Your research is impeccable, you know there’s a huge and hungry market for your eBook but initial responses are lukewarm at best. The problem could be your eBook’s readability. If your writing skills are a little rusty your text won’t be punchy and engaging – you’re likely to lose readers and fail to create the conversions you’re looking for.
If this problem sounds familiar, take a look at our seven ways to improve your eBook readability:
Keep Sentences Short
Long, rambling sentences increase the possibility that your reader will get lost along the way. Keep sentences short and to the point. Review your copy and ask yourself if a sentence will carry the same meaning if you remove a few words. Try to be minimalist in your approach and your eBook will be much more engaging for a reader.
Create Sections
Faced with a page full of text, a reader can become daunted and less likely to warm to what you have written. Find ways to divide your text into more manageable chunks. Use headings, subheadings, lists and bullet points. This will make your text much more visually engaging. It’s also a good idea to create a linked contents page so readers can hop from one section to another with ease.
Brush Up On Verb Tenses
The verb tense you choose to use can have a big effect on readability. Imperative sentences, where you instruct the reader to do something, are often short, sweet and high impact. Active voice is also preferred above the passive. Passive sentences are usually wordier and more difficult to follow. In contrast, active sentences clearly denote the object and the subject, making life easier for your readers.
Think About Structure
When an eBook wanders off topic or segues to another subject suddenly a reader can get confused and lose interest. Thinking about structure before you start to write your eBook can prevent this from happening. Whilst structure can be altered throughout the writing process, having a short list of the points you wish to cover and the order in which they should appear, is a great place to start in creating a flowing, comprehensive text.
Think About Visuals
It’s not just the words you use that affect the readability of your eBook. Visual design will also play a part in how easy it is to read the text. Keep to a colour scheme and make sure your eBook is optimised for all devices. You don’t want visual confusion to detract from the text. Also consider ways in which visuals can enhance the copy. Could an image or an infographic help to illustrate the information you want to convey more succinctly?
Avoid Jargon
Complicated sentences and jargon can be a big turn off for a reader. They are stumbling blocks that can thwart a pleasant reading experience. Unless you’re sure that 100% of your readership is going to understand what you’re talking about, avoid using insider language that a lay person couldn’t grasp. That means technical terms, industry-specific terms and acronyms.
Use the Hemingway App
The Hemingway App is a great (and free) online tool that can help improve the readability of your copy. It’s able to recognise sentences that are hard to read based upon use of passive voice, number of adverbs and complicated vocabulary. The app highlights sections that require revision so you can tweak your text until it reads well.
To improve your eBook’s readability, you need to look over your drafts with a very critical eye or run it by a few others to get their opinion. Keeping things to the point, using simple sentence structure and considering the impact of layout will all help to improve readability and increase your readership.