Monday’s planning tip to help you write a book
Visiting our local Barnes & Noble over the weekend, my eye was attracted to Alex A. Lluch and Sarah Jang’s Simple Principles: To Eat Smart and Lose Weight. I picked it up and immediately knew I was going to buy it. My enthusiasm for it was based on the book’s focus, simplicity, organization, and value.
The book contains 200 simple principles organized into broad areas like setting goals, staying motivated, and dining out.
Simple Principles avoids the common tendency of authors to want to include “everything” they know, or can find, about their topic in a single book. “Everything” quickly leads to endless research, long, complicated chapters, and–ultimately–frustration and paralysis, because no book can ever tell everything. Inevitably, the resulting book “fails” in the author’s mind, because there’s always more information to be learned.
What readers want
Equally important, the average reader doesn’t want to know “everything.” The average reader only wants to solve a problem or achieve a goal.The average reader wants change, not knowledge.
The average reader is not a scholar, learning for the sake of learning. Rather, the average reader is searching for a efficient solution to a problem.
In a busy and over-committed society, books that simplify can be sold at a premium. They become more valuable because readers without time can cut to the chase. Simple books, with a detailed table of contents, make it easy for readers to quickly locate the information they want.
Do “simple” books sell?
One way of answering that is to note that books written by Alex A. Lluch. To date, Alex’s various titles have sold over 3 million copies in several different series categories.
Another way to gauge the success of simplicity is to visit the publisher’s website and note the number of titles in the Simple Principles series.
It’s logical to assume that, if the titles weren’t selling, there wouldn’t be continuing growth in the Simple Practices series, plus the additional titles in the publisher’s other series.
Ask Yourself
- Are you writing more than your readers want to read?
- Are the existing books in your field overly-complicated?
- How much do your reader’s really need to know?
- What’s the minimum book you can write that will serve both you and your readers?
Often, the best gift you can give yourself, and your readers, is the gift of simplicity.
Published & Profitable members are invited to read my latest article, Principles of Writing Success, inspired by Simple Principles.
January 8, 2009
This is an excellent discussion thread because it gets at the heart of “knowing your audience.” As a writer of college textbooks, simplicity in terms of subject matter does not serve my market well. Don’t confuse simplicity of subject matter with organization of content. They are two vastly different issues. In the college textbook market, those books that are lean on content are not adopted because that material can be covered in a lecture. In this market a good textbook provides additional material that the professor cannot cover in a lecture, but wants his or her students to know.
In the bookstore market, the reader is indeed looking for information that will solve a problem or expand their knowledge for personal use. It not only has to be well organized, but on target. Getting the reader to the information taking the “scenic route” does not serve the majority of them well.
The information that Roger included about the scenic-route approach as a deterrent to finishing a book was a thought-provoking one. As one who writes books that probably fall into the s-r category, I personally find drawing a limit on what I can include, and what I don’t have the pages for (or interest in), a freeing experience. It is easy to research more than I need, but a writer needs to be able to walk away from the research that is really not germane to the book, although fascinating in its own right. Writers love information. If we didn’t we wouldn’t be writers, but just because we have the information doesn’t mean we have to include it in a book. Use what you need to validate and support your topic, but you don’t need to include it in order to validate your knowledge or justify your being a qualified author.
Very interesting topic, Roger. Thanks.
January 8, 2009
A book like that is nothing but a grat big long list. Since all the intellectual organization work has been done for them, people find lists irresistible, hence the sales-suucess. The word “simple” in the title is merely the happy result of the action that does all that work: EDITING. If the subject lends itslf to such dismemberment, great! It can present a whole bunch of facts fast and easily, but it does little to help readers make value judgments about them. It is the most simple-minded technique ideal for simple-minded people. (That is not necessarily a term of opprobrium!)
January 8, 2009
Wow…more than one idea!
Normally, a good book has maybe one key idea! So, this book is a brainstorming phenomenom!
I never put this book down and even took it with me when I took a shower! So, it’s a bit soggy to lend out to someone else…