10 Uncommon Writing Tips That Will Make Your Non-Fiction Book Impossible to Put Down

Imagine picking up a nonfiction book and actually enjoying every page, like a novel you can't put down. But most nonfiction books dry, boring, more like a textbook than a page turner. But not yours. Not after you watch this video. If you want to write a noboringbook that people are talking about for years and years, this video is for you. Hey there. I'm Julie the book Broad, founder of Book Launchers and your host here at Book Launchers tv. Book Launchers is your first choice for all things related to writing, publishing, and promoting nonfiction books. Can I tell you something? I picked up our client Neil Gordon's book, the Most Powerful sentence of all time, a fable about persuasion. I was just skimming it after it launched. I didn't really plan on reading it, but the next thing I knew, I was 45 minutes in and anxious to get to the end. How does that happen when you pick up a nonfiction book? So, first of all, high five. Neal, you wrote a page turner. I loved it. Now, if you're writing a book, you probably want to write one people actually want to read. And better yet, once they're done reading, they loved it so much, they recommend it to others, like I just did with Neil's book. So here's some uncommon advice to help you do just that. Number one, of course, we always talk about knowing your reader, but I'm going to take it one step further and say, challenge your assumptions about your reader. Many authors assume the reader knows less than they do, and they write to them like that. Now, it works, and it's not wrong, because usually somebody's picking up your book to learn from you because they don't know what you know. But let's just play with this idea for a minute to see if there's a more captivating approach to writing to that reader. So let's say you're writing a business book now. You are explaining some marketing concepts, and you have a mention of a cta. Instead of defining immediately what a CTA is, where you might say, here's what a CTA is. It's a call to action, and da, da, da, da. Right? You could say most marketing books will tell you to include a cta, but did you know placing that call to action you want someone to take at the beginning of an email instead of at the end can increase conversions by 30%. Here. Here's why. So this approach engages a more informed reader without alienating beginners, because I still explained what it is, just not explicit. Idea 2. Write to a specific person, not the whole world. Many Authors try to appeal to everyone, which means they connect with no one. Instead of writing a book on nutrition for busy professionals, imagine you're writing directly to Sarah, a 42 year old executive who travels twice a month and struggles to eat healthy on the go. When you write, picture Sarah standing in front of that airport kiosk trying to figure out what she should order that won't make her bloated and feel gross on the plane and blow up her diet. Just write to her and say, I know the struggle. Airport food courts are a nutritional disaster. You're trying so hard to find good choices and yet you buy the yogurt thinking you're in good shape, but you find out it's loaded with sugar and the fruit is not even fruit. It's some sort of a weird spread that also has sugar. Well, I know it's hard, but I promise every airport has these five options and they taste good and pack a protein punch. Right? Something like that. You make the reader feel seen and understood. It's so much better than just writing generically to professionals. Number three, Go to Hollywood. Write it like a movie. Sure, you're teaching a lesson, but why write like you're giving a lecture? Think of your best teacher in school. They probably were the one that brought the lessons to life. So here's what I mean. Instead of saying I struggled with confidence as a speaker, show it. Describe it in your words. Something like As I walked to the podium, my heart pounded so loud I was sure the front row could hear it. I adjusted the mic and my voice cracked on the first word and my mouth was so dry I didn't even think words would come out. This makes the reader feel the moment almost put themselves in your shoes, not just read about it. That's some of what good movie making does. And you're doing it as a writer. Number four, Let the reader fill in the gaps. Do you know the TV shows you love? You solve the mystery before it's revealed and you feel so smart. Do you think it's because you're smart or do you think it's because they did it on purpose? Because now you're hooked to see if you're right. And then when you're right, you get a rush of like, I knew what they were going to do. Not everything needs to be spelled out. Strategic omission makes your writing more engaging, like they do in the TV shows. So instead of saying something like, the CEO stormed into the boardroom, slammed her laptop shut and said, we need to talk about our falling revenue. What if you said the door slammed, the laptop snapped shut, Silence. Then we need to talk. Notice how the reader has to piece together what happened. This keeps them engaged and wanting to know more. Number five less is more over explaining it's not so good, so let's avoid it. Many nonfiction books suffer from what I call the curse of too much explanation. This is where having a brilliant copy editor makes all the difference if you're not a strong writer. And it's where a program like Grammarly just isn't enough to bring your words to life. Yeah, Grammarly will clean it up, but it's not the same as finessing it into great writing. For example, instead of saying something like, the best way to improve your public speaking is to practice regularly. Repetitions help build confidence, improve speech clarity, and reduce nervous system over time. Grammatically, that's perfectly correct, but a whole book of that's going to get boring. Now try Public speaking is like working out. Do it consistently and you get stronger. Skip it and you stay weak. It's punchier. It's shorter. It's more memorable. A book with writing like that, even if it's mixed in with some of the other, more descriptive writing, hooks you in and keeps you reading. All right, I got more, so I'm going to give you some bonus tips. Open up with action and emotion Most books build up to the big idea or a big reveal. Instead, start with the juiciest part and work backwards. If your book is about overcoming burnout, start with the gruesomest story you have on how burnout nearly killed you. Right? A lot of books might start off going, burnout is killing the workforce, and the solution isn't to help your employees work less. It's okay, so why don't you try saying something like, I was lying on the bathroom floor at 2am My laptop was still open, that email was half written, and I couldn't get off the floor. My whole body felt weighed down. And that's when I realized I can't keep going like this and enter your burnout story. Another thing is to use AI. I use AI all the time, but don't write like AI writes. In a world where everyone is using AI for everything, it's never been more important to be a human being. This means you need to bring in your personal stories, your expertise, and, yes, your emotion. AI can be a great thought partner. As you write your book, you can ask it for your for its opinion on what you've written. You can ideate, get brainstorming and ideas, and even ask it to review the content that you're writing or research some content. But you have to be the best part of your book. You need your voice to write it. And you have to bring in your stories and your perspectives. Because the very thing that will make your book unique and something that will have people talking is you. And yes, there's more books than ever. So this is the secret sauce to standing out in a crowd. Speaking of standing out in the crowd, make every chapter something that stands out. Don't be like that album that we all bought. Well, not everyone bought albums, but those of us who bought albums in the day where there was only one good song. Make every chapter a great song. As you finish a chapter, ask yourself, would this make a Great article for LinkedIn or Medium, or would it be a great talk that you can stand on stage and give this chapter as a talk? If it has strong enough content that it does have the potential to be those things, you're probably good. All right, final thing. Use unexpected analogies. Let's not use the old, tried and true analogy. You know, one of the ones that comes to mind is creativity is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. Well, instead of saying that, find your own version, right? Maybe like creativity as a toddler. Wild, unpredictable, and always better when you let it play or when it's sleeping. But that's a different story that doesn't work quite the same way. So find your own way to say things. You know, another one in the writing world is the pen is mightier than the sword. Instead, you could say tweets topple tyrants faster than tanks. I mean, please, can we stop you? Don't call it X, right? If we call it Twitter again, we can say tweet because saying X topples tyrants faster than a tank. Well, it's a lot of tease, but now your ideas are going to stick. Writing a nonfiction book that stands out. It's not about dumping knowledge. It's about crap. Crafting an experience for your reader if you want your book to sell and be recommended, challenge your assumptions, write to one reader, use cinematic storytelling, and use words and analogies and examples that engage your reader. If you found these tips helpful, I hope you've subscribed to the Channel for more book writing insights. And of course, if you want our help to craft your noboringbook, let's set up a call to chat@booklaunchers.com apply.