this type when you need to compare two or more things in order to highlight similarities and differences. For example, you can use the comparative type to show the difference between good fats and bad fats and their impact on a person’s metabolism.

2^nd Type: Sequential Expository Writing

Use this type to describe a series of steps that’s necessary to achieve an outcome. For example, you could list items in a pre-defined order like a cookbook recipe or you could show items chronologically, such as listing a set of circumstances that have led to a key discovery.

3^rd Type: Descriptive Expository Writing

Use this type when you need to describe specific facts and figures to support your book’s thesis. For example, you could describe the characteristics and features of the approach that was used to arrive at your discovery, showing examples that are relevant to your audience.

4^th Type: Causal Expository Writing

Use this type to illustrate the cause-effect relationship when your solution was applied to the problem at hand. For example, you could describe how a certain diet resulted in a reduction of a key pathogen over time in a group of subjects.

5^th Type: Problem-Solving Expository Writing

Use this type to show the process you used to find the solution to a problem, along with the necessary facts and figures that support your solution. For example, you could use scientific data to show how, contrary to popular belief, ingesting good fats can actually speed up your metabolism making you lose weight.

6^th Type: Classifying Expository Writing

Use this type when you need to break down a broad topic into individual components in order to make a point. For example, you could split food into different groups to show the nutritional impact of each group on your body.

7^th Type: How-To Expository Writing

Use this type to describe a step-by-step process needed to achieve a desired result. For example, you could show the steps your reader needs to follow in order to repair an item.

In Conclusion

By balancing the expository writing style with the narrative, descriptive and persuasive styles you’ll be able to create a nonfiction book that will establish your credentials as an expert in your field while at the same time engaging your reader’s senses, developing a deep connection and persuading them to take your desired action.

If you’d like to see a summary of all four writing styles, read my companion article: How to Use All 4 Writing Styles to Create an Exciting Nonfiction Book.

Happy writing!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related articles I highly recommend:

How to Write a Compelling Nonfiction Book in 12 Steps: A Must-Read Guide for Business Owners

The 10 Must-Have Writing Skills for Entrepreneurial Authors

 

Bennett R. Coles is the author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

Since you’ve decided to write a nonfiction book, why would you need to learn about narrative writing? Isn’t that something that only fiction writers need to master?

The truth is that fiction sells like no other genre because of one key reason: it’s able to connect with readers at a very deep level – a connection so deep bypasses our critical thinking.

Fiction has the uncanny ability to bring us over the chasm of disbelief and let us become fully immersed in the life of a character, whether the events it describes are purely fictional or based on true events.

Why would perfectly rational people voluntarily suspend their disbelief to such an extent? Because they can’t resist the alluring power of story telling.

Let’s bring the focus back to your book. If you’re writing, or thinking about writing, a nonfiction book, chances are that you’re doing so in order to be of service to others. Perhaps you’ve developed a solution to a problem that a lot of people experience every day, either in their personal lives or in their businesses.

You want those people to feel better, to experience relief from their pain, to be freed from the shackles of their affliction. The problem, though, is that pain affects us at a much deeper level than what our intellect is used to handling, and in order for your solution to truly work for people you have to be able to meet them in that deeper place.

That’s precisely where narrative writing can become an invaluable asset for nonfiction writers. The use of narrative writing will allow you to teach by telling stories, achieving a level of connection with your audience that’s simply not possible by only addressing your writing to their intellect.

With a logically crafted book you’ll struggle to reach deep enough to affect change in your reader. At best, your book will become a reference book to be consulted sporadically instead being the change agent it can be.

How Do You Write a Good Narrative for Nonfiction Books?

Let’s recap. The goal of a good nonfiction book is to positively impact someone’s life by solving a problem they’re experiencing. Problems “live” at a deeper level than our intellect can successfully manage. In order to dispense your solution, you’ll need to connect with your readers at this deeper level. Teaching your solution by using the power of story telling will allow you to achieve the level of connection that’s necessary to be successful in your quest.

Does this mean that your entire book needs to be written as one long story?

No. You want to achieve a balance between the intellect of your readers and their emotional core. Many parts of your book will be expository in nature. This is the writing technique that you’ll be using to reveal the facts, data and research findings that are necessary to build your credibility as an expert.

In some parts of your book, you’ll be using persuasive writing in order to influence and ultimately convince your reader to adopt your solution and take action. But when it comes to conveying how your solution will relieve the problem they’re experiencing in their lives, you’ll use the power of story telling to connect with them with either a personal narrative, with stories from clients, with stories from a fictional character created as a composite of many clients, or with all of the above.

In this article, I won’t be taking a deep dive into narrative writing. Instead, I’ll explain the basics so that you know how to properly structure your stories. The only way you can get good at it is to practice, by writing and rewriting stories and getting feedback from advance readers.

What Are the Elements of Narrative Writing?

There are five key elements required to write a good narrative. Here are the steps you need to follow:

1- Create the setting for your character or characters

The first thing you need to do is to create the setting for your story. You want to create a world for your character that’s very familiar to your audience. As a nonfiction writer, it’s imperative that you know the audience you’re trying to serve very well (most of them will resemble your clients).

Your goal is to portray this world as vividly as possible, using descriptive writing techniques to engage your audience’s five senses and using great attention to detail.

2- Bring in your character or characters

Next comes your character or characters. Now, if you’re new at writing fictionalized stories of true events (you’ll want to change names, places and events in order to protect your clients’ identities), it’s better to focus on a single character per story. Multiple characters going on multiple journeys will add too much complexity to the story for you to handle at this early stage.

Your goal in this step is to create a character that resembles the people in your audience as much as possible, somebody they can easily identify with and relate to. You want your characters to be believable to them and, above all, you want them to think: that’s just like me!

3- Introduce the Conflict

This is where you introduce the problem that your audience is experiencing, the struggle they need to overcome. The problem or conflict is what drives the narrative of your story and the story will come to a natural conclusion when your character solves their problem.

The more pain the problem causes, the more poignant the story becomes to the reader. For example, it’s perfectly okay if things go desperately and repeatedly wrong for the character, provided there’s always a resolution in the end.

4- Reach the Climax of the Story

The next step in narrative writing is your story’s climax. This is the most heightened point in the “fight between good and evil,” with your character playing the part of “good” and their seemingly intractable problem playing the part of “evil.”

The climax is the point where the good finally conquers the evil, but not without an escalation in the action. Evil doesn’t want to be defeated easily – an easy defeat makes for a boring story! A good story, on the other hand, keeps your readers glued to the page without ever revealing who’s going to triumph until the end.

5- Achieve Resolution

Once you reach the story’s climax you can’t just stop there. Although your character has overcome their problem with finality using your solution, you can’t end the story yet because there’s too much “fog of war” left over from the big battle of good versus evil. You’ll need to leave your reader with a more satisfying ending.

In the same way that you had to build up the story’s action to its climax, now you need to dial down the tension back to normal. This is the final stage of narrative writing, where you add context to the story post-problem, perhaps describing the new life of your character after getting rid of their affliction.

Next Steps

Great! You’ve now learned the basics of narrative writing so that you can add the power of story telling to your book. I’ve also created a companion article that might be of interest to you. It’s entitled How to Use All 4 Writing Styles to Create an Exciting Nonfiction Book. A good nonfiction book must have the proper balance of Narrative Writing, Descriptive Writing, Persuasive Writing and Expository Writing. In this article you’ll learn how those four styles can be used to enhance the appeal of your book.

I wish you the best on your writing journey,

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related articles I highly recommend:

How to Write a Compelling Nonfiction Book in 12 Steps: A Must-Read Guide for Business Owners

The 10 Must-Have Writing Skills for Entrepreneurial Authors

 

Bennett R. Coles is the author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

In the world of book writing, there are four well-defined writing styles:

Expository:

In simple terms, this style is used to inform and educate the reader (without expressing your opinion).

Descriptive:

This style is used to paint a picture in the reader’s mind.

Narrative:

This style is used to bring the reader along your character’s emotional journey.

Persuasive:

This style is used to convince the reader to side with you and your beliefs.

Most book genres tend to rely on one or two styles. For example, fiction books tend to focus on the descriptive and narrative styles. Poetry and travel books tend to be written in the descriptive style. Political books or books centered on activism use primarily the persuasive style, and cookbooks, textbooks and research or scientific journals use the expository style.

But there’s one genre which is perfectly suited to take advantage of all four styles concurrently: nonfiction written by business people, professionals or consultants in order to solve a deep-seated problem with their audience.

By taking advantage of all four styles, you’ll be able to craft a book that hits all the major chords with your readers:

• You’ll be able to use the expository style to convey well-researched findings to back up your solution in a way that establishes you as an expert in their eyes.
• You’ll be able to use the descriptive style to paint vivid pictures in your audience’s mind of someone like them before and after they apply your solution.
• You’ll be able to use the narrative style to take your audience through an emotional journey from problem to solution as lived by the characters in your case studies.
• You’ll be able to use the persuasive style to convince your audience why your solution will be different than any other than they might have tried in the past.

Problem-solving nonfiction is ideally suited for the use of all four writing styles like no other genre is.

What Are the Four Types of Writing Styles?

Before we get into the details on how to apply each style to your book, let me introduce their unique characteristics.

Expository Writing style

The expository writing style is used to build your credibility as an expert. You’ll achieve this goal by presenting facts, statistics and other data required to back up your solution (it’s also important for this style that you quote your sources).

Also very important in this style is the use of diagrams, charts and other illustrations to provide different views of your data to enhance your presentation.

What Is the Main Goal of This Style?

To educate your audience about the background information required to support your unique solution.

What Are Some of Its Techniques?

• Use of facts
• Data
• Evidence
• Research
• Quotes
• Charts
• Tables
• Illustrations

What is it Not Used For?

The expository writing style is not used to express your opinion or to influence your reader. Try to stay away from “loaded words” that carry a high emotional charge, since they’ll create a conflict with the factual nature of the style.

What Are Some Common Applications?

How-to books, textbooks, instruction manuals, cookbooks, business articles, professional and scientific journals and books about hobbies and interests.

Descriptive Writing style

As the old adage says, a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is where the descriptive writing style comes in handy. One of the best devices to engage your reader’s senses is to paint a clear picture of how your solution will work in their lives.

Descriptive writing is not only used to engage your audience’s five senses but also their feelings. Your goal is to engage your reader so closely that they feel they’re actually “there.” This is a powerful literary device used to great effect in the fiction genre and you’ll be borrowing from it for your nonfiction book.

What Is the Main Goal of This Style?

To engage your reader’s imagination so they can feel as if they’re experiencing the events in your book themselves.

What Are Some of Its Techniques?

• Metaphors
• Similes
• Adjectives used to descriptively enhance nouns
• Adverbs used to descriptively enhance verbs
• Focusing on small details
• Using the 5 senses

What is it Not Used For?

This style is not used to narrate. In other words, the descriptive style is never used to tell a story or to give insights into the thoughts or the emotional state of characters in your book.

What Are Some Common Applications?

Novels, poetry, journal writing, travel books and music lyrics.

Narrative Writing style

Narrative writing can be used very effectively in problem-solving nonfiction through the power of story telling. Nonfiction books without any story telling are not as engaging as they could be.

Use stories to create an emotional connection with your readers by making them become invested in characters that they can relate to – characters that also “feel their pain.” They could be about yourself, past clients, or fictional characters that combine the experiences of multiple clients.

What Is the Main Goal of This Style?

To offer readers insights into the thoughts and feelings of characters going through a similar emotional journey than they’re going through themselves.

What Are Some of Its Techniques?

• Address the 5 W’s (what, when, where, how and why)
• Describe a sequence of events leading to a climax
• Include a description of the characters, settings, dialogue, conflict and resolution

What is it Not Used For?

Narrative writing is not used to introduce facts and figures and it’s not used to influence or persuade your audience.

What Are Some Common Applications?

Novels, poetry, short stories, screenplays and movie scripts.

Persuasive Writing style

The persuasive writing style can be used to great effect in problem-solving nonfiction books. Your goal is not just to communicate and teach new skills, but also to persuade your reader to take action and implement your solution in their lives.

You want to persuade readers by appealing to them on an emotional level and using your connection and your credibility as an expert to convince them to side with you. The aim of persuasive writing is to align your reader’s goals with your own.

What Is the Main Goal of This Style?

To influence, to persuade, to convince.

What Are Some of Its Techniques?

• Emotive words
• Inclusive language
• Exaggeration
• Rhetorical questions
• Metaphors and similes
• Sarcasm (used tactfully)
• Repetition
• Logical arguments

What is it Not Used For?

Doing anything that takes your reader out of the plane of reality – such as by going into a detailed description of places, circumstances or events or into a deep narrative.

What Are Some Common Applications?

Academic papers, opinion pieces, newspaper editorials and books by political figures.

How Do I Apply the 4 Writing Styles to Enhance My Nonfiction Book

Now that we’ve covered all four styles let me show you an example of each so you can get an idea of practical applications.

Example of the Expository Writing Style

“The fundamental question of work and leisure raised by Weiss is particularly relevant as a generation called Millennials moves firmly into the workforce. I know many Millennials and in general they’re hard-working, passionate young men and women who are eager to work, but they want to enjoy and draw meaning from their jobs.

Most are sensible enough to have a day-job to pay the bills, but many have a “side hustle” – a hobby or a business idea into which they pour their passion and hope to one day monetize.

Weiss recognizes this trend in workers, but an interesting disconnect between Weiss’ article and today is the discussion of self-employment. Weiss notes that self-employed workers are generally most satisfied even if they earn less, but also makes the observation that self-employment has significantly declined.

In this example the author is using expository writing to present and analyze research findings by a recognized expert in the field.

Example of the Descriptive Writing Style

“Coming down to Bridge Park had been a good idea, he decided. Leaving the crowded mass of the city behind he’d ridden the train south, through the razed land and out onto the delta.

Rice paddies stretched to every horizon, blurring the line between land, river and sea. And then, in the shadow of the ruined supports of the bridge, the park rose like a garden oasis above the lowlands.

He obviously wasn’t the only person with the same idea today, and the park was lifted by the shrieks of children playing on the bridge replica fun zone behind him.”

In the above passage, the author is using descriptive writing to paint a picture in the mind of the reader by using specific adjectives and adverbs that appeal to the reader’s senses.

Example of the Narrative Writing Style

“Christopher Reeve was one courageous person who fully accepted an unexpected change in direction in his life. The icon of superhuman strength in the 80’s, he was the quintessential Superman. An actor of great appeal and talent, he represented the ideal combination of manliness, strength, seeker of justice, and savior of humankind.

In May 1995, he was riding his horse and had a serious fall. The accident damaged his spinal cord such that he was left a quadriplegic and had to use a machine to help him breathe. The accident sent shockwaves around the world. How could Superman be rendered a quadriplegic? It was unfathomable.

After many months of grueling physical therapy, he learned how to function in this new altered state. The emotional toll was great as he and his family struggled with the changes this accident brought into their lives.

Within a year, however, he had founded a charitable organization called the Christopher Reeve Foundation in order to raise money for research on spinal cord injuries and made it his mission to find a way for all victims of these devastating injuries to walk again.”

Here the author is using narrative writing to portray the dramatic fall in the fortunes of a celebrity after a traumatic life event, and how he resolved the conflict in his life to become a real-life superhero in the eyes of his followers.

Example of the Persuasive Writing Style

“‘I’m too old’ or ‘It’s too late to change’ are nothing but limiting beliefs. Like any other beliefs, they’re fully under your control and are totally replaceable. In the end, you’re the one who truly runs the show, as much as you’re taught to believe the opposite. When it comes to making changes in your life, you have the ultimate say. If you end up doing what others think you should, it’s only because on some level you’ve made the decision to believe that their ideas are more worthy than your own.

If you want to change, you have to start believing in what you want to do, no matter what other people’s ‘opinions’ are. And you have to believe that the changes you want to make are worth it, regardless of your age or your circumstances.

Life consists of a collection of ‘moments.’ This very moment and every moment after it are what your life is made of. If you live your life worrying about the future, regretting the past or even living how others tell you to live, then you aren’t living ‘your’ moments.

All it really takes to become in charge of your own life is to simply decide to do so. Your process of reinvention is 100% yours. Don’t be afraid to use it fully to our advantage. Don’t be afraid to think big thoughts. Remember, you can make a difference: you are the difference!”

In this example, the author is using persuasive writing to influence readers to take action by changing their belief system through replacing limiting beliefs with empowering ones.

Next Steps

Now you know what the four key styles used in writing are and how to apply them to your nonfiction book for maximum effect. But here’s a word of caution: if you lean on one style much more than the others, you risk being pigeonholed into a genre that doesn’t serve your message.

For example, too much narrative style will make your book feel more like a novel or creative nonfiction, and your persuasive message will be diluted.

Too much persuasive style will make your book feel dogmatic or proselytizing, and will break the connection of trust with your readers.

Too much descriptive style and your book will be too detached from reality, which will impact the expository techniques that are required to back up your findings with facts and data.

Too much expository style and your book will be too dry and mechanical, making you lose the connection with your readers.

Make sure that you create a good balance of expository, descriptive, narrative and persuasive writing skills in your manuscript and you’ll have an exciting nonfiction book in your hands.

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related articles I highly recommend:

The 10 Must-Have Writing Skills for Entrepreneurial Authors

How to Write a Compelling Nonfiction Book in 12 Steps: A Must-Read Guide for Business Owners

 

Bennett R. Coles is the author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

As someone running your own business, you need the best writing strategies to write your book because time is always in short supply. You want a book to grow your business, to attract more prospects and to increase your profile, but you don’t want to spin your wheels in the process.

So you do a Google search for the best writing strategies, only to find that most articles are addressed to bloggers, students and fiction writers. To your surprise, there’s next to nothing for entrepreneurial authors who want to write a nonfiction book.

I’ve written this article with you in mind, because busy business people need to be able to quickly find actionable strategies that produce results.

What Are Effective Writing Strategies for Nonfiction?

Strategies for good, professional nonfiction writing are quite different from those for any other kinds, such as creative, historical or autobiographical nonfiction.

As a professional, business owner, consultant or coach, you make your living by solving problems for your clients and your nonfiction book will reflect this.

As a result, your book will be written with one goal in mind: to solve a problem for your readers – you won’t be describing events (historical nonfiction), you won’t be sharing the emotional journey of a fictional character (creative nonfiction), and you won’t be sharing your life path in detail (autobiographical nonfiction).

Instead, you’ll be devoting your book to understanding, commiserating with, empathizing with and enlightening your audience while solving a painful long-term problem that they suffer from. Your book will be for them, but above all, it’ll be about them.

The writing strategies required to achieve this goal must allow your readers to “see” themselves in your book. More specifically, you’ll be targeting your writing to a single member of your audience – each person reading your book.

The main goal behind your writing is to establish a one-to-one connection with a single member of your audience (each reader), and to use this channel of communication to solve a painful problem they have. If you do this right, you’ll have a successful book in your hands.

What Are The Different Types of Writing Strategies?

Below you’ll learn the seven most effective strategies for writing a problem-solving nonfiction book:

1) Define Your Book’s Main Idea

The key to a successful problem-solving nonfiction book is to focus on a single problem. If you are in a multi-faceted profession, where you’re trained to solve a number of different problems, you’ll need to choose a specific niche to tackle.

If you try to solve many problems with your book, you’ll end up confusing your audience, or worse yet, you’ll be addressing multiple audiences and breaking the “audience of one” rule.

If you think a single problem is too limiting for you, given your wealth of experience, then you could write a series of books which each address a unique sub-niche.

Now it’s time to choose your book’s main idea. Choose a single, very painful problem to solve that a significant number of people have. You don’t have to search far to find it – begin by looking at your own clients: what’s the largest group of clients that have benefited from your solutions? Begin there.

2) Map Out Your Knowledge

Now, it’s time to get your relevant knowledge downloaded from your brain onto the page. You’re not writing your book yet; you’re simply dumping the information you need to write about from your memory bank onto a chart in order to organize it for your book.

One very effective technique to achieve this goal is Mind Mapping (read my companion article How to Use a Mind Map to Create a great Book for your Business for detailed instructions). This technique will allow you to easily “map out” the knowledge you hold in your brain by emulating the same technique that it uses to store and recall information.

When your mind map is completed, you’ll have a chart that will have your book’s main idea at the center, connected to all of the relevant information needed to write it.

3) Create Your Book Outline

The next step is to turn your mind map into an outline for your book. This outline will be the precursor of your book’s table of contents and it’ll contain the topics for your chapters, sub-chapters and sub-sub-chapters.

Your outline will also contain background information in bullet points that will act as the prompts for you to begin writing the different book sections (for more details, ready my article: How to Create a Book Outline Step-By-step: A Guide for Entrepreneurs).

Your book outline will be the most important part of your book project because it’ll become the roadmap to get your ideas organized before you begin your writing journey. It’s the foundation upon which your house will be built.

If this foundation is weak the house will collapse, so it’s critical that you get this part right. If your outline isn’t structured in a way that’ll make sense to your “audience of one,” then they’ll become confused and lose interest in your book.

Not only does your nonfiction book need to solve a painful, long-standing problem for your audience, but it also has to be structured in a way that takes them through a journey that makes logical sense to them.

To keep your reader engaged, you must have a clear roadmap so they can understand where it is they’re going to be taken. If “How am I going to get there?” is answered by the content of your book, then “Where am I going?” is answered by your book’s outline.

4) Create Your Audience’s Avatar

Now that you have a fully fleshed-out roadmap, it’s time to focus on your audience.

As I stated before, for a problem-solving nonfiction book to be truly effective, you’ll have to address it to an “audience of one.” You’re clearly targeting your book to an audience of many, though, who you hope will one day become clients of yours.

So how do you solve this paradox? By creating an “avatar” of your ideal customer and addressing your book to this one person. What do I mean by an avatar? I mean a composite of the many prospects that make up your book’s audience.

For example, you may find that the ideal target audience for your book is made up of women 35-50 years old afflicted by a specific problem. Next, you have to research this group to find out their challenges, fears, hopes and dreams and then create a profile for a single composite person that encapsulates all of this information.

Finally, you give this composite person a name, age and a profession, you describe their status (married, single, divorced, widowed) and their living situation: are they homeowners, how much do they earn? Do they have children? How many? What are their ages, names, education level, etc.? Do they have pets? Do they have hobbies? You now get a headshot from a free stock photo website and paste onto your profile.

This will be your avatar. Whenever you write your book you’ll be addressing this person directly in the first person, you’ll be empathizing with them and you’ll be solving their problem.

Now, what do you do if your audience is composed partly of women 35-50 but also partly of men in the same age group? Then you have to create two distinct avatars, one for each gender. However, when you write your book you’ll still address it to an “audience of one.” You just have to be thinking about these two avatars at the same time, so your book will no longer be gender-specific (which shouldn’t be a problem since you’ll be writing it in the first person).

In other words, whenever your avatar “Jim” reads the book, he’ll have to believe that you’re having a conversation just with him, and whenever your avatar “Susan” reads it she has to think exactly the same thing.

5) Tune into WIIFM (“What’s In It For Me?”)

You have your book’s outline and your avatar (or avatars), so now it’s time to tune into WIIFM. When people read a problem-solving nonfiction book there’s only one question in their minds: What’s in it for me?

If your book doesn’t address this question every step of the way – that is, if your book veers off from your audience at any point – there’s a strong chance you’ll lose them.

Make sure that as you write you’re always making your avatar or avatars front and center and that you use language such as:

• You
• Your
• Yours

Instead of:

• I
• Me
• We
• Them
• Our
• Ours

Don’t share a client’s story unless your audience can relate to them and their experiences. Don’t talk about yourself, your experience and your credentials unless you do it in relation to your audience and how they’ll benefit from this information.

Any part of your book that doesn’t directly address your reader’s needs will become a roadblock. After a number of these they’ll quickly lose interest in your book.

Now, you may think that this is selfish behavior, but think about how you behave yourself whenever someone presents you with new information for your consideration. As busy as you are, the first thing that subconsciously comes to mind when you assess whether this is worth your time or not is: what’s in it for me?

6) Write Using Your Authentic Voice

When you begin writing your book, make sure you write with the same authenticity that you use when you communicate with clients in person.

Being inauthentic during the course of your business would naturally be the death knell of client trust. But writing is likely a foreign way for you to conduct business. So, when you do, it’s critical that you make a concerted effort to come across as “yourself” on the page as you do in person.

Don’t try to disguise your personality by using an academic tone, or by trying to sound like a “guru on a mountaintop.” Your audience will quickly detect your lack of authenticity and be turned off by it. Perhaps they’ll feel your writing is condescending, or maybe authoritative but they’ll perceive you as unreachable.

Your goal when communicating as an author/expert is to solve a problem for your audience in a way they feel is attainable. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable and tell your audience how you struggled with the very same issue in your own past.

Successful writers always bare their souls onto the page. That’s how they’re able to connect so well with their audience (successful musicians do the same). So, be honest, be authentic, be vulnerable, and never hide behind your writing.

7) Get Feedback

Finally, make sure you get feedback on your writing from early on. There’s nothing worse than pouring your heart and soul into a book only to discover when it’s finished that it doesn’t resonate with your audience. You thought you knew how they felt, but you never bothered to check with them first.

From the book outline stage onward, create an advance group or readers from member of your audience – they could be current or past clients, acquaintances, someone referred by a colleague, etc.

Share with them a simplified version of your outline to see if your roadmap needs to be adjusted, and also share with them each chapter as you complete it.

This feedback will prove extremely valuable and will inform your writing in fresh new ways. This step is critical to align your message with your audience and will result in a much more refined and effective end product.

Naturally, you need to choose people you trust who’ll provide you with honest feedback. Family and friends may provide valuable feedback, but you should take it with a grain of salt. Often times, their feedback will be toned down because they want to support you while not hurting your feelings. People you trust that are at arms-length will prove a better fit for your advance reading group.

Next Steps

You now have the strategies you need to embark on your nonfiction book-writing journey. If you’re ready to begin, I’ve created a article that compiles the ten writing skills successful nonfiction authors rely on to create great book after great book. It’s entitled: The 10 Must-Have Writing Skills for Entrepreneurial Authors, and it’ll help you gain in-depth knowledge about the specific writing techniques these authors use to great effect in order to connect with their audiences.

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related articles I highly recommend:

How to Find the Perfect Writing Coach for Your Nonfiction Book

How to Write a Compelling Nonfiction Book in 12 Steps: A Must-Read Guide for Business Owners

The 7 Key Rules for Outstanding Business Writing

 

Bennett R. Coles is the author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

The paragraph writing tips below will make the difference between a nonfiction book that’s a joy to read and one that’s unreadable.

If your book is the building and your chapters are the floors, your paragraphs are the bricks. With strong bricks your building will stand on its own, but if they’re weak your building will collapse under its own weight.

What makes one paragraph strong and another weak? Before we go into the details, such as overuse of adverbs, over-writing, multiple main ideas and so on, we first need to define what a paragraph is.

Academically speaking, a paragraph is a unit of writing that is composed of a beginning, where you introduce your main idea, a middle, where you expand on it, and an end, where you summarize it and transition to the next paragraph.

If you go below the surface mechanics, however, a paragraph is much subtler than that. At face value a paragraph is a unit of writing. But at a deeper lever a paragraph is a unit of thought.

The reason you’re writing your nonfiction book is to communicate your thoughts to your reader in order to help them solve a problem. Yes, you’re making use of writing as your medium, but the essence of your writing is a thought.

When you write, you’re creating a mind-to-mind connection between you and your reader. As you transfer your thoughts through your words, your writing becomes the bridge. If your paragraphs are well written, your thoughts will flow effortlessly between your mind and your reader’s mind. Reading then becomes enjoyable as you fill their minds with ideas that will enhance their lives.

But if your paragraphs are poorly written, then they turn into thought “blockers” and you’ll fail to communicate effectively. This is when reading becomes drudgery – remember your school textbooks that used to put you to sleep?

In order to transfer your thoughts clearly, let me share the 5 essential paragraph writing tips that you’ll need to craft a compelling nonfiction book.

Tip #1: Write The Way Your Readers Think

We know that writing is a vehicle to transfer your thoughts to the minds of your readers. It makes sense, then, that to communicate effectively you have to write the same way your readers think.

How you do this will depend on your audience. Let me explain by using some examples.

The average reader is more likely to think “I have to start my essay” rather than “I have to initiate my essay,” so use “start” in your writing. Similarly, they’re more likely to think “I need to add protein to my diet” rather than “I need to incorporate protein into my diet” so use “add” in your writing.

Whenever you’re writing and you feel the temptation to use “elegant” words that’ll make your writing appear smarter, ask yourself this question: would my readers think this way?

Now, this is not to say that your writing should always err for the “simple” as its lowest common denominator. Perhaps your audience is made up of specialized people that naturally “think” using more complex words.

For instance, if you’re writing a book for professional traders, they’ll likely think using specialized terms that may not be comprehensible to the average reader. In this case, using simple words may result in loss of credibility.

Tip #2: Don’t Write for the Sake of Writing

Don’t write more than you need to express a single thought or main idea – in other words, don’t write to fill empty space. Once you’ve made your point, move on. Don’t restate your main paragraph’s idea multiple times in different ways.

Make sure that every sentence in your paragraph has a purpose. Avoid “word stuffing”, because it’ll make your readers run for the hills. The minute your paragraph starts to lose meaning for your readers your connection will be cut off. They’ll stop reading your book and move on to something else.

To avoid falling into this trap, make a concerted effort to stick to your paragraph’s main topic as you write.

Tip #3: Use a Single Idea Per Paragraph

Use a single controlling idea or topic per paragraph and always open your paragraphs by stating it. This idea has to be able to stand on its own and it needs to be short and to the point.

Next, expand on your idea by writing a number of sentences to support it. This will make up the body of your paragraph. There are many ways to structure the body: you could use sequential transition words like First, Second, etc., or non-sequential transition words like In Fact, Therefore, etc. Or you could simply use more conversational language to flow from sentence to sentence. Just make sure that as you progress in the body you’re not introducing any new ideas that’ll compete with the main one.

Finally, you need to conclude your paragraph by summing up your main idea and transitioning to the next paragraph. You could use devices like a cliffhanger to prompt readers to read on or just a simple transition, but don’t state a new idea you’ll be introducing in the following paragraph. If you do, the opening of your next paragraph will feel redundant.

Tip #4: Don’t Write Statements – Paint a Picture Instead

It’s much easier to retain concepts if we think of them in terms of a picture rather than a bunch of words, because our brains are wired to store and recall images and events. That’s why remembering people’s names is so hard but remembering the places or circumstances where we met them is not.

When you have to relate a new concept to your readers, don’t just make a statement – paint a picture instead. For example, use the power of story telling to show how a client put your concept to use and the results they got. Stories make reading more enjoyable.

People remember the plots of fiction books much more readily than naked facts and figures because fiction plots map closer to the way our brains work. Take advantage of this natural retention and retrieval mechanism for your nonfiction book and you’ll make it memorable.

Tip #5: Write for Your Reader not for Your Peers

When you’re writing your paragraph, always think of your reader as you write. Ask yourself: are these words meant for my reader or are they meant for my colleagues? If your language is too academic or too formulaic, then chances are you’re making your peers your audience.

Now, nonfiction books are by definition jam-packed with information, so for readers to be able to absorb it and retain it you have to make it available in small “digestible” chunks. When you’re writing your paragraphs, always break them down into short sentences.

Each sentence has to contain the minimum amount of words necessary to make a single point and no more. Only use words that are essential to your message; if they’re not essential, then leave them out because they’ll break the connection with your readers.

What Are Typical Non-Essential Words?

• Most adverbs and adjectives.
• Long verbs that have a shorter equivalent that means the same thing. For example, use find out instead of ascertain, use try instead of attempt, use begin instead of
• “Elegant” nouns that can be easily replaced by simpler ones. For example, use plane instead of aircraft, use part instead of component, use warning instead of

Use the above five paragraph writing tips and your nonfiction book will connect much better with your readers!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related articles I highly recommend:

The 10 Must-Have Writing Skills for Entrepreneurial Authors

How to Become a Great Book Writer in Business Nonfiction

How to Write a Compelling Nonfiction Book in 12 Steps: A Must-Read Guide for Business Owners

10 Tips for Writing a Nonfiction Book That Moves the Needle in Your Business

The 7 Most Effective Writing Strategies for Entrepreneurial Authors

 

Bennett R. Coles is the author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

Have you noticed whenever you read a blog post or an article that has poor writing skills, you immediately feel a loss of respect for the writer?

Fair or not, the written word is a powerful proxy for who the writer is. As people read our writing, a mental picture of who we are is drawn in their minds – a picture that’s shaped by their personal filters.

Our credibility is then established based on this filtered image. If this image projects excellence, thoughtfulness and attention to detail, then we’ll be labelled as credible. If it projects a lack of consistency and inattention, then we’ll be labelled as amateurish and even untrustworthy.

As a writer who’s in business for yourself and who wants to publish a book in order to increase your personal and business profile, your goal is to put out the best product you possibly can. In order to do that, you need to be armed with the best writing skills available to you.

In this article, I’ve compiled the 10 best writing skills you need in order to develop into a top-notch nonfiction writer. These are the skills used day in and day out by the most prolific authors in the genre – the “special sauce” that allows them to be so successful. Learn them, master them, and watch the quality of your writing reach new levels.

Skill #1: Reverse-Engineer the Top Books In Your Niche

When you go into business for yourself, you need to know your customers really well, but you need know your competitors even better. You don’t want to spend your time doing things through trial and error when others have already figured out what works.

This is no different with nonfiction books. Now, I’m not suggesting that you copy others without bringing distinguishing features of your own. What I’m suggesting is that you first figure out how the best in the business do it and then reverse-engineer it. Once you have a good idea what already works well in your market, you add what’s unique about you.

This is the path to follow with this first writing skill – deconstructing the top books in your industry in order to uncover their “secrets.” Once you learn what works, you can then add your own take.

When you read your competitors’ books, pay special attention to:

Hooks

Successful writers are experts at grabbing the reader’s attention at the beginning of each chapter and keeping it all the way through to the end. They accomplish this goal with the use of a “hook” or an opening statement engineered to captivate readers.

You’ll notice that some writers use hooks in the form of a question that addresses a burning challenge. Some use the power of story-telling to illustrate the reader’s pain points, and some use key facts and statistics that are somehow unexpected (e.g. “According to the National Department of XXX the second leading cause of death is not YYY as most people think but ZZZ” – which happens to be a pain point that readers want to eliminate).

Read several bestselling books in your niche and analyze the different hooks they use at the beginning of each chapter; then make notes. A hook is a powerful device to glue readers to the page.

Chapter Titles

Successful nonfiction writers use chapter titles in the same way advertisers use headlines in ads – to entice people to pay attention and persuade them to take action.

There are many techniques used for the creation of headlines in advertising, but the most effective ones are:

• Using a “How To” statement (e.g. “How to Win the Game Without Knowing the Rules”)
• Using a memorable phrase (e.g. “One More Thing”)
• Using a question (e.g. “How Green is the Grass on Your Side of the Fence?”)
• Making a controversial statement (e.g. “Why Diets Never Work”)
• Using comparisons (e.g. “Setting Goals Instead of Expectations”)

A very effective (and free) way to do great headline research is to use the “Look Inside” feature in the Amazon online bookstore, which shows you the book’s table of contents. The vast majority of nonfiction bestsellers have this feature enabled.

Book Structure

All nonfiction bestsellers have a well thought-out structure. At the beginning of the book they’ll always acknowledge the reader’s awareness of the challenge they want to overcome, and then they proceed to slowly unveil the unique solution that takes care of that challenge.

In reading these books, you’ll find that their structure is designed to take readers through a calculated journey of discovery. They never reveal too much too soon and they never leave all the “goodies” for the last chapter.

Read them, study their structure and make notes to help you trigger ideas to develop your own book structure.

Writing Techniques

The aim of nonfiction is to bring lessons the writer learned throughout their life onto the page to show readers that they too can overcome a difficult experience, provided they apply those lessons.

In order to do that effectively, bestselling nonfiction authors often make use of story telling to convey their lessons, because this technique allows readers to relate to authors as fellow human beings instead of perceiving them as unreachable gurus speaking from a mountain-top.

Here are three writing techniques commonly used by nonfiction authors:

• They engage readers through the power to story telling from the very beginning of the book. This is either achieved through a personal story, the story of a client (disguised to protect their identity) of a fictional story which is a composite of many different clients.
• They use language that takes readers through an emotional journey. Borrowing from the power of fiction writing, they make readers “feel” the lessons instead of just “teaching” them content.
• They use the element of surprise very effectively. Bestselling nonfiction books are known for introducing something “unexpected” into a topic that people haven’t thought about before (e.g. the 10,000 hours required to achieve mastery at anything, according to Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers, or the 4-hour workweek in Tim Ferris’ book of the same title).

Flow

Bestselling nonfiction doesn’t take readers through a dry and linear lesson plan. It “flows” readers through an engaging journey that just happens to be littered with lessons.

But flow is an abstract concept that’s hard to capture into a formula. So, in order to develop a good flow in your book, it’s easier to focus on those things that can stop the book’s flow so you can avoid them. Here’s a short list of flow-stoppers you want to stay away from:

• Run-around or confusing sentences. If readers need to figure out what a sentence means, the flow breaks.
• Writing that feels labored. If your writing is too formal or too intricate, it creates a detachment for readers that impedes flow. Bestselling nonfiction is always easy to read and conversational in nature.
• Over-explaining. While repetition can be a good device for helping readers retain information (if it’s well executed), over-explaining stops flow dead in its tracks because it can easily be perceived as condescending. Readers want to connect with the author on a level-playing field, and being exceedingly “detailed” in your explanations can make you appear as a guru ministering to their disciples.

Skill #2: Write Like You Are Being Paid

The key to becoming a prolific writer lies in your ability to develop the discipline necessary to be constantly evolving your writing craft. This is the one area where there are no shortcuts, unlike in the movie The Matrix where you can download data directly to your brain that turns you into an instant expert.

If you’ve ever taken music lessons you know first-hand how there’s no shortcut to getting good – no alternative to practice, practice, practice. That’s the only way to develop the muscle memory required to hit the right notes and get the right feel with consistency.

It’s no different with writing. The only way to get good at it is to write frequently. You can certainly learn writing skills through research (like by reading this blog), but you can’t develop those techniques without practice.

Professional authors have an advantage over you – they’re getting paid to write, and that works in two ways: as an enticement (the carrot) but also as a motivator (the stick) because advance money usually comes attached to contractual deadlines that are legally binding.

Since you’re not getting paid to write, you need to rewire your brain to take your writing as seriously as if you were. Now, you may not have an advance from a publisher right now, but think of the future revenue your book will generate for your business once it comes out – revenue that would not be attainable without the cachet of having published a book.

An effective strategy for you could be to line up a speaking engagement in the future, for instance, participating in a panel discussion or a paid speaking event where you will be unveiling your book. This is the type of hard deadline that will get your creative juices flowing because it forces you to make a professional commitment where your reputation will be on the line (plus, in many cases, you will get paid, so you’ll actually have to sign a contract).

Skill #3: Get Your Writing Cues From Your Book Outline

Here’s the strategy that allows bestselling nonfiction authors to create book after book after book with seeming ease – they never sit down to write a book staring at a blank page, they first create a full detailed outline of their future book before they dare put pen to paper.

The most effective way to create an outline fast is with the use of the Mind Mapping technique. This technique allows you to do an organized “brain dump” of your knowledge onto a chart or diagram that maps directly to the way your brain organizes and stores information (I explain it in detail in my article: How to Use a Mind Map to Create a Great Book for Your Business).

This concept is predicated on the fact that the book you’re about to write is already inside of you – it’s contained in your many years of expertise in your subject matter and the many years helping your clients achieve their goals. Writing your book comes down to getting it “out” and onto the page.

Once you have a fully fleshed-out outline that lists your book’s main idea, the main topics (chapters) and all the sub-topics (sub-chapters), all you have to do is to pick one item at a time and let the thoughts stemming from your own experience flow to the page. You’ll have no problem with writer’s block; quite the contrary, you’ll be flooded with thoughts and recollections. Armed with a strong outline, your book will practically write itself.

Skill #4: Write Every Day

This is an extension of Skill #2. Like all professional nonfiction authors, you need to create a daily writing habit. Now, since writing isn’t your primary business, you won’t be able to write for extended periods of time (say 5-6 hours per day), nor do you want to do that.

What you’re aiming for is to set aside an uninterrupted writing block of, say, two hours per day, six days a week. You can make it seven days if you wish, buy don’t make it less than six. Your goal is to write for two hours straight guided by your book outline and then stop and resume the next day. If you’re still overflowing with ideas, just capture them in your notebook or computer and use that information when you begin writing again the next day.

What you don’t want to do is to write for 3-4 hours until you’re creatively spent and then skip the next day – inconsistency is the death knell of discipline.

Make sure you let the people closest to you know not to interrupt you unless there’s an emergency that only you can take care of – this applies to family if you’re writing at home in the evening, or to your staff if you’re writing in the office before business hours – the expectation for all should be that you’re “not there.”

Skill #5: Develop Your Own Writing Style

When you read several top-selling nonfiction books with your writer’s “hat” on, you’ll discover that each author has a unique voice that comes out loud and clear. Although there are many techniques that can be applied to produce a good book, a writer’s voice is something that can’t be turned into a formula.

Each author brings their own personality and set of life experiences to the table, and that’ll be no different with you. Make sure that you write the way you think and feel and don’t try to be someone you’re not.

Whenever you write, imagine that you’re talking to a client who’s sitting right in front of you – after all, the reason your clients do business with you is because of your authenticity. If they felt you were being inauthentic, they wouldn’t be clients for long.

Now, writing authentically can be a bit harder to achieve initially, because when you write you’re sitting down alone with your thoughts. Unless you’re already an experienced writer, writing is likely not a natural mode for you to offer solutions in the course of your business.

With practice, however, you’ll learn to put yourself in your client’s shoes as you write, which will bring out your authenticity to the written page.

Skill #6: Write Concisely But Remain Eloquent

As you read bestselling nonfiction books wearing your writer’s hat, you’ll find that they all have something in common: an economy of words. Those books seem to always be written very clearly as if each word had a purpose for being there.

Whenever we write, it’s often tempting to add words that are not required. We usually do this in the name of painting a more detailed picture – for example, we may write “close proximity” instead of just “proximity” or “unexpected surprise” instead of “surprise.”

Even though these additions appear harmless, in the aggregate they make for an inferior product because they act as “speed bumps” in the flow of the book. Therefore, your goal is to write concisely, using the minimum amount of words required to clearly convey your thoughts, avoiding not just redundant words but also flowery language, excessive use of adjectives, unnecessary punctuation and too much specialized vocabulary or jargon.

But there’s more: while using an economy of words, you want to make sure that the words that you do use are eloquent. When you read nonfiction bestsellers, you’ll find that they tend to use words that are very descriptive, words that paint a clear picture in the reader’s minds; not words that are just there to simply communicate a thought or a concept.

What you want to do is to take your readers through an emotional journey by using words that evoke emotional states. Here are some examples of words that can evoke emotion: “Embarrassed, Uncertain, Vulnerable, Freedom, Courageous, Radiant.”

Another way to become more eloquent in your writing is to borrow some time-tested techniques from the world of advertising. For example:

• To be more effective, reduce multiple points you’re making to groups of three. For some unexplained reason, our brains are very receptive to internalizing information better when it comes in packages of three.
• Use humor to make a mundane concept more memorable.
• When you’re driving home a point, focus on a single message at a time – don’t bifurcate your audience’s attention.

Skill #7: Write For an Audience of One

Another key characteristic of successful nonfiction books is that whenever you read them, you feel like the author is talking directly to you. You actually feel that you’re getting to “personally” know them, that they’re like a “good friend” helping you out.

This is a fictitious situation since you’ve likely never met them before, but it’s quite intentional. Unless you achieve this level of connection with your audience, it’s highly unlikely that they’ll take the actions that you recommend to heart.

For a nonfiction book to be successful both selling copies and, even more importantly, making a real change in people’s lives, it needs to “connect” with its audience, and the best way to achieve this goal is by writing the entire book as if it was addressed to a single reader – you’re writing a book for an audience of one.

An effective technique you can use to write for an audience of one is to create an “avatar” of your ideal reader, a composite of the many types of people that make up your audience. An avatar is a written profile of your perfect client. For example, if your book is addressed to consumers, you’ll need to come up with a name, gender, age, marital status, children, pets, hobbies, fears, challenges, desires, hopes, dreams, etc.

If your book is addressed to businesses, then your avatar must reflect the decision maker that your book is targeting: their name, age, gender, title or position in the company, their business challenges they have to deal with on a daily basis, their worries (what keeps them up at night), their pressures, and also their hopes and desires for the business.

Finally, get a random head shot of a person that fits your profile from various free stock photo websites and paste to your profile. This is the one person you’re writing to and addressing your entire book to. This person is your audience of one, and this is how you’ll be able to connect with your readers and create a personal relationship with each one of them, to the point that they’ll think that you truly understand them and that you are their friend.

Skill #8: Rewrite, Rewrite, Rewrite

As I mentioned before, your writing will only get better with practice and one of the best techniques for sharpening your writing saw is by writing lots of text – now, this might fly in the face of my prior advice, but just hear me out.

At the beginning, you always want to write from a “stream of consciousness.” What I mean by that is you don’t want to self-censor your writing when you’re in this creative mode. You just want to sit down and write by following your book outline without engaging your critical thinking.

Now, in this early stage, you’ll break a lot of the rules from this article: sometimes you’ll write redundantly, sometimes you’ll over-explain things, sometimes you’ll write run-around sentences, and so on.

This is totally acceptable early on, because your goal is to extract all the information jam-packed in your brain and put it down on the printed page. Now, when you’re done with a significant enough section of your book – say a short chapter or a meaty sub-chapter, you’ll want to start from the top again and re-write it entirely.

You’ll notice that your second pass will be light-years better than your first pass. When you’re done with this rewrite, set it aside and after a good night’s sleep do a new rewrite the next day or a couple of days later. Over time, your technique will become more polished as your writing muscle gets stronger.

After a number of rewrites, you’ll sense when it’s time to stop and move on to the next thing. The goal isn’t to write the perfect book; it’s not about achieving perfection but about training your writing muscle. At the end of the day, your writing will be handed over to a professional editor (more on this below) but you always want to hand over the very best that you can produce, and this can only be achieved through multiple rewrites.

With practice, the number of rewrites you need to do to create a quality product will decrease substantially. This is equivalent to going to the gym for a workout. At the beginning it might take you an hour to do your routine, but if you stick to it, six months later you’ll be able to do the exact same routine in half the time.

Skill #9: Get Regular Feedback From Your Audience

This skill is key if you want your book to be successful in the marketplace. We’ve already talked at length about writing your book for an audience of one, but unless that audience is involved throughout your writing process you run the risk of writing a book that you think is exactly what your readers need, but that in the end misses the mark because they don’t agree with your assessment of their needs.

What might have worked in the past for many of your clients who know, like and trust you might not work for the strangers that are going to be reading your book. But if you involve members of your audience as part of an advance reading group that can provide you with feedback as you craft your book, you’ll be able to adjust your messaging as you go and, in the end, create a much more powerful product.

This is a strategy widely used in the creative field not just for nonfiction books but also for movies and fiction books, where some authors release advance copies of chapters to a closed group of followers and then ask them for comments so they can tweak their narrative.

Since your goal is to create an emotional connection with your audience, there’s no better way to check if you’re “on track” than by engaging them early on.

Skill #10: Last But Not Least: Hire A Top Nonfiction Editor

The final writing skill is the most critical to the success of your book: the skill of letting go. As a matter of fact, this skill is paramount to the success of every single bestseller in the marketplace, since behind every great book there’s a great editor.

No professional writer worth their salt would dare publish an unedited manuscript. It just doesn’t happen and for good reason. Writers are the creative source behind the ideas in their book, but although those ideas are conveyed with words, that doesn’t make them infallible wordsmiths.

That’s where editors come in. In addition to the more mundane tasks of checking grammar, spelling, vocabulary and punctuation, editors are true wordsmiths who specialize in giving shape to words. They know how words work together, how they can be arranged for best effect, how they can be made to flow more efficiently, how to add a level of spit and polish that is very hard for authors, even famous ones, to achieve on their own.

A good analogy is music producers – the famous rock band writes the famous songs by creating the lyrics, the melodies, the harmonies and the chords to be played by the different instruments. But it’s the music producer who takes in all that information and then creates the actual “sound” of the band.

They are the “soundsmiths.” They know what kinds of sounds work better with what chords and harmonies in order to make the musicians sound great all the time. If you were to remove the music producer entirely from the equation, most famous songs would actually sound quite flat.

In closing, if you take these ten writing skills to heart, if you truly embrace them and master them, you’ll be able to create a nonfiction book you’ll be proud of.

I have a companion article that might be helpful to you, especially if you’re in the early stages of your book project. It’s entitled How to Write a Compelling Book in 12 Steps: A Must-Read Guide for Business Owners and it provides a clear roadmap that removes a lot of the uncertainty when producing a nonfiction book from scratch so you can focus on what matters most: the writing.

I wish you the best in your writing project!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related articles I highly recommend:

How to Find the Perfect Writing Coach for Your Nonfiction Book

5 Essential Paragraph Writing Tips for Nonfiction Book Writers

How to Use All 4 Writing Styles to Create an Exciting Nonfiction Book

5 Narrative Writing Steps to Bring Your Nonfiction Book to Life

How to Grow Your Business Writing a Nonfiction Book

 

Bennett R. Coles is the author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

Not unlike running a business, in order to create good writing habits you’ll need to develop a strong discipline, a clear focus, persistence, and above all, the motivation to see you through your bad days.

Imagine you’ve made a set of contractual commitments with clients and you wake up one day with a cold that won’t go away. You still go to work to fulfill those commitments and then crash later. Right? That’s precisely what successful authors do.

Once you learn the habits these authors use to produce great book after great book, you’ll have no problem adding discipline, focus, persistence and motivation into your writing routine because that’s inherent in your “training” as an entrepreneur.

In this article, I will not only show you how to develop powerful writing habits, but I’ll also go into detail about the specific actions you need to take every single day in order to develop a strong writing muscle.

How Do You Develop Good Writing Habits?

In order to achieve this goal, you’ll need to master each one of the following four pillars: Discipline, Focus, Persistence and Motivation.

Discipline

Creating a book requires commitment to write regularly. Writing success depends on your ability to be consistent in your commitment to your book, day in and day out.

Whenever you sit down to write, you have to develop the discipline to say no to distractions and temptations – distractions that can range anywhere from house chores to taking care of business emails outside of your business day.

In my article How to Write a Compelling Book in 12 Steps: A Must-Read Guide for Business Owners, I talk about compartmentalizing your time. You should never sit down to write your book during business hours and, by the same token, you should never conduct any business (or other non-business activities) when you sit down to write your book.

Now, since you’re already running a business, having the discipline to achieve a task or goal is second nature to you. All you have to do is to consider your book-writing project with the same serious business commitment you apply to any other contractual commitment you have with your clients. Once you make this decision, you’ll begin to set the foundation for developing great writing habits.

Focus

This is another area where you have the upper hand over most people, simply by being in business for yourself. Having laser-like focus and running a successful business go hand in hand.

The reason most “wannabe” entrepreneurs are unsuccessful is because they keep jumping from opportunity to opportunity, from shiny object to shiny object. Lack of focus is the top killer of new businesses. It’s not having a bad idea, being in the wrong niche or even a lack of talent.

There are plenty of people with great ideas, working in an under served niche and with lots of talent who are unable to get their businesses off the ground, simply because they’re unfocused.

This is also true when you sit down to write your book. There are thousands of websites, books and eBooks with advice, courses, webinars, tips, lists, etc. about book writing.

But, if you decide to choose one route when you begin writing your book only to switch gears when you get stuck to follow another approach (a different shiny object), this lack of sustained focus will kill your book-writing project.

Do spend the time on research. But once you commit to one path, stick with it all the way to the end.

Persistence

Persistence is the hallmark of entrepreneurs. If you were to give up when the going gets tough you wouldn’t be in business right now. So, this is another area where you have the upper hand over most people.

Being new at book writing (assuming this is your first book) you’ll have to deal with the uncertainly inherent in doing something rather complex for the first time.

Even with the best advice, you’ll get to a certain point in the writing process where you’ll be tempted to slow down (e.g. the dreaded “middle” section of your book) or to put the project on the back burner when things perhaps become much harder than you thought – after all, your main business is hard enough, and now you’ll have to handle two hard things at the same time.

It’s critical at times like these to let your persistence muscle kick in to help you grind through those obstacles so that you can stick to your writing schedule.

Make sure that you never join the ranks of people who started writing their book full of excitement and possibilities only to never finish it, simply because they lacked persistence in the face of adversity.

Motivation

The final pillar of writing success is motivation. Since the financial outcome of your book project lies way in the future, it’s sometimes difficult to be consistent in your level of motivation, especially when you have a bad day in your main business, or say you are coming down with a cold and your energy level is down, or countless other reasons…

So how do you keep your level of motivation up when the going gets tough in your main business? Simple. You have a number of binding contractual obligations to perform your services in order to get paid, and that alone (coupled with your professionalism) will ensure that you get the job done.

And it’s really not that different with your book project. In order to achieve the same level of motivation you afford your main business, you need to also enter into a binding agreement with a third party in order to ensure your book’s completion.

What you have to do is to set a hard publication deadline for your writing project. For example, you have to commit to a paid speaking engagement, say, a year from now, when you’ll be introducing your book to the public.

I provide more examples of hard deadlines in my 12 Steps article mentioned above, but in a nutshell, you need to get yourself into a public commitment where your professionalism and reputation alone will ensure that you stay on track.

How Do You Develop A Writing Routine?

Routine is about creating a set of behaviors that can be automatically repeated without having to think much about it.

When it comes to writing a book, as in any creative project, your routine has to be appealing to you so that you not only stick to it, but you look forward to it with anticipation.

Here are three guidelines to help you establish a routine that is both enjoyable and sustainable:

Choose a writing space that you find appealing and that you look forward to going to every day.

What this space or place is depends on your personal style. Some people have a favorite spot in their house, perhaps a writing room, a home office, a small desk or table near a bay window with a nice view. These are great choices if you require a quiet environment in order to think creatively.

Some people, on the other hand, need to be out of the house surrounded by other people in order to get the creative juices flowing. So, they’d prefer to go to a coffee shop, a library, or other public place. Whatever works for you is perfectly fine.

What you need to keep in mind, however, is that whichever space you do choose, make sure that you can work for an extended period of time (up to two hours) without any interruptions.

Carve out a set block of time each day for writing, and never change it.

This could be early in the morning before anyone else in the house wakes up, or it could be in the evening after you come home from work.

The key is to make sure that you never miss your writing block (outside of force majeure, of course). It’s like your morning coffee – you always have it at the same time and, just like coffee, your body craves it and expects it at that time every day.

Make your writing block fixed – say, two hours every day.

What you don’t want to do is to have a flexible writing block that could be one hour one day and five hours the next (even if you feel that you are “in the flow”).

If your writing routine is fluid then it’s not a writing routine. The risk here is that you’ll begin to be tempted by the death knell of good writing habits: Inconsistency (“I’ve written for four hours straight today so I think I’ll skip tomorrow”).

Be firm with your routine and make sure you stop at the end of your writing block. If you still have ideas flowing at that point, then write them down in a notebook for tomorrow. Don’t write until you are creatively spent every time, because you’ll then begin to resent writing.

How Long Should You Write Every Day?

You want to write for a set amount of time every day – and by the way, it’s perfectly okay to take one day off per week but not more than that. In my experience, especially for writers that don’t derive their income from writing, a 2-hour daily block is ideal.

One hour is not enough to get up to cruising speed and three or more hours will start to burn you out creatively. Two hours is the happy medium (or, at most, between 2-3 hours depending on your nature) which takes into account the fact that you also have a day job to take care of.

You’ll find that following this approach you’ll be able to comfortably write between 400 and 500 words per hour. So at this rate, you should be able to produce a 200-page nonfiction book, fully written, edited and published in about 10 months (for more details and a full breakdown of this timeline, read my article How Long Does it Take to Write a Book to Help Grow Your Business).

What Are Good Writing Habits?

Let’s get now into the specifics. Below you’ll find a list of 10 powerful habits that are key to developing a strong writing muscle:

1. Establish a Clear and Immovable Writing Schedule – We talked about this already but it’s worth stressing again: keep your schedule consistent – don’t shuffle it around from day to day.

2. Practice Always Makes Better – It’s critical to be consistent and write every day in order to develop your writing muscle. If you are going to take a break from writing, make it only one day per week at the most.

3. Write As If You Were Being Paid – Don’t write as if it was a hobby of yours. Write as if you were a professional author (which you’ll be anyway the minute you close a new prospect as a direct result of publishing your book!).

4. Set Clear Boundaries With Those Around You – This is of particular importance when it comes to your family, should you choose your writing space to be at home. It’s very important that they understand that you’re not to be disturbed for any reason (short of an emergency) when you’re sitting down to write. This also applies to your friends. Ask them not to call, text or message you during your writing blocks. Make sure they understand that you’ll be setting the do-not-disturb feature on your phone so you won’t be able get back to them during this time.

5. Always Write For an Audience of One – Every sentence you write in your book has to be addressed directly to your reader. Successful nonfiction books written by entrepreneurial authors or professionals with a practice always establish a personal relationship with each one of their readers and you want to create this bond from your first paragraph to your last.

6. Read the Top Books in Your Niche – It’s imperative that you learn why the books from the pros in your business niche work so well. Read those books wearing your writer’s hat to find out how they manage to connect so well with their audience.

7. Edit Your Writing Regularly – Don’t self-edit as you write, as that can be counterproductive. Instead, at the end of each writing week make sure to set aside some time to self-edit the week’s work. This might take up a quarter to half of one of your weekly writing blocks, but it will dramatically improve the overall quality of your writing.

8. Focus Only on the Writing Task Right Ahead of You, Not on the Hundred Tasks that Follow It – Look at your book outline or table of contents to choose what you’re going to be writing about next, but once you’ve made that choice forget your table of contents and focus strictly on the one section you’re currently writing. Don’t think about what remains to be done – critical thinking will stall your creative juices.

9. Find Your Voice and Stick to It – Authenticity is key for nonfiction books. You are, after all, writing about your own life experience in your profession. Always write in a way that reflects who you are. Don’t try to be someone you’re not – readers will see through it.

10. Create a Reading Group Made out of People from Your Audience – This is particularly important for entrepreneurial writers. Enlist early on a small group of advance readers by drawing from people you trust and who happen to be part of your target audience. You’ll need their feedback as you finish different parts of your book, in order to make sure you are addressing their problems and challenges effectively. You don’t want to finish your manuscript, only to find out that as great as your solutions may be from your point of view, they missed the mark from the point of view of your audience.

Follow the above guidelines and you’ll be able to truly fast track the creation of your nonfiction book.

All the best in your writing project!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related articles I highly recommend:

The Most Effective Writing Exercise for Busy Business People

How to Grow Your Business Writing a Nonfiction Book

 

Bennett R. Coles is the author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.