Tips on How to Write a How-to Book

Tips and advice on how to write a how-to book

By Dennis Mellersh


Writing a how-to book is hard, just like all writing

If you are getting discouraged in writing your how-to book, it pays to remember that what you are doing – writing – is tough.

The book you are writing, or planning to write, may not be “literature” in the sense of being an art form, but is nevertheless a craft with a learning process.

You are becoming a writer, and that profession is more difficult that many people think.

As the German novelist Thomas Mann observed:

“A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”


Effective research is the key to writing a how-to book

If a lack of expertise on a particular subject is holding you back from writing a how-to book, it might help you to realize that professional writers are often not experts when they start out writing a story or book on any particular topic.

But, such writers are usually experts on being able to do effective research on the topic they want to write about. So, if you want to write a non-fiction instructive book,  and have an interest in your subject, but not expertise, the first thing to do is to start making a plan on how you will research the topic.

Here’s a quote from professional writer and Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough, which you may find encouraging:

“Every book is a new journey. I never felt I was an expert on a subject as I embarked on a project.”



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