Non-fiction Book Writing Tips

So, you have some knowledge or know-how to share and you want to write a book about it and profit from it. But you know very well that non-fiction books don't sell well. So what do you do?



Non-fiction topics such as history, biographies, how-to books, and self-help books can be a big bore to readers. The data, facts or information overload bores and turns off some readers. Some people have a hard time focusing on reading pure facts and they tend to forget what they have just read if it is written in plain and straightforward facts. If your aim is to produce a best-seller, you have to learn to turn boring and straightforward facts into fun and interesting facts. Otherwise, you might as well just write a textbook. And remember, textbooks only sell because they are required by schools. Otherwise, they would rot on bookstores shelves.



So the first thing you have to learn after deciding what to write about is how to write it interestingly. Remember, nothing beats human interest in capturing an audience. So you have to have that wit of injecting human interest factor into your otherwise boring how-to manual or history book. For example, you are writing about how to build a dog house. Instead of plainly telling the readers step by step the how-to's, insert some anecdotes or possible incidents the reader might experience while doing the task; like seeing their dog watch him while working and get excited about his future house as if he understands that you are building it for him. You should always capitalize on human feelings. Appeal to the emotions always works, even in court.



In writing fiction, it is always best to show the readers what is happening than tell them what is happening. By showing, I mean leading readers into the scene and make them feel they are seeing or witnessing the event firsthand. The same method works in writing non-fiction. So, instead of plainly enumerating the facts or stating the numbers, describe it in a way the average person can relate to. Not everybody knows their metric system, or not everyone has a vivid image of how long 10 meters is. In cases like these, you can make use of your stock idiomatic expressions and metaphors. You can liken the length to something the readers see in their everyday lives. So aside from stating that the wood is two inches thick, you can also say that it is as thick as their Harry Potter book 7. These allusions give the readers a vivid image in their mind, with which they can play their imagination and not get bored.



If you learn these simple techniques, you can write your non-fiction book in a fun and interesting manner and not bore your readers to death.