3.2 OUTliNE ThE iNTrODUCTiON “Don’t try to be original. Just try to be good. That sounds sort of naïve, but it’s true.” —paul rand You know why most readers—probably including you—skip book introductions? Because most authors think the purpose of the introduction is to explain everything they will talk about in the book. That is boring and wrong. The purpose of a good introduction is to engage the reader and get them to read the book. Just because someone is reading an introduction does not mean they are going to finish the book. The thing that scares people off from books is NOT the price—it’s the commitment of time. People don’t care about $10. They care about spending their time on some- thing that is interesting and engaging to them. OUTliNE ThE iNTrODUCTiON · 107