Nonfiction Ink

In the previous two posts we looked at how to select which opening works best for your book or specific chapters and reviewed three effective leads: the Anecdote / CaseStudy, the Quotation opening, and the Descriptive or Narrative lead. In this post we analyze five additional opening techniques.

4. ONE-LINE HOOK
The one line hook captures your entire thesis, theory, or belief in one sentence (or two short sentences). It is a powerful statement that immediately tells the reader what to expect.

Other cities have histories. Los Angeles has legends. (“L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America’s Most Seductive City” by John Buntin)

5. STATISTICAL INFORMATION
Leads that contain statistical information are not reserved for purely academic books. When used effectively, they can draw the reader into the topic, especially when they reveal the unexpected.

You have a burning desire to write a nonfiction book. Join the crowd. You might be surprised to learn how many people are writing a book. According to a survey from the Jenkins Group, Inc., a Michigan publishing service firm, 81 percent of Americans feel they should write a book. They estimate that more than 6 million Americans have actually written a manuscript – just over 2 percent of the population. Publisher’s Weekly recently reported that more than 1,000 books were published each week in 2003. (“Book Proposals That Sell” by W. Terry Whalin)

6. THEMATIC LEAD
Thematic leads begin with a statement expressing the theme of your book. They engage readers through sharing a universal quality of the human experience. Or they may provide a wrap-up of your thesis. They can work well for books based on research as well as personal stories, such as travelogues, adventures, and memoir.

To go beyond the anthropological and social symbolism of wolves we must rely on the fieldwork of the researcher, for it is the researcher who confronts the questions in the minds and on the lips of the public, and who tries to sort out, in a systematic way, the factors that induce the wolf to behave as it does. (“Following the Pack: The World of Wolf Research” by Mike Link and Kate Crowley)

7. QUESTION
An effective and well-constructed question can evoke careful thought and consideration, causing a desire in the reader to continue reading. But a poorly written, rhetorical question often leads to a reader feeling annoyed, manipulated, and bored (“Do you want to make a lot of money?”)

Does your brand ace the “Worth-It Test” in the minds of buyers? In side-by-side comparisons to key competitors, does your brand prevail? If your firm is like most, very little time gets spent on probing these fundamental questions. Yet, ironically, your customers are surely asking them. Using the Internet search engines, your customers are relentlessly comparing… (“Taming the Search and Switch Customer” by Jill Griffin)

8. COMPARISON
Comparing two items, ideas, people, or places and contrasting their differences or affirming their similarities can create an intriguing lead. Comparisons or analogies can be literal, metaphorical, or symbolic. (“A good book is like a best friend…”)

The publishing world is changing. If you’re reading this book, you probably already know that. Most traditional publishers – those who front all the costs associated with publishing – are no longer risking dollars on new authors the way they did five years ago. Luckily, thanks to advances in digital printing and the Internet, new authors are realizing that they don’t really need traditional publishers. They can self-publish. (“The Fine Print Of Self-Publishing” by Mark Levine

STAY-TUNED: the final installment of How To Begin Your Nonfiction Book will explore 4 more lead techniques.

Related posts:

1. 12 Techniques For Beginning Your Nonfiction Book (Part 1)
2. 12 Techniques For Beginning Your Nonfiction Book (Part 4)
3. 12 Techniques For Beginning Your Nonfiction Book (Part 2)
4. Get Started: Write Your Book
5. Writing The Nonfiction Book: The Establishing Paragraph

Tags: leads, openings, Writing your nonfiction book

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