Sometimes the structure of a book can be the hardest part. It may be appealing to just start writing and see where that goes. But that might not be the best strategy. A self-help author should have an idea of what they want to say and when they want to say it before they get started with the writing process itself.
It can be easy to reflect on personal experiences and how you got through those, but those may not always be as relatable as expected. Something that helped you might not help someone else as much. It may be better to go with fact-based evidence that would be easier for a stranger to understand.
While someone may seem like a good choice because of their qualifications or reviews from someone else, they may not be the right fit. There are some examples of someone giving good advice in a self-help book and then turning out to be making unsubstantiated claims. A self-help author should know who they would be working with.
The best self-help author will do all of the proper research on their topic. It wouldn’t be a good idea to just go off of personal experiences and avoid any evidence. Again, just because something worked for one person doesn’t mean it would work for everyone. Doing a good amount of research will also give the book more credibility.
Knowing what kind of person would be reading the book makes it much easier to help them. For example, if the book is targeted towards high schoolers but is filled with references or evidence that they wouldn’t understand the book wouldn’t be very helpful to them. Knowing what they would want and expect will help make readers pick up the book.
As stated before, outlining is important for a self-help author, but efficiency goes beyond that. It’s also important to not drag anything on too long, someone may not want to take the time to read on and on about the same topic. Know when to move on and how to still get down enough information.
Some ideas may need to be hammered home, so don’t hesitate to repeat them. For a self-help author repetition may even be necessary. The goal for this kind of book is to implant ideas or helpful advice, so some people may need to read that information over and over again to get it.