Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Nonfiction writing prospects
So how about nonfiction writing?
That tends to fall into the category of normal
journalism -- reporting for local newspapers.
Or writing articles for magazines.
Or writing books.
Reporters do tend to make very little money,
unless and until they expand their talent
and accomplishments into either high profile
assignments for the major media (White House
Correspondent for ABC, say) or get a high
profile media job, such as anchoring for a
major network.
Only a relative handful of journalists reach
those heights and it takes time.
But they can also parlay their experiences
into books which may make good money. Either
books about major stories they've covered
or about themselves.
The life of a magazine article writer is pretty
accurately described in the course, though if
anything the course is too charitable.
Magazine article writers must select their
target market magazines, study them and
their angles, come up with a list of ideas
they could write and which they think the
magazine would like to publish, send a
query letter on these ideas to the editor,
wait for their response, have most of them
shot down, finally get one tentatively
accepted (tentative because although the
editor likes your idea, that doesn't mean
they'll like the actual article you submit),
complete the research, write the article,
send it in, get told to cut out 500 words,
finally get it approved after several
re-writes . . . and maybe if you're lucky
it'll be published and paid for within
6 to 8 months.
Larger magazines do pay somewhat well and on
acceptance, but the competition is fierce.
Smaller magazines don't much very much and
pay on publication (which can be the above
6 to 8 months and even much longer), and
yet the competition is still fierce.
There is big money in writing non-fiction
books -- if you write a bestseller.
There's no rule that says you can't, but I've
noticed that most bestsellers are NOT written
by ordinary nonfiction writers.
They're written by celebrities. People who are
experts in other fields (doctors writing about
how to lose weight). People who have had
something newsworthy happen to them (Jessica
Simpson). Historians writing about interesting
historical events and people.
Some bestsellers are written by nonfiction
writers who specialize in popular areas -- such
as Ann Rule who writes true crime books.
Many of the above people do use ghost writers,
since they themselves are not professional
writers.
But most nonfiction bestsellers do come from
people who are NOT primarily writers. They are
people who bring something else to the table.
I won't say it's impossible, but it's relatively
difficult to publish a nonfiction book, and even
more difficult for it to be a bestseller, in the
same way you can write a nonfiction article for
a magazine.
Magazine article writers interview an expert or
two, explain some findings that benefit the
magazine's readership, and get published.
In book writer, you pretty much have to be the
expert yourself.
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That tends to fall into the category of normal
journalism -- reporting for local newspapers.
Or writing articles for magazines.
Or writing books.
Reporters do tend to make very little money,
unless and until they expand their talent
and accomplishments into either high profile
assignments for the major media (White House
Correspondent for ABC, say) or get a high
profile media job, such as anchoring for a
major network.
Only a relative handful of journalists reach
those heights and it takes time.
But they can also parlay their experiences
into books which may make good money. Either
books about major stories they've covered
or about themselves.
The life of a magazine article writer is pretty
accurately described in the course, though if
anything the course is too charitable.
Magazine article writers must select their
target market magazines, study them and
their angles, come up with a list of ideas
they could write and which they think the
magazine would like to publish, send a
query letter on these ideas to the editor,
wait for their response, have most of them
shot down, finally get one tentatively
accepted (tentative because although the
editor likes your idea, that doesn't mean
they'll like the actual article you submit),
complete the research, write the article,
send it in, get told to cut out 500 words,
finally get it approved after several
re-writes . . . and maybe if you're lucky
it'll be published and paid for within
6 to 8 months.
Larger magazines do pay somewhat well and on
acceptance, but the competition is fierce.
Smaller magazines don't much very much and
pay on publication (which can be the above
6 to 8 months and even much longer), and
yet the competition is still fierce.
There is big money in writing non-fiction
books -- if you write a bestseller.
There's no rule that says you can't, but I've
noticed that most bestsellers are NOT written
by ordinary nonfiction writers.
They're written by celebrities. People who are
experts in other fields (doctors writing about
how to lose weight). People who have had
something newsworthy happen to them (Jessica
Simpson). Historians writing about interesting
historical events and people.
Some bestsellers are written by nonfiction
writers who specialize in popular areas -- such
as Ann Rule who writes true crime books.
Many of the above people do use ghost writers,
since they themselves are not professional
writers.
But most nonfiction bestsellers do come from
people who are NOT primarily writers. They are
people who bring something else to the table.
I won't say it's impossible, but it's relatively
difficult to publish a nonfiction book, and even
more difficult for it to be a bestseller, in the
same way you can write a nonfiction article for
a magazine.
Magazine article writers interview an expert or
two, explain some findings that benefit the
magazine's readership, and get published.
In book writer, you pretty much have to be the
expert yourself.
copywriting and marketing on eBay
