I’m working with a highly educated mental health professional. Right now I’m editing the manuscript for her first nonfiction ebook. She spends a lot of hours each week writing, so you’d think there wasn’t a lot to be changed. How wrong you’d be!
So that we’re clear, there’s nothing wrong with her words, her grammar or her punctuation. It’s just that normally her reports are meant for other professionals like herself, and members of the court, the schools systems, etc. This book is targeted toward parents. Most parents are, at best, casual readers. 50 Shades of Gray, sports stories in the paper, instructions on how to put together a bunk bed – you get the idea. The verbiage, sentence structure and chapter length in this woman’s book is, frankly, far above the head of the casual reader.
If you, like my client, are writing a book for mass readership, there are three very important tips you need to keep in mind.