The Joys of Writing a Short Book

Being brief has benefits, but brings its own challenges

How long should a how-to (prescriptive nonfiction) book be? 100 pages? 200 pages? A quick read? A deep dive?

There’s no single correct answer.

• If you’re publishing traditionally, your publisher might have ideas about length, as it affects their pricing.
• Some subjects demand a lengthy treatment-there’s a lot to cover.

Then there’s the question of what the reader wants. That may be the most important consideration of all.

Readers appreciate quick reads

You might impress people with the heft of your 300-page tome, but will they read it?

If you want to write a book that makes a difference in people’s lives, they will need to read the thing. And that is more likely to happen if the book isn’t too long.

As much as I love losing myself for days in a story, I also cherish books that give me something valuable in a quick read-perhaps one sitting.

I’m not a wordy writer. Most of my books top out around 40,000 words, by choice. In the nonfiction genre, you can only throw so much research and stories at people before they tucker out.