Writing A Book Based on Mistakes

There are many types of self-help books, and one of the most appealing books in this genre promises to help people avoid common mistakes.

Who doesn’t want to avoid mistakes? Mistakes cause lots of problems, from simple embarrassment to terrible catastrophes. When I think back on the mistakes I’ve made in my life, I get filled with negative emotions, and a book that would  help me avoid these feelings in the future would certainly be appealing.

However any book that arouses negative emotions in the title can also arouse negative emotions when someone is considering purchasing your book.  While people want to avoid making or repeating mistakes, just thinking about mistakes can be depressing, and depression often leads to inaction—including not buying your book.

One way to make your prospective reader stay focused on your book’s self-help message is to make it clear that mistakes in any given area of life are limited.  A title like “The 12 Biggest Mistakes Women Make in Dating and Love Relationships” by Lyn Kelley is a good example of how a title can help the prospective reader feel that a problem is manageable. The title suggests that the author has determined there are only a dozen really important things to learn to avoid a broken heart.  Not a 100, not even 50, just twelve. The title also implies that the author has some secret knowledge that will help the reader out, and without this knowledge, painful mistakes will be made.

Another good title is “Finding the Right One After Divorce: Avoiding the 13 Common Mistakes People Make in Remarriage” by Edward M. Tauber and Jim Smoke. The title and the subtitle present a double punch in grabbing the prospective reader’s attention.  The title "promises" that the reader will learn how to find a partner after a divorce, and the subtitle makes the promise even better telling the reader that he or she can avoid painful mistakes.  The word “common” also engages the prospective reader, suggesting that mistakes are really likely if you don’t read this book.

Another good title is “Investment Mistakes Even Smart Investors Make and How to Avoid Them,” by Larry Swedroe and RC Balaban. This title makes the prospective reader feel that mistakes are okay, even smart people make them, and that when you read this book you’ll be as smart as the smart people.

Self-help books written to help people avoid mistakes lend themselves to a clear format, which can be both easier to write and easier to read.  The introductory chapter should make the reader feel that it is okay to make mistakes in the specific subject area, everyone does. You might want to draw on some aspect of psychology or human behavior to make the book more authoritative and help the reader understand how and why mistakes are made.

Then, each chapter or section would:

• State a common mistake.
• Provide anecdotes or personal experience to help the reader understand how this specific mistake is made.
• State a solution to the mistake.
• Explain how the solution will avoid future problems and lead to a more positive outcome.

Even as I write, I can think of several books about making mistakes that I would like to read, or maybe even write!