Writing Mistakes Writers Make: Lack of Examples in Self-Help Writing

Everyone makes mistakes—even writers—but that's OK because each mistake is a great learning opportunity. The Writer's Digest team has witnessed many mistakes over the years, so we started this series to help identify them early in the process. Note: The mistakes in this series aren't focused on grammar rules, though we offer help in that area as well.

(75 grammar rules for writers.)

Rather, we're looking at bigger picture mistakes and mishaps, including the error of using too much exposition, neglecting research, or researching too much. This week's writing mistake writers make is a lack of examples in self-help writing.

Before I worked at Writer’s Digest, I was an editor/book coach for authors of prescriptive nonfiction (also known as self-help). I helped over 100 authors achieve their dreams of being Amazon bestsellers! Their works spanned topics from navigating familial and romantic relationships to starting a new career to learning a new skill.

In all my time reviewing these manuscripts, one of the biggest things missing from first draft self-help books was usually physical examples. The author would tell the reader the problem and provide the tools to solve it, but they tended not to show the reader how they could implement these fixes in the real world. This is because authors are writing from a place of authority, and since they already know how to solve the problem, they tend to skip over some important pieces that will help the reader, who is not an authority on the subject, put the whole puzzle together.

The important thing to remember about this genre is that your reader is coming to you to solve a specific problem. If they aren’t clear about how to solve the problem, they will get frustrated and quit more often than not.

I like to compare it to taking a child fishing. If a child is hungry, you tell them that the way to solve that problem every time it arises is to catch a fish for dinner.

“But I don’t know how!” they’d say.

Anticipating this, you’d pack up your fishing gear and take them to the stream. You’d lay the reel, the line, the pole, and the bait in front of them. “You now have everything you need to catch a fish,” you’d say. “Good luck.”

The child knows their problem (hunger) and solution (catch a fish), and they even have the tools needed to succeed, but they don’t have the specific direction they need to put the tools into action. They could attempt to put the tools together and cast, and they might even succeed, but more likely, they will either be too frustrated to start or only try for a little while before quitting.

Instead, what self-help authors need to do is give readers specific instruction. Take them to the stream, give them the tools, and then walk them through how to assemble the tools and cast the line—that’s the specific direction needed to understand how to get from the problem to the solution with the tools available. By taking it a step further and demonstrating how to assemble the tools and cast the line, you’re giving them a real-world example of how to do it well, which gives them an even bigger boost of self-confidence and resolve to ensure they’re following your program.

(5 Tips for Writing a Self-Help Book Backed by Strong Research)

Coming away from the stream and onto the page, let’s pretend that we’re writing a book called Wedding Planning Zen: The Couple’s Guide to Budgeting, Organizing, and Styling Their Perfect Day (this is my own creation, so don’t worry about copyright!). In this book, the first chapter is about budgeting. Here’s an example of the chapter outline without specific examples included:

When you go to write this section, it might come out looking something like this:

Now, you might be the kind of person who is all set just after reading this. You might even know exactly how to approach your family based solely on the one-sentence fix in the outline.

However, most people coming to a wedding planning guide don’t know how to do this on their own; if they did, they wouldn’t need the guide.

To continue thinking about the readers of our Wedding Zen book, here’s a chapter outline that includes specific examples:

When you write this section, it might come out to something like this:

See the difference between the two sections? Giving real-world examples, both of what worked or didn’t work for you and also sample language to help your reader handle a situation on their own will make your reader feel more confident about implementing your advice. It will also give them more faith in your work and get them to keep reading!

Click to continue.