Writing Nonfiction: Turning Thoughts into Books

by Dan Poynter

Writing Nonfiction provides a roadmap. The reader will learn how to break a topic down into easy-to-attack projects; how and where to do research; a process that makes writing easy; how to improve material; how to evaluate publishing options and how to develop an individualized and workable plan.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Business

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Since 1969, Dan Poynter has written and published more than 100 books including Writing Nonfiction, The Self-Publishing Manual, and The Skydiver's Handbook.

Dan Poynter's seminars have been featured on CNN, his books have been pictured in The Wall Street Journal, and his story has been told in U.S. News & World Report. The media comes to Dan because he is the leading authority on book publishing.

Dan shows people how to make a difference and a living by coaching them on their book."

Reviews

[Joni Baboci · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the first chapter the author says that a nonfiction book can be written in 700+ hours, he then goes on to explain how various unknown yet best-selling individuals have written their best-selling books in a couple of weeks or, in one of those rare cases, in a mere 4 hours. That is the approach the author seems to have taken as well. He might have written more than a hundred books yet if this is a representative example they might be lacking in quality and refinement. The book is filled with hyperlinks and buzzwords - and I guess it might have been popular when published; it might also be useful if this is your first month on the internet. However claiming that is important to continuously update your book and then referencing Earthlink as a good search engine is a good example of "Do what I say, now what I do". At times it felt like a feel-good book about writing a book. Ironically I am reading it on a break from China: A History, a major and thoroughly researched historical tome by John Keay that surely took more than a couple of weeks to get researched and written.

Let me share with you this gem from chapter 3: "You may write anything you wish. The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression.". This quotation says a lot about the quality of information you will find in this book. Sure, there are a couple of sentences or ideas which might be pragmatically useful if you want to be a writer; but in my very humble opinion, the most helpful thing about this book is that it is so superficial and hastily written that it actually encourages you to write books that can be better than this one.

"The reader will learn how to break a topic down into easy-to-attack projects; how and where to do research; a process that makes writing easy; how to improve material; how to evaluate publishing options and how to develop an individualized and workable plan."

Google's "I'm feeling lucky" will fare better in each and everyone of these topics. Definitely not recommended.

[Gerald Prokop · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not a book about writing. It's about what the author calls "building books," which seems to mean all the steps of self-publishing with the writing regarded as an afterthought. The cover screamed "hastily thrown-together self-published book" but I gave it a try anyways because the reviews seemed ok.

I'm a big fan of people who can do self-publishing well, but it has to start with good writing. Oddly enough, that is not the focus of a book called "Writing Nonfiction."

[David Salisbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting tidbits but its just too dated for the current book publishing world.

[Dr Dabbler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not fond of the spammy style, but if you look past that, there is a lot of practical information about getting a book together efficiently.
This is not a book about how to write (much) but how to create a book efficiently. The emphasis is more on getting it done, but also on ensuring you are an expert on the topic so that you can get income from being an expert via media appearances, and on structuring the book so that it hooks the user in.
If you have trouble organising yourself and want to write a non-fiction book, this one might help you.
Unfortunately many of the links have expired, particularly as Dan Poynter died a few years ago. Some of the information is now out of date, since things have moved pretty quickly in the ebook world, but the core work of creating a draft, editing it etc are still useful.

Visually, the book is ugly!

[Pauline · Rating 1 out of 5]

Surprisingly dated. I find it hard to believe any authors these days want to carry their "book" around with them in a binder (this is the mysterious build-a-book method referenced in the blurb) and the computer references are endearingly quaint. But also badly structured and lacking the impartiality about self-publishing versus traditional that it claims. P118: "I am probably the most objective person in publishing"... P125: "Selling out to a publisher". I got just one useful piece of information from this book: a handy template for what content to include on the back cover. Overall, please don't waste your money.

[Matt Burgess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dan Poynter has put together a wonderful collection of assessment, resources and strategies that will help anyone write their first, second or tenth book. In Writing Nonfiction, Poynter exemplifies his own tried and true techniques for organizing, researching, publishing, and selling expertise in written form.

I highly recommend Writing Nonfiction as an excellent guide and on-the-shelf reference. If you plan to write a book its a must have. If you don't have plans to write a book, but desire success in profession or hobby its a must have.

[Mick Pletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very informative. It guides you from how to choose a topic, to narrowing down the topic and finally how to write your book. One great thing I never thought about that the book tells is to dictate while driving. It also tells of sources for writing templates and how to find out how popular a topic is. The source information given in the book is very helpful in researching the topic. This book is definitely worth reading when writing non-fiction.

[Vicki Ward]

Dan Poynter is known to be a leader in self-publishing. I used this book following the detailed instructions to write and publish my book. The wealth of information for new and established self publishers is presented in a format easy to understand, and follow. I strongly recommend this book and continue to refer to it.

[Adrienna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book laid out what you need to know to write. I even took some notes myself for my Blogtalkradio show.

[Karla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource for writers.

[Joe Waynick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for non-fiction authors who want to publish.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never really finished reading this. I just stopped. Don't know exactly why, but I can say it probably did not hold my attention.

Maybe I'll pick it up again. If I do, I'll revise this.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very short, but perfectly entertaining. I took away a lot of good ideas from this book and will probably be returning to it sometime in the future.

[LJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent source for helping me organize my writing thoughts.

[Kelsey T. Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am ready to write.

Using no extra words, Poynter laid out the plan. Practical and inspiring, I now feel like I have a reliable roadmap.

[Daniel Wieser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good to read, for beginners as well as advanced SPs.
If you ever want to write non-fiction books, this is a great start.