How Much Do I Write?
How much to write in your book is a question I get a lot. It's also the only question that I can answer very quickly, and the answer is ... I don't know. That's right, I don't know how much you should write, because I don't know your subject. How much you write depends on how much information there is to make your reader feel like they got something of value.
I like to try and explain it like this. Write your information down as if your the one that is reading it. If you think something is missing than write more. If you find yourself writing garbage and start writing just to add worthless facts, then you aren't really doing your reader much good. Keep in mind that your writing these guides as a way to inform someone about something. Your not writing these to be worthless.
Take for example my "Introduction" page that I put in all of my books. I always try to keep this section to 1 or 2 pages, never 3 or more. The reason for this is I want to "introduce" my topic to them, which they should already have an interest in if they are buying the book. Another thing I take into account, is much rambling I'm doing. What I don't want to do is bore my reader to death. That is a sure fire way for them not to want to come back and read anything more from me ever again. So keep the snooring factor to a minimum.
Another thing to remember when writing, or more importantly rereading your content, is that topics must flow in a logical manner. So when writing, you may want to write in shifts. I have found that when I try to sit down and write all at once, I spend a lot of time on the completeness of the subject in the beginning, and by the end it feels like I'm trying to hurry to get things over with. If your feeling like this and your writing it, imagine what your reader is thinking when he reads it. My point is that it will show. So what I do is try to organize my writing into managable pieces. This is where that outline we talked about the other day really comes in handy.
For example, I write my Introduction page one day, take a break, and then start writing section one. After that's done I then move on to the next section. I try to finish a section each sitting, but that isn't always possible as the phone will rings, an email will come in, or something else will happen, so I usually try to get as much out of my mind and on paper as possible. I leave the formatting of the document for later. Formatting will happen at the end, as the content is the most important piece.
As you can see, I still haven't put any rules around how long something needs to be. I just keep writing and never worry about the length. If I think it's important and needs to go in there, I put it in. If I think its' filler and lends little to the subject, then there is no reason to waste my readers time reading it. I only want to put things in the document that will stick, and never add things that I'm not 100% sure about. I want to establish a level of trust with my readers and to me thats as important as great content.
So I hope that answered those questions about how much to write. I believe the perfect length will come to you as long as you know what your talking about.
Posted on: Apr 14, 2009
Filed in: eBook
Tags:
Length, Publishing, Writing
1 Comment
admission essays On Dec 28, 2011 @ 1:22 p.m.
A lot! I think that is the full answer to your question.
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