How Books Work: Too Good to Leave, Too Bad to Stay
Every now and then, I come across a book that illustrates a particular self-help and spirituality writing skill so beautifully that I file it away to show to other authors as an example.
Mira Kirschenbaum’s Too Good to Leave, Too Bad to Stay: A Step-by-Step Guide to Help You Decide Whether to Stay in Or Get Out of Your Relationship is one of those books. Too Good to Leave is a wonderful example of an author laying out a clear pain point and following through on a convincing promise to help readers solve it.
The Pain Point
Kirschenbaum starts by describing the reader’s pain point:
“You’ve hoped that love would be enough. And you’ve worked to resolve the problems in your relationship. And you’ve tried to accept things the way they are. And you’ve agonized over the possibility of leaving. But you just haven’t known what to do.”
Wow! In a few short sentences, Kirschenbaum establishes that she understands the reader’s dilemma…and is therefore a trustworthy ally for helping them solve it.
The Promise
A few short paragraphs later, Kirschenbaum offers the book’s promise:
“No matter how hard it’s been for you to decide, now you can find out the truth about your relationship one way or the other […] Now you can achieve the clarity that will enable you to feel confident making one of the most important choices of your life.”
Wow again! Here, Kirschenbaum confidently asserts that her book will clear up readers’ confusion, end the waffling, and guide them to a firm decision. This is quite a promise. But over the next two hundred-something pages, Kirschenbaum delivers on her promise by providing readers with a step-by-step guide to assessing whether or not their relationship is really, truly worth staying for.
You can do the same thing in your own self-help book by taking the time to deeply empathize with your reader’s problem, and giving them the high-quality tools they need to solve it.
Are you writing a self-help, psychology or spirituality book? Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with me, and we'll chat about ways to maximize your book's potential to change readers' lives.
