Julie Broad explains how to structure nonfiction chapters: one main idea per chapter, 8 to 24 chapters total, and 2,500 to 5,000 words each. She stresses matching chapter length to what readers expect and using only what's necessary to keep them turning pages.
If you're wondering what the right number of chapters for your nonfiction book is, or maybe just how many chapters you should have in your book, then this video is for you. Hey there, I'm Julie the Book Broad. I'm an Amazon Overall Number 1 Best Selling Author and the founder of a fabulous company called Book Launchers. Our superpower is caring more about you and your book than any anybody else as we help you write, publish and sell a nonfiction book that will boost your brand and make you money. We help entrepreneurs and professionals write their book in two main ways. One option is that the author works with a writing coach to guide them, support them, and cheer them on and help them through every step of the writing process. And we have writers who will do the same thing, but they give the author an assist and have the added benefit of doing a lot of the typing and wordsmithing along the way. In both situations, this subject comes up how many chapters does my book need? How long is a typical chapter, and can I have some really long chapters if most of my chapters are short? Now here's the problem. There are no rules. There isn't a right or a wrong answer to these questions. There are, however, some important considerations and that's what I have for you today. A good nonfiction chapter should contain one idea or key point. So if you're writing a book about how coffee is life to the parent of a toddler that wakes up at 5:40am Every darn day, then each chapter of the book could one benefit of coffee. So chapter one coffee stimulates conversation. Chapter two the hidden fat burning benefit of caffeine consumption before 6am I'm making this up, but if it's true and you're an expert, that could write about it. Let's do it. I have a lot of case studies or I could be your guinea pig. The point here is that each chapter is a single main idea that fits with your hook of your book. You remember that, right? We've talked about that before. And you can include research, case studies, examples, stories, sub ideas, but you wouldn't mix two ideas together. The other really important point to consider is who is your reader and what do they need and want from you? For example, our client Tom Gabor wrote this powerful book called Solving America's Gun Violence Crisis. His reader is not going to be reading it expecting humor and short, punchy chapters. His reader is going to expect thoughtful explanations of each idea he presents for a chapter with research, exploratory examples and explanations. Compare that to the Green Wizard's Guide spells to turn your yard green, add more nutrients to your garden and veggies, and save money for your summer vacation. This is a fun and punchy book. The reader is going to expect quick solutions presented in a fun and maybe even quirky manner. So you have to match your reader's expectations with your chapters. Now, if you're wondering how many chapters should be in your book, well, there's some companies that will sell you on the idea that a nonfiction book should be 10 chapters. It's a smart marketing move on their part. But the reality is, if you only have 8 great ideas for chapters, don't make it 10 just to hit 10. And if you have 12 great ideas, don't try combining 4 ideas into 2 just to hit 10. But if you don't have at least 8 chapters, you either don't have enough material for your book yet, or you're putting too much into each chapter and you probably should look at breaking it up. Beyond that, just do what feels right for you and for your reader. Most nonfiction books will have somewhere between 8 to 24 chapters, but this doesn't mean that's the right answer. Some books have a lot of chapters. One of my favorite books of all time, the War of Art by Steven Pressfield, breaks all the rules. Some chapters were only one paragraph long. Seth Godin goes against convention in so many of his books, even making cartoon books for adults. So do some critical thinking and make sure you aren't putting too much into one chapter and that you have enough content for your book. And when you do that, make sure it's something your ideal reader will enjoy and benefit from. But that all might beg the question of chapter length. As I noted, I can give you examples of really short chapters or successful books that do everything different, but generally think of a chapter as a really long article. Think magazine length article length. So 2,500 words, usually not more than 5,000 words. Personally, I'm not a fan of chapters that are really long. I feel like if you've got a chapter that's 8,000 words or more, you probably should look at breaking it up. But that's just my opinion and nothing more. What I can say is you need to have a flow and a rhythm to your book. You don't need uniformity to your chapter lengths. You can have one that's a thousand words and another that is 10,000 words, but that might not have good rhythm. It might be jolting to the reader. So I'd probably look at breaking up that big chapter and maybe adding a little bit to the shorter one, but you don't have to. I'm not saying can't or shouldn't, but think about it from a reader experience. Everyone likes to feel like they're making progress, and if you have a chapter that takes three sittings for someone to read, they might give up on your book. I love the idea of minimum effective dose, so give your reader the minimum they need to get your point across without boring them. Remember, we're all about no boring books at Book Launchers. In fact, we even put it on a hoodie. Smash that thumbs up button. Try it. It feels good. And I'm curious, do you have a preference for chapter lengths in books you read or write? Share that in the comments below. And when you comment the day a video is released, you'll be entered to win some sweet book launcher swag like our NoboringBooks mug or our NoboringBooksjournal. Make sure you subscribe to the channel and turn those notifications on so that you know as soon as a new video is out. New content every Tuesday and Friday. Since we're talking about chapters, this video on Starting your chapters in an engaging way is some must watch viewing, but if you've seen that already then this is a cool little tip. Either way, click on one of them so we can keep hanging out because I'm enjoying our time together and I'm not quite ready for it to end. See you on the next video.
Should You Skip Amazon When You Publish Your Book? #digitalmarketing #amazonauthor
