A lot of manuscripts slide across my desk each week, which shouldn’t surprise anyone seeing as I run a publishing house. After all these years in the business, I can identify why a particular book draws me in and where another immediately goes off the rails. I mean, I can point to the exact place, nearly in my sleep. Usually, the deadly issue appears in the first few pages of the introduction, and nine times out of ten, it involves the lack of a central idea.
Your book needs to have a central idea that gets supported by stories, lessons, observations, research, and examples. This central idea is what holds the book together. Like super glue.
(Theme, for all you novelists out there, is not the same as central idea. Theme is not the same as topic. One story can have multiple themes.)
Sure, you hear me talk about the need to spell out a clear solution to an urgent problem. And avoiding the misguided attempt to solve every problem known to man all in one go so you can dazzle mankind with the breadth and depth of your knowledge.
But this is different. This is more about the position you take. Where you come down on a topic.
For your book to be super readable, attractive enough to turn readers into buyers, you need to be able to describe the big idea your book addresses in a matter of a few sentences. We need to know, right up front and throughout, the argument you mean to make and support.
This main argument/central idea is often built into what’s called your book hook, which is a fascinating idea that draws your reader in instantly, makes them want to know more, and convinces them that your book is exactly what they’ve been looking for.
Now, if you want to see exactly what I mean, there’s no better teacher than Nathan Lozeron of The Productivity Game. I follow him on YouTube and you should too. This dude gets to the core message or argument of bestselling non-fiction books like nobody’s business.
You may recognize many of the books he breaks apart with a wrench and screwdriver.
*Note: Each of these authors has enough expertise to fill 20 books, but they’ve identified one over-arching message they mean to support, which will attract someone with that problem or concern right away. Everything, and I mean everything, serves to expand upon the idea and drive the message home.
1.The Confident Mind by Dr. Nate Zinsser:
Confidence is that feeling that you can do something (or that you know something) so well you don’t have to think about how to do it when you’re doing it. That skill or knowledge is in you, it’s part of you, and it will come out when needed if you let it.
2. So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport:
The people who love what they do for a living have a craftsman mindset, not a passion mindset. The things that make great work great (creativity, impact, and control), are rare and valuable. If you want them in your career, you need rare and valuable skills in return.
3. Just Keep Buying by Nick Maggiulli
If there was just one factor you could use to guide your investment decisions, it should be: most markets go up, most of the time. So Just. Keep. Buying.
4. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
You can get what you want in a negotiation without compromising. Make the other side feel like they were treated fairly using tactical empathy. Empathize with their situation then get them to empathize with yours.
5. Grit by Angela Duckworth
Learning to stick to something is a life skill we all must develop, but grit is not all about stubbornly pursuing—at all costs and ad infinitum- every single low-level goal on your list. You should try hard, but don’t beat your head against the wall attempting to follow through on something that is merely a means to a more important end.
I mean, do you see how narrow the focus of each book is? How clear and exact?
Yah, that’s not that easy to do. I know. I do this for a living. And if you’d like to have this central idea, this one big argument, maybe we should talk. Just sayin’.
