3 of 7 Essential Questions Your Non-fiction Book Must Answer
ByReading Time: 5 minutes
A person with a questioning look.
“You can’t just write and write and put things in a drawer. They wither without the warm sun of someone else’s appreciation.” – Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Your non-fiction book needs to answer at least three of seven essential questions. Answering all seven questions offers the greatest benefits. Whether you’re just starting a non-fiction book or you’re already in the process of writing it, you can reap the rewards.
Your answers can help you control your writing, keeping it focused in the right direction. As writers, we’ve all had times when words tend to have a mind of their own. This can happen if you don’t have a strategy for pointing them in the right direction.
Your answers can also help you market your book more effectively. This is especially important if you start your book marketing before writing your book. It can also pay off if you start marketing later.
A few of the questions will be quick and easy to answer. Whereas others could create a challenge. The first three are often answered directly in the preface or introduction. The other four of the seven answers are usually implied or answered indirectly in how you write the contents of the book.
Answering at least three of the questions will give you a head start on your book’s introduction or create clarification in it. Answering all seven questions will help if you start questioning why you’re doing it.
If you think that can’t happen, think back. Did you ever suffer from “senior-itus”? You were so close to graduation, but you started to lose motivation. Or do you know the feeling of the last day on a job, or the last day at work before vacation? Or the first day back after a vacation? Or any other time you seemed to have lost motivation? If so, you know motivation sometimes slips away.
Be prepared. Answering the questions can help you keep motivated, stop procrastinating, and finish writing your book.
Take the time now to answer at least three of the seven essential questions. It’ll pay off big time over the course of writing and marketing your book. You can quickly answer most questions. A few, such as #3 may take a little more time and attention. For now, answer the ones you can. Make a note of any you need to come back to or spend more time finding an answer.
TIP: Save your answers in a place where you can quickly find and refer back to them.
Best of all, answering at least three of the seven questions will give you a sense of accomplishment. It’ll help as you start or continue your non-fiction book.
Here are three of the seven essential questions.
1. What’s the Big Idea?
What’s your book about? What’s the subject and what do you want to say about it? What’s the pain point, problem, issue, or concern? What solution does your book offer? What’s the promise? How will the book serve your readers? What’s transformational benefit will they get?
TIP: Write a one-sentence summary of what the book is about. Then develop the idea a little more by writing a one-page overview of what it’s about.
Who is your book for? Please don’t say, “everyone.” Most books throughout history are not for everyone. This is especially true in this modern era when a book for everyone is a book for no one.
Instead of thinking the book is for everyone, narrow you audience to readers who will benefit from the solutions or advice your book offers. Narrowing your audience will help you decide what to include and exclude from your book.
Describe the readers as you would real people. Start with these questions: Who are they? What do they do? Where are they in life? What’s their pain point (problem, issue, or concern)? Examples: Silver girl, GenXs, or Teens. Are they in your state, in the US, or International? What kind of careers do they have? Family life?
EXAMPLE
Although Master the Money Mindset can help men and women of all ages, it’s mainly for young adults who are new to personal finances.
3. What’s the Difference?
What’s different, new, or unique about your book’s approach compared to others on the same subject? How do you approach the problem and solutions compared to others? What’s your unique, individual spin or method? Knowing the difference can help you develop content to support and prove that difference.
To discover the answer, you’ll need to know what other books there are on the subject. You can easily find the other books by searching your book’s subject on Amazon. While answering this question is easy, it does take a bit of time. The time you invest can create a huge payoff in the long run.
After you’ve discovered other books on the subject, finish the following sentence by filling in the blanks.
Although other books about [the subject] discuss [___________________], none of them has the perspective/approach/method of [__________________]. My book looks at the subject [in this unique way].
EXAMPLE
Other personal finance books discuss their author’s advice. Master the Money Mindset provides advice on personal finance fundamentals from several bestselling experts in the field.
Essential Questions: Wrap Up
Answering all the questions offers huge benefits both now and later.
The answers will help clarify your thinking. This helps you stay focused and saves time throughout the writing process.
Your answers will also help develop parts of your book, such as the preface and introduction. A time saver.
Knowing the book’s big idea, its primary readers, and what sets it apart, will help you develop a more effective marketing plan. The more targeted the marketing, the more chance of driving book sales.
Get the complete set of the seven essential questions FREE. Simply fill out our contact formand request the seven questions. (We won’t send spam, and we don’t sell your email address.)
We hope you have found the questions useful and motivating. We hope they’ll equip you with the insights and tools needed to help you succeed as a new author.
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