CHAPTER 1

Plotting & Planning

Everyone, at sometime in their lives, needs to learn how to dosomething they have never attempted before. From planning awedding, preparing an after dinner speech, considering a careerchange, writing a stage play, taking up a new hobby, organisinga holiday, improving a life-style, joining a horseracing syndicate,making a WWII Woolton pie, down-sizing a home ... the list isendless. And if anyone has ever asked how we managed toachieve any of these things, then we have something to writeabout.

Wherever we live in the world, How-To writing can run frommagazine fillers on how to organise a successful car boot (yard)sale to a full-length self-help book on, for example, ExploringSpirituality. Or as one online contributor commented in aninterview in the Daily Telegraph:

"A lot of us have expertise without realising it. Put a questionabout something you know well into an online search engineand you'll be surprised how many people have asked thesame question before. If other people don't know how to dosomething and you do – then you could write about yourexpertise."

It goes without saying, of course, that to write convincingly on asubject and be able to impart the appropriate information meansthat we are following the old adage of 'writing about what weknow' for the benefit of our readership.

Write About What We Know

As we mature, and gain more experience, then our How-Toguides will develop further in-depth insights into our variousfields of expertise. For example: when I wrote my first writingguide I was editing a magazine, and with one published full-lengthbook to my name, the aim being to produce a practicalnuts and bolts guide to starting a writing career, with plenty ofadditional advice from other tutors, editors, authors andfreelance writers. The second guide was written to support theincreasing number of writers' workshops I was tutoring; as thefirst book had passed its sell-by date and out of print, anothercompletely different book was required. Life-Writes, was my thirdcreative writing book, and written to coincide with my acting ascommissioning editor for Compass Books, so that as an author Ialways have something new on offer and not stuck in the time-warpof constantly regurgitating previously published material,or resting on my laurels.

My specialist genres are the countryside and the mind, bodyand spirit market, so the next title was Exploring Spirituality,which catered for the growing interest in alternative religionsand the decline in both traditional religious and spiritual values.Having discovered the successful formula for writing andpresenting How-To books, the next on the list was The GoodDivorce Guide, followed by WLTM: The Dating Game, which grewout of the long conversations with a close friend who runs anintroduction agency for country people. Signposts For CountryLiving is a guide to avoiding the pitfalls often experienced by 'incomers'trying to establish themselves in rural communities.These will be followed by How To Write for the Pagan & MB&SMarkets and How to Write for Countryside Publications.

Other writers from around the globe with various differentlevels of expertise, will be able to tackle How-To subjectspertaining to their own life-styles – for example:yachting/canal/river boating; restoring a vintage 57 Chevrolet;learning to surf; backpacking in the Outback; where to studyabroad; overcoming personal or social problems, culture shock –and each country will have its own publishing houses that caterfor How-To, Self-Help and Self-Improvement titles. This doesnot mean that we can only write for publishers or publicationswithin our own borders – our market is the entire English-speakingworld.

Qualified by Life

As we can see from my own personal selection, How-To bookscan cover every aspect of Life - family, hobbies, career, life-style – and,needless to say, our expertise is drawn from our own experiences,or the experiences of those close to us. The particular hook(or spin) that we put on the narrative to cater for a specific targetmarket, however, will depend on where we see ourselves fittinginto the picture. It's not enough to write on a subject with mereenthusiasm because all How-To, Self-Help and Self-Improvementtopics need to reflect 'life as it is lived' by thosewho have already lived it. And imparted to the reader in a waythat will encourage them to follow our guidelines or example.

In fact, when reading a proposal or preparing a reader'sreport, I study the author's biography before turning to the text – regardlessof how intriguing the title or synopsis. I want to knowright from the start, the writer's antecedents and whether theyare eligible to write on the appropriate level for the subject inquestion. Many writers attempt to pass themselves off as beingmore knowledgeable or experienced than they really are – andthis can be a minefield for a publisher's reader who may not becompletely au fait with the subject under discussion. This doesn'tmean to say that a beginner isn't capable of imparting soundHow-To advice, but it must be written from the beginner'sperspective, so that the reader identifies with the trials and tribulationsof someone just starting out.

In the How-To and Self-Help market, the author'sbackground is just as important as the content of the bookor article. You have to sell yourself, not just the idea.

Obviously, unless we are highly qualified by experience oreducation, we must give even more thought as to the directionour instruction will take. In the case of The Good Divorce Guideand not having any legal training, it needed to reflect the divorceprocess from a personal self-help position, and with as manydifferent viewpoints as possible, including the slant of alsogiving it male reader-appeal. WLTM: The Dating Game was coauthored,and offered a practical guide to agency dating for bothmen and women in the forty-plus age range, as my friend feltthese were the people who wouldn't be so comfortable withonline or speed-dating. Signposts For Country Living was writtenfrom my 'born and bred' country perspective. Again, by taking amagazine approach of an informal, inclusive style rather than apatronising catalogue of do's and don't's.

We also need to give some thought to the writing style weintend to adopt, which will be largely governed by the subjectmatter. Black humour would be inappropriate in 'How ToArrange Your Own Funeral' but the odd sprinkling of undertakers'cautionary tales could help to lighten what otherwisecould be a doleful read in a feature-length article or book on thesubject. Nevertheless, even the most serious of subjects can havean injection of light heartedness to lessen the load, but avoidjokey, 'hail-fellow-well-met' humour that could be judged asbeing in poor taste where emotive subjects are concerned.Neither would levity be acceptable in academic or technicalwriting – which can still come under the How-To heading if youare qualified to write about them.

Show Not Tell

The informal, inclusive style of using 'we' and 'our' also lendsitself perfectly to Self-Help and Self-Improvement books, becausewe are implying that we've been there and are now using the t-shirtfor dusters. We are identifying with the reader in theirpresent situation, and they with us. We're settling down for acosy chat rather than a lecture because the patronising, exclusivestyle that uses 'you' all the time, often comes across as smug,school-marmy and unsympathetic. In true writing tutorialtradition, we are showing, not telling.

How-To and Self-Help titles are possibly one of the easiest ofbooks to write and sell, because we are writing from personalexperience, and will already have the necessary contacts toembellish the text with the additional experiences of a widevariety of other people to provide depth, corroboration, humourand anecdote. Neither do we need to write the chapters in strictsequence because each one has a slightly different slant orapproach. We may have sufficient research material to hand tofinish one chapter, while another takes much longer because ofthe need to follow up, and obtain more material or permissions.By rule of thumb, we'll know if we have enough material for afull-length book on our chosen subject if we can comfortablywrite 45,000 words, broken down into approximately 10 separatechapters; divided by approximately 10 sub-headings for eachchapter. This means each chapter will contain around 4,500words.

There are, however, a number of other rules to observe and itpays to understand these before settling down to write. It's alsoimportant to invest in a quality newspaper at least once a week,because quite a lot of a non-fiction writers' stimulus comes froma study of what's in the news. It gives us ideas for all aspects ofimparting information and more often than not, a clearer pictureof our target readership. Read the regular columns that reflectcurrent viewpoints on the multitude of social activities andlifestyles and you'll be surprised how much information/ideasthey can generate.

And a final point to remember is that it is easy for able-bodiedpeople to write How-To's that cater for disabled readers. Peoplewith disabilities are still interested in exactly the same things andas Stephanie Green pointed out in 'Writing For DisabilityMarkets' for Freelance Market News: "There are a wide variety ofdisability publications, from glossy lifestyle magazines ... informativehow-to guides ... Remember you are writing for peoplewith disabilities, not just about them, and they love being entertainedjust like everyone else." Study a few back issues of themagazines before submitting, and be aware of the differentnuances in the writing requirements.

Synopsis and Full Chapter Breakdown

Once we've started to develop the idea for a full-length How-Tobook, that's when we start to trawl the marketplace for a suitableoutlet. Because How-To publishers usually have their ownformula dictating how the text should be presented, and it's not agood idea to present them with the complete typescript, sincethis may require a complete re-write to comply with theirindividual house-style.

This is where we do our homework and investigate everypublisher in the genre who is likely to be interested in oursubject. Spend some time with the writers' handbooks andexamine all the entries in the 'How-To' category, i.e. How-Toliterary agents and publishers, including the small presses. Thisexercise is five-fold because it:

• identifies the publishers who may be interested in oursubject matter, and whether they have anything similaralready in print, or planning stages;

• gives an insight into the competition, together withexamples of the various different approaches to similarsubjects already in print;

• provides us with a working check list and ready-madechapter breakdown, subject by subject;

• prevents us from wasting time writing the full text thatmay have to be completely re-written;

• identifies publishers and agents in other parts of theEnglish-speaking world who may be interested in ourwork.

For example: as we would expect, there were numerous books ondivorce but most were written from the legal perspective, so mybook covered coping with the shock effects and aftermath of theseparation-divorce process. There were several biographicalbooks covering the dating industry, so our book was specificallyaimed at the forty-plus age group that make up the bulk ofclients in the more traditional agencies. There have also beendozens of books about moving to the country but seldom writtenby country people for the benefit of 'in-comers'. And there arehundreds of writers' guides written by experienced novelists,playwrights, poets and journalists ... so there has to be a freshtwist on an original idea.

All this valuable information must be included in the synopsisbecause a publisher needs to see immediately whether theproposed book has a place on their titles list, and where it sits inthe market place. Our 'hook' must be different to anything otherbooks in the same genre are offering. In other words, show thatwe've done our homework prior to making contact and provethat we are professionals, not someone working our way throughthe writers' handbooks, hoping to strike it lucky with somebarely thought-through proposal.

By now we should have the book mapped out so that we havea rough idea of where we are going with it. There should also bea bulging file of cuttings, information sheets and statistics tosupport our research, and enough time spent on the project forus to be able to prepare a full chapter breakdown, which is self-explanatoryfrom the publisher's point of view. The following isan example of a full chapter breakdown for a 'work in progress'careers book; it shows exactly how the book will evolve, andwhat information will be included in the text – and where.

I Want to Work in Horse Racing

    Chapter One: The Sport of Kings

    I want to work in Horse Racing
    Racing in UK and Ireland
    On the Flat
    Steeplechasing
    The Jockey Club
    British Horseracing Authority
    Wetherbys
    Channel 4 Racing
    Be realistic in following the dream
    Would I be suitable?

    Chapter Two: The Trainers
    The Power and the Glory
    Small is beautiful
    Getting on with the job
    A Day in the Life of
    Newmarket
    Middleham
    Lambourne
    Polo
    Arab Racing
    Point to Pointing

    Chapter Three: Runners and Riders
    What the experts say
    The Jockey School
    Riding out
    Work riding
    The Apprentice
    The Stable Jockey
    Celebrity
    On the Gallops
    At the Races
    Taking the gamble

    Chapter Four: The Best Man for the Job
    The Head Man
    A Day in the Life of
    Medics and feeding
    Responsibility and self-respect
    The Travelling Head Lad
    The Box Driver
    Signposts and milestones
    Open all hours
    A position of trust

    Chapter Five: In the Yard
    Financial reality
    The learning curve
    A Day in the Life of
    Bucket and muck heap
    Men behaving badly
    Women behaving badly
    Managing in the work place
    Keeping healthy (health and safety)
    Relaxation and quality time
    Living with the pain of loss

    Chapter Six: The Stud
    Thoroughbred Studs UK
    Thoroughbred Studs Ireland
    The Stud Groom
    Mucking out
    Foal watch!
    Training the youngsters
    The hands-on approach
    Parting company
    Plotting & Planning
    Going to the Sales
    Tattersalls

    Chapter Seven: Racecourse Side
    The Racing Programme
    The Racecourse Association
    Race Day - the Valet
    Glamour and Ladies Day
    Exploiting your assets
    Looking for a job
    The hospitality industry
    Catering
    Groundsmen and girls
    The show must go on

    Chapter Eight: Racing Welfare
    Racing Welfare
    The Injured Jockey Fund
    Coping with injury
    Rest and recuperation
    JETS
    The old ones are the best
    Casualties
    Veterinary nurse
    Equine massage
    Retired racehorses

    Chapter Nine: Expanding Your Horizons
    Out in all weathers
    The need for change
    Shifting priorities
    Too old for this!
    Moving on out, moving on up
    Ambition takes over
    The IT challenge
    Administrator wanted (the Racing Secretary)
    The equestrian publications
    The desk jockey

    Chapter Ten: Finding Alternatives
    Where did it go wrong?

    The knee-jerk reaction
    Redefining your goal
    Job satisfaction
    Serving the apprenticeship
    Putting experience to good use
    Pause for thought
    Tinseltown
    Where do I go from here?
    Summary

As the publisher can see immediately, every aspect of a careerwithin the horse racing industry has been included from thestable-yard to racecourse catering, ground staff, and mediaopportunities. All it needs is an accompanying letter giving thebackground and qualifications of the author ... and I've soldevery single one of my How-To books on the strength of a similarproposal.

The next step is to study the backlist of all How-To, Self-Help/Improvementpublishers in the country where you live andwho may be interested in considering your proposal. Trawlthrough the writers' handbooks for publishers, small presses,and literary agents from the UK, the USA, Australia and Europewho specialise in How-To and Self-Help books and, wherepossible, obtain a copy of the writers' submission guidelines foreach one, together with a complete list of their current titles.

Check out the latest How-To and Self-Help/Improvementtitles in your local bookstores and library, and see how each oneprefers the typescript presented to comply with their individualhouse-styles. The first thing that will be apparent is the layout ofeach book. Yesterday's How-To books had plenty of bullet-points,coloured boxes and side-bars for emphasis, with casehistories and anecdotes separate from the main body of the text – althoughfor today's books this layout complicates the setting upof an e-book version. All of them will require that the author haspractical experience in the field in which they write, but often thisis the first step on the publishing ladder for a large number ofnew writers.