{"id":1067,"date":"2014-03-25T20:23:42","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T00:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertwlucas.com\/wordpress\/?p=1067"},"modified":"2021-12-06T09:02:12","modified_gmt":"2021-12-06T14:02:12","slug":"3-tips-to-enhance-the-success-of-your-nonfiction-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robertwlucas.com\/wordpress\/3-tips-to-enhance-the-success-of-your-nonfiction-books\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Tips to Enhance the Success of Your Nonfiction Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"3<\/a>There are so many elements to becoming a successful author that you cannot possibly do them all. However, you can implement some basic strategies that will improve your book writing skills.<\/p>\n

Here are three quick tips that can help make you better at your chosen craft as a nonfiction book author:<\/p>\n

1. Begin all chapter titles with a noun or verb. <\/b><\/p>\n

Effective books typically have engaging and definitive chapter titles that lead your readers into the content that follows. I do not know about you, but I avoid books that use some sort of analogy to label chapters. For example, you may pick up a book on leadership titled something like Leadership: Add Muscle to Your Approach to Guiding Others<\/em> and might have a power weight lifter shown on the front cover. Each chapter might then be titled with some aspect of weightlifting (e.g. Putting Strength into Your Efforts, Increasing Your Support by Adding Repetitions, Powering Up Your Regimen<\/em>, and so on). In my experience, such\u00a0titles overpower the actual content and some\u00a0people might become so distracted or frustrated when scanning through to see what the book is about that they simply put the book back onto a shelf or go to the next entry on a webpage.<\/p>\n

Instead of using what I consider a “cutesy” approach, I suggest that you simply tell potential readers what to expect in each chapter by titling them appropriately. Keep in mind that most customers in a bookstore will look at the title and cover, then decide if they want to go further. Their next stop is typically the back cover and the table of contents. If all this holds their attention, they might then decide to proceed to scan the introduction or some brief chapter content.<\/p>\n

By using a noun or verb you can put action and help identify chapter concepts with just a few words. For example in my Please Every Customer: Delivering Stellar Customer Service Across Cultures<\/a><\/em> book, I use the following chapter titles. Each clearly let’s the reader know what content to expect in that chapter.<\/p>\n