By BookBaby author The Book Professor
Use these expert-level strategies to hone your ideas, sharpen your focus, and write an expert nonfiction book.
Writing a book isn’t easy. Even successful authors with several published titles under their belts know that every book takes dedication, time, and hard work.
As a book coach, I’ve guided many new and experienced authors over the finish line to a published book, and here I present seven tips for writing a nonfiction book that have helped writers produce great manuscripts and achieve success.
1. Narrow down what type of nonfiction book you’re writing
Just as fiction books can be divided into endless subcategories (e.g., romance, science fiction, literary fiction, etc.), nonfiction books fall into different categories, too. It’s important for you to have clarity on which type you’re writing.
For example, let’s say you want to write a business book. Will that be a how-to book to help others in your industry with a specific problem? Will it be a book introducing new ideas into the field? If you’re writing about your own life, will it be an autobiography? A memoir? A self-help book based on your experiences?
These distinctions are important, because you will need to apply best practices specifically suited to your subcategory of choice.
2. Identify your ideal reader (and what they want)
Not everyone is your audience. You need to identify the specific type of person who is likely to read your book. For example, a book about management is likely to appeal to business owners or employees aspiring to move up the ranks. It’s less likely to thrill a retired person looking to start their post-career adventures.
Figure out who your ideal reader is, what they want, and the kind of information that will help them. What is their average age? What kind of job do they have? What are their hobbies and values? How will your book give them what they need?
When you write without doing this step, you may not connect with your intended audience. Your message won’t make it to the people who need it, and your effort won’t have the impact you had hoped for. When you have a strong sense of who your audience is, it will be easier to connect with them, which is critical for the success of any book.
3. Find the theme of your book
This is one of the most important tips for writing a nonfiction book, and you’ll be working on it throughout the drafting process.
Begin thinking about “theme” before you’ve even typed a sentence or put pen to paper. Figure out your book’s purpose statement — why you are writing the book, who you are writing it for, and how it will help them. This will give you a loose idea of a theme (or themes) that can guide your book. As you work on your first draft, these ideas will grow and, eventually, a solid theme will emerge that ties your book together.
4. Establish your writing style
Once you’ve put your material together, you have to decide what style to write in. How will your writing “voice” sound? How formal (or not) is the tone of this book?
There are four main writing styles an author might use for nonfiction:
- Authoritative: focuses on facts, very formal
- Lyrical: descriptive and flowery
- Conversational: writing the way you speak
- Accessible: everyday language using crisp, efficient words
Some of these styles work better than others for different types of books. Do some investigating and planning to determine which style is best for your project.
5. Use time blocking
Many authors find that between family, work, and social commitments, it’s hard to snatch uninterrupted writing time. Time blocking helps you create that space. It organizes your day into blocks of time to help you use your waking hours more efficiently.
By blocking off a writing period, you’re essentially setting an appointment with yourself — an appointment that you can ask friends and family to respect. You can give yourself permission to let the phone go to voicemail or ignore that chore you just thought of and finish your daily word count instead.
Time blocking can help ensure that no task gets left behind. Because each item for the day has a pre-set end time, you won’t eat up all of your time on one item and realize there’s no time left for others.
6. Find the right online tools
There are a host of online tools to help you write smarter and faster. Become familiar with the different categories of online writing tools and how they can help your process. Possibilities include:
- Online document storage, for keeping your work in the cloud.
- Note-taking tools to help you gather and organize info as you draft your work.
- Writing software to help you actually get the words on paper.
- Editing software to help polish and improve your writing.
- Focus tools to keep you from getting distracted while you write.
- Speech to text tools, for when you’re tired of typing.
- Spelling and grammar checkers to help catch mistakes.
You should carefully compare and contrast different online writing tools. No two are identical, and you may find that one fits your needs more than another. Do your research and pick what works for you!
7. Consider a writing coach
You can’t be an expert in everything. Chances are, if you’re writing a book, you’re an expert in your subject matter, be it your life experiences, your profession, or your hobbies.
But being an expert in your field doesn’t necessarily make you an expert at writing a nonfiction book about it.
Many aspiring authors learn this the hard way when they make it part-way into a manuscript and then get stuck, unsure how to organize the material and proceed. I know all about this subject, they think to themselves. Why can’t I get it on paper?
Worse, some put in the time and hard work of completing and publishing a book, but the result is sub-par material that won’t reach a wide audience.
Let an expert writing coach guide you through the writing process to ensure that your book’s structure, writing, and editing are done right. You be the expert in your subject matter and let your writing coach be the expert in focusing your efforts, holding you accountable, and crafting a book that conveys your message and speaks to your audience.
Related Posts
Five Things You Can Do To Improve Your Business Book (or ANY book)
What To Include In Your Memoir To Create A Powerful Reading Experience
Is What You Have to Say What People Want to Hear? Find Your Target Readers
Write Your Book Using The Time Blocking Method
Choose To Make Writing A Priority
This BookBaby blog article Writing A Nonfiction Book: 7 Tips For First-time Authors appeared first on and was stolen from BookBaby Blog .