# How long should an intro be typically for a non-fiction book?



## FullOfLife (May 15, 2013)

I'm a rookie. Yes I am. Even though I've been writing good for the most part most of my life I am finally writing a book. A non-fiction book at that. So my question on this post is there like a standard rule on how long an introduction to a non-fiction book should be?

Is that length related to the average length of the chapters perhaps?

Thanks


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## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

I don't think there are any hard and fast rules, but keep in mind that a digital book only gets about 10% put up in the sample, so you don't want to take up too much real estate with a long introduction.

The best thing to do is research books similar to yours, and see how they've done it. I would think three or four concise, well-written paragraphs should be enough. Leave the vast majority of stuff about you for the about the author bit, in the back of the book.


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## Preach (May 13, 2013)

I've done 3 page introductions, three paragraphs introductions and one book without one (testing to see what people say).

So far no one said anything about the book without an introduction.


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## zandermarks (May 20, 2013)

Can't say much about the length...it's the purpose and effect that I think about more.

What I look for when I read a nonfiction book is a persuasive case for why I need this book, why this book will answer all my questions, and why this author is going to do the best job of informing me in the most enjoyable way possible.

So I guess my personal answer is this: Make the introduction sell the book, and stop introducing the book once you believe you've sold it to the reader. Concentrate on the selling, and save the non-selling verbiage (acknowledgments, life history, your cat's contribution, yada, yada, yada) for the Afterword.


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## Gone To Croatan (Jun 24, 2011)

What do you mean by introduction?

If you mean, 'I want to thank my Mother and my editor and look, read some of the wonderful reviews I got', a print book can get away with that because we just skip it, but don't put it in an e-book. I've read e-books where the author rambles on for so many pages about how wonderful the book is that the Amazon sample ends with the words 'Chapter One' and no actual story. Putting the blurb at the start is OK because then when I open the book after it's been sitting on my Kindle for months I remember why I downloaded it, but put anything else at the end.

If you mean introducing the characters and world, I'd say at most 10-20% of the book and make sure those characters have something interesting to do in the meantime.


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## Preach (May 13, 2013)

Zandermarks hit the mark. It is about selling the reader with the introduction, which is why some of mine are short and some are long. Sometimes it takes more time and more words to build a case to sell them on. Just summarize what the book is about and how it will help the reader. answer questions such as "why should I read this" and "what will it do for me." But make it interesting, this is your time to shine. treat it like you book description in importance. people skip introduction in a paperback but in an ebook when tats all they get to read they read it. so make it freakin' awesome.

That's what I try to do. Length doesn't matter, entertaining a readers interest does. In the non fiction world a book can be short and well liked. Why? Because the content might be so meaty and satisfying that they feel like they got what they paid for. In today's busy society people don't like books that ramble and take 5 pages to explain what can be said in two paragraphs. 

Think of an information product. People sell them for hundreds of dollars. Try to make it so pack full of wisdom that after a reader reads your 75 page book they can step away and say, "That was worth to $200 I paid for it" Catch their interest in the description and introduction and you will have higher conversion rates.


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## FullOfLife (May 15, 2013)

Zandermarks, your answer does indeed hit the mark. Makes sense and it will be the route that I take when it comes to writing the intro. About start here soon one of these days and am being patient about it as I don't want to push it on a tired day. 

Thanks!


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## FullOfLife (May 15, 2013)

Thanks Edward i'll keep this in mind. My book is non-fiction so I will cut to the chase with the selling of my book and demonstrating why you should buy my book and read it. I'm new to this whole thing so learning about ebooks is essential as I want my book to be both an ebook and in print. 

Thanks!


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## jgfox (Nov 25, 2019)

I'm working with the Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation on a book for the schools 100th Anniversary in 2023.
The working title is "100  Tech Notable Who Helped Change the World".  

We are editing the introduction of 822 words.  I was checking what great non-fiction writers wrote for their book introduction.  I found Gibbons Preface to his The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.  He apologizes in his first sentence ... 

IT is not my intention to detain the reader by expatiating on the variety or the importance of the subject which "I have under taken to treat; since the merit of the choice would serve to render the weakness of the execution still more apparent, and still less excusable. "

His total introduction to this massive work .... totals 586 words!!!! 

Hmmm ... perhaps there is a lesson here?


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## notjohn (Sep 9, 2016)

Better that the book has no introduction! Begin the story where the story begins. If you want to lecture the world about all the trauma you went through to create the book, or to thank your mother or your son-in-law, do it in an Afterword.


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## A GOD FOR THE ATHEIST (Jul 13, 2021)

FullOfLife said:


> I'm a rookie. Yes I am. Even though I've been writing good for the most part most of my life I am finally writing a book. A non-fiction book at that. So my question on this post is there like a standard rule on how long an introduction to a non-fiction book should be?
> 
> Is that length related to the average length of the chapters perhaps?
> 
> Thanks


Not sure what to do now.
I tried this for my introduction 
“Never mind…


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## jb1111 (Apr 6, 2018)

In my view, if the introduction is snappy enough, i.e. introduces the subject in an engaging way, it shouldn't matter. Even if it takes up most of the LookInside, the idea is to engage the reader to get them to want to buy the book -- whether it's an introduction or first chapter. I've read a couple non-fics that had introductions that actually were more of a first chapter to the book. The author probably called it 'Introduction' because he or she was introducing the reader to the subject involved.


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