Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Location: Central California Office of Books and Such
I’ve been preparing the sessions I will be teaching at the Mount Hermon Christian Writer’s Conference Career Track on writing the nonfiction book. Janet Grant and I led a great session on it last year, taking a look at attendees’ material and helping them recast it into a number of different formats. I think we all learned from the exercise. It’s always such fun to think out of the box. This year we’re going to go even deeper.
The nice thing about a blog with comments is that it is a conversation. I figured if I put some of my ideas out there, you’ll come up with comments and questions to help me refine and reshape my ideas.
So, I shamelessly plan to use you if you’re willing.
Let me start by talking about why nonfiction is such a challenging sell these days. I’m going to exclude memoir for this discussion since that is an entirely different animal. We’ll talk more about memoir on Thursday.
I see at least four ingredients a book needs to have before it is even remotely saleable:
First, the book must meet a “felt need.” I know you’ve heard this clunky term before but let me explain it. Many books meet needs. For instance we all need to know more about economic conditions in third world countries. Guess what? The number of readers who “feel” they need to spend a weekend with a book about the subject is probably infinitesimal. If you asked the average reader, he’d probably say he really “should” buy a book and learn something about this, but when he is in the bookstore with his twenty-dollar bill and no one is looking over his shoulder, guess what he will pick? If, on the other hand, a reader is struggling to find a way to pay for college for her high school senior, that constitutes a felt need and she will readily put down money if she thinks a book will help her find answers. Many of the queries I receive are for books that chronicle one person’s journey, say, with cancer. Do you ever go to the bookstore specifically looking for a book on an unknown person’s cancer battle? It may be a worthy topic but does it meet a felt need?
Second, the book must contain information or ideas that are not readily available for free on the Internet. Nonfiction writers are challenged by the vast amount of free information available to everyone these days. It’s frustrating to have to compete with free— the concept has thrown the economy of writing and journalism into a tailspin.
Third, the book has to be the right topic written by the right person. The days of a professional writer simply choosing a topic that interests him, doing research and writing a book are largely over. Publishers are looking for the book written by the only person who could write it. In other words, for a publisher to consider a book on, say, rebuilding Haiti after the earthquake, the person whose name they’d want on the cover would probably be Wyclef Jean, the singer, because (a) he’s originally from Haiti, (b) he was involved in Haitian relief even before the earthquake, (c) he was one of the first to get there after the earthquake, (d) he received more camera time than anyone else, (e) he has controversy connected to his name and (f) he could get on all the talk shows when his book comes out. The perfect storm. Is it fair? No, but in these days where all publishers are risk- adverse, it’s good business. The proposal for a nonfiction book has to show why this is the writer for this particular topic.
Fourth, the writing has to be exquisite. All the elements that make good fiction also need to be present in nonfiction—voice, storytelling, a story arc. Read fine nonfiction writers— Malcolm Gladwell, Po Bronson, Anne Lamott, Maya Angelou, Madeleine L’Engle— you’ll find that no one else writes like them. They are distinctive.
Your turn. Am I missing something in my list? How do nonfiction writers fight the “free” epidemic? How can a nonfiction writer turn “free” to his advantage? We talked about felt need—if friends have told you that you need to tell your story, is that enough? Can you recast your project so it meets a felt need? Will that be enough for a publisher?
The other main point would be to do your homework. Before you even start investigating the idea, examine what’s already been written. You have may have a brilliant idea and understand the felt need intimately, but if 23 books already have been written on your topic, there’s no room for you in the publishing world. Another sad fact of life.
That doesn’t mean your story isn’t worth telling nor that it isn’t important for you and/or others–particularly among your family and friends–it just means the likelihood of a sale is too slim for most publishers to gamble on in this economy.
But if in writing to “get it off my chest” opens your heart and mind to other stories that you could sell, or use to heal wounds–well, that could be valuable, too.
This may be a little off topic, but what you said about Wyclef Jean got me thinking about building a platform–something aspiring writers are encouraged to do. Specifically, it made me think about how God makes each of us unique and sets some of us in place “for such a time as this.” Wyclef Jean was a Haitian singer with a heart for relief efforts BEFORE the earthquake, BEFORE the yet-to-be written book. Whatever our talents, we need to be ready to be usable.
A marketing prof once had us list our top five skills or passions. He pointed out that while only one person can be “the best” at any one of them (discouragingly long odds), we are quite likely to be “the best” at our particular combination of skills and passions. The challenge is to figure out how best to combine and overlap those gifts to build a unique platform that could make us “the right person” for a particular topic.
For example, I am passionate about teenagers. I homeschooled my children and enjoyed teaching writing. I love history, and I write Christian fiction. Along the way, I’ve enjoyed coordinating group projects. While I am certainly not the best writer, the best historian, or the best homeschool teacher, I MIGHT be rather unique as a Christian historical novelist who could organize a group to teach homeschooled teenagers to write. I might be the right person for that topic.
Once you know what you do best, it’s much easier to brainstorm about who your market is and how to reach them. In my case, it was the website above. When I think “free”, I think “sample.” What can I give them a taste of that will make them want to buy more?
That was longer than I intended, but maybe it will spark ideas for someone else with a unique combination of gifts.
I’m not coming to Mount Hermon with a non-fiction book idea, but maybe I can find a spot at your table to do lunch (and introduce my daughter who is coming to her first Mount Hermon).
I go to the internet for quick information, or when I want an overview of what a variety of authors are saying, but when I want to study one person’s deep thoughts on a subject, I still want a book in my hands that I can carry around for a while. Right now I am reading Don Richardson’s UNHIDDEN. I bought it when I went to see him give the same talk I’d heard him give twice before. Self-published and poorly edited, he sells them by plodding across the country speaking at churches and doing conferences. His presentation sometimes drifts into the cornball. His prose can clunk along. But for 40 years (Peace Child, Lords of the Earth, Eternity in their Hearts, Secrets of the Koran) his books have delivered the deepest thinking and richest metaphors in 20th and 21st century Christianity. The problem is, Richardson is an original, and that is hard to package.
I would add that voice is as important in non-fiction as in fiction these days.
I wrote Your Best You: Discovering and Developing the Strengths God Gave You so the reader will feel like a friend is walking with them as they journey through the book.
Every square inch of the book is painstakingly researched, I developed quantified tools (and had them tested) and then used and tested the tools before I ever approached a publisher, gathered feedback from women who went through my process and then taught and trained other front line workers to use it – gathered their research and results – well, you get the picture – BUT when you read the book there is no mention of any of this. The reader is the focus and the voice is warm, encouraging, friendly, assuring – a friend, not a psychologist.
I was careful to ensure the voice never came across as academic or in a voice that implied “should”.
When I run seminars I keep to that down to earth voice and it goes a long way in helping women work on thinking of themselves in a strength based way (as opposed to shame based).
Okay….that sort of turned into a blah blah blah about my book – but voice matters in non-fiction! It needs to be tailored to the intended audience and fits with the cover, book blurb, and marketing.
Lynn, I like your point about being the best at our own combination. I think one of the reasons that non-fiction is harder to sell is that it’s not escapist, it’s not about wish fulfillment, and therefore it has to tap a deep root into some other perceived need–a felt need, as Wendy has said.
To me, that’s where being a historical fiction writer becomes such an interesting niche, because it’s possible to take hard facts about any number of otherwise unpalatable topics, blend them with a good story, and turn the whole thing into an attractive armchair tour that shares realities without cooling the reader’s interest.
Great post, Wendy – thank you. The one thing I would add would be an issue that addresses your first and second points: the “felt need” and writing something that’s not available for free.
If you analyze what makes Malcolm Gladwell’s writing so compelling it’s his ability to “upend conventional wisdom,”–a comment that you find a lot in his readers’ reviews. I believe human beings have a felt need for more than concrete, practical information. They also have a need to be intrigued, surprised, challenged out of their established beliefs (well, most folks, anyway).
The work that goes into making unusual connections between topics–as Gladwell does, and which Frans Johansson discusses further in his excellent book The Medici Effect–is rarely something you find for free on the Internet. If someone is going to all that time and trouble to produce something highly creative and unique, the chance is it’s going to take them some time and they won’t want to give it away for free.
So, my advice to aspiring authors who come to me with a “so-so” idea that’s been done a hundred (sometimes a thousand) times before is to look at how we might approach the topic from an unusual angle or combine it with something unexpected. Like chocolates that contain beer and salted peanuts (yes, such a combination exists). The US Constitution is an historical example, a document that draws on a variety of influences to create something never experienced before.
If nonfiction writers can get into the habit of coming at their subject-matter expertise in this way, and have the writing skills, “platform” and marketing savvy in place, I believe they’re more likely to tempt folks to buy what they’ve written. As Jennifer and Carole Marine did in No-one’s the Bitch (no more “evil stepmom”), learn to “upend conventional wisdom” as Gladwell does.
Hi Wendy,
Your conference topic sounds great. I’m a children’s writer, so I’m not sure if I have anything to contribute. Are you talking exclusively about the adult market?
Thanks!
Linda
A great blog post with some concepts I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I traditionally write fiction, but in mapping out my latest novel with a heroine who lost everything in a hurricane, I realized it wasn’t the heroine’s story…it was my story. My husband and I lost our home and business in Hurricane Ike a year and a half ago and in the process learned lessons which have changed my life. I realized that at the same time Ike was occurring, the market collapse began–and that other people are going through their own non-weather hurricanes and are having to rebuild and re-evaluate and imagine their lives differently going forward.
So, I’m working on Ike 101: Life Lessons I Learned From a Hurricane (And How You Can Rebuild After the Storms in Your Own Life). I think the most important things I’ve come to realize through writing this project are: 1) being where God wants you to be and 2) enthusiasm for your project. I love this project. I’m having fun writing it. I am learning things that I didn’t have the time to appreciate while I was living it. I feel like I’m having a conversation with friends.
Even if my book doesn’t get published (although I really hope it does and I think it’s a book that has appeal) I’m making connections with people while I build my platform and I’m receiving notes and contacts which tell me the story is resonating with folks and helping them, so I feel confident in the direction in which I’m going.
I’m looking forward to hearing more from you on this topic!
I’m listening to all this excellent advice as I pray, research, and brainstorm. Great timing for this post, Wendy!
Such good comments! Liz, you hit a key element to standing out in a crowded market– upend conventional wisdom. And Bonnie– yes, yes. Voice. It’s so important. We need to write like we are standing beside with an arm around our reader, not standing in front with an index finger punctuating our truths.
Brian, I look forward to sitting with you at Mount Hermon. Save me a place.
Lynn– yes! Specialists are what publishers want.
And Michelle, how can you take time to write when you are about to become a grandmother at any second?
Michelle looks WAY too young to be a grandmother!
Lots to think about here. Building a platform can be a struggle when combined with avoiding the “Kiss of Death” of quitting the day job. I speak at several conferences a year, but cannot afford the vacation and expenses of going nationwide. An invitation to a Detroit conference fell through but I’m on the list for next year.
I’ve been asked why I continue developing and presenting a topic that I’m also looking at as a book option, and my answer is always the same – the discussions triggered by each presentation, whether with 10 guys at a breakfast or a regional conference with a mixed crowd of 70, helps guide and develop the content.
If your ONLY goal is to have your name on a book, go self publish and say you did it. If your goal is to learn as much about something – and yourself, take the passions God gave you, and combine it with discussing the topics at the opportunities God gives you to share what is on your heart, and trust HIM with the next steps it takes.
If your only definition of success is having written the best selling book, you have a narrow chance of success. If success means you took every opportunity to share your heart and passions with whoever God brought into your path – and hearing feedback from those people who have said your ideas opened your eyes – THAT is something that your book efforts can provide regardless of whether you take up space on the shelves of the mega-chains or local bookstores.
Would I love to see my ideas go to a huge scale across the country or world? Absolutely! But I’m not going to clam up and not share something he put on my heart because it will ‘let out my secret,’ only to have that secret die with my in a partial manuscript and proposal.
In time I may decide the way to get the book out there is to partner with an established author who has the interest and passion in line with mine, but I don’t want to rush into something just to say “I have a book”. I know who that person would be, but want to follow his advice to give it time to let things work on my end. His advice and encouragement has been a great blessing so far – but nothing comes close to having a few people at a workshop come up with open Bibles and say they had never noticed something I’d talked about in their Bible before.
Rich
The major hassle writers have today is keeping their eye on the ball, and remembering who owns the ball & who threw it! Unless you have first pursued you relationship with the God who freely gave you salvation you will struggle.
I don’t just mean pray & read scriptures every day, but actively, passionately, with ruthless honesty intimately get to know your creator, the one who gave you the talent and the things to write about. What is on Gods heart for you to bring to this lonely, love hungry, hope seeking planet.
The answer is simple Himself. That will outwork according to the reason you were created to be the unique masterpiece you are.
Have His heart, His vision, His passion, His purpose and His topic and His marketing strategies.
This works!
This time last year after doing what I just described my co-author and I sent our book outline to an agency who passed it directly to a publisher who asked for the full manuscript with 3 days and offered us a contract in 10 days! Our book is live and selling.
Not surprisingly it’s about the journey to discovering who you were created to be. The key is grab Gods heart & keep yourself out of it, let Him generate the words and the way. Have the courage to let Him lead and don’t mess with the maker!
Seize your moments
Jaki
I’d like to throw a curve ball into the “felt needs” comment.
Apple tapped into a deep spot in my soul with the iPhone. They created the product I’ve always longed for EVEN BEFORE I KNEW I LONGED FOR IT. When I saw it, I said, “Oh, marvy electronic gadget, I’ve been searching for you all my life… At last I’ve found you.” I had no concept of apps, or a touch screen, or a phone that could identify the song on the radio. I had no felt-need for such a phone… UNTIL IT WAS IN MY HANDS.
Then I was hooked.
I guess I’m saying that if you stay at the level of “felt needs” you’ll miss deeper, underlying needs. Yes, “felt needs” sell the book. But “deeper, underlying, un-felt needs” make it profoundly satisfying.
Paul told the Athenian philosophers, “The god you worship in ignorance, Him I declare to you…”
We non-fiction writers say, “The search you’re not conscious of, I make conscious to you…”
Just gotta get ’em to pick up the book.
Bill
So interesting, Bill. But you identified the sticking point: “Just gotta get them to pick up the book.” If only we had the marketing savvy of Apple.
“The Marketing Savvy of Apple”. Now that would be a book that would meet a “felt need.” Thanks for the post Wendy. I’m reading through all of the nonfiction ones and catching up.