Q & A Book Format

[Radio]

Hello everyone. I am new to these forums, although I have been reading for a while now. I find the amount of knowledge from the people here fascinating, and I would like to ask opinions on the format of a book I am planning to write.

I work as a consultant in the radio broadcasting industry and I am writing a book about the best ways to get into the industry and succeed. Over the years I have gotten hundreds of emails from folks asking questions about the industry, and I was thinking of formatting the book in a Question & Answer format based on those emails.

A lot of the emails go back 6 or 7 years, so I would have to renew a lot of the answers to reflect the current state of the industry, but I'm wondering if that format will be more attractive (and sellable) than the usual chapter by chapter format.

Thank you for your thoughts and opinions.

[ahimel]

I think it's a great idea. The biggest problem with most books (and most people) is that the book isn't organized well enough, and the people aren't willing to read the entire book to find out why they should care. I'm reading Waiting For the Cat to Bark? right now, and it's a fantastic book, well worth reading, but.... I spend a lot of time reading it thinking, wait, why do I care about this? I'll have to finish it, and then go back and re-read it, now that I understand what each section was for.

The Q&A format eliminates that problem. You're reading this answer because it answers a question you care about. It would also help you, as the author, focus on what your readers want. Feel free to make up a few questions if there's one or two that your readers missed.

You might consider putting an intro chapter at the beginning, explaining the basic premises you used to write the book (anything from, "I'm assuming you want to get into radio broadcasting" to "I'm assuming you know how to operate an FM transmitter.") and the format. I would strongly recommend putting a summary chapter at the back, where you do a top-10 list, or a checklist, or something to sum up the best advice or important action steps. (Or both)

Anyway, I think it's a good idea.