How to write a self-help book

This guide is about writing the book. It does not cover publishing, costs or launching.

Step 1: start with the reader's problem

Self-help readers do not go looking for an author. They go looking for relief from something specific: they cannot sleep, they keep losing their temper with their kids, they dread Sunday nights. The book that reaches them names that problem in the words they would use, and names the person who has it.

Write a short description of that reader before anything else. Where are they, what have they already tried, and why did it not work? The last question matters most, because almost every self-help reader has tried something. If your book does not explain why the earlier attempts failed, the reader assumes this one will fail too.

Write the problem as the reader would say it: "I can't switch off after work", not "work-life boundary dysregulation".

Step 2: define the change

The other half of the promise is where the reader ends up. Most first attempts are vague: "readers will feel happier and more confident". Every self-help book could say that, which is why it persuades nobody. Our guide on writing your book's promise covers how to make the after concrete.

For a self-help book, describe the change as something a person could observe. Not "less stress" but "leaves work at work three nights out of five". Not "better relationships" but "can raise a hard subject with a partner without it turning into a fight". A concrete change does three jobs: it tells the right reader the book is for them, it tells you what belongs in the book, and it lets the reader notice that the method is working.

Step 3: turn what you do into steps

A self-help book needs a method: a sequence of steps, a set of principles or practices, or a framework with named parts. If you have been helping people with this problem for years, you already have one, even if you have never written it down. Listen to what you say over and over to the people you help. That is usually the method.

Order matters as much as content. Timothy Arrigo, co-founder of Beyond Driven, describes in his story on scribemedia.com how clients told him that getting everything at once felt like drinking from a fire hose. His book, The Inside Out Method, lays the material out as a sequence built from what his team learned from 5,000+ "Clients behind the method at Beyond Driven".

Practices can work too. Gym owner Carrie Cox's story describes 25 "Daily dares, now a book", organized around 5 "Factors of wellness": mindset, nutrition, fitness, sleep and connection. The dares are the practice; the five factors give the reader a way to understand why they work together.

Whatever the shape, test it with three questions. Can a reader follow the steps without you in the room? Does each step depend only on the ones before it? Would the people you have already helped recognize it? If a step needs you to explain it in person, it needs more work on the page.

An illustrative self-help book outline

An illustration only, not a real book. Our nonfiction book outline examples show other structures as sample contents pages.

Step 4: make the reader do something

The difference between a self-help book and an essay on the same topic is that the reader is asked to act. Arrigo's story puts it plainly: he did not want another book of good ideas, so his includes exercises and daily practices, and his story lists Daily "Practices built into the book". In his words: "Information doesn't change us, right? Information can only become transformation through application."

Give every method chapter at least one exercise, placed where the reader needs it rather than piled at the end. Common types:

• Reflection questions: two or three questions about the reader's own situation, specific enough to answer in a sentence.
• A practice: one small action to repeat for a set number of days, with what to notice.
• A worksheet or tracker: a simple table the reader fills in, so progress becomes visible.
• A script: the actual words to use in a hard conversation, which readers can adapt.
• A checkpoint: a short test of whether they are ready for the next step.

Do every exercise yourself before it goes in the book, and if you can, have two or three people from your target reader try it. Instructions that seem obvious to the author are often confusing to everyone else.

Step 5: choose the stories

Stories are how self-help readers believe the change is possible for someone like them. Use two kinds.

• Other people's stories: clients, students or readers who used the method, including where it was hard. Ask permission, or change identifying details and say that you have. If you interview them for the book, see how to interview people for your book.
• Your own story: often why the book exists. The Scribe Method's chapter on how much of your story to include gives the test for each one: does this story add value for the reader? It also advises speaking from your scars, not your open wounds: share what you have processed, not what you are still in the middle of.

Arrigo's story describes him putting his hardest experiences into the book on purpose: "If I'm going to ask the reader to go there with me, well, I better go there with the reader." That is the right reason to include a personal story. Wanting to be admired is the wrong one.

Step 6: credibility and evidence

Readers give a self-help author a lot of trust. Keep it by being exact about where each claim comes from.

• Say what your authority is. Years of practice, the number of people you have worked with, or having lived through the problem yourself are all real credentials. State yours plainly in the introduction, without inflating it.
• Separate experience from evidence. "In my work with clients, I have seen..." is honest. "Studies show..." needs a study. If you cite research, read the original paper, not a news story about it, and report what it actually found, including its limits.
• Do not promise outcomes. One client's result is one example. Say so, and avoid words like "guaranteed" or "cure".
• Stay inside your expertise. If your topic touches health, mental health, medication, money or law, say clearly that the book is not a substitute for professional advice, tell readers when to see a professional, and have a qualified person review those chapters before anyone else reads them.
• Quote with care. Credit every quotation and keep quotes short. The US Copyright Office's fair use FAQ says whether a use qualifies depends on all the circumstances, so ask permission for anything long.

Self-help is also a crowded shelf; the Book Industry Study Group's Self-Help subject list has separate headings for Personal Growth / Success, Happiness and many more. A narrow reader and an honest, specific method are what set a book apart on it.

Step 7: end with a next step

The Scribe Method's chapter on outlining the conclusion says a conclusion should summarize the book, answer any open questions and give the reader a clear call to action. It should not introduce new content, should be one of the shortest chapters in the book, and should not turn into a sales pitch. For a self-help book, the call to action is usually the first thing to do tomorrow, plus how to come back to the method when life slips.

What most people get wrong

• Writing a memoir with tips. If the author's story leads and the method trails behind, readers who came for help drift away. If the story really is the point, the book may be a memoir, which is planned differently.
• A promise nobody could measure. "Live your best life" gives the reader nothing to check.
• Steps that only work with you in the room. Test each one on someone who has never met you.
• Exercises in an appendix. Put them where the reader needs them.
• Overclaiming. One unsupported "studies show" can cost the trust the rest of the book earned.

Scribe Media, which makes this site, sells book coaching and ghostwriting, including Scribe Compass ($5,000 on scribemedia.com/pricing), in which a book coach works with you on the audience, purpose, table of contents and a chapter-by-chapter roadmap. Everything above you can also work through on your own.