The Ten Mistakes to Avoid in Writing Your Nonfiction Book
By Lisa Tener

1.) Writing for Everyone: We all start out thinking our book is for everybody. I sure did. Doesn’t everyone need help with managing their anger, or in dealing with the anger around them? What I learned, though, is that it’s hard to sell a book to “everybody.” People want to look at a book that says, “me” all over it. A book on anger for managers, for teachers, for teens, for divorced women, is much easier to sell than one for everybody. When you get clear on a niche (or more than one), you can tailor your book to the needs of these groups and make it much more appealing to them.

2.) All About Me: My first book started out as my own journey with my anger—what I learned along the way, as well as exercises I created to help people deal with anger. When I teamed up with Peaco Todd and Jane Middelton-Moz, the book suddenly had a crucial depth to it as we created stories from composites of the people Jane had seen in her own practice, as well as situations from our own lives. By sharing stories of others, your book becomes richer. You also become a more credible source and expert for your readers.

3.) Putting the Cart Before the Horse: If you plan to pitch your book to a traditional publisher, write the book proposal first (overview, market analysis, competitive analysis, author bio, marketing plan, table of contents, chapters summaries and sample chapter(s)). Once you get a publisher, it’s time to write the book.

4.) Talking about it. Talking about your book can take the place of writing it. If you find yourself mentioning the book at cocktail parties, but seldom find time to write, you know you’re deep into mistake number four—shut up and write.

5.) A Full Plate: If you’re going to add “book writing” to your plate, you’d better believe that things need to come off that plate before you can eat dinner.

6.) Telling versus showing: I once read a manuscript for someone who basically told the reader everything she needed to do in order to live a fulfilling life. Rarely were there examples. Who’s going to read a book like that? Readers want you to prove it to them. Show us that something’s true. And make it into a story. People love stories. If you don’t think I’m right, look at the sales of Chicken Soup books! And give your readers details—the details make it come alive. You want to paint a picture for your readers, not just tell them that someone got angry. What did his face look like? How did he move his body? How did he feel inside his body? What did his voice sound like?

7.) Lack of Research: Eeks. Don’t say things if you’re not sure they’re true. Make sure you adequately research your book. You can lose credibility in an instant by making up statistics, or saying something inaccurate.

8.) Spelling and Grammar Mistakes: Don’t send your book to an agent or publisher until you’ve had a professional editor edit it. Your typos, grammatical errors and style issues could turn them off of an otherwise great book.

9.) Believing in Writer’s Block: I don’t get writer’s block anymore. If you know what you want to write about for the day and create a focused intention, it should flow. If not, do something to release tension, worries and emotional blocks—go for a walk, dance, move around and then write. My clients all love the visualization I practice with them on our coaching calls and begged me to make a tape of it. If you want a tool that works consistently to put you in an inspired frame of mine, visit Our Product Store and order Writing in the Zone: Tap into Your Full Creative Power, A Visualization for Writers

10.) Not planning: That’s right. Without a plan, how do you know what to do and how to get there. Everyone needs a plan. Plan your time, plan what you need to do, plan what you’ll do when you run into snags. Plan how you’ll get support, as well as any expertise you need. Support can come from a friend, colleague, writing co-hort, coach or writing class. Expertise can come from people in your market (potential readers), editors, a writing coach, agents, publishers, colleagues, experts in a field, etc.