10 técnicas para que nadie abandone tu libro de no ficción — Transcript

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1. 0:00Most non-fiction books are abandoned
2. 0:02before page 30, and it’s almost never
3. 0:05because the author doesn’t know their
4. 0:07stuff. It’s simply that the book is
5. 0:10boring, reading like a manual instead
6. 0:12of a page-turner you just can't put
7. 0:14down. Today, I'm sharing 10 writing
8. 0:19techniques for non-fiction books to
9. 0:21achieve exactly that: keeping the
10. 0:24reader hooked from start to finish.
11. 0:28These are trade secrets—ways of
12. 0:30writing that ensure readers won't drop
13. 0:32your book—and I'm bringing you
14. 0:34examples you can copy into your
15. 0:35manuscript today. I’m Ana from "
16. 0:39Triunfa con tu libro," and for over 10
17. 0:41years, I've been helping experts like
18. 0:42you write and publish their books.
19. 0:46Let's go through these techniques one
20. 0:47by one, and make sure you stick around
21. 0:49for number seven, as it’s what
22. 0:51separates finished books from abandoned
23. 0:52ones. Let’s start with technique
24. 0:55number one. Write up, not down. Almost
25. 0:59all authors assume the reader knows
26. 1:01less than them and write accordingly,
27. 1:03stopping every two pages for dictionary
28. 1:06definitions. The reader notices they're
29. 1:09being talked down to like a child and
30. 1:10gets bored with those definitions. Look
31. 1:12at the difference. Imagine a personal
32. 1:14branding book explaining what an
33. 1:16elevator pitch is. The novice author
34. 1:19writes, "An elevator pitch is a brief
35. 1:21presentation of your project," which is
36. 1:24correct but flat. The author who has
37. 1:27mastered this technique writes, "Every
38. 1:30manual tells you to prepare an elevator
39. 1:32pitch—that one-minute speech to sell
40. 1:35yourself during an elevator ride." Do
41. 1:38you see what happened? The concept is
42. 1:40explained just the same, but the
43. 1:42advanced reader doesn’t feel insulted
44. 1:44, and the beginner learns twice as much
45. 1:46. Let’s move to technique number two.
46. 1:48Write for one person. The classic
47. 1:51mistake is writing for everyone. A book
48. 1:54that tries to please everyone connects
49. 1:56with no one. The solution is to write
50. 1:58for a single person with a name and
51. 2:00their own circumstances. Don't write a
52. 2:03book for "busy professionals." Write
53. 2:07for Marta, 47, an executive who travels
54. 2:09twice a month and opens her laptop on
55. 2:12Sunday nights with a knot in her
56. 2:14stomach because she's already exhausted
57. 2:17before the week has even started. When
58. 2:20you write, visualize Marta and speak to
59. 2:23her: "I know what it’s like; it’s
60. 2:2510 PM on a Sunday, and you’re
61. 2:27exhausted." The paradox is that the
62. 2:29more specific you are with one person,
63. 2:32the more readers will identify with
64. 2:34them. Marta makes thousands of people
65. 2:37say, "That’s me.""Busy professional"
66. 2:40makes no one say anything at all.
67. 2:43Let’s move to technique number three.
68. 2:45Start with the juiciest moment. Boring
69. 2:48books go something like this: context,
70. 2:51theory, and around chapter 3, the meat.
71. 2:54Books that hook you do the exact
72. 2:56opposite. They start with the most
73. 2:59powerful scene and then reconstruct how
74. 3:01they got there. If your book is about
75. 3:03finance for small businesses, don't
76. 3:06start with "Cash flow is the pillar of
77. 3:08every company." Start like this. On the
78. 3:1128th, I signed my team's payroll
79. 3:13knowing there was no money left for me.
80. 3:16I smiled in the office, I cried in the
81. 3:18car. And now, yes, the reader wants to
82. 3:21know how you got out of that. Now
83. 3:23they’ll actually buy the theory.
84. 3:25These three techniques were for
85. 3:27preparation. The three that follow are
86. 3:29the ones that actually transform the
87. 3:32text. And number seven, let me warn you
88. 3:36, is the reason why some authors finish
89. 3:39a book and others get stuck on page 40.
90. 3:43Let’s move to technique four. Film
91. 3:45the scene, don't lecture. You are
92. 3:47teaching. Yes, but that doesn't force
93. 3:50you to write like you're giving a
94. 3:52lecture. Think of your best teacher.
95. 3:55They were surely the one who turned the
96. 3:57lesson into a story you could visualize
97. 4:00. Instead of writing "I was afraid of
98. 4:02public speaking." Film the scene. The
99. 4:05microphone whistled as I adjusted it. I
100. 4:08felt my shirt sticking to my back, and
101. 4:11as I said the first word, my voice
102. 4:13cracked in front of 200 people. The
103. 4:17reader doesn't just read that you were
104. 4:19afraid, they feel it. Notice the
105. 4:21difference. Let's move to technique
106. 4:23five. The story before the lesson. A
107. 4:26standalone lesson is forgotten. A
108. 4:28lesson at the end of a story sticks.
109. 4:31It’s a formula that film and
110. 4:33television have mastered forever. The
111. 4:37advice always comes preceded by a name,
112. 4:39tension, and consequences. Don't write
113. 4:42"Don't delegate halfway." Tell the
114. 4:45story of the client who delegated their
115. 4:47launch but checked every email, every
116. 4:49cover, every decision. Result: they
117. 4:52lost the employee who left burned out,
118. 4:54and they also lost the launch, which
119. 4:56went out late. And now you conclude:
120. 4:59they delegated halfway, and those
121. 5:01half-measures cost them both things.
122. 5:03The same sentence after the story is
123. 5:06worth 10 times more. Let’s move to
124. 5:09technique six. Anticipate the conflict.
125. 5:12Suspense isn't just for novels. In
126. 5:15non-fiction, it’s created by telling
127. 5:17the reader ahead of time what is at
128. 5:19stake. If the reader knows a crash is
129. 5:22coming, even the technical part is read
130. 5:24with tension. It’s done with planted
131. 5:27sentences. Before this chapter ends,
132. 5:30you will understand why this seemingly
133. 5:32harmless piece of advice is worth over
134. 5:3420,000 €, or remember this fact
135. 5:36because in two pages your mind will be
136. 5:38blown. Every chapter of your book
137. 5:42should open a loop that only closes at
138. 5:44the end. It’s the same thing, by the
139. 5:47way, that I’m doing in this video,
140. 5:49and it works. Technique seven. I love
141. 5:51this technique. I call them gold coins
142. 5:54or wow moments. There is a technique
143. 5:57that consists of distributing little
144. 5:59gold coins or wow moments throughout
145. 6:01the book. They are small rewards that
146. 6:04the reader collects as they read. As
147. 6:07long as they collect them often, as
148. 6:09long as they have "wow, what a
149. 6:10discovery" moments throughout the book,
150. 6:12they will keep reading. When many pages
151. 6:15go by without a reward, they quit. What
152. 6:18is a gold coin in nonfiction? Well, for
153. 6:22example, a counterintuitive fact, a
154. 6:24mini-story, a template the reader can
155. 6:27use, a discovery, a new tool, a quote
156. 6:29to underline. The practical formula is
157. 6:33to have those little coins every three
158. 6:35or four pages. Review your book chapter
159. 6:38by chapter and look for those little
160. 6:40coins. If there are more than 10 pages
161. 6:43in a row where the reader gets nothing,
162. 6:44now you know why they quit. Let's move
163. 6:47on to technique eight. I call it
164. 6:49strategic omission. You know when you
165. 6:52solve a mystery in a TV show right
166. 6:54before it's revealed, and you feel so
167. 6:56smart—it’s not actually you, right?
168. 6:59It’s the screenwriter who left the
169. 7:02exact gaps for you to fill, and now
170. 7:04you’re hooked on your book. Don't
171. 7:07spoon-feed everything. Instead of
172. 7:10saying the director entered the room
173. 7:12furious, slammed her laptop shut, and
174. 7:14said we had to talk about sales. Try
175. 7:17this. The door slammed. The laptop
176. 7:19snapped shut. Silence. We need to talk.
177. 7:23In this last case, the reader
178. 7:25reconstructs the scene, participates,
179. 7:26and a reader who participates doesn't
180. 7:28put the book down. And don't go
181. 7:30anywhere. Technique nine fixes the
182. 7:33error I see in nine out of every 10
183. 7:35manuscripts that come to me. Let's go
184. 7:37with technique nine. Less is more. It's
185. 7:40a phrase my students get tired of
186. 7:42hearing because it is, I would say, the
187. 7:45number one mistake in books written by
188. 7:48experts and professionals.
189. 7:50Over-explaining. Every idea explained
190. 7:53three times. Every sentence with two
191. 7:55extra subordinate clauses for good
192. 7:57measure. Grammatically perfect, deadly
193. 8:00boring. Compare the long version. The
194. 8:04best way to improve at public speaking
195. 8:06is to practice regularly, as repetition
196. 8:09increases confidence and reduces
197. 8:11nervousness over time. Punchy version.
198. 8:15Public speaking is like working out. If
199. 8:17you go, you get strong. If you don't go
200. 8:20, you're still weak; shorter, more
201. 8:22memorable, more highlightable. And in
202. 8:24this "less is more" section, we must
203. 8:26also include something very common for
204. 8:28authors, which is when they start
205. 8:30writing, they start adding the "might
206. 8:32as wells.""Well, since I'm telling this
207. 8:35, I'll also tell this other thing, and
208. 8:38this other thing," and in the end, we
209. 8:40end up with a book, a tome, a brick of
210. 8:42500 pages that’s quite unreadable for
211. 8:45readers. And let's move on to the last
212. 8:49technique, technique 10, the single
213. 8:51test. Do you remember when people my
214. 8:55age used to buy records, the famous LPs
215. 8:57, just for one song, one good song that
216. 9:00was on the LP? Many non-fiction books
217. 9:03are just that: one great chapter and
218. 9:06then filler all around it. Your book
219. 9:08has to be an LP where every song is a
220. 9:11single, where all the chapters are good
221. 9:14. The test is simple. After finishing
222. 9:17each chapter, ask yourself two
223. 9:18questions. Would this chapter as is
224. 9:22work as a LinkedIn post, or could I
225. 9:25give it as a 20-minute talk on stage?
226. 9:29If the answer is no to both. That
227. 9:31chapter gets trimmed, merged, or
228. 9:34scrapped. It is a brutal quality
229. 9:37control, and it's the difference
230. 9:38between a book that gets recommended
231. 9:40and one that gets forgotten. If you
232. 9:43take away only one idea from this video
233. 9:45, let it be this formula. A book that
234. 9:47doesn't bore is written for one person,
235. 9:50with scenes and frequent rewards.
236. 9:53Everything else, the 10 techniques
237. 9:55you've seen, are ways to execute these
238. 9:57three words, these three concepts.
239. 10:01Writing a non-fiction book isn't just
240. 10:03about dumping knowledge; it's about
241. 10:06designing an experience for the reader.
242. 10:09And your reader notices that,
243. 10:11appreciates it, and recommends it. If
244. 10:15you want to apply these 10 techniques
245. 10:17without fighting the blank page, in
246. 10:19Writer Pro, you have them integrated
247. 10:21into the writing process. And if you
248. 10:25want my team to accompany you from
249. 10:27start to finish, you have the "Triunfa
250. 10:29con tu libro" link, the contact page in
251. 10:31case you need editorial services.
252. 10:34Subscribe if you want to see more
253. 10:36videos like this, and I'll see you in
254. 10:38the next video.