researching a book

Table of Contents

Tip 1: Start with Your Positioning and Outline

Tip 2: make a research plan, tip 3: ask the internet, tip 4: read books, tip 5: talk to experts, tip 6: collect survey data, tip 7: keep everything organized.

• Tip 8: Set a Deadline & Stop Early

Tip 9: Write the First Draft

How to conduct research for your book: 9 tips that work.

If you’re like many first-time nonfiction writers, you’ve probably wondered, “How do I research for my book?”

I get this question a lot, and there are plenty of tips I can share. But before I dive into it, I’m going to throw you a curveball:

Don’t assume you have to do research for your book.

Because the purpose of nonfiction is to help the reader solve a problem or create change in their life (or both) by sharing what you know. If you can do this without a lot of research, then don’t do research.

We’ve had many Authors who knew their topic so inside and out that they didn’t need research. That is perfectly fine. They still wrote incredible books.

When it boils down to it, there are only 2 reasons to do research for your book:

• You know enough to write the book, but you want to add sources and citations to make the book more persuasive to a specific audience.
• You don’t know enough, and you need to learn more to make the book complete.

We’ve had many Authors who–despite knowing their stuff–wanted to include additional data, expert opinions, or testimonials to ensure that readers would find their arguments credible. This is important to consider if you’re writing for a scientific or technical audience that expects you to cite evidence.

Likewise, we see many Authors who know their industry but have a few knowledge gaps they’d like to fill in order to make their arguments more robust.

In fact, that’s the whole key to understanding how much research you should do. Ask yourself:

What evidence does a reader need to believe your argument is credible and trustworthy?

Research can be complicated, though. Many Authors don’t know where to start, and they get bogged down in the details. Which, of course, derails the book writing process and stalls them–or worse, it stops them from finishing.

The bad news? There’s no “right way” to make a book research plan.

The good news? The basic research tips apply for either person.

In this post, I’ll give you 9 effective research tips that will help you build a stronger, more convincing book.

More importantly, these tips will also show you how to get through the research process without wasting time.

9 Research Tips for Writing Your Book

Don’t jump into research blindly. Treat it like any other goal. Plan, set a schedule, and follow through.

Here are 9 tips that will help you research effectively.

Before you start researching or writing, you need to figure out two main things: your audience and your message.

This is called book positioning , and it’s an essential part of the book writing process.

Your job as an Author is to convince readers that your book will help them solve their problems.

Every piece of research you include in the book–whether it’s a survey, pie chart, or expert testimonial–should help you accomplish that.

Once your positioning is clear, you can put together your book outline.

Your outline is a comprehensive guide to everything in your book, and it is your best defense against procrastination, fear, and all the other problems writers face . It’s crucial if you don’t want to waste time on research you don’t need.

With an outline, you’ll already know what kind of data you need, where your information gaps are, and what kinds of sources might help you support your claims.

We’ve put together a free outline template to make the process even easier.

All this to say: without solid positioning and a comprehensive outline, you’ll wander. You’ll write, throw it away, write some more, get frustrated, and eventually, give up.

You’ll never finish a draft, much less publish your book .

If you don’t know your subject well enough to figure out your positioning and make a good outline, it means you don’t know enough to write that book—at least not right now.

Your plan will vary widely depending on whether you are:

• An expert who knows your field well
• Someone who needs to learn more about your field before writing about it

The majority of you are writing a book because you’re experts. So most of the information you need will already be in your head.

If you’re an expert, your research plan is probably going to be short, to the point, and about refreshing your memory or filling small gaps.

If you’re a non-expert, your research plan is probably going to be much longer. It could entail interviewing experts, reading lots of books and articles, and surveying the whole field you are writing about.

The outline should highlight those places where your book will need more information.

Are there any places where you don’t have the expertise to back up your claims?

What key takeaways require more evidence?

Would the book be stronger if you had another person’s point of view?

These are the kinds of gaps that research can fill.

Go back through your outline and find the places where you know you need more information. Next to each one, brainstorm ways you might fulfill that need.

For example, let’s say you’re writing a book that includes a section on yoga’s health benefits. Even if you’re a certified yoga instructor, you may not know enough physiology to explain the health benefits clearly.

Where could you find that information?

• Ask a medical expert
• A book on yoga and medicine
• A website that’s well respected in your field
• A study published in a medical journal

You don’t have to get too specific here. The point is to highlight where you need extra information and give yourself leads about where you might find it. ​

The kinds of research you need will vary widely, depending on what kind of nonfiction book you’re writing.

For example, if you’re giving medical advice for other experts, you’ll likely want to substantiate it with peer-reviewed, professional sources.

If you’re explaining how to grow a company, you might refer to statistics from your own company or recount specific anecdotes about other successful companies.

If you’re writing a memoir, you won’t need any quantitative data. You might simply talk with people from your past to fill in some gaps or use sources like Wikipedia to gather basic facts.

Different subject matter calls for different sources. If you’re having trouble figuring out what sources your subject needs, ask yourself the same question as above:

Ask yourself what evidence does a reader need to believe your argument is credible and trustworthy?

Generally speaking, an expert can do their research before they start writing, during, or even after (depending on what they need).

If you’re a non-expert, you should do your research before you start writing because what you learn will form the basis of the book.

It may sound obvious, but the internet is a powerful research tool and a great place to start. But proceed with caution: the internet can also be one of the greatest sources of misinformation.

If you’re looking for basic info, like for fact-checking, it’s fantastic.

If you’re looking for academic information, like scientific studies, it can be useful. (You might hit some paywalls, but the information will be there.)

If you’re looking for opinions, they’ll be abundant.

Chances are, though, as you look for all these things, you’re going to come across a lot of misleading sources—or even some that straight-up lie.

Here are some tips for making sure your internet research is efficient and effective:

• Use a variety of search terms to find what you need. For example, if you’re looking for books on childhood development, you might start with basic terms like “childhood development,” “child psychology,” or “social-emotional learning.”
• As you refine your knowledge, refine your searches. A second round of research might be more specific, like “Piaget’s stages of development” or “Erikson’s psychosocial theories.”
• Don’t just stop with the first result on Google. Many people don’t look past the first few results in a Google search. That’s fine if you’re looking for a recipe or a Wikipedia article, but the best research sources don’t always have the best SEO. Look for results that seem thorough or reputable, not just popular.
• Speaking of Wikipedia, don’t automatically trust it. It can be a great place to start if you’re looking for basic facts or references, but remember, it’s crowd-sourced. That means it’s not always accurate. Get your bearings on Wikipedia, then look elsewhere to verify any information you’re going to cite.
• Make sure your data is coming from a reputable source. Google Scholar, Google Books, and major news outlets like NPR, BBC, etc. are safe bets. If you don’t recognize the writer, outlet, or website, you’re going to have to do some digging to find out if you can trust them.
• Verify the credentials of the Author before you trust the site. People often assume that anything with a .edu domain is reputable. It’s not. You might be reading some college freshman’s last-minute essay on economics. If it’s a professor, you’re probably safe.

Using a few random resources from the internet is not equivalent to conducting comprehensive research.

If you want to dive deeper into a topic, books are often your best resources.

They’re reliable because they’re often fact-checked, peer-reviewed, or vetted. You know you can trust them.

Many Authors are directly influenced by other books in their field. If you’re familiar with any competing books, those are a great place to start.

Use the internet to find the best books in each field, and then dive into those.

Your book will have a different spin from the ones already out there, but think of it this way: you’re in the same conversation, which means you’ll probably have many of the same points of reference.

Check out the bibliographies or footnotes in those books. You might find sources that are useful for your own project.

You might want to buy the books central to your research. But if you aren’t sure if something’s going to be useful, hold off on hitting Amazon’s “one-click buy.”

Many Authors underestimate the power of their local libraries. Even if they don’t have the book you’re looking for, many libraries participate in extensive interlibrary loan programs. You can often have the books you need sent to your local branch.

Librarians are also indispensable research resources. Many universities have subject-specific research librarians who are willing to help you find sources, even if you aren’t a student.

Research doesn’t always require the internet or books. Sometimes you need an answer, story, or quotation from a real person.

But make sure you have a decent understanding of your field BEFORE you go to experts with your questions.

I’m an expert at writing nonfiction books, so I speak from personal experience. It’s annoying as hell when people come to you with questions without having done at least a little research on the topic beforehand—especially when you already have a 3,000 word blog post about it.

Experts love it when you’ve done some research and can speak their language. They hate it when you ask them to explain fundamentals.

But once you find a good expert, it condenses your learning curve by at least 10x.

To figure out who you need to talk to, think about the kind of nonfiction book you’re writing.

Is it a book about your own business, products, or methods? You may want to include client stories or testimonials.

In Driven , Doug Brackmann relied on his experience with clients to teach highly driven people how to master their gifts.

Is it a book that requires expert knowledge outside your own area of expertise (for example, a doctor, IT specialist, lawyer, or business coach)? You might want to ask them to contribute brief passages or quotations for your book.

Colin Dombroski did exactly that for his book The Plantar Fasciitis Plan . He consulted with various colleagues, each of whom contributed expert advice for readers to follow.

It’s much easier to contact people who are already in your network. If you don’t personally know someone, ask around. Someone you already know may be able to connect you with the perfect expert.

If that doesn’t work out, you can always try the cold call method. Send a polite email that briefly but clearly explains what your book is about and why you’re contacting them.

If you do this, though, do your research first. Know the person’s name. Don’t use “To whom it may concern.” Know their specialty. Know exactly what type of information you’re seeking. Basically, know why they are the person you want to feature in your book.

Some Authors like to collect surveys for their books. This is very optional, and it’s only applicable in certain books, so don’t assume you need this.

But if you want to include a section in your book that includes how people feel about something (for example, to back up a point you’re making), you might want to have survey data.

You might have access to data you can already cite. The internet is full of data: infographics, Pew data, Nielsen ratings, scholarly research, surveys conducted by private companies.

If you don’t have access to data, you can conduct your own surveys with an online platform like SurveyMonkey. Here’s how:

• Consider your research goals. What are you trying to learn?
• Formulate the survey questions. Most people prefer short, direct survey questions. They’re also more likely to answer multiple-choice questions.
• Invite participants. If you want a reliable survey, it’s best to get as many participants as possible. Surveying three family members won’t tell you much.
• Collect and analyze the data.

That will work for more informal purposes, but surveys are a science unto themselves. If you require a lot of data, want a large sample size, or need high statistical accuracy, it’s better to hire pros. Quantitative data is more effective and trustworthy when it’s properly conducted.

Don’t go overboard with statistics, though. Not all books need quantitative data. There are many other ways to convince readers to listen to your message.

Organize your research as you go. I can’t stress this enough.

If you research for months on end, you might end up with dozens of articles, quotations, or anecdotes. That’s a lot of material.

If you have to dig through every single piece when you want to use something, it’ll take you years to write.

Don’t rely on your memory, either. Three months down the line, you don’t want to ask, “Where did I find this piece of information?” or “Where did that quotation come from?”

I suggest creating a research folder on your computer where you collect everything.

Inside the main folder, create subfolders for each individual chapter (or even each individual subsection of your chapters). This is where your outline will come in handy.

In each folder, collect any pdfs, notes, or images relevant to that section.

Every time you download or save something, give the file a clear name.

Immediately put it into the correct folder. If you wait, you might not remember which part of your book you found it useful for.

Also, be sure to collect the relevant citation information:

• Author’s name
• Title of the book, article, etc.
• The outlet it appeared in (e.g., BBC or Wired) or, if it’s a book, the publisher
• The date it was published
• The page number or hyperlink

If you have photocopies or handwritten notes, treat them the same way. Label them, file them, and add the necessary citation information. This will save you a lot of time when you sit down to write.

Some Authors use programs like Scrivener or Evernote to keep track of their research. I personally use the software program Notion, which is similar to Evernote.

These programs allow you to collect references, notes, images, and even drafts, all in one convenient place.

They save you from having to create your own digital organizational system. They also make it easier to consult documents without opening each file individually.

Once you’ve got a system in place, don’t forget: back up your data. Put it on the cloud, an external hard drive, or both. There’s nothing worse than spending hours on research just to have it disappear when your computer crashes.

All of this takes time, and it may seem tedious. But trust me, it’s a lot more tedious when you’re racing toward your publication deadline, and you’re hunting down random data you quoted in your book.

Tip 8: Set a Deadline & Stop Early

Research is one of the most common ways Authors procrastinate.

When they’re afraid of writing or hit roadblocks, they often say, “Well, I just need to do a little more research…”

Fast-forward two years, and they’re still stuck in the same spiral of self-doubt and research.

Don’t fall into that trap. Learn when to stop.

When I’m writing, I set a research deadline and then stop EARLY. It’s a great way to beat procrastination , and it makes me feel like I’m ahead of the curve.

Here’s the thing: there’s always going to be more information out there. You could keep researching forever.

But then you’d never finish the book—which was the point of the research in the first place.

Plus, excessive research doesn’t make better books . No one wants to read six test cases when one would have worked.

You want to have enough data to convincingly make your case, but not so much that your readers get bogged down by all the facts.

So how will you know when you’ve done enough?

When you have enough data, anecdotes, and examples to address every point on your outline.

Your outline is your guide. Once it’s filled in, STOP .

Remember, the goal of data is to support your claims. You’re trying to make a case for readers, not bludgeon them with facts.

If you feel like you have to go out of your way to prove your points, you have 1 of 2 problems:

• You’re not confident enough in your points, or
• You’re not confident enough in your readers’ ability to understand your claims.

If you’re having the first problem, you may need to go back and adjust your arguments. All the research in the world won’t help support a weak claim.

If you’re having the second problem, ask yourself, If I knew nothing about this subject, what would it take to convince me? Follow through on your answer and trust that it’s enough.

When you think you have enough research, start writing your vomit draft.

If it turns out you’re missing small pieces of information, that’s okay. Just make a note of it. Those parts are easy to go back and fill in later.

Notice: I said “later.” Once you start writing, stop researching.

If you stop writing your first draft to look for more sources, you’ll break the flow of your ideas.

Research and writing are two completely different modes of thinking. Most people can’t switch fluidly between them.

Just get the first draft done.

Remember, the first draft is exactly that—the first draft. There will be many more versions in the future.

It’s okay to leave notes to yourself as you go along. Just be sure to leave yourself a way to find them easily later.

I recommend changing the font color or highlighting your comments to yourself in the draft. You can even use different colors: one for missing data and another for spots you need to fact-check.

You can also use the “insert comment” feature on Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or any other writing software you prefer.

Another useful tip is to simply type “TK.” There’s no word in the English language where those two letters appear together. That means, when you’re ready to go back through your draft, you can use the “Find” option (Control+F). It will take you back to all the spots you marked.

Whatever method you choose, don’t stop writing.

Also, don’t worry about how “good” or “bad” it is at this point. No one ever wrote an amazing first draft. Not even bestselling Authors.

Just keep at it until you have a complete first draft.

That won’t be hard because you won’t be missing any huge pieces. The whole point of the outline was to zero in on exactly what you want to write for the exact audience you want to reach. If you followed that outline when you researched, you’ll be able to stay on track during the writing process.

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How to research for a book: 9 ways to prepare well

Deciding how to research for a book is a personal process, with much depending on your subject. Read 9 tips on how to research a novel:

• Post author By Jordan
• No Comments on How to research for a book: 9 ways to prepare well

How to research for a book: Scope, process, tools

• Define the scope of research
• List headline research you’ll need
• Do a ‘quick and dirty’ search
• Lean on .edu and library resources
• Speak to pros and specialists
• Shadow an expert if applicable
• Read authors on how to research a book
• Have a system for storing research
• Stop when you have enough to write

1. Define the scope of research

Research for a novel easily gets out of hand. You’re writing about Tudor England, for example. The next thing you know you’ve read every doorstop ever written about Anne Boleyn.

Define the scope of research you need to do, first.

This is particularly crucial if you’re new to researching novels.

‘Scope creep’ (where the task becomes bigger and bigger, and the focus dimmer) is a common challenge in research.

If, for example, you’re writing a novel featuring the Tudors (rulers of England between 1485 and 1603), ask questions such as:

• What duration within this era will my story span? (e.g. ‘the last five years of Henry VIII’s life’)
• What information is vital to know? If, for example, you’re writing about a monarch firing a particular associate, this will narrow down your research
• What broad picture elements do I need? (For example, a timeline of key background social or political events within a historical period)

Narrow down what you need to learn to the essentials necessary to begin writing.

2. List headline research you’ll need

Once you know the scope of your research, list the big, main events and subjects you’ll need to cover.

For a historical figure subject like Henry VIII, you might have a list of research to do like this:

• Timeline of major events in the king’s life
• Personality – accounts of what the king was like
• Appearance – descriptions of what the king looked like
• Controversy – king’s many wives, execution of Anne Boleyn, etc.

Make a document with a section per each of the core areas of the story you’ll need to research.

Populate these sections with article snippets, links to educational resources.

(Google, for example ‘Henry VIII reign .edu’ to find information from credible learning institutions.)

3. Do a ‘quick and dirty’ search

In learning how to research for a book, learn how to work smart, not hard. Research the way a student with an assignment hand-in due the next day would, to start.

Use Wikipedia (a no-no in academia). You can find broad information and an idea of what to look for to verify and fact-check later on .edu and library websites , or in physical book copies.

Search amateur history blogs, too. There are many subject enthusiasts who have devoted hours to digging up interesting historical and other information and share their learnings for free in blog articles.

If you’re writing about a real place, use Google Maps to do a street-view virtual tour. You can explore cities you’ve never been to before. Read more more on researching place when you are unable to get there.

Note details to include in scene-setting and worldbuilding such as specific landmarks and architectural details.

Get a professional edit

A good editor will help pinpoint major factual inaccuracies and other issues.

4. Lean on .edu and library resources

When deciding how to research for a book, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, favour credible resources.

You can even find fantastic primary source scans and recordings. Some examples of excellent, free online research resources:

• British Pathé : Pathé News, a producer of newsreels and documentaries from 1910 to 1970 in the UK has a rich and varied archive. It includes original footage (trigger warning: disturbing footage of aircraft explosion) of the Hindenburg Disaster.
• Tudor History: Historical .org websites such as this website on the Tudors provide a wealth of research information .
• The Smithsonian has regular online webinars, exhibitions and more where you can learn about a diverse range of natural history topics from experts.

If online research feels overwhelming, consider taking a course in online research skills.

The University of Toronto also put together this thorough list of questions to guide doing research online .

5. Speak to pros and specialists

Learning how to research a novel is made much easier by experts who are happy to share their knowledge.

If you are researching a specific place, language, historical figure, biological or medical issue or another detail, make a list of experts to reach out to.

Explain your fiction or non-fiction project and why you’d value their insights. You’ll be surprised how many are only too happy to contribute accurate, informed knowledge.

You can also find specialist knowledge in online forums devoted to specific subjects.

6. Shadow an expert if applicable

There’s no single ‘right way’ in how to research for a book.

You could take a leaf out of the method actor’s book, for example, and actually job shadow an expert [ Ed note: Once COVID no longer sets stringent limits on contact ].

Depending on the subject or industry, you may have variable degrees of success. For example, shadowing a medical professional has other issues involved, such as patient privacy/confidentiality.

In a roundtable discussion on preparing for roles, British actress Vanessa Kirby described job-shadowing on an obstetrics ward to research a role. Because she had never had a child herself, she wanted to give an authentic performance of a woman in labour (around the 18:15 timestamp).

Writing is very much like acting in this respect: You need to be able to fill in the blanks in your own imagination to prepare.

7. Read authors on how to research for books

In deciding how to research for a book, one also needs to decide how/where to use (or alter) source material. It’s helpful to read authors who write historical fiction and other research-heavy genres. What do they say about process?

Hilary Mantel, for example says this about taking creative license with historical facts:

History is a process, not a locked box with a collection of facts inside. The past and present are always in dialogue – there can hardly be history without revisionism. Hilary Mantel: ‘History is a process, not a locked box’, via The Guardian

8. Have a system for storing research

Research for a book easily becomes cluttered.

How do you keep research tidy and manageable, so that you have the information you need when you need it?

Organise your research for a novel with these apps and tools:

• Google Docs: Outline mode creates a clickable outline of your document in a left-hand panel – perfect for jumping between different categories of research.
• Evernote: This handy app makes it easy to snip bits of articles from your browser into collections to sort and store.
• Sytem folders: Create a folder on your operating system for your project, and subfolders for each research topic.
• Novel Novel Dashboard: You can also fill out character profiles and other prompts on Now Novel using historical sources (see an example below).

9. Stop when you have enough to write

In deciding how to research for a book, it’s important to set a stop point.

Ask yourself how much you really need to begin writing. Need to know what would have been served at a royal dinner in the year 1600? Make a note to add this detail later and describe the details of the occasion you can make up to keep going with your draft.

Balancing research and writing will ensure your research is fit to its purpose – finishing your book with relevant and precise detail.

Need help researching your book? Watch our webinar on writing research (and enjoy future live webinars and Q&A sessions too) when you subscribe to a Now Novel plan.

Related Posts:

• 5 easy ways to research your novel
• Historical fiction: 7 elements of research
• Book ideas: 12 fun ways to find them
• Tags how to research your novel

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

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How to Research for Writing a Book: Tips and Strategies

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Writing a book is a challenging task that requires a great deal of research. Conducting thorough research is essential to ensure that the book is accurate, informative, and engaging. However, researching for a book can be overwhelming, especially for first-time authors. In this article, we will provide some tips on how to research for writing a book effectively.

The first step in researching for a book is to determine the topic and scope of the book. This will help to narrow down the research focus and make it easier to find relevant information. Once the topic is chosen, it is important to gather as much information as possible from various sources. This includes books, articles, journals, interviews, and online resources.

It is also crucial to evaluate the credibility and reliability of the sources used for research. Not all information found on the internet is accurate or trustworthy, so it is important to cross-check information with multiple sources. Additionally, systematically organizing the research material can help to keep track of all the information gathered. By following these steps, authors can conduct effective research that will enhance the quality of their book.

Understanding Your Audience

When it comes to writing a book , understanding your audience is crucial. It is important to know who you are writing for so that you can tailor your writing style and content to meet their needs and expectations. In this section, we will discuss how to define your target audience and consider reader expectations.

Defining the Target Audience

Defining your target audience is the first step in researching for writing a book. You need to identify who you want to write for, their age range, gender, interests, and other relevant demographic information. This information will help you craft a book that resonates with your target audience.

One way to define your target audience is to create a reader persona. A reader persona is a fictional representation of your ideal reader. It includes details such as age, gender, occupation, education level, interests, and hobbies. By creating a reader persona, you can better understand your target audience’s needs, wants, and expectations.

Considering Reader Expectations

Once you have defined your target audience, it is important to consider their expectations. Readers have certain expectations when they pick up a book, and it is essential to meet or exceed those expectations.

One way to meet reader expectations is to research similar books in your genre. Look at what readers liked and disliked about those books and use that information to improve your own writing. Additionally, you can conduct surveys or focus groups to gather feedback from your target audience and use that feedback to improve your book.

In conclusion, understanding your audience is a critical aspect of researching for writing a book. By defining your target audience and considering their expectations, you can craft a book that resonates with your readers and meets their needs.

Choosing Your Topic

When it comes to writing a book, choosing the right topic is crucial. It’s the foundation upon which you’ll build your story, so it’s important to take the time to choose a topic that you’re passionate about and that has potential to be engaging for your readers. Here are some tips to help you choose the perfect topic for your book.

Identifying Your Premise

The first step in choosing your topic is to identify your premise. This is the central idea or concept that your book will explore. It’s the foundation upon which you’ll build your story, so it’s important to choose a premise that is unique and interesting. To identify your premise, consider what you’re passionate about and what you’re knowledgeable about. This will help you narrow down your options and choose a premise that you’re excited to explore.

Exploring Themes and Subjects

Once you’ve identified your premise, it’s time to explore themes and subjects that are related to your topic. This will help you develop your story and create a narrative that is engaging and meaningful. To explore themes and subjects, consider what makes your topic unique and interesting. Think about the themes and issues that your topic raises, and consider how you can explore these in your writing.

Overall, choosing the right topic for your book is essential to its success. By identifying your premise and exploring themes and subjects related to your topic, you can create a story that is engaging, meaningful, and unique. So take the time to choose your topic carefully, and you’ll be on your way to writing a great novel or short story that is both creative and compelling.

Gathering Your Research Materials

When it comes to writing a book, research is an essential part of the process. Gathering the right research materials is crucial to ensure that your book is accurate and credible. Here are some tips on how to gather your research materials effectively .

Primary vs Secondary Sources

Before you start gathering your research materials, it’s important to understand the difference between primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are original materials that provide first-hand information, such as interviews, diaries, and historical documents. Secondary sources, on the other hand, are interpretations or analyses of primary sources, such as textbooks, articles, and reviews.

Both primary and secondary sources can be useful for writing a book, but it’s important to use them appropriately. Primary sources are generally more reliable and accurate, but they can be harder to find. Secondary sources are more readily available, but they may not always be accurate or unbiased.

Finding Credible Sources

Once you understand the difference between primary and secondary sources, the next step is to find credible sources for your research. Here are some tips on how to find credible sources:

Use reputable websites and databases: Look for websites and databases that are known for providing accurate and reliable information, such as government websites, academic journals, and news outlets.

Check the author’s credentials: Make sure the author of the source is an expert in the field and has the necessary credentials to provide accurate information.

Verify the information: Cross-check the information you find with other sources to ensure its accuracy.

Avoid biased sources: Be wary of sources that have a clear bias or agenda, such as political websites or advocacy groups.

By following these tips, you can ensure that your research materials are accurate and credible, which will help make your book more informative and engaging for your readers.

Developing a Research Strategy

When it comes to writing a book, research is a crucial step in the process. Developing a research strategy is essential to ensure that the information you gather is relevant, accurate, and useful. Here are some tips on how to develop a research strategy that will help you write a great book.

Organizing Your Research

Organizing your research is an important step in the research process. It is essential to keep track of the sources you use, the information you find, and the notes you take. One way to organize your research is to use a spreadsheet or a database to keep track of your sources. This will allow you to easily find the information you need when you need it. You can also use folders on your computer to store your research materials. This will help you keep your research organized and accessible.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious offense in the world of writing. It is important to avoid plagiarism by properly citing your sources. When you use someone else’s words or ideas, you must give them credit by citing the source. There are several citation styles you can use, such as APA or Chicago. It is important to choose the citation style that is appropriate for your project and to follow the guidelines for that style.

In addition to citing your sources, it is important to avoid copying and pasting text from your sources. Instead, read the information and then put it into your own words. This will help you avoid unintentional plagiarism.

By following these tips, you can develop a research strategy that will help you write a great book. Organizing your research and avoiding plagiarism are crucial steps in the research process. With a little effort and attention to detail, you can gather the information you need and write a book that is both informative and engaging.

Incorporating Diversity and Representation

When it comes to writing a book, incorporating diversity and representation is crucial to make the story relatable to a broader audience. It is essential to ensure that the characters are diverse, and the story represents various cultures, races, and sexual orientations. This section will discuss how to incorporate diversity and representation in your book.

Addressing Race and Culture

When writing a book, it is essential to address race and culture accurately. It is crucial to avoid stereotypes and generalizations. Researching different cultures and races is necessary to ensure that the characters are authentic and relatable. It is also essential to understand the cultural nuances and how they affect the characters’ behavior and actions.

One way to address race and culture is by including diverse characters in the story. The characters’ backgrounds and experiences should be well-defined, and their actions should be consistent with their cultural and racial identity. It is also essential to avoid tokenism, where a character is included solely to represent a particular race or culture.

Including Disabilities and Sexual Orientation

It is also crucial to include characters with disabilities and different sexual orientations in your book. The characters should be well-developed, and their disabilities or sexual orientation should not define them entirely. It is essential to avoid stereotypes and generalizations when writing about disabilities and sexual orientation.

When writing about disabilities, it is crucial to research the disability and understand how it affects the character’s life. It is also essential to avoid portraying the character’s disability as a tragedy or a burden. Including characters with disabilities can also help to break down stereotypes and promote inclusivity.

Similarly, when writing about sexual orientation, it is essential to avoid stereotypes and generalizations. The characters’ sexual orientation should be well-defined, and their actions should be consistent with their identity. Including characters with different sexual orientations can help to promote inclusivity and break down stereotypes.

In conclusion, incorporating diversity and representation in your book is crucial to making the story relatable to a broader audience. Addressing race and culture accurately and avoiding stereotypes and generalizations is necessary. Including characters with disabilities and different sexual orientations can help to promote inclusivity and break down stereotypes.

Utilizing Technology and Tools

Writing software options.

When it comes to writing a book, using the right writing software can make all the difference. There are various options available in the market, but some of the popular ones include Scrivener, Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Pages.

Scrivener is a powerful writing software that allows writers to organize their research and writing in one place. It offers various features such as outlining, note-taking, and research organization, making it an ideal choice for writers who need to keep track of multiple sources of information.

Microsoft Word is another popular option that many writers use. It offers a range of formatting options and is widely available, making it a convenient choice for many writers.

Google Docs and Pages are also great options for writers who prefer to work in the cloud. Both tools offer collaboration features, which can be useful if you’re working with an editor or co-author.

Online Research Techniques

The internet is a vast resource for writers, but it can be overwhelming to navigate. Here are some techniques that can help you make the most of your online research:

• Use search operators to refine your search results. For example, if you’re looking for information on a specific topic, you can use quotation marks to search for an exact phrase.
• Use Google Scholar to find academic articles and research papers. This can be particularly useful if you’re writing non-fiction or need to back up your arguments with research.
• Use social media to connect with experts in your field. Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook can all be useful tools for networking and finding sources for your book.

Overall, utilizing technology and tools can help streamline the research and writing process, making it easier to stay organized and focused.

Writing Your First Draft

Once you have completed your research and created your outline, it’s time to start writing your first draft. This can be a daunting task, but with the right approach, it can be a rewarding experience.

Creating an Outline

Before diving into the first draft, it’s important to review the outline and make any necessary adjustments. The outline should serve as a roadmap for the manuscript and ensure that the writing stays on track. It should provide a clear structure for the book and help maintain focus and clarity.

When creating the outline, consider the overall writing process and break it down into manageable sections. This will help to ensure that the manuscript is well-organized and flows smoothly. Use bullet points, tables, or other formatting techniques to make the outline easy to read and understand.

Maintaining Clarity and Focus

When writing the first draft, it’s important to maintain clarity and focus. The manuscript should be written in a way that is easy to understand and engaging for the reader. This can be achieved by using clear and concise language, avoiding jargon or technical terms, and using examples or anecdotes to illustrate key points.

To maintain focus, it’s important to stay true to the outline and the overall structure of the book. This will help to ensure that the writing stays on track and doesn’t become too scattered or unfocused. It’s also important to avoid getting bogged down in details or tangents that don’t contribute to the overall message of the book.

In conclusion, writing the first draft of a book can be a challenging but rewarding experience. By creating a clear outline and maintaining focus and clarity throughout the writing process, authors can produce a manuscript that is engaging and well-organized.

Maintaining a Productive Writing Schedule

Setting realistic goals.

One of the most important aspects of maintaining a productive writing schedule is setting realistic goals. It is important to set goals that are challenging yet achievable. This will help to keep the writer motivated and focused on the task at hand.

To set realistic goals, the writer should consider their writing speed, the amount of time they have available to write, and the overall length of the book. For example, if a writer can write 500 words in an hour and has 2 hours a day to write, they can set a goal of writing 1000 words a day.

It is also important to break down the overall goal into smaller, more manageable tasks. This can help to prevent the writer from feeling overwhelmed and discouraged. For example, if the overall goal is to write a 50,000-word book in 3 months, the writer can break it down into smaller goals of writing 1,667 words a day.

Overcoming Procrastination

Procrastination can be a major obstacle to maintaining a productive writing schedule. To overcome procrastination, the writer should identify the root cause of their procrastination. This could be anything from fear of failure to a lack of motivation.

Once the root cause has been identified, the writer can take steps to overcome it. For example, if the root cause is a lack of motivation, the writer can try to find ways to make the writing process more enjoyable. This could include listening to music while writing or writing in a fresh environment, such as a coffee shop or park.

Another effective way to overcome procrastination is to create a schedule and stick to it. This can help to create a sense of routine and discipline, which can help overcome procrastination.

In conclusion, maintaining a productive writing schedule requires setting realistic goals and overcoming procrastination. By breaking down the overall goal into smaller, more manageable tasks and identifying and overcoming the root cause of procrastination, writers can stay motivated and focused on their writing.

Revising and Refining Your Manuscript

Once you have completed the initial draft of your book, it’s time to revise and refine your manuscript. This is an essential step in the research writing process, particularly for nonfiction writers who need to ensure accuracy in their work. In this section, we will discuss two crucial components of revising and refining your manuscript: incorporating feedback and fact-checking and editing.

Incorporating Feedback

One of the most important steps in revising your manuscript is to incorporate feedback from others. This can include feedback from beta readers, writing groups, or editors. It’s essential to listen to feedback with an open mind and consider all suggestions. While it’s ultimately up to the author to decide what changes to make, incorporating feedback can help improve the manuscript and make it more appealing to readers.

Fact-Checking and Editing

Fact-checking and editing are also crucial components of revising and refining your manuscript. For nonfiction writers, ensuring accuracy is essential, and fact-checking is a critical step in this process. This involves verifying all information in the manuscript, including statistics, quotes, and other factual details.

Editing is also an essential step in refining your manuscript. This involves reviewing the manuscript for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors, as well as ensuring the writing is clear and concise. It’s essential to take the time to edit thoroughly, as this can make a significant difference in the quality of the final product.

Overall, revising and refining your manuscript is an essential step in the research writing process. By incorporating feedback and fact-checking and editing, you can improve the accuracy and quality of your work, whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction.

Preparing for Publication

Once the writing is complete, the next step is to prepare the manuscript for publication. This involves a thorough understanding of publishing options and crafting a compelling conclusion.

Understanding Publishing Options

Before submitting the manuscript to publishers, it is important to research the various publishing options available. The author must decide whether to approach traditional publishers or self-publish. Traditional publishing involves submitting the manuscript to a publishing house, which then takes care of the editing, design, printing, and distribution of the book. On the other hand, self-publishing gives the author more control over the process, but requires a greater investment of time and money.

In addition, the author must consider the format of the book. Will it be published as a physical book, an e-book, or both? Each format has its own advantages and disadvantages, and the author must choose the one that best suits the target audience.

Crafting a Compelling Conclusion

The conclusion of a book is just as important as the beginning. It is the last chance to leave a lasting impression on the reader. The author must ensure that the conclusion is satisfying and ties up all loose ends. It should also leave the reader with something to ponder or remember.

One effective way to craft a compelling conclusion is to refer back to the beginning of the book. This creates a sense of closure and reminds the reader of the journey they have been on. The conclusion should also be concise and avoid introducing new information or characters.

Overall, preparing a manuscript for publication requires careful consideration of publishing options and a well-crafted conclusion. By taking the time to prepare properly, the author can ensure that their book reaches its full potential.

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How to organize research for your novel

Follow this step-by-step guide to learn the modern process of organizing research in Milanote, a free tool used by top creatives.

How to organize your research in 7 easy steps

Whether you're writing a sci-fi thriller or historical fiction, research is a crucial step in the early writing process. It's a springboard for new ideas and can add substance and authenticity to your story. As author Robert McKee says "when you do enough research, the story almost writes itself. Lines of development spring loose and you'll have choices galore."

But collecting research can be messy. It's often scattered between emails, notes, documents, and even photos on your phone making it hard to see the full picture. When you bring your research into one place and see things side-by-side, new ideas and perspectives start to emerge.

In this guide, you'll learn the modern approach to collecting and organizing research for your novel using Milanote. Remember, the creative process is non-linear, so you may find yourself moving back and forth between the steps as you go.

1. First, add any existing notes

You probably know a lot about your chosen topic or location already. Start by getting the known facts and knowledge out of your head. Even if these topics seem obvious to you, they can serve as a bridge to the rest of your research. You might include facts about the location, period, fashion or events that take place in your story.

Create a new board to collect your research.

Create a new board

Drag a board out from the toolbar. Give it a name, then double click to open it.

Add a note to capture your existing knowledge on the topic.

Drag a note card onto your board

Start typing then use the formatting tools in the left hand toolbar.

2. Save links to articles & news

Wikipedia, blogs, and news websites are a goldmine for researchers. It's here you'll find historical events and records, data, and opinions about your topic. We're in the 'collecting' phase so just save links to any relevant information you stumble across. You can return and read the details at a later stage.

Drag a link card onto your board to save a website.

Install the  Milanote Web Clipper

Save websites and articles straight to your board. 

Save content from the web

With the Web Clipper installed, save a website, image or text. Choose the destination in Milanote. Return to your board and find the content in the "Unsorted" column on the right.

3. Save quotes & data

Quotes are a great way to add credibility and bring personality to your topic. They're also a handy source of inspiration for character development, especially if you're trying to match the language used in past periods. Remember to keep the source of the quote in case you need to back it up.

Add a note to capture a quote.

4. Collect video & audio

Video and movie clips can help you understand a mood or feeling in a way that words sometimes can't. Try searching for your topic or era on Vimeo , or Youtube . Podcasts are another great reference. Find conversations about your topic on Spotify or any podcast platform and add them into the mix.

Embed Youtube videos or audio in a board. 

Embed Youtube videos or audio tracks in a board

Copy the share link from Youtube, Vimeo, Soundcloud or many other services. Drag a link card onto your board, paste your link and press enter.

5. Collect important images

Sometimes the quickest way to understand a topic is with an image. They can transport you to another time or place and can help you describe things in much more detail. They're also easier to scan when you return to your research. Try saving images from Google Images , Pinterest , or Milanote's built-in image library.

Use the built-in image library. 

Use the built-in image library

Search over 500,000 beautiful photos powered by Unsplash then drag images straight onto your board.

Save images from other websites straight to your board. 

Roll over an image (or highlight text), click Save, then choose the destination in Milanote. Return to your board and find the content in the "Unsorted" column on the right.

Allow yourself the time to explore every corner of your topic. As author A.S. Byatt says "the more research you do, the more at ease you are in the world you're writing about. It doesn't encumber you, it makes you free".

6. Collect research on the go

You never know where or when you'll find inspiration—it could strike you in the shower, or as you're strolling the aisles of the grocery store. So make sure you have an easy way to capture things on the go. As creative director Grace Coddington said, "Always keep your eyes open. Keep watching. Because whatever you see can inspire you."

Download the  Milanote mobile app

Save photos straight to your Research board. 

Take photos on the go

Shoot or upload photos directly to your board. When you return to a bigger screen you'll find them in the "Unsorted" column of the board.

7. Connect the dots

Now that you have all your research in one place, it's time to start drawing insights and conclusions. Laying out your notes side-by-side is the best way to do this. You might see how a quote from an interviewee adds a personal touch to some data you discovered earlier. This is the part of the process where you turn a collection of disparate information into your unique perspective on the topic.

That's a great start!

Research is an ongoing process and you'll probably continue learning about your topic throughout your writing journey. Reference your research as you go to add a unique perspective to your story. Use the template below to start your research or read our full guide on how to plan a novel .

Start your research

Get started for free with one of Milanote's beautiful templates.

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7 Tips for Conducting Research for a Book

Research helps ensure your book rings true with readers. Learn how to get started here.

Book research seems like an obvious and necessary task for murder mysteries and detective novels. Characters need to know how to kill someone and get away with it (or think they will). But knowing the world of your story is important for any book. Yes, if you are writing fiction, and a lot of it is made up. However, real-world settings require authentic details to give validity to your novel.

Nothing takes a reader out of a story faster than an obvious inaccuracy. If their trust in the book is called into question over a small fact, readers may put it down. Worse, they might give it a bad book review on Amazon, Goodreads, or another retailer, all based on a technicality. 

An author friend of mine was writing a scene taking place in Germany and had the main character buy a pitcher of beer for the table. Luckily a sensitivity reader caught the faux pa, pointing out that in Germany, beer is served in steins or glasses (reference any Oktoberfest visual) not in pitchers. That’s a North American tradition.

The need to conduct research is not limited to contemporary stories. Even if your fantasy novel plays by different rules, it’s important to understand magic systems, and understanding actual scientific principles may help inform where and how you break the rules. Writing sci-fi might mean knowing how to design systems to survive vacuum, or a lack of gravity. Horror stories need realism checks on how long a person can stay conscious underwater, blood related details or psychological analysis for characters. Anything written with a historical timeframe has to have facts underpinning the scenery and players. 

If you’re writing a nonfiction book, research can help back up your arguments. Even if you’re writing about your own personal experiences, quantitative data can help show your conclusions are backed by data, or that your experience isn’t an anomaly.  Be sure to include proper citations to your sources. 

The research process might seem tedious and irrelevant. It can take a lot of time, depending on the complexity of the topic. You want to write, not go back to school. But don’t underestimate the importance of setting the proper backdrop, exposing the unique attributes of your character’s physical, mental, or emotional traits and building a richer world for your story.

Whether you’re writing a short story or a novel, self-publishing or seeking traditional publication, it’s important to get as factual details correct the first time. Taking the time to research up front can save you time in the creative writing process. When editing that first draft, you can focus on plot, characters, and sentence structure without worrying about whether those fine details you researched are accurate or not. (Or worse, having to rewrite whole sections of a book if you learn you got something critically wrong.)

‍ “No research without action, no action without research.“

- Kurt Lewin

5 Benefits of Book Research

• Readers will focus on your plot and characters when clear, correct, and specific details are included in the writing. They stay grounded in the story, glued to your tale.  
• Your writing may increase in speed. You know the elements at play thanks to your due diligence, so your mind is not distracted by what ifs or on how to work out a situation. 
• Believe it or not, researching a topic might inspire you. Many times, in my own writing, reading up on a specific detail leads to a new scene, an intriguing plot point, or a deeper connection to the theme of the story. 
• Your research might put you into a scenario, a bit like the metaverse, allowing you to see the possibilities.
• A little prep work up front may increase your speed of writing as you know your facts and don’t have to stop in the midst of a sprint to fact check a detail.
• Your research topic might inspire ideas you can bring to your next book, even if they don’t turn out to be relevant to your current project.

“Do research. Feed your talent. Research not only wins the war on cliche, it's the key to victory over fear and its cousin, depression.”

― Robert McKee

The Big Picture

Consider the world your book takes place in and the implications of each of the following:

• Time period. Where in the history of your world does the story take place?
• Time of year. Does your world have seasons? Annual events? Weather patterns?
• Location. Does the book take place in a big city, countryside, ocean, mountains, space, off-world?
• Character details. What does your character do for a living? What are their likes, dislikes, habits, illnesses, go to phrases, physical attributes, etc.?
• Social Structure: How do the beings in your book relate to one another? Are their hierarchies? Social norms? 

7 Research Opportunities

1- Read up on it

Various forms of reading help you improve multiple areas of your writing. Whether it’s stories in your genre, biographies on your subject matter, tales that help with the big picture items above or the business of writing books , reading is a natural go-to. If you are a writer, you are most likely a reader too, so this should come naturally.

Pro-Tip: Goodreads has user-generated lists of books in their Listopia section. Here you can enter keywords and get a range of books with similar themes.

‍ 2- Use your local library

You may not want to buy every historical book on Abraham Lincoln, and at the beginning of your research, you may not know what you want to focus on. A trip to your local library is a good starting point to assess what you should read. Borrowing the books you need is a great way to access the information without a high cost. 

Pro-Tip: Librarians are a great source of information and may be able to point you toward resources you might not have found on your own.

"Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination. They open up windows to the world and inspire us to explore and achieve, and contribute to improving our quality of life."

-Sidney Sheldon

‍ 3- Google it

Yes, doing a Google search is the default “Plan A” for most of us. Vast amounts of information can be found through search engines. Start with the basics and then refine your search. For example, if your character gets called for jury duty, go to government resources first, then refine to local or personal stories. Use a variety of search terms to discover different resources and go beyond the first few results Google provides. Writing a chase scene set in Paris? Consider using Google Maps to plot the route to make sure it’s plausible. A street view could alert you to interesting shows or local details to reference in your writing.

The internet is a powerful tool, but be careful. Be sure to check your sources, then double and triple check them. Opinions abound and not every source is legit. Even Wikipedia can be biased or misleading. 

“Google' is not a synonym for 'research'.”

― Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol

4- Listen and Learn

Podcasts have exploded in popularity recently, and it feels like there is one for every topic. The beauty of most podcasts is they have outlines for most episodes so you can target your subjects. Plus, you can fast forward to the relevant sections and revisit as needed. 

5- Talk to an expert Ask your friends and contacts for connections to real people who live in the places in your book, or have first-hand experience with / are currently employed in the areas your characters have jobs in. Ask for a short video chat or conference call. Ensure you have questions prepared in advance in order to be respectful of their time. A good idea is to ask if you can record the session. This gives you the time to focus on the conversation, not scrambling to take notes. And most of all, thank these experts for their time. 

Can’t connect with an expert? Try social sites like Clubhouse, where you can join live groups discussions that have experts in the field who are willing to give their time to a topic. You can ask pointed questions and get answers in real time. 

Even social media platforms like Twitter, TikTok or IG are options where you can ask for help. Start with commenting with a question on a relevant post and then using direct messaging if you get a response. 

Pro-tip: Some experts might even want to talk about their passion on an IG live, helping to promote themselves and you while offering your fans more access to your stories. 

“The best research you can do is talk to people.”

- Terry Pratchett

‍ 6- Field research

If you are lucky enough to be close to an aspect related to your story, visit it! For a story on space, go to a museum or observatory. Writing about dinosaurs taking over the earth? Visit a museum, or go to a zoo and study the behavior of modern birds and reptiles. Historical fiction writers might take a trip to the location where their story takes place, or any local historical site for inspiration. 

Think out of the box. If your book takes place in Italy, find a local Italian restaurant.  

If you can’t visit somewhere, see if someone else has. Research YouTube for tours, shows, documentaries on the subject.

‍ 7- Document it

Research means shifting through chunks of content, some of which will be relevant, some not so much once you sit down to write. Don’t rely on your memory to keep this information locked away. Write it down.

Find a structure to document the significant attributes you want to remember. Not all of them will make it into your story, but having a good reference section to refer to in times of need is important. Some options include:

Keep a journal – everything in one place, make sure to note the source of the fact in order to recall it later if needed

• Use index cards - color code them by topic or character for easy sorting
• If you own a book you’re reading to research a topic, consider using highlighters to mark key passages, or jotting down page numbers to make those sections easy to find again later. 
• Dedicate a wall – decorate it with visuals to keep your world top of mind
• Keep it organized - use folders and subfolders as needed to keep relevant information together.
• Create a Pinterest Board – choose the private setting for you or make it public and let your readers get an in-depth look at your world. 
• Use a Character Profile template or make up your own
• Use writing software like Scrivener, Evernote, or OneNote to pull in visuals, links, and content

‍ Perfect is the enemy of progress

At some point, too much information may bog you down. In your effort to master the art of making the perfect martini, you might end up in a debate about shaken vs stirred, gin vs vodka, olives vs lemons. While specifics are what will make your manuscript authentic, not every detail has to be perfect to the letter. While you may attest to the theory James Bond orders his martini’s shaken, not stirred because the little ice chips water down the drink thus allowing him to give the illusion of being more inebriated than his drinking buddies, your readers might not need this level of detail. Consider setting a limit on your research time, so you’re now spinning your wheels here forever, instead of writing.

‍ Knowing when it’s time to stop researching

As you dive deeper and deeper into the world, eventually you will hit a point where the information becomes repetitive. At this point, you have enough research and can start using that knowledge in your writing. Get enough information to feel comfortable with your setting or plot, then move on. You don’t need a doctorate in history or literature to write a story set in ancient Greece. ‍ A word of caution

Your goal at the beginning of your research journey may have been to learn anything and everything about a specific topic or get a clear picture of how your characters feel, act, respond etc., but you don’t need to explain all these details to your readers. Paragraphs and paragraphs of details can distract from your story. One of the aspects that stops many readers from enjoying Moby Dick is the excessive amounts of whale hunting details in the book. Which is a shame because under all those facts is an amazing, rich, and engaging story. 

If your book is a work of fiction, it’s best to choose a few key details to show in your writing. In the places you want to allude to these facts, show is always better than tell . Rather than expounding with a two-page treaty on the techniques of converting carbon dioxide to oxygen, find ways to explain through the characters how the process of breathing affects them, what the dangers are, why they need the converter, etc. ‍ Research is your friend

Every story has some truth to it, every novel rooted in realistic conditions that push and pull the tale. Starting your book with the background of the how’s and what ifs of the world your story takes place in will give it texture, guide your plot, and flesh out your characters into vivid beings. In addition, by removing ambiguity or incorrect details, you build trust with your readers, and they will focus on enjoying the storyline.

Want to read more about indie publishing?

Learn How To Research Your Book With This Beginner’s Guide

• by Paige Duke
• March 27, 2017

Standout Books is supported by its audience, if you click and purchase from any of the links on this page, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we have personally vetted. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever Googled while writing your book? I bet you have some good ones. Writers are always researching the most interesting things in order to write with authority on a wide range of subjects. Research is a necessary part of writing almost any book, regardless of genre or subject matter. Some books require only a quick internet search here and there, while others stretch the limits of your knowledge and have you putting in days, weeks, or months of research before and even during the writing process.

If you’ve never attempted this before, it can seem like a daunting task. But if you build a framework for your research and break the task into manageable pieces, it’s absolutely achievable – and it can even be fun.

Getting started with research

The biggest factor to ensuring successful research is to create a framework or system for your research and allow it to evolve over time as your needs change.

This doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated, but you’ll want some kind of plan for your research before you start, or it’s easy to get lost and waste precious time. It’s therefore best to use a notebook, app, or writing software to make your notes.

Take time to brainstorm about your project. Simply make a list of your topics for research or create an outline or a graphic organizer. The method is up to you, but you’ll want to answer these basic questions in some organized form:

• What are the main questions or topics you need to research?
• Is there an order you need to follow in researching these items?
• Are there smaller subjects within these larger categories?

As an example, let’s imagine you need to research Albert Einstein for a character in your novel. Your outline will vary depending on what role this character plays in the story, but assuming this is a main character, your outline might include some of the following:

• Different styles for different occasions
• Common phrases
• Get examples of dialogue
• Include accent/dialect?
• What did his office look like?
• How did his work interfere with other commitments and relationships?
• Overview of family life
• Nature of his relationships
• How did these beliefs influence his life, work, and behavior?

As you get into your research, you’ll see that this outline needs to change. You’ll need to add or remove items. You’ll need to reprioritize your list. Be sure your framework is flexible and evolves based on your growing needs for the project.

The key here is to have a system that allows you to stay on task . It can be tempting to get lost in your research or use it as a means to procrastinate on your writing. A strong and flexible framework will help you avoid this pitfall .

Knowing where to look

A big hurdle for many novice researchers is not knowing where to begin looking for the answers to their questions. Here are some basic options to help you begin:

• Start with an internet search. You can find a wealth of information online; just be discerning about the websites you trust. Often, you’ll find an overview of your topic in a blog post or museum article (if your topic touches on history) that will draw its information from more detailed sources. If you need to go deeper, you can try to access those original sources.
• Check your local library for books or other media on the subject you’re researching.
• If your subject is based on images or music, tailor your research accordingly.
• News articles, podcasts, and films and documentaries can also be useful sources.

My best advice is to dive in. One source will lead to another source, and another.

Be sure to keep track of all your sources so you can refer to them later. If you’re using a Word document for your research notes, simply use the footnote tool to record your sources. If you’re using a notebook, just jot down the name of the resource alongside each entry. If you’re using software, your options will vary, but there’ll likely be a dedicated option. It’s an extra step that will save you a lot of time later.

Keeping realistic expectations

As a process, research can be unpredictable. You don’t know what you’re going to find and how it’s going to inform your writing. That can sometimes be fun, because you’ll uncover fascinating things you didn’t know before. It can also be incredibly frustrating if you hit a dead end or uncover something that undermines your ideas for the story.

When this happens to you, try not to be stubborn about it. I’ve found the most helpful tools to backing out of a dead end are creativity and flexibility . If you can’t find what you need, ask an expert in the field or a teacher on the subject or a librarian. Ask your friends, colleagues, family members and/or partner if they know anything about this topic. If that doesn’t yield results, try coming at your topic from a different angle or looking at unlikely resources.

If all else fails, don’t be afraid to change your idea. Sometimes your research stumps you because you’re trying to force an idea that’s just not going to work. In that case, no amount of determination will solve the problem. Be flexible. Try alternatives until you find a door opening to you. And, most importantly, try to have fun with the process.

Managing your time

A final word of advice: be conscious of your time. It’s easy to eat up a lot of time on research, especially if you find the process interesting. Set a timer for yourself and stick to it. Don’t let your research time become an excuse to postpone writing. Plan on researching for the long haul. If your research needs are extensive, pace yourself. You don’t want to burn out because you jumped in too deep too fast. Schedule some time daily or weekly to complete your research and stick to the plan.

Research is an amazing tool for writers. It lends credibility to their work, creating a wealth of knowledge from which to draw ideas, characters, and fictional worlds. But research takes work and planning. If you create an organized and flexible system to guide you, and if you’re aware of the time constraints and pitfalls going into it, you’ll be able to make the most of your time.

What tools or resources have helped you most with research for your writing? What was something fascinating or surprising you encountered while researching for your book? Share with us in the comments about a time you relied on creativity and flexibility to solve a problem in your research, and check out  Your Research Can’t Stop With The Internet – Here’s Where To Go ,  How To Make The Most Of Your Research Trip , and How To Consult Experts When Researching Your Book for more great advice on this topic.

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2 thoughts on “Learn How To Research Your Book With This Beginner’s Guide”

Great article, Paige.

I always do tons of research for my stories. For me, that is the most interesting part of writing.

Then I must select what best propels the plot, even when it means “killing my darlings.”

That’s so true, Jim! I can always tell that you’re able to write with authority on your subject because of the time you’ve put in on research. Thanks for commenting!

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9 Hacks for Perfecting Your Book Research

• on Nov 08, 2022
• in Writing Tips
• Last update: November 9th, 2022

Having a book idea could be exciting; you might even feel that adrenaline rush as you sit down to write the first few pages. But before you go any further, you need to collect and fact-check some data to make your book as accurate as it could be. And that’s where doing book research comes in.

If you are a first-time author who doesn’t know where to start, then this article is for you! Here you’ll find everything you need to know about how to do research for your coming book.

Why Do Writers Need to Do Book Research?

While you as an author might be knowledgeable enough about the topic you’re writing about, doing thorough book research is still a necessity. This comes down to two main reasons:

• You want to make the information mentioned in your books more credible so you add citations and sources.
• You don’t have all the information you need to complete the book.

How Long Should Book Research Take?

The duration of your book research mainly depends on two factors:

• What you are writing about, and
• Your knowledge about the topic.

If you are an expert on your book’s subject matter, you might need little to no research at all. Still, fact-checking as you write will give your book more credibility; just don’t let it hinder you from the actual writing process. 

What Are the Phases of Doing Book Research?

The thing about book research is that although it helps speed the writing process, it might take a while. To make the process much easier, quicker, and more efficient, you can divide it into four phases:

• Planning the research, and that’s when you decide on the points that you want to find out more about.
• Doing the research and collecting the information you need.
• Sorting the information and data you’ve found.
• Evaluating this information to decide if it is enough or if you need to do more research. 

Tips and Tricks for Doing Book Research

Now that you have an idea of why you need to do book research, let’s get into the details of how to do it. Even though there isn’t one right way to go about it, the tips we provide here will definitely help! So take a look at these hacks and apply what best suits you.

1. Set Up an Organized Plan

The first step in conducting successful research is to have a proper plan that will save you time and effort. Having a plan also gives you an idea of the time you’ll be consuming on your research. 

In order to make a successful plan, you need to have an outline for the ideas you’ll write about. This will make your research process more efficient as it’ll help you pinpoint the kind of data you need and where there might be any information gaps. You also have to keep in mind who your audience is, as the information you present in your book will depend hugely on whom you are addressing.

2. Check Different Types of Resources

The internet has a plethora of resources for you to explore that can spark your imagination and help you get the additional information you need. Here are a few places that are worth checking out:

• Books: Your first and most valuable source is, of course, books. You can learn and research many things from them such as the authors’ writing style and how to deliver information clearly. They can also open a door to many other resources that could be extracted from them, such as citations and reference lists.  And if you need more similar resources, you can search for other works by the same author or authors who have similar books to the one you’re reading.
• Youtube: You can find many types of videos on Youtube such as documentaries, autobiographies, tutorials, guides, podcasts, and many more. There are, however, some downsides to Youtube that might hinder you a bit with your search. Some videos might be just clickbait and don’t give you the information you are looking for. Others might be too long that it takes a while until you reach the segment with the information you need.
• Question and Answers Websites: Another place that’s worth checking is websites where people ask questions about the ideas you have, such as Quora , Answers.com , and Ask a Librarian . Some other authors might have had the same topic to research and needed help. So, surprisingly, you might find good recommendations from people there.  But what if you can’t find what you’re looking for? You can post your questions on those websites and you’ll be surprised by the amount of new and interesting information you’ll find from other people’s replies.  
• Scholarly Publications: Reputable sources like scholarly publications can really help with your research because they are usually well-written and informative. And you can find all the citations inside. They can be in the formats of journals, theses, dissertations, or autobiographies. You can find these resources using Google Scholar or other .edu domains. Remember, however, to double-check the author’s credentials as some of the resources found there could be essays published by first-year college students.
• News and Magazines Articles: There are many reputable magazines in various fields where articles are published by researchers and scientists. You can also find news pieces written by experts and journalists that can provide great data for your book. But just like scholarly publications, make sure that these articles are written by accredited writers.
• Statistics and Surveys Websites: Sometimes you have the right information but you just need to back it up with numbers and figures. That’s where statistics and survey websites come in; they allow you to search for any topic and provide you with the data you need.  You can use websites like Google’s Data Search and Statista , or you can start your own survey (using survey creation websites like Google Forms and Survey Monkey ) and get as many people to answer it as you can.
• Field Trips: It’s often said that nothing equals first-hand experience, and this isn’t totally wrong. Sometimes you might need to be physically present in certain places to collect the data you need. For example, if you are writing about Indian cuisine, it’s a good idea to go to India and taste the food made by its people. This will give your writing so much depth and authenticity.

3. Seek Others’ Expertise

Seeking the help of experts can assist a lot with the research process. These experts could be other writers who can give you valuable tips or sources to use in your research. Or they can be specialists in the field you are writing about who know exactly the answers you need. 

If you are writing a romantic renaissance novel, for example, you don’t just need to know about relationships. Talking to a historian who specializes in that era can help in bringing your story to life, as they provide you with all the details might not know about.  

4. Stay Focused

As a writer, you need as few distractions as possible to be able to complete your tasks. You need to focus on the main goals of your research so you don’t end up with useless ideas. This can happen because sometimes as you’re researching a certain topic, you may come across other unrelated yet interesting materials that lead you astray. That’s why it’s essential to stick to the main points of your planned outline.

5. Set a Deadline

If you are prone to procrastination, you might use research as a way to delay the actual writing process. One thing that will keep you on track is setting a deadline for yourself so the research process doesn’t take longer than it should. 

The amount of information out there is endless, and you can go on researching forever. So when your deadline approaches, just make sure you have just enough data that supports your book argument; you don’t need to overload your readers with irrelevant facts.

6. Use the Right Keywords 

When searching online, it is important to use the right keywords in your search engine to get the desired search results . You want to get as accurate results as possible because using vague words will only result in finding unrelated sources. Instead, narrow down your search by being as specific as you can.

For example, if you are searching for “medieval names”, you’ll probably get thousands of results that might leave you confused. Narrow down your options by specifying the gender and location. Try searching for “medieval German male names,” which will give you much better results if that’s what you were looking for in the first place.

You can also use other online search hacks that will help you get the desired results fasters.

7. Stay Organized

Make sure you’re writing down your research results while you’re researching so you don’t lose any ideas. You can do this by bookmarking your findings on your browser, printing and keeping them in an actual folder on your desk, or by using digital notebooks like Evernote or OneNote . Having all your resources in one place will make the writing process way easier later on.

As you organize your resources, make sure to collect the following information about each one. This will make it easier to get back to them whenever you need: 

• Author’s name
• Date of publication
• Name of the book or article 
• Hyperlink or page number
• Where this information was found (website name or publisher)

8. Outsource If Possible

The research process could be daunting for some authors. That’s why outsourcing this process could be a better idea as you focus on writing instead. But you don’t want to hire anyone for the job; they should be knowledgeable in the topic or field that you are writing about. You can use websites like Fivver or Upwork to hire a freelancer who would do the job for you.

9. Start Writing Your Draft

Now that you have the information you need, start writing your first draft. As you write, you may discover that you’re missing some pieces of information, and it’s totally fine. Just make sure you finish writing the draft first before going back to researching; otherwise, you’ll lose time and focus. Some writers even finish their first draft before doing any research at all; so do whatever works best for you .

To make it easier for you to find the missing information later, here are some techniques to use while writing:

• Use the abbreviation “ TK ” in place of the missing information. It stands for “to come” and can be easily found in the document using Ctrl+F, as no other word in the English language has these 2 letters consecutively.
• Highlight the parts with missing information in red so you could easily spot them.
• If you’re using Google docs, Microsoft Word, or any other word processing tool to write your draft, you can add comments on the side for the parts where you need to do some extra research.

Final Thoughts

Conducting book research can be very tricky and tiring, but having the right tools and knowing a few tricks will save you a lot of time and effort. The main key is to be patient and explore different resources. And always remember to remain organized so you don’t lose track of all the data you’ve collected.

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How to Research a Nonfiction Book: 5 Tips for Writers

That you’ve landed here tells me you have a message you want to share in a book.

You’re eager to start writing, but you first need to conduct some research.

Problem is, you’re not sure how to research for a nonfiction book .

You may even wonder whether research is all that important.

You may be an excellent writer, but even a small factual mistake can cost you the credibility of your readers.

Over the last half-century, I’ve written over 200 books, 21 of them New York Times bestsellers. So I ought to be able to write a book on my area of expertise — writing and publishing — based on my experience alone, right?

I wouldn’t dare write such a book without carefully researching every detail. Because if I get one fact wrong, my credibility goes out the window. And I’d have only my own laziness to blame.

Thorough research can set your book — your message — apart from the competition.

As you research, carefully determine:

• How much detail should go into your book
• Whether even if it’s interesting, is it relevant?
• To remain objective and not skew the results to favor your opinions
• To use research as seasoning rather than the main course (your message)

As you weave in your findings, always think reader-first. This is the golden rule of writing.

Your job is to communicate so compellingly that readers are captivated from the get-go. This is as important to how-to manuals and self-help books as it is to a memoir .

• 5 Tips for Researching Your Nonfiction Book

1. Start With an Outline

While the half or so population of novelists who call themselves Pantsers (like me), who write by the seat of their pants as a process of discovery, can get away without an outline, such is not true of nonfiction authors.

There is no substitute for an outline if you’re writing nonfiction .

Once you’ve determined what you’d like to say and to whom you want to say it, it’s time to start building your outline.

Not only do agents and acquisitions editors require this, but also you can’t draft a proposal without an outline.

Plus, an outline will keep you on track when the writing gets tough. Best of all, it can serve as your research guide to keep you focused on finding what you really need for your project.

That said, don’t become a slave to your outline. If in the process of writing you find you need the flexibility to add or subtract something from your manuscript, adjust your outline to accommodate it.

The key, again, is reader-first, and that means the best final product you can create .

Read my blog post How to Outline a Nonfiction Book in 5 Steps for a more in depth look at the outlining process.

2. Employ a Story Structure

Yes, even for nonfiction, and not only for memoirs or biographies.

I recommend the novel structure below for fiction, but — believe it or not — with only slight adaptations, roughly the same structure can turn mediocre nonfiction to something special.

While in a novel (and in biographical nonfiction), the main character experiences all these steps, they can also apply to self-help and how-to books.

Just be sure to sequence your points and evidence to promise a significant payoff, then be sure to deliver.

You or your subject becomes the main character in a memoir or a biography. Craft a sequence of life events the way a novelist would, and your true story can read like fiction.

Even a straightforward how-to or self-help book can follow this structure as you make promises early, triggering readers to anticipate fresh ideas, secrets, inside information — things you pay off in the end.

While you may not have as much action or dialogue or character development as your novelist counterpart, your crises and tension can come from showing where people have failed before and how you’re going to ensure your readers will succeed.

You might even make a how-to project look impossible until you pay off that setup with your unique solution.

Once you’ve mapped out your story structure, determine:

• What parts of my book need more evidence?
• Would another point of view lend credibility?
• What experts do I need to interview?

3. Research Your Genre

I say often that writers are readers.

Good writers are good readers.

Great writers are great readers.

Learn the conventions and expectations of your genre by reading as many books as you can get your hands on. That means dozens and dozens to learn what works, what doesn’t, and how to make your nonfiction book the best it can be.

4. Use the Right Research Tools

Don’t limit yourself to a single research source. Instead, consult a range of sources.

For a memoir or biography, brush up on the geography and time period of where your story took place. Don’t depend on your memory alone, because if you get a detail wrong, some readers are sure to know.

So, what sources?

There’s no substitute for an in-person interview with an expert. People love to talk about their work, and about themselves.

How do you land an appointment with an expert? Just ask. You’d be surprised how accessible and helpful most people are.

Be respectful of their time, and of course, promise to credit them on your Acknowledgments page.

Before you meet, learn as much as you can about them online so you don’t waste their time asking questions you could’ve easily answered another way.

Ask deep, fresh, personal questions unique to your subject. Plan ahead, but also allow the conversation to unfold naturally as you listen and respond with additional questions.

Most importantly, record every interview and transcribe it — or have it transcribed — for easy reference as you write.

World Almanacs

Online versions save you time and include just about anything you would need: facts, data, government information, and more. Some are free, some require a subscription. Try the free version first to be sure you’ll benefit from this source.

On WorldAtlas.com , you’ll find nearly limitless information about any continent, country, region, city, town, or village.

Names, time zones, monetary units, weather patterns, tourism info, data on natural resources, and even facts you wouldn’t have thought to search for.

I get ideas when I’m digging here, for both my novels and my nonfiction books.

Encyclopedias

If you don’t own a set, you can access one at a library or online . Encyclopedia Britannica has just about anything you’d need.

Here, you can learn a ton about people, places, addictions, hobbies, neuroses — you name it. (Just be careful to avoid getting drawn into clickbait videos.)

Search Engines

Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and the like have become the most powerful book research tools of all — the internet has revolutionized my research.

Type in any number of research terms and you’ll find literally (and I don’t say that lightly) millions of resources.

That gives you plenty of opportunity to confirm and corroborate anything you find by comparing it to at least 2 or 3 additional sources.

The Merriam Webster online thesaurus is great, because it’s lightning fast. You couldn’t turn the pages of a hard copy as quickly as you can get where you need to onscreen.

One caution: Never let it be obvious you’ve consulted a thesaurus. Too many writers use them to search for an exotic word to spice up their prose.

Don’t. Rather, look for that normal word that was on the tip of your tongue. Just say what you need to say.

Use powerful nouns and verbs, not fancy adjectives and adverbs.

Wolfram Alpha

View this website as the genius librarian who can immediately answer almost any question.

Google Scholar

This website offers high quality, in depth academic information that far exceeds any regular search engine.

Library of Congress

A rich source of American history that allows you to view photos, other media, and ask a librarian for help if necessary.

Your Local Library

The convenience of the internet has caused too many to abandon their local library. But that’s a mistake. Many local libraries offer all sorts of hands-on tools to enhance your research effort.

Evaluating your sources

When researching your nonfiction book, be aware that not all sources are equal, especially online.

Bias and misinformation run rampant, making it hard to distinguish between fact and misinformation.

Simply Googling your topic can lead to an array of conflicting sources with varying messages.

Be judicious by comparing with other sources what you’ve gleaned so you can determine the most prevalent and plausible result.

Primary vs. secondary sources

First-hand accounts from witnesses to or participants in an event or with full knowledge of an area of discipline are ideal. Live or online interviews, autobiographies, diaries, original documents, data reports, video/photographs/audio, etc., are best as primary sources 

Secondary sources are comprised of interpretations of, commentary on, or conjecture related to primary sources. Examples: books, analysis of data, scholarly articles, and documentaries.

Source Evaluation Checklist 

1. How new is the information?

Relevancy is important.

If your research results in contradictory information because some sources are old, it might make sense to cite both the old and the new in your book to show how things have evolved. But also be careful not to assume the latest information is more reliable. If it’s merely trendy, it might soon become obsolete.

2. Who’s the intended audience?

Consider the intended audience of the source itself. 

Is the material meant to educate? Entertain? Is it an overview or is it someone’s thesis?

3. Is the source really an expert?

What do their reputation and credentials say about them? How long have they studied their discipline? Do other experts back their views?

4. Can you verify the source?

Trustworthy sources don’t exist in vacuums.

Do your due diligence to be sure your source is generally accepted and trusted. Are they associated with a well-known institution or are they board-certified in their area of expertise? Are they quoted by fellow experts?

5. Who published the source?

Take into consideration any bias on the part of the source that may affect their trustworthiness.

In the 1950s, before it was widely accepted that smoking was harmful, tobacco companies funded research to counter mounting scientific evidence that cigarettes were linked to serious health problems.

So look beyond the author of your source and investigate who funded and published it.

The bias may not be as obvious as misrepresenting the health effects of tobacco, but it will affect the credibility of the information.

5. Avoid Procrastination: Set a Deadline

At first glance, researching for your nonfiction book may sound like homework, but it can be fun. So fun it can be addicting — the more we learn, the more we tend to want to know.

Many writers use research as an excuse to procrastinate from writing.

To avoid this, set a firm deadline for your research, and get to your writing. If you need further research, you can always take a break and conduct it.

• Time to Get Started

There’s no substitute for meticulous research and the richness it lends to your nonfiction writing. The trust it builds with readers alone is worth the effort.

Start with your outline, and before you know it, you’ll be immersed in research and ready to begin writing.

I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

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How to Write a Book: Everything You Need to Know in 20 Steps

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How To Research Books: 7 Helpful Steps to Follow

Are you wondering how to research books? Take a look at a few steps you should for the research process for a fiction or nonfiction book.

Conducting book research can be a significant challenge. Whether you are writing nonfiction, historical fiction, or even a fantasy novel, all of the best books have a lot of research involved in the writing process. Therefore, you must ensure you have enough information before writing your first draft. Even though the subject matter can vary significantly from genre to genre, you must have a proven process to ensure you have the correct information to start your next book.

All of the best sellers start from scratch, and the best-selling authors often spend a lot of time at local libraries, on the internet, and talking to book marketing professionals to make sure they put themselves in the best position possible to write a solid book.

Whether you are writing your first novel or have been writing for many years, what are a few writing tips you need to follow for book research?

Materials Needed

Step 1: get yourself organized, step 2: start reading, step 3: use different types of media, step 4: explore different locations with real-world research, step 5: research your style, step 6: know when to go back for more research, step 7: cite your sources, tips for conducting research.

If you need to research for your next book, you must ensure you have suitable materials. Some of the materials you need include:

• A computer with a solid internet connection
• Writing utensils and a notepad you can use to take notes
• Folders and subfolders to store complex information, preferably with tabs you can use to keep the labels organized
• A printer if you need to print out research materials from sources such as Wikipedia
• Possible photo books and home videos if you plan on using your personal experience
• A recording device if you plan on conducting interviews with real people for further research

Once you have all of these materials, it is time to start researching the subject matter for your next book. If you plan on interviewing people, remember to prioritize their time. You can review your books or watch your videos almost any time, but the person you want to interview might not always be available. Try not to change the interview time once you schedule it.

How To Research a Book

If you are running a fiction book, you need to think about your plot details, historical period, context, setting, and characters to help you get your story started. If you have a nonfiction book, you should have the historical context, the author’s perspective, and the source’s reliability. This information will inform your perspective on the source material.

Regardless of whether you are writing a novel or short story, there are several steps you need to follow, including:

Before you start researching, you must make sure you get yourself organized. You might have hundreds of pieces of information, but if you have a disorganized mess, you will have difficulty figuring out what to use and when. You might also have a hard time figuring out where certain information came from if you need to consult the source later.

Every writer is a bit different, so think about how to keep yourself organized. A few ideas you may want to consider include:

• Use a folder or binder labeled sections for different portions of your research. For example, have one folder for settings, one for characters, and one for historical research.
• Make sure you have a designated digital folder on your hard drive. That way, you always know where everything is located when you need to pull something up for your fiction book.
• You may want a notebook for various clippings that could be a source of inspiration for your next fiction novel.

You might even want to take advantage of a program specifically designed for people who write novels, such as Scrivener or Evernote . They can make it much easier for you to keep track of your research As you move along. 

If you love writing, there is a good chance that you already love reading. Reading is an excellent way to start your next novel because you can use those novels as a source of inspiration. Whether you want to read online articles, newspapers, or books, try to read as much as possible. Of course, you should try to read texts in your specific genre, as they will let you know what people are interested in. On the other hand, it can also be helpful to branch out and explore different types of writing from other genres.

You can figure out what writing styles you like and don’t like. If you are concerned about how much money it will cost to read these different books, you may consider visiting your local library. You should also use the internet to not only research but also to read. 

If you are researching a nonfiction book for a book report, you may want to start with Google Scholar, as it is a great way to access many academic sources in one place. Sometimes, Google Scholar can even help you with your citations. If you have a membership to a library at a local university, you may want to look at surveys, photos, magazines, and journals. It may also benefit you to interview active people in the field.

By talking to experts, you can figure out how to accurately tell your story. Remember to have your notebook with you so that you can take notes on the different types of books and articles you read. You might come across a few ideas you can use for later. 

You might also want to look at documentaries, YouTube videos, and even podcast or radio reviews that discuss the book you’re researching. They can serve as possible sources of inspiration. For example, a professional book citric might have a slightly different take on your research book. Their perspective could serve as a nice counterpoint or foil to your stance. Or, they might have some evidence you can use to support your point of view. If you find something from the video or interview you like, be sure to write down the time stamp. That way, you can return to it later when you start writing. 

Sometimes, stepping out from behind your desk can be helpful, and explore different places. For example, if you want to write a story about the deep sea, you may want to go on a scuba diving trip. If you want to write a thriller about a hiker who tries to tackle a tall mountain, you might want to take a hike yourself. It might even be possible to visit some of the physical locations you want to write about in your story. Along the way, don’t forget to talk to a few people. This will give you some insight into life in that location. That way, your book will be more compelling. 

Do not forget that you must also think about your writing style. Even though you may have all the pieces for a beautiful story, you need to figure out how to tell it. Some of the tips to keep in mind include:

• You may want to explore a few quick writing exercises to help you perfect your word choice.
• You might want to figure out how to create tension in your story.
• Don’t forget to learn how to punctuate dialogue to prevent it from going on forever.
• You may want to look at what other writers in your field have done in the past. It could also help you figure out how you want to perfect your writing style.

Once you are done, don’t forget to start writing! Once you start putting things on the page, everything will fall into place. 

After you have an outline down on paper, you can start writing. You can take a look at the outline, compare it to your sources, and begin to fill in the gaps. On the other hand, you need to know when to do more research. There might be situations where you feel like you have enough, but in reality, you need more. In that situation, follow the footnotes. If you have a source that you really like but feel like you need more information, take a look at the information in the footnotes. It could be a helpful resource you can use to fill in the gaps. 

Before you wrap up your research paper, you must appropriately cite your sources. For example, if you are researching a book for a book report, see if there is a recommended citation style. The rubric might tell you to use MLA, APA, or Chicago Style. Make sure to use the appropriate citation style for the report. If you have trouble citing your sources, you might want to use a citation generator to help you.

First, go back to the original source and see if there is a recommended citation style. You might also be able to find another source that cites the source you are using. If so, you might be able to use their citation for your book report. Citing your sources is critical because you don’t want to get accused of plagiarism.

You should keep a few essential tips in mind as you go through the process. Some of the top tips for researching books include:

• Do Not Procrastinate: Procrastination is your enemy. No matter how long you think research will take, it will always take longer. Therefore, give yourself plenty of time, particularly if you have to reach out to people for interviews.
• Recent Sources Are Usually Better: If you have many sources available, recent sources are usually better. This is because they tend to follow the best practices in the field. While it might be acceptable to use older sources for historical research, you should try to use newer sources for just about everything else. It is not unusual for older sources, which were once accepted in the field, to be debunked by newer, more recent research.
• Save It: Do not trust your memory. Not only do you need to remember what was talked about, but you need to remember it accurately. That is why you should always save it. Have a backup copy of your data. Put hard pieces of paper in a folder—record interviews. You will not be able to remember everything from memory.
• Trust, But Verify: Even though you should trust the research you see, you must verify it. Always think about the quality of your sources, and check them against other sources you come across during your research. In addition, you must make sure you portray the story accurately.
• Don’t Forget To Start Writing: Eventually, you will need to stop researching and start writing. Even though it can be challenging to figure out when to stop researching, you should take a break from time to time and refer to your outline. Remember that you can always go back and conduct more research if you have to. 

You should embrace the research process, as it is an important part of writing fiction and nonfiction books. Many sources are available, and it is up to you to decide which sources are most relevant to the topic. Remember that using one source for multiple research papers is acceptable as long as it remains relevant. The more practice you have with research, the better you will get at it. 

Every good story has a hero and a villain. Our guide to the protagonist vs antagonist explains what every storyteller must know.

If you still need help, learn how to analyze a character in your favorite story.

Meet Rachael, the editor at Become a Writer Today. With years of experience in the field, she is passionate about language and dedicated to producing high-quality content that engages and informs readers. When she's not editing or writing, you can find her exploring the great outdoors, finding inspiration for her next project.

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The Creative Penn

Writing, self-publishing, book marketing, making a living with your writing

How to Research Your Book With Vikki Carter, The Author’s Librarian

posted on October 18, 2021

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:05:51 — 53.5MB)

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How do you research a book in the most appropriate way? How can you keep track of your sources and attribute them correctly, as well as avoiding inadvertent plagiarism? How can you get your book/s into libraries? Vikki Carter talks about all these questions and more.

In the intro, Has Amazon Changed Fiction? [ New Republic ]; The Bigger the Publisher, The Blander the Books [ The Atlantic ]; A basic income pilot scheme for artists [ Irish Times ]; Struggles we face as authors [ 6 Figure Authors ]; My 5-day solo walk along the St Cuthbert's Way .

This episode is sponsored by Publisher Rocket , which will help you get your book in front of more Amazon readers so you can spend less time marketing and more time writing. I use Publisher Rocket for researching book titles, categories, and keywords — for new books and for updating my backlist. Check it out at www.PublisherRocket.com

Vikki Carter is the author of Research Like a Librarian: Research Help and Tips for Writers for Researching in the Digital Age .

You can listen above or on  your favorite podcast app  or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.

• Overcoming dyslexia and learning to love books
• Research as a discipline
• Choosing where to focus research
• Different ways to research your book

How do we know when a source is good enough?

• How to avoid accidental plagiarism
• How to cite sources
• How to get your books into libraries — this article will also help .

You can find Vikki Carter at  TheAuthorsLibrarian.com and on Twitter @theauthorslib

Transcript of Interview with Vikki Carter

Joanna: Vikki Carter is the author of Research Like a Librarian: Research Help and Tips for Writers for Researching in the Digital Age . Welcome, Vikki.

Vikki: Hi there, Joanna. Hi, everyone.

Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you today about this because I think it's so important.

Before we get into it, tell us a bit more about your background because I know you struggled a bit in your early experiences with books.

Vikki: Oh, I did. And it's such an interesting part of my story and I just actually started to talk about it with people as I wrote my first book.

When I was younger, in elementary school, I had a speech impediment and I also was a very slow reader and very slow learner. We didn't discover this until about halfway through first grade.

When I was in school, I didn't talk very often, which surprises everybody when they know me now, like all she does is talk. I really struggled with reading and seeing words formulate on a pag e or on a chalkboard. My brain couldn't quite grasp that concept.

Now we know it's dyslexia, and it was very severe dyslexia. But at the time when I was little, I didn't know that. And then compounded with a speech impediment, I just turned super shy because I would get teased all the time, as kids do that.

So when I was little, I wouldn't go out and play on recess very often. I would hide myself away in the libraries of our schools because the librarians were awesome. They let me come in, get books, and I'd always get picture books. I would sit and I would look at the picture books, trying to decipher how the pictures were related to the words until I did get some help.

I had two amazing teachers that identified that there was some possibility of some help for me, and I started with speech therapy and then we started with reading and writing therapy . So about the fifth grade, I caught up a little bit with everybody else but I've always been painfully slow reader and a very painfully slow writer.

That experience of being around the library and the librarians, it became a sanctuary to me. So books have become my sanctuary now.

Joanna: I think for many of us, the library is a sanctuary . It certainly was for me as an introvert child, totally bookish. I spent a lot of time in the library and I think that's why so many of us care about libraries now. It's because of how they've affected us in earlier life.

You actually became a librarian, is that right?

Vikki: I did. I had this interesting journey to a librarian. It was a little later on in life. I went back to college/university as an adult student with two children in tow and I wasn't sure what I really wanted to do. I kept going back to the idea of books, writing, researching, but I didn't know how that would work out into a career.

It didn't really dawn on me as a librarian until I started to work in the school district where my daughters were and I worked in the school library, and I'm like, ‘Oh, this could be a thing.' It dawned on me.

I started to go back to school and I ended up working at the public library in our area while I was working on my bachelor's because I really felt like I wanted to have a broad experience.

I worked in the public library, and I loved that. And then finally when I started on my master's, I was recruited to work at the community college library in our area in the library department. I finished my master's and stayed with academic library work. So that was my journey.

I didn't come out of high school, go right to college. I lived a life, traveled with my kids and husband, and then went back to school as an adult and I landed in the library world and I absolutely loved it. And now I'm in higher education. I work as a librarian as a faculty member as well as a faculty member for university online.

Joanna: I love your story because I really think that dyslexia, speech impediment, slow learner, all these words that you say, many people would think, ‘Well, you'll never have a future with books.'

But you know what, it's not a problem with books, it's a problem with seeing how the words fit in a page, as you say, and in the world. I love that you've come through that and I know, obviously, you help other people and there are lots of people listening who know people with learning difficulties, I guess, we call them now. I hope that encourages people if their kids are going through it or whatever, or even as an adult.

It's not that you need to fix it — because you're not broken — but there are ways that you can adapt either yourself or the world to make it make sense.

Vikki: Yeah. And that's exactly what I learned. I didn't learn that out of the bat. I did feel like all the way through high school that I was broken. Even when I was working, I worked in journalism in high school in our newspaper, and I had a teacher, she was really harsh on me, and instead of sitting down and helping me find the tools to edit my work, she was really a challenge for me to work with.

It wasn't until I got older and in college and started working with adult education myself, I realized there's some awesome tools out there. For dyslexics, the number one awesome tool is audio. Having things read back to you in an audio version or having somebody else read it back to you, or even reading it back to yourself, that's going to help you find a lot of your errors.

When I discovered that, I'm like, ‘Oh, the world is now open. Forget it. I'm writing my books.'

Joanna: Oh, excellent. I'm so glad. So let's get into this book then.

Why is research important regardless of genre and how can it help us as writers?

Vikki: I love that question, and it's a question I get asked a lot.

As a librarian, I really believe that authors can have their voice strengthened very well with excellent research, and it gives their voice an awesome authority .

Research is a discipline, just like the writing craft is a discipline, and it's a learned discipline. None of us came out of the womb knowing how to write epic novels and most of us don't come out knowing how to do excellent research.

Research is a higher-level thinking skill. As you're processing questions that you may need to go define and redefine your storyline, it's actually helping you in a higher-level thinking.

I look at it this way, the truth is in the world. There's a lot of literary voices out there and not all of them are necessarily excellent in their researching skills. But what makes researching fabulous for authors is it lends to their voice.

Let me give an example of that. You probably have seen this before in conferences or in online chats or whatever with an author and an author's character or plot development or even some of their aspects of their work was challenged by a reader. “That didn't really happen that way,” or “I don't believe that's realistic.”

With those challenges come the opportunity for authors to really show their authority in their voice if they've done research prior to writing.

Even if it's a fantasy world, I believe that you can do some research to really lend to authority and it strengthens author's voices because it gives them the ability to stand up on what they've created.

I have to stop and say, not all challenges are necessarily meaningful for authors to get into. Some are just based on subjective ideas or taste or value, that kind of a thing. But as far as an author goes, if they had a source that inspired them and they have research that helped inspire them creating their world, their story that they're telling, and they do get challenged, what's really great is that authority gives them the ability to stand up on what they've created.

I really feel like when authors do research well, that's what that authority in creating their voice is all about.

Joanna: And yes, just to stress, this is for fiction and nonfiction. I think you're right, you have to choose what you research.

I was just thinking then around Tom Clancy, well-known for highly technical details of certain guns and tanks and things, and I couldn't care less about that, but if you read one of my novels, you're going to get the architectural details of a particular cathedral. And if we find a work of art, it's going to be described in an exactly researched way.

You have to choose what you're going to research. It doesn't have to be every single thing.

Vikki: Exactly. For example, I'll give you an example of a book I'm working on right now is around the planning of the city that I live in. It's going to have its hundredth-year anniversary in two years, its birthday. And I live in one of the original homes.

For a long time, I've had the idea of writing historical fiction around the planned city in the 1920s. And it was literally planned by the lumber baron and there's tons of history around it.

I'm not going for accuracy here. I really want to tell the story of the feeling of what it would have been like to come and live here and help build a city.

Even though I'm researching a lot about what the buildings would have looked like and how they would have created the city and all the ups and downs it would have done, I'm not going to go accurate detail verbatim. There's already a book out there that tells that in a factual way.

I'm going for that as an inspirational way to give the feeling of what it would have been like for the people that came here to help build that city. That's inspiration, but I still have to do a tremendous amount of research.

I'm not living in the '20s and I'm looking for firsthand accounts of those experiences, if I can find them, and read what their words were, and then I'm retelling that story in a fictional version of it.

Joanna: You mentioned firsthand accounts there, so that would probably be newspapers or maybe books at the time. I love to go places. Physically visiting, obviously difficult in the pandemic, but I find that going places really helps me find details that I find interesting.

What are some of the other ways that authors can do research?

Vikki: I love it. I call what you just described living research. The traveling to different regions, even going online and watching travel channels, TV shows, YouTube channels, things like that are what I consider living research. Anything that you do in your daily life to be considered research, amazingly enough. So that's one thing.

The other thing is in the digital age, we can definitely conduct research online . But I would always encourage authors to steer clear of just doing research on just Google or Wikipedia, to totally broaden themselves. I talk a lot in my book about academic library websites, museum websites, using library research guides on academic libraries .

There's a wealth of information out online that is reliable besides Google and Wikipedia. Google and Wikipedia can be useful but online, you can go to so many things. I had a girlfriend remind me how great YouTube is for doing some research. And so there's just a lot on there.

The other one that I really encourage individuals, authors to use is to conduct research using what I call expert witnesses or firsthand accounts . In the digital age, we have such a great opportunity for that because there's many libraries, major libraries, like here in the United States, the Library of Congress has done a lot of digital archiving of firsthand interviews of individuals from all parts of history and they have volunteers that do this, that will go out and interview individuals from their past, in the 1920s, and even beyond if they got those.

They're putting those in digital records so that people can go and listen to those firsthand accounts, as well as a lot of journals and newspapers and those kinds of things are being digitized . So you can access those things, which I feel are a goldmine for an author.

And then also, I feel like everybody kind of looks at research as going to these big, gigantic caverns of a library, the big archives and dusting off the old books and sitting there, and I think that is valuable and it's fun and you can do that. When the pandemic, I think, comes back, we could go do some of that again.

But it also is not necessarily the most effective way of doing research because it's hard to really grasp what's going on in those gigantic archives. Luckily for us in the digital age, most major libraries are putting a lot of their archives in museums and things like that are putting their collections online for us to do research .

Joanna: I researched Cologne Cathedral, they only recently just put on this amazing 3D scrolling thing. So you could stand at different points in the cathedral and then turn the mouse and things and look up to the ceiling and see the colors. I really just wanted to go to Cologne and see the cathedral.

Vikki: Isn't it fantastic? I think there's a lot more of that because I saw at the beginning of the pandemic, I put together a whole bunch of resources for my students who are adult students, on museums that were trying to get people to visit virtual museums and there were so many of them and they're keeping them online. It's phenomenal to me.

Joanna: It's definitely changed since the pandemic started. I think in the first sort of six months, they didn't do anything, and then suddenly, there was this acceleration of everything going online. So that's really good.

I think one of the issues is when a source is good enough. And again, that will depend on the situation. Say, for example, I watched a video at an Appalachian snake-handling church.

Vikki: Right up my alley.

Joanna: It was about an hour and it was actually a church service in the Appalachian Mountains and I essentially just wrote down what I saw and that became my first scene in my thriller End of Days .

In a way, it doesn't matter so much in that situation whether I got specific details right because it was for fiction, but I still got enough right for that to matter. But if it's nonfiction, if it's, like you said, historical fiction, which people get really upset about, how do we know when a source is good enough? Like you said, don't just use Google or Wikipedia. Even these days with plenty of self-publishers out there.

Vikki: That's such a great question, Joanna, and that's what us librarians call information literacy . It's what we teach in academic universities to our students and it's something that I feel like everybody in this decade needs to know an understanding of information literacy because there's so much vast information out there.

There's quite a few criteria that us librarians like to teach, but I boiled it down to three of them and made it really easy with the letter A: accuracy, authority, and aim .

When you're looking at a resource, if you can remember those three things as you're evaluating, using that higher-level thinking skill as you're looking at a source, there are some things that you need to really consider.

How accurate is information are you using? And now that might be where your question comes from, right? How accurate is, I don't know. Do I need to go and look for other sources that show me that this was accurate? And that's a possibility.

Does that source show authority? Who put that source out there? What is their authority? And I'll go into some of the questions in that in a second.

Aim is what is the objectivity of that particular source? What's the whole point of what they're doing? Why are they sharing their information with the world? And so for accuracy, does that information correlate and line with information you can find in other reputable sources?

For example, for you with that source, that if you really wanted to use it in historical fiction or maybe nonfiction, you can go and verify if that is how a church setting would have been done possibly through other sources and you can collaborate those two together and then you can say, ‘Okay, this is accurate'?

For authority , the credentials, the background of the authors, the training and the experience of the authors, and that could be the creators, that's something you might have to do a little digging on to see, what is their background? Do they have any authority to be talking about this subject?

In that example that you gave to us, it might have been their pastors that wanted to evangelize using the medium of showing off what they do. What's their background? I would seriously be doing digging on the background, because that's just me, but that's kind of one thing you want to look for in authority.

And these are just one question. In my book, I have quite a few more questions that authors can ask as you're evaluating sources. And finally, I missed one, aim.

Aim : what is the purpose of this particular piece, the source, this content? Are they trying to sell me something? Are they trying to persuade me? If so, you know, what is that that they're trying to sell? What are they trying to persuade? What are they trying to give, you know, that information? What's the point of it?

If you can remember those three things and do that higher-level thinking , and then finally try to collaborate your source as close to a primary or an original or an authoritative source as possible, then that is going to be the best you're going to get for knowing if this source is good enough and reliable enough.

Joanna: I think that's great. And again, we're not suggesting that authors need to do this for every single thing that they're writing about, it's more a case of, when you said aim, the aim of the source but also your aim as the author is important to know how much you should research and when it's important .

One of the things that I find very important when I'm researching is if I'm reading a book, I will write notes in quotes. So if I am copying a quote down, I've got quote marks.

At the top of the page, it will say the book name and the author name, and then I'll have quote marks and then I'll have my own thoughts, won't have quote marks. So that's a way that I make sure that I keep information in a certain way.

What are your recommendations for keeping notes as we research so we don't plagiarize or do something bad?

Vikki: I love it. And your example is exactly what I would suggest. Here's one thing I wanted to touch on as far as the last few things I talked about. There's a difference between, and this needs to be talked about in your notes too, is what is used for your inspiration and what might be used for actual source, like, quoting, right?

Joanna: A quote.

Vikki: Yes, a quote. So what I do in my notes, which is really important is I will also write, how will I use this work, or how is this work or this source going to be used in my work? I'll just do how to use it.

If it's for inspiration, I'll just say for inspiration or inspirational idea or something like that. But if I'm going to be using it for direct quotation or whatever that, then I'll say, ‘Use for direct quotation on this topic.' My memory is not fantastic so I have to make sure I put down in my notes that.

Note-taking is probably one of the best questions I get all the time and notes are really about a personal preference but I think notes should be incredibly short for memory purposes . And I think that's where people get a little sidetracked or put off on doing research is that they're like, ‘Oh my gosh, I gotta take all these notes.' And in reality, you really don't.

What you need to be doing is writing at least the title, the author, possibly the publication of the information, how you accessed it because I don't know about you, Joanna, but like I said, my memory can be bad and I could forget where that book, I found it, or where that online source was that I found.

And then again, paraphrasing. You can paraphrase what that source is talking about . If it's a document that has some data, statistics data for deaths in the 1920s, that I was really going for one thing, right, then I'll say, ‘This talks about examples for A, B, and C.'

And then like I said, how am I going to use that in my work? That's kind of the minimum when it comes to note-taking, in my opinion.

All of the title, author, publication, all that, that can all be handled very well with a citation.

If you're using an online citation generator, which I talk about a little in my book and also I talk about in a workshop that I'm going to be doing here soon, how to do that, you can cut out a lot of that with just getting all of that, the reference information in that and then use the rest of that note of paraphrasing what the source is about and how are you going to use it in your work. And that's really to help your memory.

Joanna: I think that citations, footnotes, etc., I think they are very common in academic books and certain types of nonfiction. But with fiction or even just more pop-nonfiction like I write, I use appendices, I use an author's note, I use a resource list.

Obviously, if I quote people within the text, that's usually a nonfiction and I'll have their name and the book and everything, but I personally don't use footnotes or citations but I always, in my fiction, if you read the author's note, I'm going to tell you where I got the ideas and also a book list. I always have a bibliography as well.

You said there about using citations, but what should authors do? What's the minimum? We have to do something.

Vikki: I love this question. I just had this conversation with another author on our Patreon group this weekend because we were talking about this. This is in my mind how I separate the two, and this is for fiction.

Nonfiction, we've already established. For most nonfiction, almost all nonfiction, there will be some sort of citations, in-text citations, or at the end, there'll be a list.

For fiction, where do we come into this? That's where the number one question I get a lot, in fiction, what are you talking about, Vikki? Why do I need to do this?

I love when authors use author notes or they use acknowledgments in fiction work at the end where what inspired them or how this world or this book or storyline was created from resources that they've used, and they somehow let me know what those are.

As a reader, I love that because once again, that goes back to the authority of the author . I know they've taken the time to do some higher-level thinking about their storyline, and even if it was inspiration.

What I challenge fiction authors, regardless if you use a source or not and it was just inspiration, you should at least keep it in your personal notes as a log of what those research basics were, which is the title of the book, possibly how it inspired you, or the source, and how you did use it or you planned on using it in your book, for two reasons.

One, you never know when that inspiration is going to hit for something else later, for another storyline or another book. Number two, once again, if there's ever a reason for any sorts of challenges from anywhere, you know that you can go back, ‘Oh, wait, I know how this inspiration came.'

You can go back to your notes and you can verify where that inspiration came and you can address anything that may come up . It doesn't always come up. I don't want people to think that every book is going to get challenged but it is very uncomfortable in a situation when it does happen. And it just lends to that authority as an author that says, ‘I know how I created this book in this world and it was inspired by people.'

I also believe that keeping a log of what inspired authors in your work is giving a kind of acknowledgment to where you're inspired is very important. So that's that karma aspect in my mind.

If you do that at the end of your fiction book and say, ‘This is what inspired me,' that also gives the readers an opportunity to explore other opportunities of how this writer was inspired, which gives the reader more knowledge of who you are as a writer. And that also just brings in so much good things for writers in my world.

Joanna: I agree with you. As a reader, I want an author's note. I get upset if there isn't one.

Vikki: I do too.

Joanna: I want the book list and I will often go and follow, and this is for fiction, let alone nonfiction. And then it was interesting hearing you talk because I've definitely always done this, I have a lot of journals and I write out notes from books and things. So I've always got a kind of log but I realized that not everyone does this in the same way.

What we're also saying is it's important to do it for acknowledgments and attribution to stop plagiarism.

Vikki: Absolutely.

Joanna: The other thing is we can try our very hardest and something might creep in that we didn't mean. I'm assuming that people are not doing it on purpose.

How can we make sure we have not plagiarized someone else's work even if we didn't do it on purpose?

Vikki: When I get asked this question, that's the number one thing I like to point out. As a librarian, especially in the academic world, I've had to be involved in cases where students had been flagged for their work for plagiarism. And what's interesting in all the cases, which there have been a few, right, in my world, I have discovered when I sat down and talked with that student, and we'll call them an author at this point, I find out that it's not intentional.

Almost 99% of plagiarism is unintentional . Now, if you're asking the question, how can I avoid plagiarism, it's pretty safe and sound that you're probably not going to plagiarize.

The intentional plagiarism is a whole different animal, and I wrote a piece just recently that came out here in the United States , about how I was actually plagiarized at the very beginning of my writing career when I was very young, and the devastation that happens for the writer when you realize your work was intentionally plagiarized and how to recover from that.

But as far as how to avoid plagiarism, there's some really wonderful aspects that every writer, author should remember, and this goes for if you're doing this in your notes or if you're going to use this in your work.

If you do use quotes or somebody else's work in your work, you can use signal words, which means ‘according to' and there's quite a few lists of signal words that you can use to indicate that you're not the one that's speaking these words, even if you paraphrase.

And then you should paraphrase. You should never directly take somebody's work, cut and paste and put it directly into your work and claim it as your own . I know that sounds very basic but you would be surprised how often that happens.

Once again, I don't think it's intentional. I think what happens is that people will use a cut and paste as a marker for them to go back and try to remember to rewrite that or re-paraphrase, but then they forget, they get rushed or whatever and they don't do that. And so that's where it's just best not to cut and paste.

What's best is to immediately paraphrase in your notes or in your work what that author was saying, and then acknowledge that, acknowledge who the original creator was . And then once again, citations are valuable.

If you do those in your own work when you go to publish, or in your notes, I think that will help to keep us from accidentally plagiarizing because it really is not intentional for a majority of people.

Joanna: You're exactly right. Do not cut and paste or copy and paste . If I want to describe, let's say, Cologne Cathedral, I do not copy and paste from Wikipedia into my Scrivener document.

What I might well do is open up my notebook and copy out from Wikipedia, Gothic spire, whatever, I might write down words that come from Wikipedia, but into my Scrivener, I am then paraphrasing from my written notes.

And we should say, it is okay to use a direct quote in quotation marks as long as either you have permission or it is fair use . So for example, me quoting one line out of a very long book is completely fine, me quoting a song lyric is not okay.

Vikki: Song lyrics are a nightmare. Just stay away from the song lyrics.

[From Joanna: For more legal info on fair use, lyrics etc, check out The Self-Publisher's Legal Handbook by Helen Sedwick]

Joanna: Yes, exactly. So I think you're exactly right. The main thing is do not cut and paste or copy and paste from one thing into your master manuscripts. I think that's a good point. However, where you take your notes is a different place to what your actual manuscript is.

What about plagiarism checkers?

ProWritingAid has one, So does Grammarly , etc.?

Vikki: They're useful and I think they're valuable that you can run your pieces through plagiarism checkers. We do instruct our students in the university that they have to do that before they submit to us for grading. You cannot have more than I think it's 20% of anything. It will trigger us to just immediately kick it back to a student and say, ‘Okay, let's have a discussion about how you handle citations, notations, and things like that.'

I think that if you're really that concerned about your writing as far as if you're plagiarizing or not, I think the first step is to really practice paraphrasing in your notes first and practice creating citations. And then if you've done all that and you still are concerned, then run it through a checker.

I feel like if you really work that higher-order level of paraphrasing a source, you're probably not going to plagiarize, but it could be possible that you do.

Joanna: Even with paraphrasing, still, let's say I paraphrase an idea that came from someone else.

Vikki: Oh, heavens. Acknowledge where you got that inspiration . Absolutely.

Joanna: Exactly.

Vikki: And that is a professionalism. That's giving credit where credit is due . And unfortunately, not everybody does that. We just have to look at blogs, writing blogs, or whatever, and there's been a lot of controversy over that not happening and it's devastating. So in all honesty, if you're going to paraphrase, give credit to where that inspiration is.

Joanna: You mentioned karma, it's about respect, it's about copyright . As you said, it's professionalism. Also, it's about marketing each other.

With my nonfiction, in particular, I always look for author friends who I can quote things from so that I can link to their books.

Vikki: Yes. I did that with my book with you.

Joanna: Thank you.

Vikki: You talked very distinctly, and it was funny because I was listening to one of your books and I was writing mine and you were talking about Wikipedia and not cut and paste. I'm like, ‘Oh, I don't even have to say it. Joanna just said it so I'll just quote her in the book.'

Joanna: Exactly. And we want that. As authors, we want other people to quote our work in a respectful way and link back to us , and then it creates this web of referrals.

I think what we're saying is it's a very positive thing to quote people, to cite people, to reference other people, and that that is an important part of the process.

Vikki: It really is. And what it does as well is, once again, it gives that authority to the writer because it acknowledges that that writer is exploring their craft and their world and they're learning from others and they want to share what they've learned from others and they're presenting that to their reader from what they have learned from somebody else in an authoritative way.

That lends authority to your voice when you do it and you do it correctly and you give credit and then it just does create that really great community connection for readers as well as in the writer's community.

Joanna: Absolutely. So the book is Research Like a Librarian and many listeners want to get their books into libraries.

As a librarian, and what are your tips for authors on approaching librarians in an appropriate way rather than just like, ‘Hey, here is my book?'

Vikki: Appropriate way is fantastic. You just said the right word, appropriate way. So this comes all down to, once again, a lot of things.

Some of the keys to remember to getting your book in a library is I am a big believer in relationship building and libraries and librarians are humans as well. And so the appropriate way is to start out by thinking about getting your books in the library as a relationship builder as well.

If you haven't already connected with that library somehow, it's probably really important to get connected with that library without selling your book first , if there's a way that you can do that.

Prior to COVID, there's a lot of libraries, local libraries, and other libraries that will hold events, call for speakers, especially authors. They love to bring authors in.

If you jump on that, then you can get to know those individual players in the library that might be the potential buyers. And that's where it comes down to doing a little bit of research as well because in the library industry and in the library world, there are specific purchase requirements and criteria for every library. Not every person that stands behind a desk at a library is going to be able to purchase a book for the library. There's very specific guidelines.

For example, the public library that I worked at, we could make formal recommendations to our library director and he would take the written document that we had, we could email to him if we had a book we wanted him to purchase for the collection, and then he would take those, and he only had a budget and a specific time that he would be purchasing.

So that's another thing you need to remember is that the library doesn't have infinite amount of funds . Most libraries are funded by municipal properties, taxes, things like that, and they have budgets, and they will only do some spending at certain times of the year for books as well.

That's where that relationships of getting to know people in the library and also doing your research on them, you're going to be able to target when you do your pitch for them to buy in a more appropriate manner. What would happen with us is that he would take all those recommendations and when it was time for him to purchase, he would go through the catalogs. So that's another tip.

You have to know what distribution that library is going to be purchasing from. As independent authors, we now have great opportunities to get our books in specific distributions to be able to get your books into the hands of libraries.

Joanna: On that, is it e-book, print book, audio, does it still work for print?

Vikki: Libraries, from what I've heard in the industry, is they are going a lot with e-books as well. Print is fantastic but they tend to be more expensive. So they can purchase more and have access more for e-books .

There is just the issue with some libraries of how they distribute those to individuals. But there is a lot of availability for e-books as well. I want to share with the listeners two amazing resources that I have found about this particular question. And one is really funny because it's on your page. It's from Eric Simmons and his book marketing, how to get your book into a library .

I think it was a couple of years ago, he was on your website, and he wrote an article about it and it is phenomenal. I read it quite a few years ago, when it came out, and I have it bookmarked because it's one of the best resources.

He has done a great job of laying out some steps for authors on how to approach libraries, what distribution, and he also give a phenomenal resource for how he did it, his own database, and his email, his professional email pitch that he used for those libraries that he didn't have a working relationship with.

I highly recommend finding that on Joanna's website because if you're asking that question, that's a great resource.

And then Anne Merrick on the Alliance for Independent Authors Advice Center, she also wrote a really great article , I think was a year ago, about this subject. And the Alliance for Independent Authors Advice Center also has several other articles about how to get your e-books into libraries and it's very up to date as well. So those are two awesome resources.

You just have to remember that it's really about a relationship-building first, getting to know how that library purchases, and where they purchase, and what type of items, we call them items in the library, they will purchase, when they purchase, and then how to professionally pitch your particular book to them . And it's all going to come from some sort of relationship that you're building.

Now, if you're doing research in that library, that's your key in. So if you're already there asking questions about your book while you're writing it and you've made connections with the librarians at that time and you acknowledge those librarians in that book, there's a pretty vast chance that they're going to purchase that book for the collection. So that's a great tip right there.

Joanna: That is great. I would also say my tips on this are to publish wide.

Make sure your e-books, print books, and audiobooks can be bought by libraries . And the second thing is ask your readers to ask .

Vikki: Oh, I forgot about that one.

Joanna: It's a great one. So, of course, anyone listening, you can ask your library…you should be able to do this pretty much anywhere in the world now, ask your librarian to order your favorite authors' books or mine or Vikki's into your library .

I have found that that's pretty much how my books have appeared in libraries is because readers have actually asked for them to be put into the catalog. Even if they're on something like Overdrive, I think most libraries…that's a digital e-book catalog.

Vikki: It is their main one. Yes.

Joanna: And people still need curation in some way. So asking your readers to ask librarians for your books is a really good way .

Vikki: Here's the hierarchy that I'm going to share with you as a backstage person in the library. If a patron, we call them patrons in the library world, but they are people that come and use the services, they make a recommendation for a book, that gets put up on a higher order than if a library staff member does , because automatically that indicates to the buyer – the buyer can be the library director, it could be a subject matter expert, meaning a reference library in history, depending on how big the library is, there may be specific librarians that do specific purchasing as well.

If a patron or a customer comes and makes a recommendation, that goes up a little bit higher on the list than any other recommendations, including recommendations from blogs or publishers.

Joanna: Oh, that's exciting.

Vikki: I forgot about that tip, Joanna, because it's really important, and it's because there's already an audience that they know that is going to possibly check out this book.

Where us as authors, purchasing books is important, in a library, how often that book gets checked out or circulated is another importance because circulation numbers matters. That's what keeps the doors open.

If it's a high-demand book that there's a lot of people asking to have it available in the collection, it's going to be patrons asking, it's going to be more than likely they're going to get that book purchased.

Joanna: That is a great tip. So lots more tips in your books.

Where can people find you and everything you do online?

Vikki: I've got a lot going online. So my website is theauthorslibrarian.com , and that's specifically for where you can go to purchase my book.

You can visit my new growing YouTube channel because I'm trying to do a YouTube channel with discussing these topics. I will be doing an online course for authors on research and I do have a checklist for authors on how to avoid plagiarism. So there's a checklist there.

I'm on social media, Vikki J. Carter is my main Instagram, but I also have Authors Librarian. I live on Instagram. That's the one I prefer. But I do have a Facebook and Twitter. I'm very visual so Instagram lends to that for me.

Joanna: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for your time, Vikki. That was great.

Vikki: Thank you, Joanna.

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How to Research a Historical Novel: Escape the Research Rabbit Hole

by Guest Blogger | 0 comments

It doesn't take any research to know that historical fiction writers love spending time in history books, digital archives, museum exhibits, and library collections—and that's just in our spare time!

But how do we keep that research from overshadowing the actual writing of our books? How do you research a historical novel without getting lost in the research rabbit hole?

This guest post is by Susanne Dunlap, author of twelve works of historical fiction for adults and teens. You can find her newest book The Portraitist here and find all her books and courses on her website susanne-dunlap.com. 

Face it, none of us would write historical novels if we didn’t love the research. If we’re lucky enough to go to historical archives, the very smell of the dust, the idea that the materials and primary sources were handled by people decades or centuries ago, gives us a thrill.

And when we discover something others have overlooked, maybe that little fact that gives us something to hang an entire plot on—pour the champagne! History inspires us, it amazes us, it fascinates us—it torments us.

Research is wonderful and essential. But it can so easily commandeer all our time and energy.

How far do you need to go to track down a person or a date? What if you can’t go to places or get ahold of archival material? Do you have to know everything about the historical period and place and characters in your novel?

Won’t readers be waiting with red pens to circle any little thing you get wrong, or take exception to your interpretation of a historical character’s motives?

And what about the sheer volume of material we now have access to, thanks to the Internet and online archives? One thing leads to another and then another and then another. Before we know it, weeks have passed and we’ve got tons of research but haven’t put a word on a page.

How to Escape the Overwhelm of Research

I had to let go of that tendency to remain mired in research in a hurry when I was forced to research and write a complete manuscript in a year. It had been sold on a one-page proposal.

As I wrote, I remember being certain that someone would take me to task for changing the year a composition by Chopin was published, which I had to do in order to make my story work. But no one cared in the end.

That’s when I first learned that the story comes first, history comes second—a lesson I've had to learn over and over. Story first, history second.

That may sound like sacrilege coming from someone who started writing historical fiction after being in the academic world—a PhD in music history from Yale.

In academic articles, it really mattered that I’d consulted every known source, verified everything and didn’t categorically state something unless I knew it was backed up with historical sources and facts. I learned that the hard way, submitting articles for peer review. Ouch.

When I chose to start writing historical fiction, the research obsession was still deeply ingrained. For the sake of readers and my own sanity, though, I had to learn how to subjugate research to story.

I don’t mean being inaccurate or anachronistic (when a detail is in the wrong time period such as a television in 11th century Europe). I mean becoming comfortable with the necessary limits and with using my own imagination to fill in any gaps.

When My Research Turned Into a Rabbit Hole

My novel The Portraitist is a good example. I started working on it—on and off—seven years ago. Then, I was researching Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun, the bitter rival of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (protagonist of The Portraitist ), thinking she would be the focus of my story.

There was so much material about her, so many paintings, a Metropolitan Museum exhibition of her work, and her own three-volume autobiography—published when she was very old.

Not only that, but because she was the official portraitist to Marie Antoinette, I felt obliged to research everything about the doomed queen and the true events surrounding Louis XVI’s court.

Through that research, I discovered a close friend of Elisabeth’s, another artist: Rosalie Bocquet Filleul. What a story there!

She married the concierge of the Château de la Muette and became concierge herself after his death. She produced several pastel portraits of royals, and—perhaps more interesting—took a number of likenesses of her neighbor in Passy, Benjamin Franklin.

When I discovered that little fact I had to start researching Benjamin Franklin, his life and politics and how he ended up in that diplomatic residence next door to Rosalie Filleul—of whom he became very fond, not least of all because she was stunningly beautiful.

The rest of Rosalie’s story was poignant and tragic. She ended up guillotined because she auctioned off some chairs that belonged to the Château (I argue she was destitute and nearly starving).

So I wrote a manuscript that encompassed the stories of all three of these remarkable women. How could I leave anything out?

Turns out, I should have. That manuscript was a monster. Too long, too complicated, and I couldn’t do justice to any of the women. I had Too. Much. Information.

How to Set Research Limits

Now, of course we love stumbling on all that good stuff, those intriguing tidbits and interconnections. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do that—there’s no “should” about this.

My point is that at some juncture, you have to let go of the idea of “everything,” or the idea that you have to be the expert, and set your limits.

What limits? You might ask. There are several ways you can rein in your research so it really serves your story.

Once you’ve done enough research to figure out the primary story you want to tell, map it out. I mean that both literally and figuratively. I’m not an outliner by nature, but I’ve learned—again, the hard way—that it’s important to know a few basic things:

1. The time period of your story present.

This may seem obvious. Of course you know what time period you’re writing in!

What I’m suggesting here is that you take a good, hard look at how much of that stretch of time you really want to use.

While there may be a case for covering the entire real life of a historical figure, that sort of endeavor is best left to a biographer. You’re looking for the period bounded by the exact moment that triggers the action in your story, and the exact moment when your protagonist’s arc of change is complete.

Put another way, the moment at which the story question is answered.

You’ll no doubt have researched things around this historical time period, and that’s good background information. But you only really need to look in depth at the historical events that directly affect your protagonist.

2. The places where the story is set.

This is possibly a little easier. I’ll give you a simple example: The Portraitist takes place before, during, and after the French Revolution. But it’s set entirely in or near Paris.

To get even more precise, the primary locations are the Louvre, Versailles, the Château de Bellevue, and a suburb of Paris called Pontault en Brie.

No doubt a lot was going on in other parts of France, and of course, there’s that whole American Revolution that had an impact on the French, but it didn’t impinge on my protagonist’s life. Not Adélaïde’s, in any case. (I axed Benjamin Franklin when I focused the story away from Rosalie.)

Once you have that all mapped out, you can get the vital everyday life information about how your characters get from place to place, how long it takes, whether it was comfortable or a huge pain, how much it might have cost, etc.

I did say you still have to do a lot of research, didn’t I?

3. The main characters.

Another obvious one, but if you keep reminding yourself that the focus is on your protagonist and one or two others, you might avoid amassing research that would only bog down your story if you tried to include it.

And maybe you’ll stop yourself from digging into the life of an interesting but peripheral character (did I mention Benjamin Franklin?) when you should be working on getting those words on the page.

4. Finally, give your research the necessity test.

This is simple: Ask yourself as you start diving into that rabbit hole if what you’re looking for is absolutely necessary.

If you don’t have that piece of information you’re looking for, will something important be missing from your book? Think it over. If the answer is no, then you're likely creating the dreaded info dump.

Once you’ve set your limits, organization is your best friend.

How to Organize Your Research

I have one word for you (and I’m not being paid to say this): Scrivener .

Even if you don’t want to use it as a drafting tool, it has so many great features, not the least of which is that you can use it to gather and organize all your research, even import Web pages so you don’t have to go hunting for that bookmark you forgot what you called or where you put it.

If you’re tech savvy, you can also add metadata to make it easy to search.

And if you’re REALLY tech savvy, you can sync it with another great tool, Aeon Timeline . It would take a long time to explain all the benefits of this app for historical novelists, so I’ll leave it to you to go and check it out. The good news is that neither of these apps is very expensive.

Of course, spreadsheets work too, if that’s your comfort zone. But I recommend at least giving these tools a look.

What you’ll probably find when you start organizing all your research is that having to do so gives a good view of what’s essential and what’s not. You can keep it all, but putting it in folders by priority or time span is a sanity preserver.

Do the Research, but Write the Book

My tips above won’t let you off the hook for doing good, solid research. But they may help you give yourself permission to be more focused, to not have to know absolutely everything.

Sure, you’ll write along and discover a gap in your knowledge that you need to fill in order to tie something together or provide a motivation—or just move your characters around from place to place. So be it.

Do that research when the need arises, don’t try to anticipate every eventuality at the start. It’s all about giving yourself permission.

You want to get that draft written. I want you to get that draft written. So embrace the limits and get organized!

Where do you get stuck in the research process? What tips have helped you learn when to stop, so you can get back to your writing? Share in the comments .

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Here's how to set your reading goals and read more books in 2024

Mansee Khurana

Even if you're someone who reads regularly, it can be hard to keep up your reading goals. Jackie Lay /NPR hide caption

Even if you're someone who reads regularly, it can be hard to keep up your reading goals.

Trying to read more can be a hard habit to stick to – even if you're someone who regularly reads a lot.

Just ask Nadia Odunayo, the founder and CEO of The StoryGraph, a book recommendation website with over a million users. Odunayo said that when she started The Storygraph in 2019, reading more felt like an essential goal.

"It felt like it very much became part of my identity as a reader, " Odunayo told Morning Edition . "Like, I run a books company, I need to make sure I'm reading."

In a few years, Odunayo went from reading 13 books a year to well over 70.

While she feels like that's a realistic goal for her, it's not an achievable goal for everybody.

Odunayo says setting realistic expectations about how many books you want to read can be the key to success. But making sure you pick the right a mount of books to read in a year can be tricky.

"It was a combination of making the time, but also being excited about a lot more books, " Odunayo said.

Why it's OK to judge a book by its cover (and more tips on how to find a great read)

A Economist/YouGov poll found that 46% of Americans finished zero books last year and 5% read just one last year. Out of the 1,500 American's surveyed in the poll, only 21% read more than ten books.

With March being National Reading Month – it is a good time to think about revisit your reading goals from the beginning of the year. Whether you've just gotten into reading, or you're churning through multiple books a week, here's some tips to keep in mind as you're setting your reading goals.

Expand your reading horizons by thinking about what types of books you're reading. Jackie Lay /NPR hide caption

Expand your reading horizons by thinking about what types of books you're reading.

Think genres, not numbers

Reading goals don't always have to be numerical. Goals such as wanting to read books from more diverse authors or reading more of a specific genre can be better than just focusing on a number. Brea Grant, one of the hosts of the podcast Reading Glasses , says she realized she didn't want to set a number goal when she found herself reading books she didn't like, or finishing books just for the sake of hitting a number.

"That's not fun because that's going to eventually turn you off from reading," Grant said.

Here are the Books We Love: 380+ great 2023 reads recommended by NPR

Sites like The StoryGraph features reading challenges that users can participate in to expand their reading habits. One challenge recommends books from 10 different countries for users who want to read from more diverse authors.

You can also create your own goals. If you're an avid fantasy romance reader, for example, you may want to see how many science fiction books you can incorporate into your reading habit.

Sometimes, it can be as simple as reading books on a topic you're interested in. Grant, a filmmaker, decided that this year that she wanted to read more books about filmmaking.

"I didn't go to film school, and I realized that I haven't even read that many books about filmmaking, even though I've been a filmmaker for so many years," Grant said. "So I think that focusing on reading more books about my craft is a better goal than a specific number of books."

Reading might seem like a solitary hobby, but it doesn't have to be! Jackie Lay /NPR hide caption

Reading might seem like a solitary hobby, but it doesn't have to be!

Find more ways to make reading a community affair

Reading can often seem like a solitary hobby, but it doesn't have to be.

Check your local area for book clubs and reading-related events. Or find someone to talk to about books – and you don't even have to ask about what they are currently reading. You can ask them about their favorite book, or the book that impacted their life the most.

"That's another way that people can show that they're bookish without necessarily being like 'I read 400 books this year'," Mallory O' Meara, who hosts the Reading Glasses podcast with Grant, said.

If you'd rather get lost in a book alone, O'Meara says you might enjoy finding new spots to read in your city. It might feel intimidating going into a coffee shop or bar alone, but it can be a fun way to explore your neighborhood while doing something you love.

How to start a book club: Tips and reading suggestions

"We really encourage people to make it an activity," Grant said. "Get a cozy blanket, get a cup of tea, something that you look forward to at the end of the day."

Whatever you prefer, Grant says it's always important to remember why you want to read more, and not get too caught up in feeling like you have to read a certain number of books.

"Reading is a hobby, and you want to get the maximum enjoyment out of it," Grant said.

Don't be afraid to adjust your goal

At the beginning of the year, it's easy to set high expectations of yourselves. You think you can workout everyday, or read a book every week. But as the year goes on, you might want to adjust that number to a goal you know you can reach.

"There's a lot of things we won't achieve in life," Grant said. "Make reading something you know you can get done."

Finding that perfect number can be hard.You want something that challenges you, but doesn't feel unrealistic. Additionally, life can get in the way. These challenges could include large work projects or family obligations that you didn't anticipate at the beginning of the year.

Pop Culture Happy Hour

How to get the most out of your library.

Suzanne Skyvara, who leads marketing at Goodreads, a book recommendation site where over six million users participate in its annual reading challenge, recommends adjusting your number later in the year if you need, and encourages not to think of changing your goal as "failing."

"If you're finding that you've set the goal too high in the middle of the year and it's becoming demotivating you can bring it down, which re-energizes me and gets me back on track," Skyvara said.

After all, reading should be a hobby, not homework.

"The goal should always be to enjoy your reading life more," O' Meara said. "To read more books that you either love or teach you something or you connect with in some way."

Correction March 28, 2024

This article was updated to fix the amount of Goodreads users particpating in the the site's annual reading challenge.

• how many books should I read
• reading more books
• From Our Readers
• freshman reading list

E-Books at the Library for, by, and about LGBTQ+ People of Color

Fiction and memoir.

• Last Updated: Apr 2, 2024 4:19 PM
• URL: https://libguides.rowan.edu/SOULbooks

How many books does the average person read a year?

Nearly six in 10 (57%) Americans have bought or read a book based solely on its cover, new research suggests.

A survey of 2,000 U.S. adults found that surprisingly, a whopping 96% of those who did so said the book largely met their expectations.

Two-thirds (67%) also admitted they only read books that have been adapted into movies or TV shows.

Overall, the average person reads eight books a month, totaling almost 100 books a year.

However, eight in 10 (80%) admitted to avoiding a book because of its outward appearance.

The top reasons? The book cover looked too plain (61%), used a title font that wasn’t likable (56%), featured art that didn’t match the genre (52%) or used the movie poster of the book’s film adaptation (49%).

Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of ThriftBooks , the research also found which elements make the best book covers.

People noted a detailed illustration is important (53%), as is an image of the story’s setting (53%). Other callouts were a compelling color palette (50%) and an image of the protagonist (47%).

Respondents shared their favorite covers of the books they’ve read, including “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, “Misery” by Stephen King, “Harry Potter” by J. K. Rowling, the “Twilight” series by Stephanie Meyer, “Fifty Shades of Gray” by E. L. James, and books by Danielle Steel.

When it comes to the winter holidays, over half (53%) regularly give books as gifts to others.

The top genres for gifted books include romance (47%), fantasy (45%), comedy (40%), sci-fi (39%) and history (39%).

Surprisingly, though, the biggest factors that influence what type of books people buy as gifts are their presence on a well-known bestseller list (44%), social media buzz (29%) and the cover (29%) — much more so than genre (10%) or even the author (9%).

“Books make for a great holiday gift, no matter the recipient,” said a spokesperson for ThriftBooks. “From classic favorites and book-to-movie adaptations to short or long stories, there are as many books to choose from as there are types of readers, making it easy to find something for everyone on your list this holiday season.”

Additionally, the survey uncovered the different habits of day and night readers.

If you consider yourself an avid reader, you most likely read during the day rather than at night (88% vs. 69%).

Among day readers, nearly two-thirds (65%) attribute their preference to avoiding nightmares based on their reading material, while over half (52%) want to escape to another place during the day.

Day readers are also more likely than night readers to prefer to read while surrounded by others (49% vs. 36%).

Nighttime reading may have its advantages, though. Fifty-six percent of those who read at night said it helps them get better shuteye, and 55% noted it helps them fall asleep faster.

“Our research shows that sometimes, readers can tap into their experience to correctly predict whether they’ll like a book based on its cover alone,” the spokesperson added. “Although readers differ in how and when they enjoy their favorites, they all find ways to enhance their daily lives through reading.”

BOOKS WITH THE BEST COVERS

• “Misery” by Stephen King
• “Harry Potter” by J. K. Rowling
• The “Twilight” series
• “Fifty Shades of Gray” by E. L. James
• Books by Danielle Steel
• “Atomic Habits” by James Clear
• “The Pilot’s Wife” by Anita Shreve
• “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe
• “Ball Four” by Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter
• “Goals” by Brian Tracy
• “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck
• “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult
• “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt
• “Legends and Lattes” by Travis Baldree

– The average respondent reads 8.28 books a month x 12 months = 99.36 books a year

Survey methodology:

This random double-opt-in survey of 2,000 general population Americans was commissioned by ThriftBooks between Oct. 10 and Oct. 17, 2023. It was conducted by market research company OnePoll , whose team members are members of the Market Research Society and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research ( AAPOR ) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research ( ESOMAR ).

The post How many books does the average person read a year? appeared first on Talker .

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A New Chapter for Irish Historians’ ‘Saddest Book’

A globe-spanning research project has turned the catalog of a public archive destroyed in Ireland’s civil war into a model for reconstruction.

By Ed O’Loughlin

Reporting from Dublin

In the first pitched battle of the civil war that shaped a newly independent Ireland, seven centuries of history burned.

On June 30, 1922, forces for and against an accommodation with Britain, Ireland’s former colonial ruler, had been fighting for three days around Dublin’s main court complex. The national Public Record Office was part of the complex, and that day it was caught in a colossal explosion . The blast and the resulting fire destroyed state secrets, church records, property deeds, tax receipts, legal documents, financial data, census returns and much more, dating back to the Middle Ages.

“It was a catastrophe,” said Peter Crooks, a medieval historian at Trinity College Dublin. “This happened just after the First World War, when all over Europe new states like Ireland were emerging from old empires. They were all trying to recover and celebrate their own histories and cultures, and now Ireland had just lost the heart of its own.”

But perhaps it was not lost forever. Over the past seven years, a team of historians, librarians and computer experts based at Trinity has located duplicates for a quarter of a million pages of these lost records in forgotten volumes housed at far-flung libraries and archives, including several in the United States. The team then creates digital copies of any documents that it finds for inclusion in the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland , an online reconstruction of the archive. Still a work in progress, the project says its website has had more than two million visits in less than two years.

Funded by the Irish government as part of its commemorations of a century of independence, the Virtual Treasury relies in part on modern technologies — virtual imaging, online networks, artificial intelligence language models and the growing digital indexes of archives around the world — but also on dusty printed catalogs and old-school human contacts. Key to the enterprise has been a book, “A Guide to the Records Deposited in the Public Record Office of Ireland,” published three years before the fire by the office’s head archivist, Herbert Wood.

“For a long time, Wood’s catalog was known to Irish historians as the saddest book in the world, because it only showed what was lost in the fire,” Dr. Crooks said. “But now it has become the basis for our model to recreate the national archive. There were 4,500 series of records listed in Wood’s book, and we went out to look for as many of them as we could find.”

A major partner in this hunt was the National Archives in Britain, to which centuries of Irish government records — notably tax receipts — had been sent in duplicate. The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, which remains part of the United Kingdom, has also been a major partner, contributing records from the centuries before Ireland was partitioned in 1921.

A considerable haul of documents has also been uncovered in the United States. The Library of Congress, for example, dug up dozens of volumes of lost debates from Ireland’s 18th-century Parliament. According to David Brown, who leads the Virtual Treasury’s trawl through domestic and overseas archives, before this trove of political history came into Congress’s possession, one previous owner had tried to sell it as fuel. Serendipity has often played a role in such U.S. discoveries, he said.

“You would have old family records stored away in some gentleman’s library, and he’d move to the colonies, and take the books with him,” Dr. Brown said. “Or else heirs would eventually sell the old library off to collectors, and eventually an American university or library might buy the collection, maybe because they wanted something important in it, and they took everything else that came with it. Archivists may not always know what they have, but they never throw anything out.”

The Huntington Library in California, and libraries of the universities of Kansas, Chicago, Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard are among around a dozen U.S. organizations to respond positively to the hopeful request from the Irish: “Do you have anything there that might be of interest to us?” And in the process of hunting down material that is already on its radar, the Virtual Treasury team is also uncovering, and incorporating, unexpected treasures.

One is a previously unnoticed 1595 letter shown to Dr. Brown late last year while he was visiting Yale’s Lewis Walpole Library to view some other material. In it, Sir Ralph Lane — a founder and survivor of the infamous lost colony of Roanoke, off North Carolina, which had vanished in the decade before this letter was written — petitions Queen Elizabeth I to order the conquest of Ulster, then a Gaelic stronghold in the north of English-ruled Ireland.

Dr. Brown, a specialist in early modern Atlantic history, said the letter — long overlooked because it was bound in a volume with much later documents — showed the close connection between England’s colonial conquests in North America and Ireland, both in the personalities involved and their motivation. The letter suggests conquering Ulster primarily so that the English could seize the inhabitants’ land, and it proposes paying for the war by looting the Ulster chiefs’ cattle. The area was ultimately conquered and colonized in 1609, six years after Lane’s death.

“For the Elizabethan adventurers, colonialism was a branch of piracy. All they wanted was land,” Dr. Brown said. “Roanoke hadn’t worked out for Lane, and Elizabeth had just granted Sir Walter Raleigh 10,000 acres of land in Munster,” in the south of Ireland. “So Lane thought, if Raleigh got 10,000 acres in Munster, why can’t I have 10,000 acres in Ulster?”

Another contribution to the project could be seen in contemporary Northern Ireland, at the Public Record Office in Belfast. The head of conservation, Sarah Graham, was restoring and preserving a collection of records and letters kept by Archbishop John Swayne, who led the church in Ireland in the 15th century. Watching her at work was Lynn Kilgallon, research fellow in medieval history for the Virtual Treasury. Once preserved, its pages will be digitized and added to Dublin’s online archive.

“If you don’t understand the words in a book, it becomes just an object,” Ms. Graham said. “You need someone to read it — medievalists like Lynn here, to bring it to life.”

You do not necessarily need to be a specialist to read the documents in the Virtual Treasury, however. New artificial intelligence models developed for the project allow archivists to turn ancient handwriting into searchable digital text, with modern translations.

The site went online in June 2022, the 100th anniversary of the records office fire, and is aiming for 100 million searchable words by 2025, a target it says it is three-quarters of the way to reaching. Eventually, it hopes to recover 50 to 90 percent of records from some priority areas, such as censuses from before and after Ireland’s Great Famine in the mid-19th century, which are of particular value to historians, and to people of Irish descent tracing their roots. More than half of the details of the first nationwide census of Ireland, a religious head count in 1766, have been retrieved and published.

“Cultural loss is sadly a very prominent theme in the world right now, and I don’t think there is an example like this, where there’s been so much international cooperation in the reconstruction of a lost archive,” Dr. Crooks said. “It shows that the collective culture of many countries can be brought together to achieve a goal. Borders are fluid.”

Internet Archive Blogs

A blog from the team at archive.org.

Charade! – Public Domain Movie Screening at the Internet Archive

In the leadup to our 1st public domain film screening on April 12th , we would like to introduce the curious case of a film entering the public domain immediately upon its release.

In the realm of classic cinema, few films possess the enduring charm and intrigue of “Charade.” Released in 1963, this romantic comedy-thriller captivated audiences with its charismatic leads, sophisticated plot twists, and stylish Parisian backdrop. Yet, behind its glamorous facade lies a curious tale of copyright ambiguity and the unexpected journey into the public domain.

The Charismatic Charade:

Directed by Stanley Donen, “Charade” stars the legendary Audrey Hepburn as Regina Lampert, a young woman entangled in a web of mystery following her husband’s murder. Alongside her is the incomparable Cary Grant, portraying the enigmatic Peter Joshua, whose true intentions remain shrouded in secrecy. The film’s witty dialogue, suspenseful plot, and undeniable chemistry between the leads made it an instant classic upon its release.

Copyright Conundrum Turned Opportunity:

“Charade” found itself in a unique predicament due to an oversight in its initial release—the omission of a copyright notice, which at the time meant that the movie was not protected by copyright at all. This unintentionally liberated the film, allowing it to enter the public domain in the United States.

The absence of copyright protection transformed “Charade” into a cultural treasure, accessible to all. It paved the way for widespread distribution through television broadcasts, home video releases, and digital platforms, democratizing access to this cinematic gem.

Join Us for a Screening on April 12th!

The Internet Archive will be holding a screening of Charade on Friday, April 12th starting at 6:30 pm, as the 1st of a series of public domain film nights.

Local film writer and Archive.org community member Keith Rockmael will introduce the film.

$5 tickets can be purchased here .

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Book talk: unlocking the digital age: the musician’s guide to research, copyright, and publishing, charade – public domain movie screening at the internet archive, book talk: the secret life of data.

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April 2024 Book Display

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