You want your writing to be easily understood by the reader if you're looking to make your book a big seller with the general population. There aren't many academic texts or dense tomes that make it to the best seller list. You want it to be an easy read, one that will cause the reader to look forward to your next book. And believe it or not, you're a bout to discover a mechanical formula that will help you do this.

   First, I want you to understand that the easier your book is to read, the more interesting it will appear to the reader. The more challenging, the less continued interest it will generate. This is one of the factors that separates contemporary fiction from contemporary literature. Literature requires much more mental effort on the part of the reader, and because of that, it's rarely the book of choice among book buyers.

   Perhaps that shouldn't be the case, but that's the way it is currently. Book buyers don't want to feel mentally exhausted after they've read a few chapters. With fiction, they want a great story with high entertainment value and a healthy portion of excapism. With non-fiction, they want a very simplistic solution to a problem.

   Most writing clarity formulas will give you a number, equivalent to the grade level required for the reader to read what you've produced. So, if you end up with a number of 10, your reader would need a 10th grade education to handle the writing. If you end up with a number like 16, your reader would need four years of post secondary education to easily handle the material. But that's not where it ends. Although most people could grade 10 material, most people would prefer it to be much simpler if they've going to enjoy it.

   For example, the Bible, Shakespeare and Mark Twain's writings have a required grade level of 6. Time, Newsweek, and the Wall St. Journal average about 11. Most of the articles I write in this series have a required grade level of 8. Yes, you're a sophisticated writer. Yes, the majority of your readers are sophisticated as well. But they'd prefer the simpler presentation. As I keep saying to my authors, the really smart people understand both the big words, and the small words. The more challenged people understand only the small words. If you use only the small words, then everyone is happy!

   How do you make your writing simpler? The two most important factors are sentence length and word length. Try to avoid sentences with more than 11 words, and any word with three or more syllables should be suspect as well.

   Time for a little unabashed, self promotion: If you haven’t asked for my Free CD, “How to Write a Book On Anything in 14 Days Guaranteed!” then you’re just plain nuts! The CD is free, just pay postage, but you can bet this $100 CD will be carrying that price tag very shortly. How do you get it? Just order it here. Now, back to the article…

   Here's a formula for calculating the clarity of your writing. It's called the Gunning Fox Index, or simply the Fog Index. In a few moments I'll give you the website address where you can simply plug in your writing, click a mouse and all the math is done for you. Academic texts will have a grade level of about 12. Books you want the world to read should be no more than 8.

   First, find the average sentence length (divide the number of words by the number of sentences). Next count words with three or more syllables (complex words), not including proper nouns (for example, Djibouti), compound words like newspaper, or common suffixes such as -es, -ed, or -ing as a syllable, or familiar jargon. Then add the average sentence length and the percentage of complex words (ex., +13.37%, not simply + 0.1337) . Finally multiply the result by 0.4

   Here's an example. Let's take this section of a previous article I wrote:

   There's just one criteria for your book's hero: the reader must identify with him. I'm using the male pronoun right now. But feel free to use the female pronoun. It doesn't make any difference. And there is only one way for the reader of your book to like the hero. The hero must be very much like the reader of your book. You may have heard that opposites attract, that's not the way it works in real life. Like attracts like. The more you see yourself reflected I my personality, the more you'll like me. Between your reader and your hero, the similarity must be complete. To the point where the reader of your book believes they could have been siblings from the same family. They think alike, they act alike, and the motivations for their actions are similar as well.

   An impossible challenge? Not at all. Stick with me as I describe your book's main character to you. And don't be surprised if your main character sounds an awful lot like you. Yes, I know exactly what you're like even though we've never met face to face

   Your hero suffered a single traumatic experience as a child and although he's over it, for the most part, he still occasionally remembers it, and it has a slight affect on his current life.

   He enjoys traveling and wishes he had more time for it. He knows he's never going to visit all the places he wants to, but as opportunities come up, he takes advantage of them.

   Number of words = 256.

   Number of sentences = 20

   Count the number of big words (3 or more syllables). Exclude words in which "es" or "ed" or "ing" form the third and final syllable, hyphenated words like "state-of-the-art", and compound words like "newspaper." = 14

   Average sentence length = 256/20 = 12.8 Calculate the percentage of big words by dividing the number of big words by the number of words, and multiplying by 100. (14/256)*100 = 5.47

   Add the average sentence length to the percentage of big words and multiply that result by 0.4; that’s the Fog Index score. (12.85 + 5.47)*0.4 = 7.33

   As a writer, I'm very happy with that fog index. Here's that plug and play URL I promised you… Calculate the clarity of your writing! If your writing is too complex, use smaller words, and shorter sentences.

    While we're on the topic of strategies, and if you haven't already done so, feel free to subscribe to my FREE on-line course, "How To Write A Book On Anything in 14 Days... or Less" it's packed with tips, techniques and tactics for writing your book faster than you ever thought possible! But ONLY if you're SERIOUS about writing a book NOW!

Enter Your Name:
Enter your Email:

Wait a minute! You mean you still don't have your writing program, "How to Write A Book On Anything in 14 Days Or Less... Guaranteed!"? Well click How to Write A Book!

   Time for a little unabashed, self promotion: If you haven’t asked for my Free CD, “How to Write a Book On Anything in 14 Days Guaranteed!” then you’re just plain nuts! The CD is free, just pay postage, but you can bet this $100 CD will be carrying that price tag very shortly. How do you get it? Just order it here.

    Like this article? Link to it from your web site or blog -- just copy/paste this HTML:
<a href="http://www.WriteABookNow.com/yourindex.html">Good Article: The Secret of Writing Your Book as Clearly as Twain!</a>

   Just about everyone has asked me, what's the cheapest, fastest, most cost effective way to turn your manuscript into a real, book-store book. Cheap as in 50 cents per copy. Fast as in can I have it by this afternoon. Cost effective as in, what if I only want to produce one or two copies. Take a look at this information for all the answers you'll ever need.

Unbelievable Self Publishing

   Cheers,

   Steve Manning