If your dream is to become a published author, you may have considered how long it might take to pen a novel. At an average of about 40,000 words, novels often take writers quite a bit of time to complete before the manuscript is ready to be sent off the printer.
Children’s books are typically much shorter than an average novel, but writing a book intended for kids often includes the need for illustrations as well as the creation of an interesting story that will hold the attention of young readers.
But there is another route to becoming a published author that you may not have considered before – writing low content books. While low content books do not fall under the umbrella of fiction or nonfiction, writers and creators of low content books become authors just as authentically as any other type of writer does when their work is published.
And low content books that are created with fewer words can be highly useful and in demand, too, making them a potentially lucrative option for authors who have a creative spark to develop them.
Popular Low Content Books
Low content books are popular for all ages of people to enjoy since they can be developed with a specific age range in mind or simply crafted as a book that works for anyone. Low content books often offer a space or an invitation for the user to contribute to the book in some way, whether it is through extended writing, brief responses, or even artistic contributions to the book.
Because of the consumable nature of many low content books, authors may be able to develop new versions of their creations so fans of their books will have new options to choose from when their current book is full, completed, or they are just ready for a fresh new book to use.
Low Content Books: Adult Coloring Books
Not just for children, coloring books aimed at adult users have become more popular than ever in the past few years. These creative books offer a way for anxious, stressed or creativity-starved adults to relax and slow down while enjoying the tactile experience of coloring.
Authors can compile pages perfect for coloring by either using royalty-free graphics or the coloring pages can be designed especially for the book. These low content books are often put together with a single theme tying together all of the pages, providing an almost endless variety of options for developing them by authors with a creative vision.
A Line A Day Books
Other popular low content books offer writers the opportunity to write consistently within their pages. This type of book prompts the creation of a single line each day to encourage authors to take steady baby steps toward their goal of completing a bigger writing task.
While penning a single line a day may not seem like much, this small but consistent activity will bring authors 365 lines closer to finishing their writing project. The layout for this type of book is organized very easily, using a monthly calendar as a guide (but don’t forget to add February 29 into your book so the content remains evergreen.)
Cookbooks
Printing a collection of recipes is an excellent way to become a published author without having to pen an entire novel. Free templates make formatting your recipes easy to do and compiling a thematic cookbook of just desserts or a grouping of quick and easy family dinners can limit the content for this type of publication.
To increase the whitespace in a recipe compilation, authors can include blank recipe templates for readers to write down their own recipes to keep in the book.
Drawing Prompt Books
Another book that is relatively quick to put together that falls into the low content books category are books that provide artists with prompts to encourage frequent sketches. These books can be configured to provide daily, weekly, or non-specified prompts for users to take part in.
Each page will include a large amount of white space so the book can act as an informal portfolio of the artist’s work. Drawing prompt books can be developed for adults or children as well as designated for advanced artists or novices.
Exercise Logs
Daily or even regular exercise is a popular activity with many people, whether it is to lose weight, get into better shape, or just for enjoyment. Capitalizing on this enthusiasm is a perfect way to author low content books because the book’s contents will be filled with organized log pages for exercisers to use.
These types of low content books can be as detailed or as basic as you want but users will appreciate notebooks that also have thoughtful inclusions related to health and wellness.
Food or Diet Logs
Books with space to record meals, calories, macros, or other dietary details are a popular type of low content book to produce. These books appeal to those who want to track food or dietary intakes, so the formatting of a food or diet log can be tailored to a specific use or crafted in a way that the user can customize it to their own unique needs.
These logs are also great to pair with dietary information like calorie values for common foods, macro calculation information, water intake charts, and other health-related information that those focused on food or diet logging may need.
Guest Books
Beautifully designed guest books are always in demand. Authoring a guest book that can be used at special events, weddings, parties, or even funerals is a good way to create a book with low word counts but high usability by consumers. Guest books can be crafted with gorgeous covers that introduce the theme of the book and pages of signature lines that sustain the thematic elements throughout the rest of the book.
Depending on their intended usage, these books can be lengthy or relatively short, making them a great option for authors who want to develop multiple books in a similar fashion relatively quickly.
Journals
Journaling never really goes out of style, and blank journals are part of a beloved pastime for everyone from grade schoolers to mature adults. The thematic possibilities are almost endless for creating a journal.
Authors can combine an appealing cover design, blank or lined pages, and unique graphic elements to make the journal stand out from others on the shelf. This basic formula makes producing multiple journals fairly easy for writers who want to become published authors by making low content books.
Planners
A planner is one of the most commonly used low content books. These organizational tools are highly prized and utilized by people of all ages and for all different reasons. Graphic elements can add interest inside the planner while a beautiful cover adds eye appeal.
Planners can be designed for different lengths of time, but one-year planners are most often used. Planners are structured as a physical calendar support system that users can refer to and make notes on to help them track their own schedules and activities more effectively, and each type of planner may come with extras to make it even more useful.
- Time Frame: school calendars, fiscal year, January through December, 18-month or two-year calendars
- Audience: school-aged students, upper-level students, college students, general use, professionals, or parents
- Extras: school holidays, national or local holidays, sporting event schedules
Writing Prompt Books
Authors working on their craft appreciate a quality writing prompt book. These low-word-count books provide thoughtful prompts that are helpful to writers who need encouragement to write consistently or writers who need practice composing different styles of stories or other responses.
Writing prompt books can also follow thematic lines, like a book filled with prompts meant to produce short stories or writing prompts for an author who would like to work on building strong characters. But they can also provide a broad sample of writing prompts to appeal to the novice writer who is simply having fun being challenged by surprising prompts.
A writing prompt book can be elevated to the level of an experienced writer or simplified for new writers who are just learning to craft complete sentences. These books can provide lined pages for writers to use or they can even be formatted with large blank spaces so writers can use the white space in whatever way works best for their writing style.
The Sky’s the Limit
A writer interested in becoming a published author can use a low content book to accomplish that goal relatively quickly. Writing a consumable book with interesting content that appeals to a specific group of people or solves a problem that they have is a good place to start.
And working with a trusted printing company like Dazzle Printing can help you transform your concept into a beautiful, finished book so that you can accomplish your goal of becoming a published author.
