Nonfiction Book Writing Tip #3: Don’t Be Dull
Be honest. You’ve read plenty of nonfiction books that just make you wish you were getting a root canal, haven’t you? That’s the “snooze effect” that so many nonfiction tomes have on their readers. Rather than being useful, interesting, educational tools, they wind up as ink-and-paper Lunesta replacements. (To their credit, they don’t have the nasty side effects of common prescription medicines, so that’s a plus…)
Pick up any nonfiction book in a library and you’ll immediately see where the problem lies. Typically, the author knows his or her field but has absolutely no idea how to communicate ideas to an audience in a way that holds anyone’s attention for more than a nanosecond.
If you’re going to the trouble of putting your thoughts on paper, it’s critical to add some element of readability to your text. You don’t have to pepper the copy with jokes or fluff, but you do have to find a way to tell the reader what you want them to know in a manner that’s pleasing (to them, not you.) Otherwise, your nonfiction book will wind up in the “I’ll read this someday” pile… and no author wants to see that happen.
