How To Write a How-to Book in Four Steps
/How-to books are a perennial favorite of creative, motivated readers. Actionable, informative, and inspiring, how-to books teach readers how to achieve a specific goal or develop a specific skill. You’ve likely read how-to books, watched how-to YouTube videos, or read how-to blogs (ahem . . . like this one). But have you ever considered writing one yourself?
Whether you’re an expert in sewing, composting, butchering, investing, or long-haul driving, writing a how-to book is a fantastic way to deepen your expertise in a specific topic and give others the gift of your knowledge. It’s also a brilliant tactic for boosting business if your chosen topic pertains to your existing work or side hustle. Publishing a how-to book elevates your credibility and establishes you as an authority in your field. How-to books are also a dream to market since their target audiences define themselves: the people who want to learn what you are teaching are the people who will pick up your book, simple as that! This means you not only have a ready-made market but your book, but you also have the potential to be available as an ongoing resource for readers who wish to go deeper and develop your community.
Finally, as far as book-crafting goes, writing a how-to book relatively simple. With the genre’s emphasis on clarity, organization, and practicality, a how-to book is a great project for first time authors who need a straightforward book-writing method.
Here’s our take on how to write a how-to book:
Pick a specific subject. What have you mastered? What do you know that others don’t? What do people already ask you for advice on? Don’t be afraid to get specific with this: in fact, the more specific, the better! Writing a book about starting a business is one thing, but writing a book about starting a vintage furniture reupholstery business is quite another. Being specific about your expertise will fill gaps in the market—and it’ll better showcase your unique voice! (Specificity will also serve you well when it’s time to select your genre on sites like Amazon. Books in smaller categories get more visibility and higher rankings within their groups.)
Establish a clear outline. Since how-to books are practical and actionable by nature, it’s important to have a crystal-clear structure to your book: this means establishing a watertight outline. If your topic lends itself to a step-by-step process description, consider giving each step its own chapter. If the instruction isn’t linear, break up chapters by subtopic. The point is to imbue the process with organization. Also, feel free to use prominent numbering. Think of works like 12 Rules for Life, The Five Love Languages, or even this blog! Using numbering makes endeavors sound accessible and fun to learn. Think how you may use numbering in your outline or title: can you take your book How to Skydive and turn it into Five Steps to Fearless Skydiving?
Write the book. Once the outline is solidified, writing the book will take work, but it should be manageable. Write chapters in whatever order you prefer, researching as you go to fill in gaps in your knowledge. Use the introduction and conclusion of the book to offer a big-picture vision of what success in your topic looks like: feel free to share a bit of your own story to let readers get to know you! In the chapters, be specific and practical in your teaching. Be mindful of the level of detail you reach: if a chapter or two gets too “in the weeds,” the text may read as lopsided in its expertise. If you do wish to offer a deeper level of detail, consider using footnotes, appendixes, or other elements in the book separate from the main text. Better yet, use that extra knowledge to create additional resources, which we’ll cover in the fourth step . . .
Provide continuing education. If you offer other resources in this field, let this how-to book serve as a primer for your content and be ready to go deeper using other media. Be enthusiastic and clear about how readers can continue growing in their new skillset. In your book, tell readers about your website, your social media, your classes, your public speaking, your worksheets—whatever you offer, let your audience know! They will be hungry for more of your wisdom, and establishing yourself as the authority in your field will ensure they keep coming back to you for more.