Is Your Story Relatable?

“I couldn’t get into this novel. I didn’t like any of the characters.”

“While I feel bad for this author, I felt little attachment to the story told in this memoir.”

“There are interesting factoids here, but no personal info about the author. Why should I trust this author to give me advice?”

Such criticisms are common in online reader reviews. They often accompany low ratings and can drive down the ratings average for a book, making it less appealing to future readers. It’s a situation all authors would prefer to avoid. But how do you ensure your story is relatable to readers?

Most authors, in all genres, begin by writing for themselves. This is sensible and understandable. We’re motivated to put words on a page when the story we’re writing (or having ghostwritten) speaks our truth. However, if your goal is to write a book that will also captivate readers, considering how relatable the story is to others will help you frame the narrative.

When considering relatability, think about the following:

• Who will relate to this? In other words, who is your particular audience? For example, if you’re writing a memoir about caring for your aging parent, others who are going through that experience, or anticipating they will soon, are more likely to connect with your words than a much younger audience with still-young parents of their own, because that younger audience likely has little sense of what your experience might be like. Defining your audience as specifically as possible will help you—and your ghostwriter, if you’re working with one—keep that audience in mind as the writing progresses.
• Which emotions make it relatable? Remember that your audience doesn’t need to experience exactly what you have (or what your characters have) in order to relate to those moments. When it comes to relatability, we’re riveted not by exact experiences, but by emotions. For example, we may have never been skydiving, but if a writer can put us in that moment—making us feel, right along with the writer, the exhilaration (and perhaps terror)—at the exact moment of stepping out of the plane and beginning to freefall, we relate those emotions to exhilarating or terrifying moments in our own history. It’s in these emotional beats that readers connect with characters or narrators.
• If you’re writing nonfiction, how does relatability play into the book’s structure? A common criticism of many nonfiction books, especially some business books, is that they read like textbooks. Readers pick up a nonfiction title because they want to learn about a particular subject or hone particular skills, but most readers also want the narrative to be engaging. The key lies in storytelling—that is, finding ways to intersperse the story into the lessons and facts presented in the book. For example, if you’re an entrepreneur who wants to help others start their own business, you can include brief vignettes about the ups and downs of your own startup(s). As explained above, make sure emotion is part of the story. How did you feel when things went well? What about when something unexpected happened? Capturing the emotions of those moments along with recounting the specifics of what occurred will help readers relate—even if they have not yet had the same experience.

Relatability is fickle, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. However, keeping your audience in mind, focusing on emotions, and making sure to include story, even in nonfiction, all go a long way toward ensuring relatability for your book.

If this sounds challenging, please get in touch. Our team of experienced ghostwriters and editors can help you determine the best path forward for creating an engaging story that truly connects with your audience.