How to write a book introduction: a step-by-step guide

 

 

A compelling book introduction chapter is the key to capturing your readers’ attention. In this step-by-step guide, discover how to engage your audience from the first sentence.

Writing your book’s introduction chapter should be straightforward. After all, you know what your book’s about, right? I expect if you’re like most authors, you take this approach:

  • Introduce the topic
  • Expand on it
  • Share your viewpoint
  • Lead into the rest of the book

This is how you were probably taught to write an essay at school. But when you’re introducing a book, it’s a problem. The reason for that is down to the difference in readership.

Unlike your teacher at school, who was paid to read your essay, your book readers are the ones doing the paying – in both time and money. You have to convince them it’s worth their while to read your book or you could be losing their attention right from the start.

To remedy this, you must turn your pre-conceived notion of what an introduction is on its head.

Your introduction isn’t about your book

 

Your introduction isn’t about your book. Nor is it about you.

It’s about your readers.

So put yourself in their shoes at that precious moment when they’re deciding whether to buy your book in the first place. They follow a remarkably consistent pattern of behaviour, which – once you understand it – makes the world of difference to your introduction:

  1. They look at the cover to see if the title and design grab them.
  2. They scan the blurb on the back cover to find out more.
  3. If they’re still keen, they look at the first couple of pages either physically or via the ‘Read More’ on Amazon. This is where they read some of the introduction.
  4. If the introduction makes it clear that the book is aimed at them, will give them information and insights they’ll find useful, and is an enjoyable read, they may buy it.
  5. Once they’ve bought it, they’ll read the first few pages and decide whether to bother with the rest.

Harsh, isn’t it?

So how do you write an introduction that encourages your potential readers to get to those fourth and fifths steps?

How to write a book introduction that sells

 

When I ghostwrite my clients’ business or self-help books, I know that the introduction has two essential jobs:

  • to reassure their readers the book is for them, and
  • to convince those readers it will answer their big question (the reason they’re looking for a book in the first place).

Although this seems simple, it can be more complicated in reality. Here’s a step-by-step framework to help you.

A non-fiction book introduction framework

 

  1. Show you know who your reader is and what problem they have. This demonstrates you understand them, which creates trust and reassures them they’re in the right place. You should be happy for the ‘wrong’ reader to leave at this point.
  1. Expand on the problem and explain why your reader has it (and that it’s not their fault).
  1. Briefly explain your solution as a top line summary. This must contain the benefits your reader will get from your book.
  1. Demonstrate why you’re the best person to deliver this solution: who you are, why you’ve written this book, and why your reader should trust your advice.
  1. Explain what your reader will gain by reading your book, giving some ‘proof’ in the way of evidence, stories and case studies. These can be brief.
  1. Tell your reader what they can expect from your book (for example, humour, stories, any specifics about how it’s structured).
  1. Encourage your reader to start reading now. As an incentive, you may want to explain why your topic is particularly timely and relevant.

Can you see the difference between this and a general introduction to your topic? This is much more reader-focused.

Notice also that you haven’t launched into the content of the book yet – that’s for Chapter 1. For now, you’re only interested in grabbing your readers’ attention so they feel incentivised to go further.

Let’s look at an example

 

The following excerpts are from my own book’s introduction, How to Write a Self-Help Book.

It starts by recognising who my readers are:

You’re a coach, a therapist, or a trainer — an expert who helps people to feel happier in some way. You work with your clients one-to-one or maybe as a group, and you’re wanting to broaden your impact so that you can transform more lives. Of course, there are various ways of doing that, but one in particular stands out. It’s accessible to anyone who needs your advice, it’s easy to pick up and put down, and it’s low in cost. It also, as it happens, has the potential to change your life at the same time. That way is to write a self-help book.

After further expansion on the benefits of writing a book, the introduction pinpoints the problem my readers have:

So, it seems like a great idea to write a self-help guide, but here’s the thing. Your book will only help your readers, raise your profile, and deepen your understanding if you go about it in the right way. Unfortunately, many personal development authors don’t do this, and in my experience this is down to three key mistakes.

  • Instruction: instead of working with their readers, they tell their readers how to think and what to do — this doesn’t work.
  • Missing links: they don’t translate their advice into actionable steps, so readers are left with theory but little practice.
  • Modesty: they don’t make their expertise clear, which means that their readers might not trust their advice.

I then go into more detail on these areas and give top-line solutions to the issues, hinting at what’s to follow later in the book. Below is the first solution as an example:

The challenge can be that, when you’re used to helping people by talking with them, the tried and trusted techniques that work so well in person don’t always translate onto the page. You’re left wondering how to communicate your ideas to your readers so that they’re felt by them inside, rather than just understood intellectually. The good news is that there are various ways of doing that in a book, and it’s the theme that runs through this one like a thread. You’ll learn how to develop trusting relationships with your readers so that they’re willing to walk alongside you on their path to change.

I then justify why I have the right to write this book:

To practice what I preach, let me tell you a little about myself. I’ve been a ghostwriter and book coach for 10 years, specialising in self-help guides, business books and memoirs. I work with all sorts of brilliant experts who want to make an impact on the world with a book, but either don’t understand where to start or have given up in frustration part way through. The wonderful thing is, I know exactly what they’re missing, and when I share this with them it changes everything. My job is to make sure that every book I work on delivers what its author wants, both for themselves and for their readers, so I’ve spent a lot of time analysing what makes a clear and persuasive book. Not only that, but my 18 years’ marketing experience prior to my ghostwriting career taught me about strategising and promoting books; doing this is essential if you’re to write the right book for the right readers and market it in the right way.

After this, I give some evidence of my expertise:

My experience with personal development guides was intensified during my regular stints judging a set of book awards. I was a judge in the personal development category, which meant that I read nearly 100 self-help books in short succession. Some were excellent but many were unconvincing, which was a shame. The ones that didn’t work so well left me feeling unsure about the author’s advice; nor could I see what the next steps were for me as a reader. I certainly wasn’t impacted by the experience. This judging process gave me a strong feel for what makes an effective self-help book and what doesn’t, and I’ve brought what I learned into the one that you’re reading now.

Then there’s a summary of how the book is organised so readers know what to expect:

My goal is to give you everything you need to write an excellent self-help guide that will do justice to your ideas, expertise, and knowledge. In the first part, Define Your Book, we go through how to set your strategy. You’ll decide what you want to achieve with your book, what you’ll write about, who your readers are, and what kind of self-help guide yours should be. In the second part, Outline Your Book, I walk you through how to plan and structure your book so that you take your readers from problem to solution in as convincing a way as possible. The third part, Write Your Book, is when we delve into the fascinating art of clear and persuasive writing; this is where you avoid the ‘telling not persuading’ trap that I mentioned earlier. And in the fourth part, Put Your Book Out There, you’ll learn how to edit, publish, and market your book; this is what makes all your effort worthwhile.

Finally, I conclude with an encouragement to carry on reading without delay:

You’ll see that, throughout this book, I use the analogy of a journey. That’s because the process of taking someone from problem to solution is like accompanying them on a trip. The first part of writing a book is to decide what kind of journey you’re setting off on, the second part is planning it out, the third part is actually going on the trip, and the fourth part is reaching your destination. I’m your tour guide — the saviour who’s going to take you under their wing and lead you to your destination. It doesn’t matter if you’ve only just arrived in a strange land without a clue how the place works, or if you’ve been there for a while, kicking your heels and not sure where to head next. Let’s pack our bags and head off on a journey that will equip you to write the personal development book that changes your readers’ lives forever.

For the sake of brevity I haven’t included all my introduction here, but you can see how this framework leads my readers through the benefits of reading my book. They’re left in no doubt as to whether the book is for them and what they’ll learn from it. This creates certainty and with it a desire to read further.

Now you know how to write a book introduction that sells your book rather than sending your readers away, you can set your book up for success too.

If you want talk about becoming the author of a book that your readers love and recommend, please get in touch.