The Freelance Writing Mall - Where Writers Hang Out!

There are two kinds of people–writers and non-writers.

And there are two kinds of non-writers–those who don’t care a lick about writing (they’re content to go through life without writing anything more consequential than a grocery list) and those who want to be writers, dream of being writers, but for one reason or another, never commit to getting anything written.

WritingMall.com is committed to taking as many of those wannabe writers–the sad portion of the non-writer tribe–and moving them over to the other team–the real, honest to goodness writers.

Since we’re dividing the world up into two’s, let me oversimplify the world of literature and say that there are essentially two kinds of writing–fiction and non-fiction. We all know what goes into the “fiction” cubbyhole–stories of various lengths. Novels, novellas, short stories. Although not traditionally lumped into the fiction category, jokes, made-up anecdotes, and various and sundry lies would fall within the category of fiction.

Some might be tempted to characterize fiction as the more creative of the two categories of literature, with non-fiction being somehow less creative in nature.

As someone who has written both fiction and non-fiction, I would both agree and disagree with that assessment (see, we’re back to the dichotomy again—writers and non-writers, fiction and non-fiction, creative and not-so-creative, agree and disagree).

I agree that writing fiction stresses the creative muscles more than non-fiction does, it least it does for me. Still, really good non-fiction, the kind that people pay to read, has to have creativity in heaping measure or, guess what? Nobody will turn the page. Great non-fiction, what is often referred to as “narrative non-fiction” because it tells a story just like fiction does, grows out of considerable creativity on the part of the writer.

Now, the title of this article is “How to Write and Publish a Non-Fiction Book (and Make Some Money to Boot!). So, this is where we get into the good stuff.

First off, if you’re like me, you may prefer to read fiction to non-fiction. I have never counted the novels I’ve read versus the books of non-fiction I’ve read, but I’d guess that the ratio is probably close to 100:1. Still, I’ve read a good number of non-fiction books and perhaps because I select my non-fiction reading with more care than I do the novels I read, many of my most memorable reading experiences have been works of non-fiction. Examples: “Into Thin Air,” “The Devil in the White City,” “The Perfect Storm.”

The simple truth is that if you enjoy reading good narrative non-fiction, you can enjoy writing good narrative non-fiction. At present, I have one published work of narrative non-fiction (I don’t know if it’s good or not, but it has gotten mostly 5-star reviews on Amazon.com), and I am working on another. So, important fact number 1: writing narrative non-fiction can be fun.

Second, the market for non-fiction is much, much bigger than the market for non-fiction. It is exponentially easier for a beginning writer to get a book-length work of non-fiction published than to get a novel published.

Third, if you want to get a novel published, you’ll have no choice but to write the entire novel first. It might be possible to get the attention of a good literary agent with a partially completed novel if you’re a beginning writer, but I don’t know from first hand experience. My own experience is this: I had to complete the novel before I was able to get an agent to take a look at it. That novel, I think, is not that bad. I actually got the attention of a couple of well-known publishing insiders, one agent and one editor, but as of now that novel remains unpublished. Another project is to dust that manuscript off and send it out again. My advice (which I don’t always take) is never give up. Keep sending out your work, no matter how many rejections you get. That will be the topic for another day.

With non-fiction, on the other hand, you can often get a literary agent and maybe get a publishing contract without having to invest all the time required in writing the entire book. Wow! This is perhaps one of the best things about writing non-fiction. What you will have to do is write a great query letter to attract the attention of a literary agent. And you will have to write a great non-fiction book proposal. That is a lot of work, but it can be fun, it provides the structure for the book you’re going to write, and it is much shorter and easier to finish than a complete book. Writing a great query letter and writing a winning book proposal will be topics for feature posts. Also, picking the subject of your book involves research, but it’s not that hard and, again, it’s fun. I’ll write about that topic also in a feature post.

Fourth, in my opinion, non-fiction is easier to write than fiction. I know, I know. Some might say that with a novel, you can create and be free and just go in any direction. What could be easier than that? Well, that’s true in one sense. You can go in any direction, and there is great freedom in fiction writing. But, the sense of structure and boundaries that a well-defined non-fiction project provides is a big help, at least for me.

And there is the great personal irony–I prefer reading fiction, but I find non-fiction much easier to write.

Finally, there is good money in writing non-fiction. I may decide to share specifics at some point, but let me just say that if you’re able to write a fairly decent non-fiction book (and if you can write, you can do this), you can make in five figures. If you work hard. If you don’t give up. If, if, if.

But, here’s the bottom line, if you can write at a reasonably literate level, if you can work every day on your project, if you treat your writing as a business, then, yes, you can do it. I know it. It’s true.

Here’s the summary of the important points I want to get across on writing a non-fiction book:

1. It’s fun. Even if you don’t succeed (but I know you will, so don’t even worry about that), you won’t have wasted your time. You’ll have had fun and have learned about an interesting topic. At least you’ll have unique points to make at parties about the topic you’ve focused on.

2. The market for non-fiction is bigger than the market for fiction, at least for beginning writers.

3. You can invest less time in getting started than you will with fiction. Write a query, write a non-fiction book proposal, and get started in your publishing career. At worst, you may have to move on to writing the book to prove the significance of your topic, but you won’t be any worse off than spending a year writing a novel that you might not be able to get published.

4. Non-fiction is easier to write than fiction.

5. You can make a good living writing non-fiction.

If you want to really get inspired, I suggest picking up a little book at the library or the bookstore called “Damn, Why Didn’t I Write That!” It tells the amazing story of how ordinary people like you and me have written big, big non-fiction bestsellers. I promise that it will give you some great ideas.

And remember, never give up. Read, read, read. Write, write, write.

-Jack Sundown

Filed under: Books, Nonfiction |