The 5 Ingredients for Writing a Successful Nonfiction Book
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Writing a successful nonfiction book is often challenging for any author, but especially so for first-timers who have never written (or published) a book before.
That’s because, though you may be a novice writer, your future readers are seasoned pros. Even the most casual consumer of the printed word will have read dozens — possibly hundreds — of books in their lifetime before picking up the first book you’ve ever written. The quality of your work, the way the book is organized, and how interesting or unique your subject matter is will be compared to all the other books that particular person has read in the past. The reader is not going to cut you any slack just because this is your first book. They expect it to be as professionally penned as any other book they might pick up.
This gap between the reader’s expectations and a first-time author's inexperience can be a bit daunting. Luckily, there are 5 key ingredients for writing a successful nonfiction book; assemble them, and your work will stand up to the competition. None of these ingredients are optional. You must have all five. They are part of the recipe for every excellent nonfiction book.
1. You Need a Great Idea (or a Compelling Story)
I’m a book coach, and most of my clients write narrative-driven books. Some are pure memoir while others have a self-help, leadership, or inspirational message. When it’s a classic memoir or autobiography, the story is all you’ve got. It has to do the heavy lifting. You’ve got to enchant the reader with your tale. If you are mixing stories with a message, the “big idea” of the book becomes the lead actor, and your tale plays a supporting role. Your message must mean something and evoke change. It has to solve a vexing problem, or inspire a shift in attitude or action to such a degree that the reader is compelled — not only to buy your book but actually finish reading it.
This essential ingredient for a successful nonfiction book is about caring. Your reader has to care enough about your story or subject to keep turning pages. If you think you’ve lived a really interesting life and want to write a memoir, you have to answer this question: Why would someone who’s never met me or heard about me care enough to read my story?
Don’t worry if your idea feels a bit weak. This first ingredient can be developed. This is why this early stage of writing a book is called “developmental editing.” Before you pen 50,000 words in a first draft, take time to develop the target message for your audience, the themes your book will address, and the voice you’ll use to tell the story. Make sure you have something unique and impactful to say — something that will stand out among the millions of new books that are published every year.
2. You Need Adequate Motivation
When I was 20 years old, I crossed the largest desert in the world. My journey over the shifting sands of the Sahara was the hardest physical challenge of my entire life. How did I manage that feat at such a young age?
I was motivated.
Writing a book is a big commitment. It will take you much longer than it took me to traverse the endless dunes of North Africa. But, much like my desert adventure, your writing journey will cause you to chase mirages. You will get bogged down again and again and often feel rather lost. But you will be able to keep going steadily toward your destination and ultimately succeed — if you are motivated enough.
This ingredient is also a matter of caring. But now it’s about you. As the author, you have to care deeply about finishing your manuscript. The book has to matter more to you than almost anything else on Earth. Once again you must answer a question: Why do I want to write this book? Your response is probably the single most important factor in determining whether or not your book will get written.
Take the time to develop this ingredient as well. Just because you’ve always wanted to try and write a book may not be enough motivation to conclude your epic journey. While it’s probably enough to start writing a book, your odyssey will challenge you in ways that cannot be imagined at its beginning. Identifying the motivation that will sustain the entire experience will help you achieve your quest.
3. You Need a (Successful) System
One of the first things new authors do is give their book a working title. Then they develop an outline. They next identify the topics they’re going to write about and the stories they want to tell, which results in a rough table of contents. The first thing they actually write is the Introduction, and then move on to Chapter One.
These seem like the most logical first steps to take when writing a book. But what they’re doing is writing a book in the order that it is read. Nonfiction books are usually written much differently than they are read. For example, the Introduction is often the last thing the author writes before submitting the manuscript to a publisher.
Many memoirists write their life’s narrative in chronological order. It’s a simple system and it seems logical. But it’s rarely successful. Most lives are not lived in a timeline that makes a great story. Self-help, leadership, and inspirational authors will often have a step-by-step methodology that solves a problem for their readers. The method may be what the book is about, but you can’t assume that a nonfiction book should be organized in the same order as the author’s proposed solution is to be applied.
You need to approach your writing from the reader’s perspective, and what matters most is engagement. Your reader is not going to slog through the first fifteen years of your life if nothing interesting happens. If you don’t keep your customer’s attention, they will never finish the book. A successful approach accomplishes that crucial goal and this should be your primary focus (regardless of the system you adopt).
There are many systematic approaches to nonfiction writing. One of my favourites is the S.L.A.M technique, which I describe in detail in an earlier post. This method keeps readers engaged because at least one quarter of the book is narrative based. People love stories. Nonfiction books without stories, especially by first-time authors, will struggle to find an audience. The S.L.A.M. system also keeps you from wandering too far down any rabbit holes. Each element requires sticking to the purpose of that section which also improves the reader’s experience.
This third ingredient is not about which system to use, but about avoiding the obvious or easy approach so you can achieve a higher degree of engagement. Find a system that grabs the reader’s attention and don’t let go. Earn their trust and participation on every page. You cannot assume that anyone will finish your book simply because they paid for it. The reader’s time is far more precious than the cost of any book. As a first-time author you cannot rely on the brilliance of your dazzling words to do the job on their own. Find a system or structure that leverages your story and your ideas — and stick to it.
4. You Need Engaging Prose
A recent book-coaching client wanted to write his first book about his time spent in the high Arctic as a school teacher and principal. Abdus was originally trained as a math and science teacher, but he went on to become a national leader in education. In 2016, he received Canada's “Outstanding Principal” award. Being from Bangladesh and working in the Arctic made for a captivating story. The “stranger in a strange land” theme held tremendous potential.
However, because English is Abdus’s second language, he was occasionally challenged with writing engaging prose. But with a little bit of book coaching and some editorial assistance, he produced a fascinating account of his time as an educator near the North Pole. The key was recognizing where he needed support to ensure his engaging story was being presented with readable prose that did it justice.
Even native English speakers with strong writing skills often discover they put words and sentences together in a manner that does not engage a reader. Another recent client was a leadership consultant who wrote in the style of, well, a consultant. Her clients pay hefty sums for her counsel, so you can be sure they’ll read her reports from cover to cover. But the fickle reading public, who is only one ping away from being distracted by social media, will not work very hard to smooth out any bumpy prose.
There’s really no way to know what your words will feel like to a reader — until you start writing. As book coaches, we are often surprised by what we see. A client in their seventies might produce shockingly professional sentences even though their work and life demands offered few opportunities to practice or develop the writing skills they had learned in school decades earlier. The good news is that whatever level of writing ability you now possess, it can be improved significantly with our fifth and final ingredient.
5. You Need Support
It truly takes a village to produce a high quality nonfiction book — especially when it’s your first time hitting the shelves. The sooner a new author recognizes this fact, the faster they will progress toward publication with a work they can be proud of.
There are many professional book coaches, editors, and ghostwriters offering their services for a fee. But support doesn’t necessarily cost anything more than some of your time … and swallowing a little bit of pride. Your favourite high school English teacher might be thrilled to look at your manuscript and offer comments. Friends can give feedback on chapter names or title ideas. There are online courses in writing nonfiction books that cost absolutely nothing. FriesenPress offers an excellent free Writing Guide that is packed with powerful writing tips for both new and experienced authors. Though these solutions are no substitute for direct insight from the professionally trained, they will help you see beyond the page placed in front of you.
The biggest problem is that new authors don’t know what they don’t know. But take it from me — a bestselling author who was once in your shoes — there’s a lot you don’t know … yet. Thanks to the digital revolution, the support you need to fill in those blanks is only a couple of clicks away.
Steve Donahue is a professional speaker, book coach, and the author of two bestselling nonfiction books. His works have sold over 100,000 copies and have been translated into Korean, Turkish, Russian and Greek. Steve helps new and experienced authors turn their book ideas into well-crafted publications that delight readers and inspire change. To learn more, visit his website at MyBookCoach.ca.
