To all bestselling authors: improve reader experience or die
There is one fundamental wrong about the majority of books I’ve read so far, and I’ve read quite some. They don’t allow the reader to skim. You just can’t navigate through the book easily and find the bits you are interested in — you have to go through the entire book. It’s a poor reader experience. It’s a waste of time, honestly. And no, a table of contents isn’t enough. Many of them are rubbish anyway, because of the chapter titles offering puns instead of properly describing the content.
Why would I want to skim, though? I’ll give you a quick example.
Take whatever field you want —neuroscience or psychology — there is always fundamental stuff that’s traveling from one book to another. Once you’ve read, say, Kahneman or Cialdini, you’ll find a lot of similar content in all those other related books. Like, A LOT. Same research, same cool stories. Having to read it over again is mental. A well-read audience is destined to go nuts. And I think I already am, really. I usually end up putting off the book, which is a pity because it might still have some valuable insights for me. But I just can’t force myself through the tones of material I’ve already read elsewhere. Wasted.
So, what’s the solution?
Just include a key takeaways section in your chapters. That’s it. Just summarize what you have said in the main body. Just let me, the reader, skim first and then decide whether I want to read the chapter or not. Maybe, there’s nothing new in it for me. Just give me the opportunity to save some time. How simple is that? I’ll be grateful for it. I’ll want to read more of your books. Seriously.
And if you don’t, sorry, probably I won’t come back. It’s a whole new world you are writing for. Reading habits are changing all the time. As a writer, you either adapt or die. Being a good writer isn’t enough anymore. To create a great product, a book, you must be a good designer as well.
Note: it can also be a summary section or any other tool that will improve the reader’s ability to quickly grasp the key ideas while navigating through your text. You can also think of more creative page layouts, such as those containing sidenotes, for example. Whatever works.
