What productivity readers expect
Readers expect a named, memorable system, a reason it works where others didn't, and instructions concrete enough to try in an afternoon. Examples matter: a week in the life of someone using the system, what their lists actually look like, what they do when things go wrong.
They're also sceptical. Productivity advice is everywhere, and readers tune out vague exhortation and invented research. Your experience, your specific rules and an honest account of the system's limits are what make the book trustworthy.
Length and structure
Productivity books are often on the shorter side of non-fiction, somewhere around 25,000 to 50,000 words. The Standard preset suits most; a tightly focused guide works at the Short preset and makes a good lead magnet.
A dependable structure: the problem with how most people work, the principle behind your system, one chapter per component (capture, planning, focus, review, or whatever yours are), a chapter on adapting it to different jobs, a chapter on falling off the wagon, and a quick-start guide readers can use without rereading the book.
How Inkora writes a productivity book
Describe your system in the brief, including its components, their names, the rules and an example week. Planning turns that into key concepts with definitions and a chapter outline of headed sections, each making one point.
Chapters are written in short paragraphs under sub-headings, with numbered steps and bullet lists where they help. The fact ledger keeps your terminology fixed, so “the Sunday sort” doesn't become “the weekly review” halfway through.
What to put in your brief
The brief is the “Your book idea & instructions” box in the new-book wizard. The more specific it is, the less generic the book. Here is an example, with the settings that go with it:
Productivity book for managers of small teams who spend their days in meetings and Slack. My system is “Three Lanes”: every task belongs to one lane (Make, Meet or Maintain), each lane gets fixed time blocks, and a 15-minute Friday “lane check” resets the next week. I've coached managers on this for six years. Include an example week for a fictional manager, Dana, rules for protecting the Make lane, and what to do in a week that falls apart. No invented studies or statistics. Direct, practical, a little dry humour.
Other wizard settings
- Genre
- Productivity
- Audience
- Managers of small teams
- Tone
- Practical & no-nonsense
- Length
- Standard (30,000 words)
Example outline: Three Lanes: Getting Real Work Done Between Meetings
A brief like the one above gives a plan along these lines. You can rename, reorder, add or delete chapters before any writing starts.
- 1
The Manager's Day Has No Room
Why meetings and messages swallow the work that matters.
- 2
The Three Lanes
Make, Meet and Maintain, and why every task fits one.
- 3
Sorting Your Work
Assigning a week's tasks to lanes, with Dana's example.
- 4
Protecting the Make Lane
Rules for focused time that colleagues will respect.
- 5
Running the Meet Lane
Batching meetings and saying no without damage.
- 6
Containing Maintain
Email, admin and messages in fixed, finite blocks.
- 7
The Friday Lane Check
The fifteen-minute review that resets next week.
- 8
When the Week Falls Apart
Recovering mid-week without abandoning the system.
- 9
Lanes for Your Team
Introducing the system to the people you manage.
- 10
Quick Start
Everything you need to start on Monday, on a few pages.
Common mistakes
- Several systems in one book. Readers adopt one.
- Abstract principles with no example week or real lists.
- Made-up research to make the method sound scientific.
- No advice for the week the system breaks.
- Inconsistent names for the parts of your system.