Latest / The Daily Writer / The Bestselling Book Formula with Honorée Corder: Make It Easy to Read

Transcript

The Bestselling Book Formula with Honorée Corder: Make It Easy to Read · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: This week, here on the Daily Rider Podcast, we're doing something different than our normal short episodes.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, we're doing a five-part series celebrating the launch of the brand new book, The Best Selling Book Formula, Write a Book That Will Make You a Fortune, which is written by my friend and business coach Honore Corter.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to feature this fantastic book all this week because I think it's an essential book for every writer.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: In the best-selling book formula, Honore gives you a simple four-part framework to ensure that you have an amazing nonfiction book.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: On today's episode, we're diving into the first key, which is making your book easy to read.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And if you missed yesterday's episode, I encourage you to make sure and go back and listen to that one.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: You can get the best-selling book formula on Amazon, and I encourage you to check out all the other books, products, and services that Honore has to offer at honorequarter.com.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: She's also generously made five copies of the book available as a giveaway.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: So the first five people to leave a review of the Daily Rider Podcast on Apple Podcast will get a printed copy of the book in the mail.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Just leave a review, take a screenshot, email it to me at Kent at DailyRiderLife.com along with your mailing address, and I'll drop the book in the mail.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: All right, here's part two of my conversation with Honore Corter.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Honore, welcome back to this mini-series we're doing on the best-selling book formula.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: In the last episode, you gave us a rundown of what the best-selling book formula is, in addition to some great thoughts on how to title your book.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now we want to dive into the first of four really important keys that you talk about in the best-selling book formula, and that is making the book easy to read.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: What is that all about and why is it important?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so a book that's easy to read is a book that will get read, right?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever started to read a book and it made your brain hurt?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: It was just the writing was I'm gonna say above my pay grade, right?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Above my reading level and above the level of effort that I wanted to put in.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so understanding that at least in the United States, the average reading level is about seventh grade.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: You want to make sure that your book is at about the seventh grade reading level.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: And that actually I think is a sign of intelligence.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: A sign of intelligence to me is someone who can take something that's complex and intricate and interesting and be able to explain it simply to anyone.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's really good.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that that people really dig a$10 word, and I'm one of the people.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: I like fancy words, I like knowing them, I like using them.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: However, when someone is reading a book, if they hit a word they don't understand, it's like driving an old car over a big speed bump in a parking lot.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's like and it's painful, right?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when you go over a big speed bump, you're just kind of like holding your breath, like, am I gonna make it through this?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: As opposed to making it an effortless read that they understand and they can pick up.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: So part of making a book easy to read is using smaller words as opposed to bigger words, using shorter sentences instead of longer sentences, making your reading level around the seventh grade reading level or even a little bit lower.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: How would people know what the level, what the what the grade level of their writing is?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Are there some tools that you would recommend that people could use to get a firm grip on that?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, definitely.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: There's a website called renaissance.com, and they have something called the ATOS.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't actually remember what that stands for, but it's a the ATOS analyzer, and you can upload your manuscript and it will tell you what the average grade level is, how many words, how many words in your project, how many average words in a sentence.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: So you want to have eight or less words in a sentence, and you want to have a seventh grade reading level, and you want your average words to be am I gonna remember this right?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like six words or six letters, so six to eight letters or less per word.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: So the shorter, shorter words, shorter sentences, lower grade level.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: So some people like to take a simple word and make it complicated.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't want to get a job, I want to be employed.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: But why would you say employment when job will do?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Why would you say biography when you could say bio?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: When if if you if you can convey the same message with less words, shorter words, more simple words, why would you not do that?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because this is the very first key in writing a best-selling book.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: What if somebody has been in a role for a long time in here?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm really talking black about academic people.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I've talked to a number of people who who have been college professors or teachers, and they've said, especially people who've like gone on and done and done dissertations, they said that it's really, really hard for them to write simpler because they're so used to writing for that academic type audience.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: How can somebody, are there some ways that people can kind of shift that in their mind to start to simplify their writing?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And not just academics, but let's anybody from fields where they're writing in ways that are kind of naturally complicated and more bloated.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: How can somebody do that?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Is it just a matter of training themselves and practice?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: I do suggest that you read your words potentially through the eyes of a reader.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of take yourself and and and kind of flip it.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Go, am I making sense?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Do I need to use this word?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: If you see a longer word, go to Thesaurus and you know, you don't need to use the word esoteric, you can use the word unique.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it doesn't, it it you can still use the words um if that is what your audience is looking for.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: But again, I think we're trying to take a book that someone is writing and make it so that it is very commercial in this easy to read part is the first part of it.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: So reading your book, I always just write like I talk and then I go back and fix it.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the first thing is like write with abandon write the way that you would write anyway.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about it in that first draft, but then go through and and look for the longer words, look for the more complicated word, words, the more complex words, and see if you can make them simple.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: I use this thesaurus.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I do.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Thesaurus.com is my is my is my bestie first thing in the morning when I'm writing.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: And also let your editorial team know what you're doing.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna say to my editor and my proofreader, listen, I want this to be really simple and easy for people to read and understand.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to, I like again, I love the big words.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think they're fun.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a book nerd, but not everybody who reads my books is that is the same.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to respect that.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same reason I will pick up some authors, the fiction authors, that I know I'm gonna be able to just breeze through their books because they're not trying to be literature.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: They're trying to be entertaining.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And when I'm reading fiction, I want to be entertained.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't also necessarily want to be educated in that same moment.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to give my brain a break and I want it to be easy to read.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what your readers are looking for, especially if they're wanting to learn from you.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: The mistake some authors make is they think it has to be more complex.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: They have to prove how smart they are.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when in fact, I think the opposite happens is like they do prove that they're smart, but they also inadvertently make their readers feel stupid.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: So the question is kind of do you want to be respected and admired, or do you want to be read and have a best-selling or slash best earning book?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Or both.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want to be someone who is perceived as intelligent and really knowledgeable on your subject, but also able to communicate with someone and not make them feel less than?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's always interesting to me when I talk to someone who majored or minored in French, and they're all like, Oh, I can't really talk to you, Andre, because your French is not perfect.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: But I talk to French people and they're lovely.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, oh my gosh, you're trying to speak my native tongue.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same thing.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's like I would rather have a more simple book that everyone understands than for everyone to know that I have this really bougie vocabulary and not be approachable.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: The the last thing I would ever want someone to feel is that I, as the author, am not approachable and my subject is not approachable.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: My book is not approachable.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think some of this comes sometimes from authors just feeling a little insecure?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: I honestly don't know where it comes from.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: I I think it's I think we have, but if you go back to what you said about people in academia, like I I think there might be some some encouragement or pressure, either one.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: Totally, totally to to be more half-falutin.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: To be to write at a higher level.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm saying, hey gosh, like I appreciate that in academia, and maybe that's great in academia.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: But if you want your book to be widely read and widely understood, and all the other things we're going to talk about, then you will want to simplify it to make it easy to read.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I'm saying is the the books that I analyzed, not a one of them was using complex terms.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: And if they did, it was like, here's what this word means, and here are the other words that mean this word.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like very simple.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: English is my first language.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: They were simplified.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: It was simplified.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: It was simple for the reader to read it and understand it.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: I have put books down because I get to a certain point in the book and I'm like, this is where it's one, two, three, many.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: My brain, my brain isn't working.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm done, I'm out, I can't do it.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: This is really, really good stuff.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a all of us really need to hear this.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Even if writing simple may come naturally to us, there's always things that we can improve to make it more understandable and clear to the reader.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because ultimately, isn't that what we want?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: We want writing that is clear, simple, understandable.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because if people are confused or if they get frustrated because they feel like they're not smart enough to read our stuff, then they're they're out the door.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: So this is really good stuff.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um well, in the next episode, we're going to talk about uh books that are easy to uh uh remember, so I'm really excited about that.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see you guys in the next episode.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: A big thanks to today's sponsor, Total Life Freedom School.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Does any of this sound familiar?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Your day job is chipping away at your soul one piece at a time.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: You dream of building a business or creating multiple streams of income, but you don't know where to start.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Or you just want to work on things that you actually care about and spend more time with your family.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if any of this sounds like you, you'll love Total Life Freedom School, created by my friend and successful entrepreneur Vincent Puglisi.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Total Life Freedom School is the exact roadmap he and his family use to create a life of time, money, and location freedom.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: When you join Total Life Freedom School, you'll get access to a 30-minute lesson each week with actionable steps.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: You can watch it on your own time and join the live monthly QA calls where you can interact with others and get your questions answered.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Best of all, Total Life Freedom School is only$9 a month, and you can get your first two lessons for just one dollar.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you're ready to stop dreaming and start building a life and a business you love, head on over to dailyriderlife.com slash TLF School to check it out.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's dailyriderlife.comslash TLF School.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.