The “How-To” Book is Done

There is a world of difference between a “how to” book and a how book. The “how-to” is more accessible, but the how will endure.

One of the constant realities of pastoral ministry is that people want you to tell them what to do. Or more specifically, they want you to tell them how to apply and put into practice the principles of whatever your teaching. They want practical checklists. This can become a tension point for a preaching whose theological orientation is towards grace, i.e. what God does. I speak from experience!

I am much more wired to speak naturally about the what and how, not the “how-to”. It’s easier for me to focus on the description of a reality than to shift into the therefore prescription.

This applies to writing as well: when I pitched to the publisher the book that became Keeping Kids Christian, I presented it as a how book; in fact, the original title was How Our Kids Stay Christian, following the title of the article from which the book was based. The publisher went for it, but when I turned in the manuscript the first round of feedback I received was that it needed a lot more “how-to”. We went back-and-forth (there is, actually, quite a bit of “how-to” in the book), and I ended up adjusting the introduction to make it very clear that I was writing a how book. I started off the book with theology and exegesis on the Holy Spirit, regeneration, conversation, faith, and covenant for a reason — this is the grace of God, not something we do.

Of course, every poor review or ding the book has received is that it needed more practicalities, more “how-to”. Maybe when/if a second edition comes out more “how-to’s”, or at least clearer practices, will make it. Part of the gap between what I argued and what some people wanted is the how-to-“how-to”-pipeline in the home is about lifestyle, not concrete practices. Yes, praying with kids, taking them to youth group, and doing devotionals with them are practices that can be helpful, but what really matters on the family side is the parents being devoted to God and that devotion organically springing up and shaping everything about how the family goes about their lives in a way that is both firm and loving. There’s not a “how-to” check-list for that, especially since it was book aimed at pastors, not parents.

I have wondered if maybe I should have written a “how-to” book and have speculated that perhaps the sales would be better if I had. But then this article by Tim Ferriss starting making the rounds. He observes that the advent of AI corresponds to a catastrophic collapse in book sales for “how-to” books. Works that provide checklists and guidance have already been supplanted by LLMs which can regurgitate the advice and provide it in a more personalized way. Interestingly, Ferriss projects that this trend means the media now the most vulnerable to the AI chopping block is anything with the central premise of “transferring instructions from my head to yours”, such as online courses, something that dovetails with my prediction in 2025 that by 2030 online pastoral education as we know it will be obsolete.

The kinds of books and media that will survive are those that eschew the “how-to” and instead generate and develop interesting central ideas: the what and the how. In other words, Keeping Kids Christian is likely to endure precisely because it wasn’t a “how-to” book but instead advanced a distinct and generative claim backed with data and theology. How books of this kind are AI-resistant; “how-to” are AI fodder.