Myths You Shouldn’t Believe if You Want to Write a Good Non-Fiction Book

"Mythology teaches you what’s behind literature and the arts, it teaches you about your own life. It’s a great, exciting, life-nourishing subject." – Joseph Campbell.

I love Joseph Campbell. Years ago, I had a sweatshirt that had one of his most famous quotes, “Follow Your Bliss” emblazoned on the front. Mythology is important, and so is Campbell’s work but believing myths about the writing process can be more problematic.

For example, recently, I came across an offer that promised takers that they could write a book in 2 weeks. I thought, they might be able to write one, but it won’t be worth reading! A short book, maybe, a traditional non-fiction book, no.

I once wrote 50,000 words in 3 weeks for a book deadline, but I would not recommend it. And I’m a professional. I’ve written eight non-fiction books for publishers such as Penguin Random House, Inner Traditions/Simon & Schuster and Quarto, one of the world’s largest illustrated book publishers. My book with noted holistic doctor Jacob Teitelbaum, MD was a Quarto bestseller with 50K copies sold. I’ve written a four-novel series for Gallery/Pocket/S & S. As an author, editor and book coach, I’ve seen the written page from both sides.

Knowing What to Write & How to Write it

Here, specifically, I’m thinking about self-help, how to, or what’s known as a prescriptive nonfiction, which is what I specialize in and means giving readers solutions to problems, think Self Help, Loving What Is, and The Tools. But it would be difficult to produce any book that works without a thoughtful, step by step approach. In other words, you need to know what you want to write, and how to write it.

Believing in the myth that you can speed write a good book, can make you get down on yourself if you can’t. These myths can lead to problems too, because you won’t have a solid foundation before you start writing:

? You don’t need a clear idea to begin writing your nonfiction self-help book. No worries, Just wing it, you’ll figure it out. (You might but it will take much longer).

? You don’t need an approach, method, plan or effective practices to write your book. Readers only need a general idea of what the problem is and how you can help them fix it.

? You don’t need a structure to write your book. Just plug in the info, it doesn’t matter what order or container you use.

? You don’t need to know your audience. The more readers, the better, right?

? You don’t need to take readers on a transformational journey. Give them an idea of what they can change but go light on the specifics. Let them find their own way.

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