WritingSpirit Blog

How to Make 2025 Your Best Writing Year Ever!!!

Do you want to write nonfiction books and make a living as an author? If you do, you don't have to go it alone. It's not as hard as you might imagine or as easy as many will tell you. The truth lies somewhere in-between, as it often does. Wherever you are on your book writing journey, here are some of the benefits that can come from writing a nonfiction book.

It will help you to:

• become an authority in your niche
• build your brand and your business
• attract media attention
• fill classes and book speaking engagements
• sell more products and services
• grow your email list
• touch (and change) many people’s lives with your message
• and so much more…

Jane Friedman (the former editor-in-chief of Writer’s Digest) has said that “nearly all unpublished writers have one thing in common that trips them up, every time. They rush to submit their work before it’s ready or before they are ready.” A big part of being ready is taking the time to learn about the elements that contribute to writing a quality book that has the potential to positively impact readers’ lives. It’s also important to familiarize yourself with the business side of writing. Both matter deeply if you want to make your living as an author.

 

Writing Your Book:

Writing a nonfiction book can transform your life and business, as well as the lives and livelihoods of your readers.  Writing and publishing a book is not generally as “quick and easy” as many people marketing their book writing programs would have you believe, yet there are tips and tactics that can help ease you through the writing process as well as help you to set up a firm foundation for your book’s success. 

Here are some articles that can help you take a more strategic approach to the conceiving and writing of your book.

 

• The Secret Formula for Writing a Truly Helpful, Empowering, and Successful Nonfiction Book that Will Turn Readers into Fans
• 7 Keys to a Successful Nonfiction Book (and Writing Career)
• 5 Keys to Creating an (Almost) Daily Writing Habit & Getting Your Book Done!
• Finding Your Voice as a Writer
• 11 Essential (and Sometimes Misguided) Rules of Editing and Rewriting

 

Marketing Your Book:

Too many writers resist (and even resent) marketing. Yes, I know... you’d rather be writing. So would I. But we write to be read, and marketing is how we get the precious book we've spent so long writing into the hands of readers. That's why it’s imperative you make peace with the promotional side of a writer’s life.

It’s been over 10 years since I attended John Kremer’s Book Marketing Blastoff workshop. John is the author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Book. I’ll never forget what he said that weekend. “Marketing is relationships. Selling books is about making friends.” His words transformed my relationship with book marketing. I went from feeling that as authors, promoting our books is imposing our views on strangers to a sense that we're sharing what we care about with potential friends. This also helped me to change my view of book marketing from trying to sell a book to as many people as possible to... offering something of value to those who will resonate with it. 

Here are some articles that I hope will help you make peace with promotion, as well as give you some tools and tactics to help you get your book into the hands of readers.

• The 5 Essential Sales Tools Your Nonfiction Book Needs… to Sell Itself
• The 7 Pillars of a Best Seller Promotional Plan
• Bestselling Authors Know this Book Promotion Secret…
• Kiss Shy Goodbye: 4 Attitude Adjustments Guaranteed to Turn Shy Writers into FearLESS Promoters

 

Creating Multiple Income Streams from Your Book:

While it’s true that some books can be written quickly, writing a book is not a “get rich quick scheme.” And having your book become a #1 Amazon best seller is not as impressive as it sounds. When you know how to game the system, a book can reach #1 on Amazon in a particular category by selling as few as 5 books. It takes time, publishing multiple books, and promoting your heart out to grow your royalty income. That being said, the majority of nonfiction authors, especially those just starting out, make most of their money beyond their book—from speaking engagements, classes, and coaching that’s based upon the topic of their book, as well as from other books and products that address related aspects of their topic or niche.

I’ll be exploring this in more depth this year. In the meanwhile, here are two articles to get you started thinking about how you can turn your book into additional income streams.

• Multiply Your Book’s Income with These Low Content Supplemental Products
• Book Biz FAQs: What’s the quickest way I can monetize my nonfiction book?

 

The Secret Formula for Writing a Truly Helpful, Empowering, and Successful Nonfiction Book that Will Turn Readers into Fans

These are exciting times for authors! There are unprecedented opportunities for a writer to self-publish for little or no money, and to promote his or her books worldwide from a home computer. However, because it’s so easy to publish a book, roughly 4,500 new books are published EVERY SINGLE DAY. With so many books flooding the market, the average nonfiction book sells less than 250 copies per year, and many sell considerably less. This is why it’s so important to take a serious and strategic approach to the conceiving and writing of your book.

The true value of a nonfiction book, especially one that aims to solve a problem, isn’t measured by its length or even by the number of copies sold, but by the positive impact it has in its readers lives. If you’re sharing content that’s truly helpful you can get away with a few quality issues – such as a lackluster cover, a few typos, or writing that could have benefited from another round or two of editing – and still sell books and mostly get good reviews. But if you want to be a truly successful author, quality does matter, especially the quality of the content. The extra effort that’s required to lift your book’s content above the crowded field of books on your subject can vary from a few simple tweaks to a major overhaul, depending upon your starting point. 

People often come to me wanting to know how to sell more books. The top book marketing secret I have to offer – the most important thing you can do to sell more books – is simply to write a fabulous book. A great book is more than just information thrown together in a reasonably organized way. Every nonfiction book conveys information. But what is it that makes that information come alive? What helps that information flow logically from one point to the next? And what inspires and empowers a reader to apply and benefit from what they’ve read? Knowing and applying the answers to these questions can transform your book from ordinary to extraordinary, and it’s a lot easier than you think.

Having a great idea is not enough, you have to convey that idea in a way that captures and keeps people’s attention, while simultaneously engaging their minds and touching their hearts. You also want to give your readers a clear path to follow with clear and concrete steps to apply in their own lives. The S.H.I.N.E. Nonfiction Content Creation Formula (which can also be applied to blog posts, talks, and courses) addresses these issues and helps authors craft a compelling book that can powerfully communicate its central message, impact and transform people’s lives, and turn readers into fans who will happily recommend your book to others.

 

Here’s how to make your book S.H.I.N.E.

These elements are not applied separately or in order. They’re going to mix and mingle in a wild dance throughout your book. You can apply these as you write your first draft, as well as use them as a guide during the editing process.

 

STAND OUT: Be Bold, Passionate, Creative, and Unique!    

Thousands of new books are published every day. To rise above the crowd, you not only have to publish helpful information from a unique perspective, you also have to put yourself into your book – your story, your voice, your heart. Words don’t just convey information, they contain emotion. When someone reads your book, they can feel your passion (or lack of it) for the subject, as well as your compassion (or lack of it) for what they’re going through. The more your readers can connect with you as well as your ideas through your writing, the more successful your book will be on every level.

To Stand out from the other books on your subject:

* Offer something new by being absolutely YOU! 

* Create and name a solution, system, or step-by-step process that’s yours alone.

* Write and publish a quality book on every level (great title and cover; unique and helpful content; well written, thoroughly edited, and professionally formatted).   

 

HELP: Empower Your Readers to Truly Thrive  

People read advice and how-to nonfiction books to find solutions to their problems. Before you can truly help your readers solve the problem that your book addresses, you need to be able to see the problem through their eyes so that you can talk about the solution in ways and words they’ll understand. By offering practical solutions, as well as addressing readers’ potential questions and concerns, your book will not only be a satisfying read but a powerful tool of transformation in people’s lives.  

To Help your readers solve their problem:

* Get to know them – their desires and fears, as well as the obstacles they may have encountered trying to solve this problem before reading your book.

* Offer practical and proven solutions and address any questions or concerns you think might arise as they apply your solution.

* Help people see the big picture – not just what to do but how, why, and what to watch out for on the journey toward their goal. 

 

INSPIRE: Motivate Your Readers to Take the Actions Necessary to Change Their Lives         

Buying a book or a program is easy, but actually taking the actions suggested is not. So, in addition to giving people the tools they need to improve their lives, it’s important to encourage and empower your readers to use those tools. To not only tell them what to do but to inspire the hope and eventually the belief that what they desire is possible. Turning a dream (or goal) into reality happens when you believe that what you want to achieve is possible and that you have what it takes to make it happen. The more you can help your readers strengthen both of those beliefs, the more likely it is they’ll take the actions you’ve suggested and have the success they long for. And when they do, it will be your success, as well, because your readers will become fans who recommend your book to others. 

To Inspire your readers to take action:

* Offer encouragement in an authentic way, whether you see yourself as a cheerleader, a tough love coach, or your empowerment style lies somewhere in-between.

* Share success stories and inspiring quotes, making sure the takeaway is clear, simple, and easy to hold onto for support.

* Persuade your readers that success is not only possible, but that it’s possible for them.

 

NAVIGATE: Give Your Readers a Clear Path to Achieving the Solution They’re Looking For

Now that you’ve helped your readers see that their goal is within reach, that it’s possible for them to have, be, or do that thing they want, it’s time to show them how to achieve it. Clearly map out the journey you’re asking them to take: What actions are required to achieve their goal? What are the obstacles they might run into, and what will they need to do to work through them? And what are the signs along the way that will help them to know they’re going in the right direction and to recognize when they’ve truly arrived?

To Navigate your readers journey to their goal:

* Present a well-organized and easy to follow plan.

* Break down the inner and outer journey your readers will need to take into small actionable steps, and help them to track and celebrate their progress.

* Walk your readers through the process, giving them a sense of what the journey will be like and support them along the way.

 

ENGAGE: Help Your Readers to Deeply Connect with Themselves, Your Book, and You

Pursuing our goals takes courage, self-awareness, and persistence. It also often asks us to change in a number of ways, and change can be challenging. Your best chance to help someone take the steps needed to achieve their desired goal, and to actually make the changes that will support them taking those steps is to facilitate them being fully engaged with themselves (though self-assessment questions and journaling prompts), the material in your book (through providing exercises and action steps), and with you (by getting them on your mailing list, having them join your Facebook group, or working with them through coaching and classes).

To Engage your readers’ interest and participation:

* Appeal to different learning styles to help readers connect more deeply with the ideas in your book.

* Create a 7- or 10-day challenge to help your readers get started on the journey toward their goal and build some momentum.

* Invite readers to ask questions and share their experiences and progress on a Facebook group.

 

The 7 Pillars of a Best Seller Promotional Plan

Many writers love to write books but hate to market them. Unfortunately, that’s totally counterproductive. Book marketing isn’t the enemy. On the contrary, it’s the pathway to a writer’s greatest dream – making a living doing what we love. So, if you truly love writing, it’s important to leave the dream world of creativity and make peace with promotion. Better yet, as hard as this may be to imagine, have fun with it.

In the same way that brainstorming and organizing your book’s content and then writing your book are creative acts, so is brainstorming and organizing your promotional plan and them putting it into action.

Since promoting your book on social media is quick, easy, and free, many authors focus primarily on social media marketing. Yet, to give your book, that you’ve put your heart, soul and time into, its greatest chance for success, you want to promote it across a variety of platforms and mediums, not only during your book launch, but before publication and for a long time afterward. So, let your promotional creativity loose and do let potential readers know about your book through as many of these seven promotional pillars as you can, remembering to focus on sharing the value that your book has to offer to make people’s lives better. Of course, you don’t have to do all of these at once or any of them perfectly, you simply need to get the word out about your wonderful book, as best you can, to as many people as possible.

Here are the 7 pillars and how you can apply them during the book writing process, as well as at your book launch and after publication. As you’re reading through this list, see which ones you feel drawn to and which you don’t. And them commit to doing a few of each. Stretching beyond your comfort zone is so helpful, because in most cases you’ll probably surprise yourself. You’ll discover that something you were scared of doing really wasn’t that bad at all, in fact you might discover that you enjoy it or are good at it. Be willing to give a new skill (or avenue of promotion) to get past your nervousness about it, and because no matter how much you may study how to do something, it takes actually doing it and seeing how it feels and works to get comfortable enough and learn enough through in the trenches feedback to do it effectively or discover it’s truly not for you.  

Pillar #1      Promote on Both Social Media and Traditional Media

Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogs, podcasts) can help you build buzz around your book as you’re still writing it. You can share your writing journey, get feedback on your material, or simply let your followers and fans know that you’re working on a new book and when it’s coming out. Of course, once your book is published, you can post excerpts, quizzes, book-based tips, sample chapters, and other promotional posts with purchase links, as well as do a coordinated blog book tour and submit topic-focused guest posts to appropriate blogs.

Traditional media (newspapers, magazines, television, radio) can also be used both during the writing process and after publication. You can pitch topic related stories to local and national media outlets by contacting reporters, issuing press releases, and submitting articles. As you’re writing your book, any publicity you go after would mostly be focused on sharing your expertise, building name recognition, and growing your platform. After publication, in many ways, it would be the same. For the most part, you’d simply be sharing your expertise, but as “the author of…” Of course, around your publication date you could also share book excerpts, seek book reviews, and give interviews focused on your book’s content.

Pillar #2      Cultivate Social Proof

You don’t want to be the only one saying how wonderful your book is. Let others praise it, as well. While you’re writing your book, you can seek testimonials from clients who’ve used the techniques you’re writing about in the book, as well as book endorsements from experts in your field who would be willing to write an endorsement from several sample chapters. But mostly, endorsements will be gathered in the months directly preceding publication, using galleys (an uncorrected proof or advance reading copy of your book). You can also gather endorsements after publication for use on your website, social media sites, and in your media kit.

When seeking book reviews, national magazines will want a copy of your book months before it’s publication date, while book bloggers would want their review to come out at launch time, as well, but might not need such a long lead time. You can offer free downloadable copies for review through places like NetGalley.com.

Because book award competitions have their own annual submission dates that usually last for several months, unless your book will be published after their annual deadline, there’s usually no need to send pre-publication copies. Many book awards require you to send multiple print copies to distribute to their judges.

 

Pillar #3      Host Live Events—Online and Off

During the book writing process, giving talks using the material that’s going to be in the book can help you in several ways: You can record the talk, transcribe it, and turn it into book content. You can learn what works and what doesn’t from your audience’s response and their questions. You can also use live events to gather email addresses and build your email list so that you have a ready-made audience to notify when your book comes out. 

After publication, you can do book readings, hold meetups, give talks based on your book or individual concepts in it, or create classes and workshops that help readers put what you’ve written about into action in their lives. If people like your talk, they’ll want to buy your book and get you to sign it. You can also make readings more fun by holding them in unusual places, making them interactive, and running a raffle with great gifts. 

 

Pillar #4      Run Giveaways and Contests

Prior to your book’s publication, you can run giveaways and contests where the prize consists of related books and products or even gift cards as a means of building some buzz around your upcoming book, as well as growing your email list. Once your book is published you can actually give away copies of your book on Goodreads and Facebook, as well as when guest posting or to enhance a book review on someone’s blog.

Running a giveaway of book launch bonuses that readers will receive after proving that they’ve purchased your book are still very popular as a means of getting people to buy your book during your launch period or to make pre-publication sales. Thankfully, the days of huge giveaways with hundreds of gifts are over. It’s better to have a few powerful gifts that will help people apply what’s in your book. These are usually developed by you, but can include additional gifts from others if they’re directly related to your book’s topic.

When working with joint venture partners, keep in mind that your primary goal is not selling your book, but providing value to your partners and to their readers and followers.

 

Pillar #5      Create Promotional Merchandise

You can create fun merchandise to give away or sell, as well as for you to wear or carry as you go about your day—such as a tee-shirt or tote bag—to pique people’s curiosity and start a conversation.

Using the book cover, quotes or tips, you can create refrigerator magnets, mugs, tee-shirts, tote bags, trading cards, and any other merchandise that you think would be helpful or fun for your readers and would help you get the word out about your book.

When creating a promotional item, make sure it’s a “keeper,” something… inspiring, useful, beautiful, or funny. When clearing out clutter, people don’t usually keep promotional items with book covers or logos on them, they keep items with inspiring quotes, quick and useful tips, beautiful photos or graphics, and funny things that make them laugh or smile.

 

Pillar #6      Advertise Online and In Print

Author Joanna Penn once said, "Imagine how powerful it is to have a list of 10,000 people and to send an email saying, My book is available now. Click here to buy.” To that end, before publication, if you have an opt-in report or subscriber gift that you think would be of interest to potential readers of your book, you can promote your opt-in offer on your blog and social media accounts, as well as in your bio on guest posts, and anywhere else you can think of as a way of connect with potential readers and grow your email list.

After publication, you can advertise your book directly in all of those places, and on Facebook, Amazon, as well as in magazines, and  book and specialty catalogs.

Pillar #7      Recruit Friends and Fans to Spread the Word

Don’t be shy about asking others to share news about your book with their friends and followers. This is especially important during your book launch campaign, but can continue on afterward, as well.

Prior to publication, your focus will be to connect with fans and joint venture partners and nurtur those relationships. After publication, you can create your “street team” of fans to spread the word about your book, and I’ve seen many authors create a Facebook group as a way of communicating with their “team.” You can also invite joint venture partners to contribute relevant gifts for a book launch giveaway, or partner with them in other ways that are mutually beneficial.

 

The Rule of 5

If you’re exhausted from just reading this list of potential promotional avenues, take a deep breath and relax. As I said, you don’t have to do everything, and you don’t have to do any of it perfectly. The object is simply to keep moving and getting the word out.  

Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, after publishing the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book, went in search of marketing advice from bestselling authors and successful book promoters. After spiritual teacher Ron Scolastico told them, “If you would go every day to a very large tree and take five swings at it with a very sharp ax, eventually, no matter how large the tree, it would have to come down,” they developed what they called, The Rule of 5: Do five specific things every day that move you toward your goal, whether that goal is to write your book or sell 20,000 copies of it.

The first Chicken Soup for the Soul book made it to the best seller list over a year after being published! The authors attribute the book’s success to their sustained effort of applying The Rule of 5 to book marketing for over two years. And they got very creative about it. In addition to sending out 5 review copies a day or doing 5 interviews, one of their promotional ideas was to send copies of their book to the sequestered jurors at the O.J. Simpson trial. Since the jurors couldn’t watch TV, Canfield and Hansen sent them something to read. During the nationally televised trial, jurors could be seen entering the courtroom holding copies of Chicken Soup for the Soul

It’s never too early to start promoting. When you share your writing journey with your fans and followers, it makes them feel invested in your book. It’s also never time to stop promoting. You can create special offers to promote your book not only at launch time, but when you win a book award, on the anniversary of publication, when something in the news seems related to your book, when you launch your next book, and on any other occasion that seems related. 

 

The Five Essential Sales Tools Your Nonfiction Book Needs... to Sell Itself

If you're like most authors, you like writing books more than promoting them. Yet, as many will tell you, books don't sell themselves.

But what if you could set your book up so that it actually does sell itself? Yes, first a potential reader has to find your book, but the Internet has made it easier for people to find your book beyond traditional book promotion routes--through keyword searches, Amazon algorithms, and other aspects of online life you have no control over other than making sure that you set up your book's metadata (title, subtitle, book description, series name, subject, and more) with relevant keywords.  Whether your book comes to someone's attention through one of your promotions or they simply stumble across it online, once they find your book not only can it sell itself, it has to sell itself. 

To that end, a nonfiction book has FIVE essential sales tools built right into the book. However, to make the most of these sales tools, you have to treat them as sales tools. They each have to be carefully crafted with the potential book buyer in mind, using copywriting techniques as well as common sense.

How Your Nonfiction Book’s Five Essential Sales Tools Work Together

Whether your book's cover or title catches a reader's attention first, ultimately your title carries the most weight in keeping someone's attention. After your (1) Title and Subtitle lets them know you’re offering a solution to a problem that they're grappling with and your (2) Book Cover sets the mood and its professional polish gives them confidence that the content will be treated just as professionally, potential book buyers will check out your (3) Back Cover’s book description and author bio to get a better idea of what your book is about and why they should trust you to give them advice (if they discover your book online, this information will be on the book's sales page). Then, if they like what they’ve seen so far, they’ll check out your (4) Table of Contents for more details about the specific topics you’ve covered in the book. And finally, after all of that, if your book still has their interest, they’ll likely skim through your book’s (5) Introduction to get a better sense of your writing, your tone, what to expect in your book, and how it will benefit them (especially if it’s an expensive book or if they’re choosing between several books that address the same topic).

Here are some tips and tactics to keep in mind to get the most out of your book's 5 essential sales tools.

Title & Subtitle:

Your title has to be unique. When someone searches for your book title on Amazon and 10 books with that name come up, your potential book buyer will become frustrated if they can't remember your name. And even if they do... they're going to check out the other books to see if they'd prefer someone else's book with that title, especially if it's a keyword phrase that reflects something they're interested in.

Your subtitle sells the benefits. Once the title grabs someone's attention, the subtitle gets them excited about what they're going going to know how to do or who they're going to be after learning and applying what's in your book. The subtitle can state the problem the reader is dealing with or embody the journey the reader will take, but ultimately it's the benefits listed that are the real selling points.

Here are some examples of effective titles and subtitles:

• Declutter Your Mind: How to Stop Worrying, Relieve Anxiety, and Eliminate Negative Thinking, by S. J. Scott and Barrie Davenport.
• Copywriting Secrets: How Everyone Can Use the Power of Words to Get More Clicks, Sales, and Profits... No Matter What You Sell or Who You Sell It To, by Jim Edwards.
• The Brain Fog Fix: Reclaim Your Focus, Memory, and Joy in Just 3 Weeks, by Dr. Mike Dow.

 

Book Cover:

You need a professional looking cover. While it's true that you can't judge a book by its cover, when you're deciding whether or not to spend money on a book, especially when it's by an unfamiliar author, judging the cover is part of the purchasing decision. Nothing makes a potential buyer more nervous than a cover that looks unprofessional or whose images seem completely unrelated to the topic of the book. If you're just starting out and don't want to spend a lot of money on a cover, you can go to fiverr.com or 100covers.com and get a professional looking cover for a reasonable price.

The title font needs to be readable when the cover is a thumbnail image. When you're browsing through books on Amazon.com, how often do you look at the book covers in the "Customers who viewed this item also viewed" or the "Sponsored products related to this item" sections? That's why the title and the cover are so important. As fun as fancy fonts are, you need to choose a font and size that can be clearly read even on a very small image. The subtitle doesn't have to be readable, but the title does. This is why you can't rely on the subtitle to do all of the heavy lifting. If the title alone doesn't get someone to click on the book, you've just lost the sale. Even when the title and subtitle are printed right underneath the thumbnail, if it's a long subtitle you'll only see the first few words. Next time you're on Amazon, or another book seller's website, pay attention to what makes you click on one book and not another.

Personally, I love to make mock-up covers of every project I work on. They look fine to me, but I can't create something as polished as a professional designer can . Here are several nonfiction book covers made by 100covers.com. I'm not associated with them in any way, I just wanted to give you an idea of the quality ebook covers you can get for $100 (plus another $100 if you add a KDP full print cover).

Back Cover:

The book description is your sales pitch and needs to be reader centric. Think of your book description as a mini-sales page. It introduces the problem and the solution, why you're qualified to help the reader with this problem, and what benefits the reader will get from reading and applying what's in your book. You don't have to recite all of the main points you're going to cover, you just need to convince a prospective reader that your book can help them.

Put your best book endorsements on the back cover: All things being equal, put the endorsement from the most recognizable person in your subject area on the front cover and the endorsements that best describe your book or that feel the most enticing on the back cover. You may need to shorten your book description a little but that's okay because the endorsements often make points about the book that you then don't have to put in the description. And, as an extra bonus, they add some social proof, too.

Focus your bio on the subject of your book. You can talk about your pet and your hobbies in the longer bio inside the book if you want, but the short bio on the back cover or on your book's online sales page should be focused on the experience or expertise you bring to the subject of your book. If you want a clever line in there that shows your personality or that you think will connect with a potential reader, that's fine. But your book cover bio primarily needs to be about why you're qualified to write this book. You're asking a potential reader to trust you with their problem. You wouldn't go to a auto mechanic to cure your chronic heartburn, and the main thing your reader wants to know is that you're the right doctor for what ails them.

 

Table of Contents:

The table of contents is not an outline. While the table of contents is an organizational tool, it’s not an outline. An outline is a deep dive into a subject with each item carefully listed so nothing gets left out. A table of contents, on the other hand, is simply meant to give a potential reader a taste of the journey you're going to take them on. You want it to be tantalizing and to pique people’s curiosity, yet not give away all of the secrets you’ll be sharing in the book.

Think of the chapter titles as mini headlines. Chapter titles are a delicate balancing act. You don't want to give too much information, but you also don't want give too little. And you want it to act like a sales tool (because it is) without it being too salesy. So, while it's helpful to write your chapter titles wearing your copywriter hat--keeping in mind the elements of copywriting: illustrating the problem and the solution, letting people know you understand their desires and fears, highlighting benefits as well as features--you don't want to come on too strong. I remember looking at a table of contents once where every chapter title was a fully drawn out headline. It was overwhelming and a big turn off. So, craft chapter titles with care, but with a light touch.

 

Introduction:

Make the first paragraph about your reader. The beginning of an introduction is as important as the beginning of a novel. It needs to grab the reader and make them want to read more. In a nonfiction book, you often do that by making the first paragraph about the reader's problem. Once they know you understand what they're going through, then you can let them know there's a solution to their problem and it's in your book, and that your book is going to take them from where they are to where they want to be.

Don't make the introduction mostly about you. Yes, the introduction is where you talk about why you're writing this book and how your experiences have made you the perfect person to help the reader. But the introduction should not be one long "about me" section (I've seen new authors do this too many times). Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to share your story in the rest of the book. In fact, it's helpful to sprinkle personal stories throughout the book to illustrate points you want to make.

When addressing these 5 essential sales elements of your book, you need to think like a marketer and craft each element to appeal to the hearts and minds of your potential readers. Yet, at the same time, you need to be mindful of standard publishing industry practices around these parts of a book. While it's true that anyone can write a book, and with today's technology anyone can publish a book, to be a successful author you've got to be willing to learn and apply some basic best practices regarding not only writing your book, but marketing it, as well.