Writing a Non-Fiction Book:

The Complete Guide to Self Publishing by Tom & Marilyn Ross. This was the complete guide. Of the several recent books I have read I would call this one the bible of self publishing.

Ross’s suggestions;

– write a book mission statement. Forty to sixty word statement to clarify the essense of message.

– determine the audience. (know exactly who the general reader is going to be.)

– write the introduction. (tell the scope of the book and what ways the readers will benefit from the book.)

– then work on the chapter you are most jazzed about.

– (nonfiction don’t need to be written in any particular order and chapters are usually stand alone parts of the book.)

– think of the chapters as a series of steps.

– think about stories, anecdotes, illustrations, pictures that can embellish or clarify the message.

Tips:

– Communicate, don’t try to impress.

– Use the right words for the job.

– Avoid ambiguity.

– Keep an eye on overall language.

– Guard against clichés

– Delete redundancies and needless words.

– Inject your writing with liveliness.

– Put more zip in with analogies.

– Use the active voice to achieve readability.

– Be specific.

– Transition smoothly.

– Be sensitive to sexism.

– Avoid bad taste of any kind.