—The Blog Series: Blog 14
Part 1: Develop Your Concept
8. Choose Your Book Style
Welcome back.
So, what do I mean by “book style”? I mean, How do you want to deliver your concepts? In what format will you write the content?
Now you might be thinking, “Which book styles can I choose from?” Anticipating that question, below I’ve listed the top three book styles most business-book authors use, beginning with the most common, and key information about each of the three.
1. Informational/How To Book
· This is the most commonly used format for business books. Business Gold is the informational/how-to style of book.
· This structure works well for both B2B and B2C content.
· Information is clearly presented, in straightforward terms, enabling the reader to immediately apply the solutions.
· In addition to presenting information gleaned from personal experience and/or in-depth research, the author may use brief stories/parables (true or fictional), anecdotes, charts, graphs, illustrations, photographs, one-page cartoons, callout (text) boxes, and/or other graphics to convey data and its relevance, in any way the author chooses in order to achieve his goals for the book and reader.
· Informational/how-to books can be any length, but word count typically falls between 15K and 70K.
2. Biographical Business Book (Also Called a Business Biography or Business Autobiography)
· This is less commonly used than the informational/how-to format. Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Midas Touch are biographical business books.
· This structure can work for both B2B and B2C content.
· Information is clearly presented, in straightforward terms, based on and described via the author’s personal experiences and that of his associates and mentors, enabling the reader to immediately apply the solutions.
· In addition to presenting information gleaned from personal experience, that of his associates and mentors, and/or in-depth research, the author may use brief stories/parables (true or fictional), anecdotes, charts, graphs, illustrations, photographs, one-page cartoons, callout (text) boxes, and/or other graphics to convey data and its relevance, in any way the author chooses in order to achieve his goals for the book and reader. Authors of biographies/autobiographies tend to make lesser use of these tools than do authors of informational/how-to books. Instead, the primary focus of a biography is on the story itself and the solutions it provides.
· Biographies can be any length, but word count typically falls between 30K and 70K.
· A business biography/autobiography is recommended if you are a celebrity in your field or have an established audience of thousands and have highly in-demand information to convey.
· Because of the biography’s unique characteristics and the level of expertise required to write it successfully, I encourage all who wish to choose business biography as their book style to gain editorial assistance from a manuscript editor/ghostwriter who possesses proven know-how with writing biographical business books. I discuss working with a manuscript editor in my book Business Gold.
3. Allegory
· This is a less common, but often popular, format used to deliver individual or a few select business concepts. Thus, allegories are typically much shorter than other business-book styles. Who Moved My Cheese? and The One Minute Manager are allegories. An allegory is a fictional story that uses symbolic fictional characters (often not human) and objects to convey truths in order to benefit the reader.
· This structure works well for both B2B and B2C content.
· Information is creatively presented, in pictorial terms, to lead readers to useful conclusions.
· In addition to presenting information within a creative, fictional story, authors of allegories often make use of one-page cartoons and similar illustrations in order to achieve their goals for the book and reader.
· Allegories are commonly less than 20K words in length.
· Because of the allegory’s unique characteristics and the high level of expertise required to write it successfully, I strongly encourage all who wish to choose allegory as their book style to gain editorial assistance from a manuscript editor/ghostwriter who possesses proven fictional and allegorical know-how. (Again, I discuss working with a manuscript editor in my book Business Gold.)
Those are the top three book styles nonfiction authors use to achieve the highest book-sales numbers and the best results for their readers. However, you are not limited to those options. When choosing your book style, consider your brand and goals, as well as the best way to target your reader, the prospect you wish to draw into your business. Your book style may be one of the above, or a format that is original, though I generally recommend that authors adhere to the same book style for any subsequent books they write.
Thousand-Dollar Tip—Need help deciding the best book style for your needs and goals? Contact Tammy to schedule a free twenty-minute Book Style Consultation.
Take time now to decide which book style will work best for your goals. Keep that style in mind as you continue to read the next blog posts.
Prefer to complete your manuscript draft in just one to two days? Work with award-winning author, book coach, and editor Tammy Barley for $795, and speak—not write—your entire manuscript draft in about 8 to 12 hours. Tammy provides personal, one-on-one book-creation assistance, from development of an initial idea to a top-of-the-line published book in your hands. Visit https://www.pogofishmedia.com/book-creation to learn more about Tammy’s Platinum Draft™ 2-Day Book-Creation Program, or simply Contact us.
The content for this blog series is taken from my book Business Gold: How to Write a Book to Spotlight Your Expertise, Attract a Ton of New Customers, and Explode Your Profits!, available at Amazon.com. (The publisher, Business Book Productions, is now PogoFish Media, owned by the author of this article).