Nonfiction comes in a variety of genres and can have tremendous impact on the reader. But within each, the importance of keeping the reader’s attention and giving them solid take-away is important. Your writing can come alive when you use anecdotes that illustrate your points. An anecdote is usually a short narrative of an interesting, amusing or biographical incident that helps to bring the message alive. Think story!
Story can come from snippets from your own experiences, examples from the lives of people you know, or stories of people who are well known. If your manuscript doesn’t include story consider where you could add some. If you have included story and anecdotes look at each one individually to be sure it represents the point you’re making.
Common problems often found in nonfiction work:
- Wordy introductions—A rambling intro will cause your reader to lose interest. Establish the topic right away so they know what to expect in reading the book.
- Explaining “why” but not “how”— Writing only about they “why” a reader should embrace something but not outlining “how” they can take steps in the right direction will lead to frustration. Make sure take away and follow up steps are clear.
- Insensitivity to the reader —Put yourself in the readers shoes and write about what the reader most likely doesn’t know about a topic, helping them learn and grow. For instance, you might be writing about anxiety at a time when your own experience with anxious thoughts is in the rear-view mirror. Dig deep and remember where you were and what you needed help with
- Preaching—No one wants to be lectured when picking up a book and neither does your reader. Let them discover what they can do and give them questions they can ask themselves in order to move forward and grow.
Finding common ground with your reader:
When offering advice or suggestions in non-fiction writing, make the lesson and problem about you and not the reader. 
When the problem is set up as my “own” the reader sees this as transparency and vulnerability, both qualities that will draw the reader into the book, finding take-away for themselves alongside of your examples.
Moving from speaking to written word:
Many speakers end up writing books. It’s important to realize there is a difference in how to communicate on the stage verses with written word. While keeping the speakers personality and message, the book should not resemble a transcribed speech. 
Though this subject could take up an entire blog post, just remember to always include transitions in your writing as a speaker. When speaking it’s easy to jump to different parts of your subject without much explanation. While in writing clear and direct transitions from one point to another are vital. Transitions give the writing a smooth flow and rhythm.
While these are just a few ways you can make your non-fiction writing come alive, hopefully they start the process of you determining how you can turn your article or book into something the reader doesn’t want to put down—because they don’t want to miss a thing!
This may sound like contradiction,
and you might well resist
the thought that there is no non-fiction;
it just does not exist
because each real experience
is filtered through the writer’s mind
and every nuanced reference
is very nearly deaf and blind
to its own reality,
for it is held in loving thrall
to its new duality
where it is its all in all
to represent a point of view,
grist of the mill it has gone through.
A lot of speakers go on to write books. It’s critical to understand that written language and stage communication are different.
Debbie, great article! Tucking this away like a sticky note in my mind: “Make the problem mine, not theirs.” This totally reframes how I want to approach every story I tell. Deeply grateful for your wisdom.