A skillful novelist can take us on a journey so compelling that we keep reading without any mid-chapter temptation to insert the bookmark and go to sleep. We get completely absorbed in the novelist’s imaginary world of intrigue, romance, adventure, betrayal, or beauty. The images and emotions we create in our brain bond us to the work like a powerful magnetic force.
Is Writing Non-Fiction a Completely Different Experience?
In many ways, it is exactly the same. Like a novelist, a good non-fiction writer needs to be involved with the reader’s emotions. Her words and ideas have to create that same feeling and experience of connection in the reader. The non-fiction writer wants her reader to be thinking, “This book speaks to ME.” Whether it’s a self-help book or a business book filled with new strategies for success, a writer’s aim it to move and inspire the reader.
How to Find that “Great Idea”
Writing effective, marketable non–fiction starts with a great idea. Coming up with a great non–fiction book idea is similar to getting an idea for a startup business. It has to solve a problem. What is the problem? Overspending, overeating, dysfunctional relationships, underperforming kids, underperforming employees — the list is endless! But it’s more than solving a problem. It has to solve that problem in a new, different, surprising way. We vet stacks and stacks of non–fiction books every year, looking for ones that are unique and original. If a book doesn’t tackle a problem and solve it in a wonderfully unique way, then it’s not going to sell. Being a book publicist for such books would be a waste of our time and the authors’ money.
Just How Good Is Your Inspired Idea?
Time for some deep thinking — to evaluate how much marketability is really there in your great idea. First of all, what’s your level of expertise? If you’re writing about relationships, have you done original research? Do you have some initials after your name? Do you have substantial experience and background that will impress even the most jaded TV producer or magazine editor? Would it be an absolute no-brainer for a media person to consider you THE go-to expert on this topic? If not, then your idea may not be as “inspired” as you think. An exception might be a person who has had a horrific, newsworthy experience (falling in love with a serial killer, for example) and this experience is so dramatic that she not only wrote a book about it, but then consulted dozens of experts to learn why she did what she did, and how to help others avoid the same mistakes.
In Part Two of this series, we will share additional tips for creating your marketable non-fiction work.