You are more than the academic knowledge you possess. We often think that if we want to write a book, we have to have enough technical knowledge of a certain topic to fill the whole book. That’s called a textbook, folks… A non-fiction book is so much more than describing facts and figures.
A non-fiction book is a collection of your stories, your experiences, your own thought leadership, and, if you’d like, facts and figures. And no, you don’t need to have Oscar-worthy stories to include in your book. Your stories are more unique and valuable than you realize. Pair that with knowledge, and boom, you’ve got a winner.
In fact, I’ve realized that my posts based on my own personal stories and mindset musings get more engagement than my posts geared specifically towards ghostwriting. But both are valuable. The former help my community get to know me and bring more people into my community. The latter are great educational tools and are great lead generators.
You don’t need to fill a textbook; you just need to have an understanding of what you bring to the table. Here are some other crucial components to your non-fiction book besides any technical knowledge you may want to add.
Stories
If you’re writing a book, you have enough experiences related to your theme to have a different story to tell for each specific topic that you want to cover in your book. This is important because stories aren’t just filler material. They’re non-negotiable.
Throughout human history, we’ve been sharing knowledge through the power of storytelling. We learn best and are most engaged when we are listening to other people tell their stories. Your reader is going to keep turning pages to see what you have to say when you are mixing storytelling in throughout your book.
Not only are stories engaging, but they also demonstrate the topic at hand. They show how what you’re teaching can be applied in the real world. This is crucial to the reader truly understanding what message and knowledge you want to convey.
Teachings
Yes, your non-fiction book will have teaching in it. You probably wouldn’t have written the book in the first place if you didn’t want to share your knowledge to help others. How this teaching manifests itself will depend on the nature of the book.
Your teaching doesn’t have to read like a research paper. If that’s how you want it to read, you can take it that direction. In my experience, however, most people don’t want to head down that path, so it’s important to know that you have options.
If you’ve decided to write a book, you’ve likely learned enough from your experiences to teach based on what you’ve learned “on the job” or in your life in general. You can teach with your own thought leadership and back it up with research as you see fit.
The teaching also doesn’t need to feel like a lecture. You can make the reader feel like they’re sitting on the couch having coffee with you. You can help them see that they aren’t on the journey alone.
Teachings also may not be as obvious as you think. In a memoir, much of the teaching comes through the stories themselves.
Meaning
Adding meaning is what brings your book together. What do I mean by this? By adding meaning, you’re basically taking your experiences plus the teachings you’re sharing and bringing them together by discussing your own thoughts on the teachings and how your readers can apply those to their own lives.
Similar to teaching, this doesn’t necessarily need to be a separate section within the book. Some authors do like to end chapters with summaries or specific sections related to this. Some don’t.
Oftentimes, even if you also provide a summary at the end of the chapter, your meaning will naturally be built in throughout the book. You share a story, you share something you want to teach, and then you talk about what that means from your perspective and how your readers can use it. Boom, there you go.
So if you’ve been hesitating to write a book because you think you need to write the equivalent of a textbook, I’m here to tell you that you already have what you need to get started. If you can teach about a topic you’re passionate about and tell stories related to that, you’re ready to write a book. Let’s chat about how that can come to life!
Disclaimer: This blog should not be construed as providing, or intending to provide professional financial, legal, psychological, or other professional advice. It is simply meant to share my experiences with those who may find them relatable and helpful.