When my client hired me to help him write a business book that was part memoir and part guidance on being a leader, I envisioned a book of about 40,000 words. The project ballooned to 70,000 words before we concluded that it was best as a two-volume set.
Books Have Been Shrinking for a Reason
Publishing researchers have tracked this for years. Analysis of New York Times bestsellers found that the average bestseller lost roughly 50 pages between 2011 and 2021 — about an 11% drop — and shorter titles have held their spots on the list longer since 2016. Readers choose shorter books, and they’re rewarding them with attention and word of mouth.
Business and self-help books have moved the same direction. A decade ago, 80,000 words was a normal business book. Today, most successful titles in the category land between 40,000 and 60,000 words — some editors label anything over 70,000 as a red flag unless the book is genuinely narrative-driven.
Books are not getting shorter because publishers don’t want to tackle long books. It’s because readers are not interested in investing hours reading. They want the author to get to the point and not belabor the point.
Why Shorter Business Books are Easier for Nonfiction Readers
Fiction readers often want to get lost in a book. I’ve spent countless hours reading novels before going to sleep, and pushing my bedtime by saying to myself, “I’ll read one more chapter.”
Nonfiction readers want something specific:
- Solving a problem
- Building a skill
- Making a decision
Business book readers are reading with a specific goal in mind, not to get immersed in a story. Even readers of business fables are looking for the nuggets in the story.
A business reader is usually looking for two or three ideas that will change how they operate. Every page standing between them and that value is a page they have to work to get through.
Completion is the real metric, not word count. The numbers on book completion are sobering, especially to you as an author. One widely cited analysis of Kindle highlighting patterns estimated that only 7% of readers of Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow — a genuinely excellent book — finished the book.
Be honest, I’m sure you’ve got business books that you started and put aside. I know I do. I got bored, distracted, or did not find the content compelling enough to commit to. Years later, I find a bookmark signifying where I gave up.
Reading-tracking platforms that measure actual behavior rather than highlights put typical nonfiction book completion rates somewhere between 25% and 50%.
Compare that to genre fiction, where completion rates regularly run above 60%, and the pattern is clear: density and length are working against nonfiction authors before a reader even gets to page ten.
A book someone finishes and recommends does more for an author’s business than a book that looks impressive, but readers don’t complete. Shorter books get finished. Finished books get shared.
Your book can be as short as 10,000 words. These are some short books I’ve written:
21 Tips to Run Your LNC Business Efficiently: How to Excel. (4094 words)
Be the Boss of Your Own LNC Business: Tips for Success (11,016 words)
How to Overcome Writing Barriers: Wipe Out What Blocks You (7290 words)
Why Become a Better Writer Today? How Business Writing Skills Help You Thrive (10,186 words)
Self-Love for Businesspeople: How to Journal for Success (11,226 words)
One clear idea beats ten diluted ones. Readers remember key concepts, not how many chapters were in the book. A tightly argued 45,000-word book built around a single core idea, supported by well-chosen examples, tends to stick with readers longer than a sprawling book trying to cover everything the author knows.
We have less attention than we used to possess. Researchers have documented a real decline in sustained focus as competing demands on people’s time have multiplied. Consider how you may routinely flick through channels on TV or news stories on your phone. Your attention has gotten pickier, not shorter — you are quicker to bail on content that doesn’t immediately prove its worth.
A book that respects your reality earns more goodwill than one that assumes the reader has unlimited patience.
How to Say What You Need to Say in Less Space
Cutting length doesn’t mean cutting value. It means being more deliberate about what earns a place in the shorter business book. A few things that help:
1. Plan the chapter sequence before you write a word.
Most of the bloat I see in manuscripts doesn’t come from any one chapter being too long — it comes from the author not knowing where they are going. Without a clear sequence, authors circle back, repeat themselves, and pad. Get the architecture right first, and the length tends to take care of itself. This is why a book coach is invaluable.
2. Pick one reader promise and hold the whole book to it.
Before you begin, write a single sentence describing what the reader will be able to do after finishing the book. Every chapter, every story, every aside gets tested against that sentence. If it doesn’t serve the promise, it doesn’t belong — no matter how good the material is.
It is easy for authors to get attached to their clever stories and points, and hard to be ruthless when cutting.
3. Let one strong case study do the work of three mediocre ones.
Authors often pile on examples because they’re afraid one story won’t land with the reader. Usually the opposite is true: one well-told, specific story is more persuasive than three thin ones stacked together.
4. Write a strong introduction chapter.
It sets up the problem, explains why you are the right person to write about it, and gives an overview of your content. After the introduction chapter, get right into your content. I recommend writing the introduction last, when you have the overview of your content.
5. Save the depth for people who want it.
Not every reader needs every layer of nuance in the main text. Footnotes, an appendix, or a companion workbook can hold the deeper material for the subset of readers who want it, without slowing down everyone else.
The Real Goal
A shorter business book isn’t a lesser book. It’s a book that respects the reader enough to get to the point — and that respect is exactly what turns readers into people who recommend you, hire you, or book you to speak. The authors getting real business results from their books aren’t the ones who wrote the most. They’re the ones who said the most, in the fewest words it took to say it well.
From the author of the book I described at the beginning of this post:
As a professor and scientist, I have published numerous scientific manuscripts. For that reason I thought that I was more than qualified to write a book about my career and students. I was not prepared for all of the hidden skills required to publish a manuscript outside of my area of expertise. Pat Iyer was.
Her kind and professional personality gently guided me through the long and arduous tasks of preparing a successful product. She communicates well in a timely and amicable fashion. No matter who you are, successfully writing a good book is difficult. Pat’s broad and long experience as an editor allows her to coach you through the finish line. Near the end of the publishing process there were things that we had no idea were required to complete the process. Pat’s assistance made it stress-free and for that I am eternally grateful. Jerry Guyden PhD
Pat Iyer MSN RN LNCC is a consultant, speaker, author, editor and book coach. She has written or edited 73 of her own books and worked with dozens of authors as an editor and book coach. Her most recent books include AI-Powered Video for LNCs book and workbook.
Pat is an Amazon international #1 bestselling author. Coaches, consultants, and speakers hire Pat to help release the knowledge inside them so that they can attract their ideal clients.
She delights in assisting people to share their expertise by writing. Pat serves international and national experts as an editor, book coach, and a medical and business writer.