How to write a guide people actually finish

A guide gets finished when the reader can see, from the first paragraph, exactly what they will get and roughly how long it will take to get it. Everything else — voice, charm, atmosphere — is a bonus. The guides that readers abandon are usually not badly written. They are badly ordered: the answer arrives in paragraph nine, after three paragraphs of throat-clearing. The fix is structural, and it applies whether the subject is a gallery walk in Chelsea or a charity's tax filings. Put the direct answer first, break the rest into self-contained sections, and let the reader stop anywhere without losing the thread. This piece sets out how that works in practice, using examples from the guides this publication runs. What does a finished guide look like? A finished guide answers its headline question completely in the opening 40 to 60 words, then earns the longer read.

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