How to Write A Nonfiction Book in 6 Steps - 2021
Writing a non-fiction book is a great way to share your story, impart your knowledge or even build your business. And you may not have thought about becoming a writer before, it's not so far-fetched as you think. In this post, we will walk you through how to write a nonfiction book in just 6 essential steps. Hold on to your idea of that book and let's see how we can turn it into something that readers will love.There are:
1: Validate Your Idea
2: Outline Your Book
3: Choose A Style Guide
4: Pick A Bestselling Book Title
5: Edit Your Book, Line by Line
6: Use Your Own Compelling Voice
1: Validate Your Idea
2: Outline Your Book
3: Choose A Style Guide
4: Pick A Bestselling Book Title
5: Edit Your Book, Line by Line
6: Use Your Own Compelling Voice
1: Validate Your Idea
Your idea may be too bad or vague when you start, e.g. This is a self-help book for new parents. Before you place the pen on paper you need to crystallize and solidify your original idea, as well as think about your target audience and your author platform. Using that information and the tips below, you can verify the concept of your book, find an idea of direction in your writing, and be prepared when submitting a book proposal if you would like to publish a proposal.Nail Down Your Book Idea
The key to determining how to write a non-fiction book is being able to answer three important "Wh questions":
- What is it about?
- Why does it matter, and why should you write it?
- Who will want to read it— or rather, who is your target audience? More idea and examples "wh- question rules".
Research Your Topic
Once you’ve pinned your idea, you’ll want to dig into the subject or the non-fiction genre in your book to move that idea toward development. Research is very important, and it can come in a variety of shapes and sizes, depending on the project. Here are a few of the different types of research that are appropriate for a particular genre.
Once you’ve pinned your idea, you’ll want to dig into the subject or the non-fiction genre in your book to move that idea toward development. Research is very important, and it can come in a variety of shapes and sizes, depending on the project. Here are a few of the different types of research that are appropriate for a particular genre.
2: Outline Your Book
Like in fiction, where the structure of the story can create or break a narrative, nonfiction depends on the reader being able to follow the shock of reason. Since nonfiction is all about utilities, the framework is of utmost importance to guide the reader towards the information they need. You want your structure to be consistent but also gripping, so that readers can read and remember what they have read.Generally, your book refers to a linear structure if it relates to a process or how. To make things more interesting for readers, you can disrupt the linear flow and follow the structure of a list or article. Not sure what these structures are? Guide you through the steps of creating a non-fiction book to find the answers (and more planning tips).
3: Choose A Style Guide
Before you start writing, choose a style guide to follow throughout your book. What is a style guide you ask? This is a set of guidelines to help you keep your writing consistent. If you work with both US English and UK English, you may notice that some things are spelled differently, i.e. ‘color’ versus ‘color’. Depending on where your target audience is, you need to choose the variation that is most appropriate for your target audience. A style manual will help you maintain it with one of those versions, along with some other details about how to use oxford or serial commas, single or double quotation marks, or how to list your references. A popular guide to what you might think is the Chicago Manual of Style.Why things like this? First, a suitable guide is important for a non-fiction book because this book is considered to be truthful and accurate. Mentioning whether you are writing popular self-help or more academic pieces will become an important part of your credibility, so you’ll want to nail it from the moment you start it. Second, being consistent with your writing will only help you in the editing process, preventing you from correcting the same mistakes over and over again.
4: Pick A Bestselling Book Title
Picking a great book title is an important step in the process of getting readers to actually read your book, take action and benefit from your skills.The title is one of the markets you have researched at the moment. You've found out who your potential readers are, what they're looking for, what questions they're asking, and what issues they want to solve.
For olifification, it’s best to use interesting, memorable titles and a descriptive subtitle that explains how your book solves their problems. If possible, make sure your title contains keywords that your readers can use to ask their questions or problems online.
For example, some possible titles in the book Back Pain might be:
- Beat Back Pain Naturally: Free Yourself From Pain With Painkillers and Easy Stretching
- Extend Your Pain Away: How To Overcome Back Stomach And Survive More Without Drugs
- Become Back Pain: Natural Remedies And Easy Stretches To Help Kill Back Pain Forever
5: Edit Your Book, Line by Line
I always recommend separating line editing from content editing (you may want to think of them as "nightpick editing" and "big image editing"). After all, there is not much to carefully respect every sentence in chapter in if you later decide that chapter 7 is not included in your book at all!Line editing means skipping each chapter, going from line to line, and checking that everything is easily read. (If you're working with a publisher, chances are they'll act as editors - you'll probably want to edit their work sooner rather than later.)
When you're editing at this stage, find out if your tone and voice are consistent, if there are any paragraphs that are too long/ too short, how you adapted to the short form and capital, whether you made things in the best way, and so on.
6: Use Your Own Compelling Voice
When it comes to writing in school, forget most of what you learned, unless you wrote a non-fiction book for academics. Most people haven’t studied or practiced writing since school, so you may be a little rusty to find your own voice. You can use impersonal, "smart" sentences, words that don't come naturally to you, or phrases that aren't negative about how you speak. Try to be something else with but you will make yourself clear and trigger a lot of insecurity. If your writing needs to be clarified or formalized, you can do so in editing.Nonfiction Writing Techniques
- Set the scene
- Beware of TMI
- Use plain language
- Remember dialogue
- Remember the story
- Dig for deeper truths
- Add the final touches
- Remember your research
- Bring your characters to life
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