Writing the introduction to your non-fiction book

By Dennis Mellersh

You have done the research for your proposed non-fiction book; you have made an outline; and you have written all of the chapters.

Now you need to write the introduction and you are wondering how to proceed.

At this point, you need to remind yourself that by doing all the preparatory work for your book and then writing it, you have gained some expert status on the subject your non-fiction book is about. It may also be the case that you were already an expert on the topic of your book.

This is important because readers generally buy non-fiction books because they are seeking expert information on a particular subject – in this case the topic your book is about. Often readers may be looking for the answer to specific problems, especially when they buy how-to books.

You might want to start writing your introduction by commenting on why, you as an expert, wrote the book – perhaps outline the particular problems you wanted to help readers with.

Or, if the book provides a handy single-source for information that was previously scattered through various media such as other books and websites on the topic, you could comment on that aspect.

If there is a particular way your book should be used, you could speak about that in your introduction. Should the book be read from front to back? Or is it the type of book that readers would read in no particular order, perhaps reading individual chapters on different specific types information they might be seeking.

Overall, there is no cookie-cutter approach your introduction should follow.

As a guiding principle however, your introduction should be your personal opinion on how and why you think your book will be useful to the reader.