In this detailed and revealing case study, Jo Parfitt shares the story of her bestselling cookery book entitled, Dates… Read the full story

In this detailed and revealing case study, Jo Parfitt shows you how a self-published book can go through many phases as it evolves. Read the full story

I’ve been writing for more than 20 years now, and all 26 of my books have been non-fiction. They’ve all been the kinds of practical, how-to books that are published by Bookshaker. Two of them were cookbooks, 12 were computer manuals and the rest have been all about ’sharing what I know to help others to grow’. With the exception of the computer books, everything else I have written has included an element of life story. Of my story. Snippets from my life that illustrate the point I am making. Let me give you an example:

In my book ‘A Career in Your Suitcase’ I inspire and inform the reader to create and maintain a portable career, one that will move abroad with them. So, in order to illustrate how bad it made me feel to have given up my career when I married Ian and moved with him to live in Dubai I told a story.

First, I set the scene, describing my charmed life in a serviced apartment with its own health club and pool. I describe the endless sun, the opportunities for tennis and socialising by the pool. Then, I go on to explain that I have fair skin, burn easily and hate sport with a passion. The climax of my story tells of the day when Ian came home from work to find me crouched in the hall of our apartment, crying my eyes out and tearing a newspaper to shreds in frustration. I simply did not know how to cope without a job, without something to do.

That story is absolutely true. It is dramatic. It is filled with emotion. It shares something about me that may resonate with the reader. It makes me look real and maybe vulnerable. But most of all it makes it abundantly clear to the reader why a ‘career in a suitcase’ is so very important to me. It was hard to write about that moment, and in fact, in the first edition of the book I left it out. But then I started to be invited to run workshops and talk on the topic of portable careers all over the world. I’ll never forget the first time I dared to share my ‘tearing newspaper’ story with the audience. My knees wobbled and my voice went all croaky, but I could feel a hush fall on the lecture theatre as I spoke. Afterwards, people came up to congratulate me on sharing such a personal story. They told me that it helped them to realise they were not alone in their frustration and not having a career. From that moment, I have done my best to include personal stories in my work.

Today, readers want to find out about your theories, do your exercises and learn from your non-fiction book. You have written your book because you have, as Debs Jenkins says ‘muddy boots’. Your reader is going to want to find out how you got them dirty. So tell them.

Calling all authors … did you know you could use Twitter to do all of this ?

Post samples of your words

Post your pictures & art

Post audio readings of your work

Post 12 seconds of video

Connect with other authors, publishers and agents like these

100+ of the best authors on Twitter

70+ Non-fiction authors on Twitter

25 Good Author, Publisher & Agent Follows

Bloomsbury Books

Simon Trewin

Hay House

Find amazing mentors & coaches like these

The Creative Penn

Julia McCutchen

Jo Parfitt

Maria Schneider

Connect with alternative publishers like these

Cooler ebook reader

Lulu

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

Myebook

BookBuzzr

That’s 20, the 21st useful link is, of course …

Joe Gregory

If you know of any more, please add them below …