The Pain Point and the Promise

Self-help and spirituality books boil down to two basic ingredients: a compelling pain point, and an equally compelling promise. 

The Pain Point

The pain point is a problem your reader urgently wants to solve. For example,

            -Being depressed

            -Not having enough friends

            -Arguing with their partner

            -Lacking a purpose

            -Feeling disconnected from the divine

            -Not knowing how to relate to their kids

            -Feeling stuck or stalled in some aspect of life

            -Wrestling with a big decision

            -Wishing for clear “rules” for love, success, or happiness

            -Lacking self-love

If you want to write a self-help or spirituality book, identifying your pain point is task number one, because it gives readers an urgent reason for reading your book.

The Promise

The promise is how you propose to solve your reader’s problem. For example,

             -Using gratitude/exercise/meditation/etc. to beat depression

            -Using the Amazing technique to make more friends

            -Using the Incredible method for resolving conflicts

            -Using the Wonderful system to find purpose

            -Following the 3/4/5/6/10/12 rules to live a happy, loving, and successful life

Just like your pain point, your book’s promise (or set of promises) should be specific. For example, in The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz provides readers with four very specific rules for improving their lives. There’s no way a reader can miss those rules; they’re spelled out clearly and precisely, with easy-to-follow discussions after each one.

 Using the Pain Point and the Promise to Build Your Book

 Once you know your pain point and your promise, you can use them to organize the rest of your book. How will each chapter deliver on the promise? How will each chapter remind readers that you deeply understand the pain point?

By connecting to the pain point and the promise on every page, your self-help or spirituality book will be coherent, compelling, and highly effective at giving readers what they need, and making the biggest possible difference in their lives.

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.