GenresNon-fiction
Business
How organisations actually work — or fail.
A business book has to know whether it is teaching a skill, telling the story of a company, or arguing about how organisations actually behave. Those are different books, and readers get irritated when one pretends to be another. If you are teaching, give steps a person can try. If you are telling a story, do the reporting. If you are arguing, be willing to say who loses when the advice is followed.
The field is full of books that describe a success and then pretend the success was a system. Resist that. Luck, timing, capital, and the particular people in the room all count, and a useful book says so. Jargon is a temptation because it sounds like belonging. Translate it. A reader in a small company, or in the middle of a large one with no power to redesign the culture, should still be able to leave with something they can use on Monday, even if that something is a better question to ask.
The kinds of book inside it
Startups
Beginning is the drama, and the book should include the constraints of money and attention, not only the origin myth.
Management
The reader has to get work done through other people, so the advice should survive a Tuesday afternoon with a tired team.
Marketing
The subject is how attention is earned or bought, and the examples need to be honest about cost, not only about cleverness.
Leadership
Authority and responsibility are the theme, and stories of great leaders are less useful than a clear account of what the job actually is.
Career strategy
The organisation is seen from the point of view of a person trying to move through it, which means politics and skill both belong.
Company story
A firm is the protagonist, so the reporting has to be good, and the narrative shouldn't flatten everyone into a lesson about vision.
When you want a first sketch, Storywell can draft a contents list in this vein. You are still the one who writes the book. Compose an idea.