HOW TO WRITE A BOOK BASED ON YOUR LIFE

How to write a book based on your life list of 7 ways

We all have a book inside us. We may even have several! If you want to know how to write a book based on your life, you need to become clear on the type of book you would like to write. I have seven options for you—six nonfiction and one fiction—that might fit well with your plan to write a book.

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FIVE KEYS TO MAKING YOUR SELF-HELP BOOK A HUGE SUCCESS

word self-help to illustrate concept of self-help booksbooks

Wrapping up a book project is always bittersweet for me. As a developmental editor, I’m like a book’s “midwife”: I’m happy to see the baby born into the world, but sad that my role in helping the author go from a book idea to a book is over. After a book is completed, I try to take some time to revel in the pleasure of having helped yet another author get that book written and ready for publication. Then, I take some time to ponder what I learned from the experience. One of my most recent projects yielded the following testimonial, which hints at five keys to making your self-help book a huge success:

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THE SECRET TO FINDING YOUR VOICE AS A WRITER

Often, aspiring writers are concerned about creating a unique voice in their writing. They want to sound like no one else, to express themselves in a way that thousands or even millions of people will find compelling. Maybe it’s unrealistic that any of us will truly sound like no one else, but we like to…

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HOW TO WRITE A SELF-HELP BOOK: STRUCTURING

image of a book that says self-help to illustrate the idea of self-help book structuring

Many people have enjoyed reading self-help books but when it comes to writing one, they don’t know where to begin. How do you organize the material? What’s the secret to self-help book structuring? It’s taking your reader on a journey from a problem …

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THE WORD ON WORD COUNT AND LENGTH

word count and length book self-help book

How do you determine word count and length for a book and its chapters? First, study other successful (key word: successful!) books in your genre to discover what length they are. For example, a typical self-help book is between 60,000 and 80,000 words

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