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Writing Right
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by D. J. Herda Psst! Hey, Buddy, wanna know how to become a published author? I got a plan guaranteed not to miss! And it’s true. I do have a plan to get that first book of yours into print, to get your name on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and Powell’s and Border’s. Best of all, it’s guaranteed not to fail. Want to know more? Send $50 in unmarked bills to Post Office Box… Oh, yeah, okay. So, I forgot. I’m not supposed to do stuff like that. But I’ll bet if I could, I’d make a fortune in no time. That’s because every writer longs to be published. Nearly every writer who longs to be published yearns to have his or her name on an honest-to-god paperback (or, even better, hardcover!) book. And why not? Publishing a book lends instant status to a person. And everyone wants to be, well, statisfied. So, how do you do it? Simple. First, forget about fiction. The market is and will always be nonfiction. Guaranteed. Oh, sure, it’s fiction that puts up the glitzy sales numbers, thanks to Stephen King and John Grisham and Anne Rice. But it’s nonfiction that wins at the box office overall, year after year after year, outselling the total numbers of fiction books sold nearly ten to one. What this means, of course, is that there are more publishers looking to buy nonfiction books than there are looking to buy fiction books. The fact that nonfiction books don’t sell millions of copies apiece the way a few runaway bestseller fiction books do has no bearing on anything. Like every business, publishers pay attention to the bottom line—not just for one title, but for all of the titles on their list. Okay, then, assuming you’re committed to going with the flow and writing a nonfiction book for publication, what do you write about? I’m glad you asked. There are several old saws that have been bouncing around for several millennia. One is that you should write about topics you know. Another is that you should write about something that has never been written about before. To that I say... Hogwash! Publishers run from topics that haven’t been written about before. They relish the thought of cashing in on a proven cash cow. All they ask is that you—the writer—present the same topic with a slightly different twist. How to make a million dollars without even trying has been done to death. How to make a million dollars without even getting out of bed hasn’t. Get my point? As for writing about topics you know, if you’re connected to the Internet (and I assume you are, or else you’re far too old, far too feeble, or far too distant from even a third-world country to access electricity and shouldn't be thinking about writing a book, let alone doing so), you’re an expert in the field. From psychology to anthropology, from space exploration to the history of the ancient Mayans—it’s all there, and it’s all free. If you really get serious (or if you don’t want to take the time to run a Google search), splurge for a book or two on the topic from Amazon. I guarantee you’ll become an expert nearly overnight. One word of caution: I would suggest that, whatever topic you choose to write about, you should at least be mildly interested in the subject matter. After all, life is short. Why burden yourself studying something that bores you to tears? So, how do you determine what topic to choose? And what factors are publishers looking for in deciding whether or not to write a contract on a particular title? First, the subject has to be at least marginally marketable. The bigger the publishing house, the more marketable a topic they’d like to see. Big sales translate to big dollars, which go to cover big payrolls for big numbers of staff members. See? And you thought this was going to be tough. Second, it helps to present yourself to the publisher as some sort of an expert in the field. Sure, it’s great if you work as an engineer for NASA and want to write a book about the future of space exploration. But it’s also acceptable to be a “life-time student of space exploration and a contributing member to NASA's Challenger Space Center.” It’s terrific if you’re an open-heart surgeon and want to write a book about saving people’s lives, but it’s nearly as good (some might say better) to be an open-heart surgery survivor aiming at writing the very same book. How do you know what you have to offer? Don’t look only to your educational background: that’s a no-brainer. You can be a high-school drop out, but if you’re also president of your HOA, you have the qualifications to write The Coming Boom in Home Owners’ Associations—the Do’s and Don’ts of Property Management. You can be an ex-warden at a major U.S. prison writing on the deficiencies of our American penal system, but even if you’re an ex-con (or still in stir) who is a former spelling-bee champion, you have the qualifications to write An Insider's Tips for Acing Your Next Spelling Bee. See what I mean? Best of all, nine times out of ten, with nonfiction, you don’t even need to complete the book before securing a contract and an advance. If you’ve written a dynamite proposal (four or five paragraphs), a solid outline (chapter-by-chapter, including headings and proposed chapter contents), and two or three sample chapters, you can start sending your proposal around and expecting some good results in return. Guaranteed? Absolutely…provided you’re a good writer, have put together an enticing proposal, and are willing to back everything up with the hard work required to turn out a book on deadline. That’s really all it takes to get your name in print…and keep it there. And, once you have established a solid name and loyal following as a nonfiction writer, you can always branch out into fiction, if you like, making this a real win-win situation. Until then… Smoke if you got ‘em.
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