Review: A few gems make this worthwhile
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 26, 2013
I have been blogging for several years and I've read hundreds of articles on writing, especially as it relates to the web or in digital format. Because of my experience, the first 20% or so was covering basics I am familiar with. (This isn't a detriment to the book; just be aware of this if you are an experienced writer in digital media).You should also be aware that this book is short. The description states this is 76 pages in print, however, at least 10% of the content isn't book content, but rather extra items such as author notes, resources, related books, an excerpt from another book, disclaimers, etc. I was able to read (not skim) the entire book and look at multiple online references while reading it in about an hour.But don't let length be the deciding factor regarding whether or not to buy the book. There were some gems in there. As far as I'm concerned, I'm happy to buy an eBook for a few dollars if I get one or two gems: something that saves me time, money, frustration, or otherwise has value. This book qualifies.The most valuable section of the book for me covered the approach to writing non-fiction, along with the recommended order: identify the core problem and show how your book offers a solution, establish authority, (and about six more; sorry, no spoilers). I was pleased to see that I was intuitively following much of this philosophy with the book I recently started. But there were some valuable takeaways.The author also covers a few good tips on organization, writing quickly (get it out, then revise later), and some tips on formatting your book cover, marketing the book, and more.Overall, I would recommend this to someone who wants to write a non-fiction book for the Kindle format.