Writing Naturally: Why It’s Okay to Use Different Tones in a Nonfiction Book

There was a time when how-to books were expected to maintain the same tone from the first page to the last. They were often written in a formal, instructional style that focused almost exclusively on delivering information. While there’s certainly a place for that approach, readers today often appreciate a more engaging experience. It is no longer uncommon for nonfiction authors to use more than one tone throughout a book. One chapter where you are explaining a process may have a straightforward, serious instructional tone, while another chapter may include a personal story, a touch of humor, or words of encouragement to help readers relate to the material. Varying your tone doesn’t make your writing less professional. It makes it more authentic. When used thoughtfully, different tones can keep readers engaged, reinforce important points, and create a stronger connection between the author and the audience.

Like everything else, how people write has changed over the years. When I say this, I am not talking about grammar or sentence structure. There are still right and wrong ways to write a sentence, and we still have to use commas, periods, and question marks. I am talking about your tone. Today, there are several authors, like me, who write as if we are having a conversation with someone. You will mostly see this type of writing in nonfiction books or novels that have more than a couple of characters. When a conversational type of writing is used, there is a more natural and relatable tone that helps readers feel as though the author is speaking directly to them.

I am in the process of finishing a how-to book for adults who have always wanted to write a book, but they didn’t know where to begin or what the process looks like. There are many reasons why I didn’t just stick to one tone:

1. A more natural and relatable tone makes the information easier to understand and more enjoyable to read.
2. Using two different tones encourages readers to stay engaged from one chapter to the next.
3. It allows the author’s personality to shine through while still providing valuable information.
4. A connection is created between the author and the reader.
5. Two tones make readers feel as though they are having a conversation with a trusted guide rather than reading a textbook.

In my opinion, all of these reasons are important in their own right, but I think it should be pointed out that number five is a significant reason. I have had to read a lot of textbooks. Most of them are filled with valuable information. I even kept a few for many years after college because of the information within them. However, they are textbooks! Textbooks can be dry, not an easy read, and sometimes after reading a paragraph, you are scratching your head and asking yourself, “What the heck does that mean?” Don’t get me wrong. Textbooks are important and have their place, but how-to books are not meant to be textbooks. They are meant to inform the reader about how to do something while also engaging the reader and making them eager to learn.

I almost look at how-to books kind of like they are a breed of their own. While they are informational and tell someone how to do something, they also can carry humor, which brings out the author’s personality, like a funny story or a personal experience. On the flip side, most will also carry an authoritative tone because you are telling someone how something is done, while mixing in some encouragement. One thing you do not want to do is sound authoritative and bossy. But using an encouraging tone while making the reader feel that you are an authority on the subject is more of a mentoring approach than simply presenting information. This will build the reader’s confidence and motivate them instead of making them want to throw the book out the window!

When I was compiling three years’ worth of research on book writing so that I could begin writing my how-to book, I used two people and how they write and their tones. The first is Dale L. Roberts. He is an award-winning author who has his own YouTube channel and is an advocate for self-publishers. He has written several how-to books. I own three of them. The reason I own three of his books? It is because I really like the way he writes. Roberts’ books are very informational with tones of humor, encouragement, and authority. He makes reading his books easy and makes you feel confident. In some paragraphs, you see the authoritative tone as he explains something important or when he gives specific details that are crucial to know. For example, in his book, “Advanced Self-Publishing For Authors: A Guide To Author Success And Platform Growth,” he talks about using your blog to generate additional income through embedded advertisements and affiliate marketing programs. Roberts states, ” Google AdSense has a program where you can embed ads on your site and get paid every month based on the amount of traffic you drive through those ads. To be clear, you won’t be making a lot of money, especially if your site is only getting a few hundred visitors every month. That’s okay because something is better than nothing.” In this paragraph, Roberts uses a direct, authoritative tone in the first few sentences. But then he switches to an encouraging tone in the last sentence of the same paragraph.

Dave Chesson is another person I follow. Chesson founded Kindlepreneur and is the acting CEO. He helps authors write, publish, and market their books. Chesson also created Publisher Rocket, a publishing research tool that helps authors with discoverability, competition, and market demand on Amazon. I have read many of his articles over the last few years as I was doing my research. In his article, “Tones in Writing: The Ultimate Guide for Fiction and Nonfiction,” Chesson discusses tone, its importance, and what it is. In the article, he compares tone, when used in writing, to the tones we use in speaking. Chesson states, “It conveys attitude, context, and meaning. If you’re sad, your tone will reflect this in your speech. If you’re happy, your voice tone will be different than if you’re sad or scared or trying to tell a joke. It’s the same in writing.” He then goes on to explain that, “Tone in writing is a combination of factors: word choice, rhythm, sentence structure, punctuation, use of italics and capital letters, and grammar.” All of these are very important when it comes to tone in writing. A lot of times (and I learned this long ago in my college days, in my writing classes), I like to italicize a word in a sentence when I am emphasizing something or using voice inflection. Unless you are right there reading to the reader, they cannot hear your voice. By italicizing a word or phrase, you help convey your intended emphasis, allowing the reader to recognize how you want that part to be read. Italics act as a visual cue, communicating your expression and inflection while allowing your personality to come through on the page. They help the reader naturally place emphasis where you intended, making your writing feel more conversational, engaging, and true to your voice.

Chesson also concludes his paragraph on tone, for nonfiction, by putting the old myth to bed that a writer could only have one Tone. Chesson states, “Of course, you don’t have to just stick to one tone. You can be authoritative and encouraging at the same time, for example. These tones go well together. It would be more difficult (and not wise) to use two contradictory tones at the same time.” You can also change a tone from one paragraph to another, or you can have two different tones in the same paragraph, as Roberts does in his books. Again, it certainly depends on what type of fiction or nonfiction book you are writing, as stated above, but now there is leniency and acceptance of having more than one tone. Having one tone began in the 1870s, after moving from oral recitations to written tests and papers. The tone expected during these times was almost robotic and impersonal; no self-expression, no personality, or humor. Grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and punctuation were the main focus. And when students would have to get up in front of the class and recite a poem or something they wrote, they were expected to be just as rigid as the writing itself.

Then, towards the end of the 1960s into the 1970s, there was another shift in writing. This time, three people, Peter Elbow, Janet Emig, and Donald Murray began what was called the writing process movement. Emig was a scholar, Murray was a journalist and professor, and Elbow, was a professor of English. With this movement, the writing process was shifted away from the strict traditional rules of writing in the 1870s toward different types of writing that allowed writers to express thoughts and create. All three of these people, along with others who joined them, wrote many books that were either geared toward helping teachers understand and teach students how to write papers, revise, and draft, among others.

In recent years, writing has shifted again. Writing does not have to be as stringent. Granted, there are certain rules that need to be followed, especially when writing certain types of books. However, the rules, in many ways, as far as tone, voice, etc., are more lax. I mean this in a good way! Like we have been talking about, a lot of fiction and nonfiction books, especially self-help or how-to books, can be written on a more engaging and personal level; written in a way that makes the reader want to tackle whatever he and/or she desires without feeling incompetent. Interesting books, specifically nonfiction, are written not only in an informative manner, but also use tones that not only engage, but also teach and encourage. And, if you are lucky, you will come upon an author who uses humor, making what you want to learn less daunting.