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One of the fantastic things about being an author these days is the community aspect, and the lessons that
In today's article, David Price talks about his lessons learned with his non-fiction book, Open.
On October 4 2012, my first (and possibly last) book was published on Amazon’s Kindle store. It’s called ‘OPEN: How We'll Work, Live and Learn In The Future‘. Writing it has been the biggest learning experience of my life. I’d like to share the key lessons with you, in the hope that it might help you, the developing writer.. The last time I was immersed in a prolonged creative activity like this was when I was a singer-songwriter – many years ago – and the parallels between the book industry and the record industry, have been both instructive and illuminating.
Lesson #1: FInd Your Voice Before You Start
This one I remembered from my time as a songwriter. Record companies were forever asking me to write a song that sounded like, well, whoever was in the charts at the time. After chasing my own tail for a couple of years (by the time you’d got the ‘tribute’ style licked ,the world had moved on…) I realised that whatever voice I naturally had, was lost in the process of mimicry.
So this time, I kept a regular blog for two years, before I began to even think about a book. That experience was, and remains, invaluable. Not only does a weekly blog post keep your writing muscles working, your natural voice emerges. I knew, having worked in education, that I didn’t want to write non-fiction for an academic audience. So, blogging’s conversational style suited me, and readers seemed to like it. I once worked with Sir Paul McCartney, and was astonished to discover that he never, ever warms his voice up before performing. I’ve never understood why. Blogging, for me, has been the equivalent of a vocal warm-up.
Lesson #2: Don’t Wait For The Perfect Writing Environment
That said, blogging is to writing a book, as sprinting is to running a marathon. I started writing the book after about a year of researching (Evernote, how can I thank you enough?). My blog posts are usually written on the run, but I realised that, to write a book, I'd need a concentrated period, in a place with few distractions, and a daily routine. So, I chose to spend a six-month, self-funded, sabbatical in Australia. It's the equivalent of a band recording an album in the Caribbean, with predictably similar results. The distractions were plentiful, and the book stuttered along. I had a great time, though.
Lesson #3: Write, Then Research
I thought authors did all their research and then started writing. But at the point where my Evernote folder had over 500 entries, I couldn't see the wood for the trees, nor how I should structure my arguments. At that point I received an email from another of my mentors, Sir Ken Robinson. “Don't leave it too late, before you start writing” was all it said, and I knew he was right (let's face it, when your TED talk has been seen by over 300 million people, you're always right).
So I started writing, with only the barest sketch of a plot or a plan. And in the writing I recognised the book I really wanted to write, and that took me down roads I hadn't anticipated, which then required further researching. I don't know what it's like for other non-fiction writers, but for me the researching and writing have gone almost hand in hand, not one before the other.
Lesson #4: Mentors Are Great, Critical Readers Are Even Better
Having name-dropped, allow me to mention the person who perhaps mattered most in the process: Tom, my ex-songwriting partner. Having the first couple of chapters done, I shared them with Tom, knowing that I'd get a no-nonsense, but sensitive, critique. He encouraged me to put more of myself into the book: my experiences, my stories. When I heard the same from another critical reader, I had to get over myself. This was a key moment, because I'd hitherto assumed that people expected non-fiction to be balanced and objective. Dull, in other words.
Lesson #5: Less Really Is More
Tom's most valuable advice – ‘Less is More' – is hardly original, but writers need to be reminded of it, constantly. Confusingly, by this time I'd found an agent, and he felt the first draft needed to be 15,000 words longer. So I kept writing….
Lesson #6: Get An Editor, But Trust Your Instincts
Once I'd hit nearly 80,000 words, even I thought it could do with a light trim. My newly acquired publisher, Crux Publishing, assigned an editor. I expected some nip and tucks, but what was proposed amounted to amputation. The version that was published (the 20th draft) was 20,000 words lighter. Taking out those witty diversions felt like infanticide, but what emerged was a tighter, punchier, flow.
Handing the manuscript over to someone who will be ruthless in their criticism is crucial, but there were a number of times when I felt my voice was being lost. Unlike my days in the music business, this time I held out.
Lesson #7: Don’t Think You’ve Finished When You’ve Finished
Oh no, you've barely started. When you've lived with a book for 3 years, the process of line and copy-editing is like banging your head against a metallic sharp object. All you want to do is stop. It's tedious, boring and repetitive. I got through it by reminding myself that I now never listen to any of my songs , because I can't bear the imperfect rhymes, or the bum notes being sung/played. I didn't want to repeat that experience.
So, once it's up on Amazon, your work is done right? Er, no…..
Lesson #8: Build Your Platform, First!
If I'd discovered Joanna Penn before I started I would have not only known what a ‘platform' is, I would have had the thing built. The excitement of publication, quickly gives way to the realisation that no-one is going to do the marketing for you. I currently spend at least 2-3 hours every day tweeting, blogging, podcasting…it's relentless. Tim Ferriss likens writing a book to launching a start-up company. I don't like the grind of touting yourself around. But I like the idea of no-one reading my book even less.
Lesson #9: Don’t Get Hooked on Sales Figures:
During the first forty-eight hours of OPEN’s release I watched the Amazon Best Sellers lists in my chosen categories, with giddy excitement. One minute I was ahead of Seth Godin, the next I'd overtaken Malcolm Gladwell I later learned that this was the ‘friends and family' effect of a new book being launched. Elation gave way to despair over the next few days, as the book slid steadily down those lists. II never expected the book to be a best-seller (even by the modest yardsticks of non-fiction) so I stopped looking. Well, almost.
Lesson #10 Enjoy The Moment , It May Never Come Around Again
Instead, I now appreciate the reader reviews, the lovely tweets, and the emails from people who tell me that my book has changed the way they see the world. You can't put a price on that. Because of social media, I'm directly connected with lots of people who have read the book, and I'm rapidly becoming known as ‘that OPEN guy'. I've been called worse.
Don't hold your breath on the follow-up, though.
Do you have any lessons learned you'd like to share? Or comments on what David has written? Please leave them below.
David Price is a writer, speaker and trainer. You can follow him on Twitter, follow his blog on learning, or buy his book on Amazon.
What makes a global corporation give away its prized intellectual property? Why are Ivy League universities allowing anyone to take their courses for free? What drives a farmer in rural Africa to share his secrets with his competitors?
A collection of hactivists, hobbyists, forum-users and maverick leaders are leading a quiet but unstoppable revolution. They are sharing everything they know, and turning knowledge into action in ways that were unimaginable even a decade ago. Driven by technology, and shaped by common values, going ‘open’ has transformed the way we live. It’s not so much a question of if our workplaces, schools and colleges go open, but when.
Packed with illustration and advice, this entertaining read by learning futurist, David Price, argues that ‘open’ is not only affecting how we are choosing to live, but that it’s going to be the difference between success and failure in the future.
Top image: Flickr Creative Commons Ramunas Geciauskas
View Comments (11)
Great article. I'm always looking for good tips like these as I am just starting out. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I've written novels but I'm about to attempt my first full-length non-fiction work and really appreciate your tips.
Great tips and well articulated. If I were to add one more...(bows with humility and awaits for permission) it would be to think about voice in not just literal terms, but visual ones too. I found after writing my first non-fiction book that i wanted to change the cover after the first year. The book had gained a small following and I was clearer now as to how I felt the book should be interpreted - or at least spotted - as a 1" high image on a scrolling page on Amazon. This, once changed, fed back into the written material and helped the voice become even stronger. Now. After 5 books I'm getting the link between image, content, layout, voice and tone. But it takes time.
I worked as a technical writer for over 17 years. I always conducted my research CONCURRENT with the writing. If you do a lot of research ahead of time, you waste a lot of time researching irrelevant material. When writing, you find out what information you need. And you research it as you discover that you need it.
I love how you describe blogging as a "writing warm up." I totally agree. It took me a while to find my "voice" (some days I still think I'm finding it), but it has been in the thousands of words in posts that I have learned who I am, who my audience is, and where we connect.
Great article; I've noted a few things I need to work on. Thank you!
Thanks for all your comments fellow travellers! It's reaffirming and reassuring. I welcome any additions to the list. As Joanna says, the community aspect of writing these days is radically different from the stereotypical lone-artist image, and the ability to do-it-yourself is truly, disruptively, empowering.
So powerful, in fact, that I wrote a book about !
David, I too have learned many lessons and rate finding my voice No. 1. This is still difficult for me, even as I work on subsequent books.
I also liked your third lesson. Learning to have confidence in your knowledge and experience can alleviate excessive research and lead to a unique outcome, perhaps in finding your voice.
Thank you for this post.
You can learn "less is more" from the elite level standup comedians, as they are train themselves for an economy of words.
Humour is the key to non-fiction writing. Without humour it's a series of dry facts and statistics. The best historians have a way with words and throwing in absurdities, they draw you in with their personalities.
You nay ask how do you add humour to something like applied mathematics? the individual writing the book can throw in some personal experience(s) as to how they came to understand a/the theory.
There's always a real human behind every non-fiction story/text, let the personality shine through.
Great article, thank you! You lived up to own pronouncement by being open, candid, and sharing your knowledge - I think that is just fantastic. And I think a lot of what you said about writing is sound advice. I do take issue with a one point, however, that came up in a couple of places; and I do so because they are subtle, but absolutely critical issues for people trying to understand, or do the kind of writing you are talking about, not because you said or wrote anything particularly troublesome. in fact, your writing seems to avoid the issue quite well!
You mentioned that you had thought people expected non-fiction to be objective and balanced = dull. Also, you mentioned "conversational style". Here's my take in those thing: the very best non-fiction today seems to be conversational, a term I used to use as well. but on closer examination, most of us would be very very lucky to have friends that could talk like some of the best writing! what I mean is that I think it is actually quite difficult to write in a way that is: friendly, personal, at times intimate, unadorned as well, as clear, direct, and engaging. I think those words, or other - better ones - are more accurate.
'Casual' is another common description that I think fails like conversational. Casual and conversational imply simple, incomplete, and dependent on shared assumptions about context, meaning, etc. it's perfectly fine in casual conversation to use a word that everyone knows isn't quite right, maybe even wrong, but people still "get it". Casual, in other words, can be _sloppy_ in form, structure, and even the thoughts behind it and that nay well be perfectly fine - appropriate - in the right context. I don't think non-fiction should be any of those things, and I do not think the best of it is. Rather than plain conversational, I think of the very best non-fiction writing as being akin to a conversation led by a person who us warm, engaging, funny, and above all, knowledgeable about the subject and unwilling to sacrifice rigor or accuracy. They still use "you can" instead of the stilted "one who..."; still tell jokes and have tangents; still make you feel like you are only interlocutor and that you gave all the writer's attention; they can have bias and emotion and absolutely put ALL of that I to their writing. I agree with all hag you and others have said there. As pan example, such writing might include the author's story about whatever personal event in their life was the genesis of their profound love for their subject AND why they are biased in this way or that. But as they tell that very personal story, they would never tolerate their own vagueness or inaccuracy in a term or concept. When vagueness and I accuracy is unavoidable due to the subject matter, it can be made accurate and unambiguous by simply stating what the relevant unknowns and margin for error is.
Direct and rigorous are probably the words I am looking for to describe one part the kind of writing I mean. The challenge - the very very difficult skill to acquire, IMO (said as someone who does not yet have that skill! lol) - is to marry the ideas of rigor, directness, claitry, completeness, etc. WITH personable, warm, witty, entertaining, engaging, punchy,what-have-you.
sorry for the psuedo-rant; again, not directed at you in particular. My only soecific critique of your ideas is what I started with: the - again IMO - "False Dichotomy" that is so often assumed between accurate, objective, thoroughly rigorous writing = boring! boring! boring!shoot me now writing , and that to avoid the latte! more must forgo the former.
Finally, major thumbs up to David fir bringing up humor. Humor is, quite rightly, seen as subjective, risky, and hard to do. It us all thise things. But even moderately successful humor in a work of non-fiction has EXPONENTIALLY greater benefit than almost any other technique. its good to know if you suck at it! it's too bad, but you can be a great writer and you are way better off not trying it. but if you have the knack, learning to use it well can offset a lot if other skills you do not yet have mastered.
Great article, great blog, great comments. by all. Cheers! Svott
I am so embarrassed by all the misspellings, typos, etc. - I must beg forgiveness on the basis of having to do this comment on an iPad which is, for some reason this week, dead set on letting me edit my own text if it is in a web form of some kind (an input field, I mean). not the site's fault as it started happening all of a sudden on every site.
technology! it's the new post office!! :-)