Writing Nonfiction That Sells
By William Cane

You want to write a book, but you don't know where to start. Maybe you have an idea, a few chapters, or a rough outline. Maybe you've been thinking about the possibility for a long time and feel you could write a better book than some of the ones currently in bookstores. Chances are you could - if only you knew the steps you need to take.

When I was in high school I was constantly frustrated by my literature classes. While I enjoyed reading the classics, I felt that we were being denied a great opportunity to enter the world of publishing ourselves by a constant focus on the writing of others. There were book reports and essays and term papers we had to write, of course, but never once did a teacher suggest that it might be possible for any one of us to write a book. Somehow book writing was the province of a select few, a rare breed, a secret club that no one knew how to enter.

Even when I was in college and law school, no one ever suggested that it was possible for a student to write a book. Teachers sometimes wrote books, we knew, but they were usually stuffy textbooks filled with footnotes and boring chapters on obscure topics. What about writing a book for the general public? What about writing a best seller? No one even talked about the possibility!

I, however, was chomping at the bit to do just that. Over the course of two or more years I read everything I could on the subject, talked with authors, and found out the way to get published. By the time I wrote my first book, The Art of Kissing, I had already written countless articles for newspapers and magazines and had published short stories and won several writing awards, so I had a few credits to my name. But even without such credits it’s possible to get a book published if you know three inside secrets.

First and foremost, if you’re writing nonfiction you don’t write the entire book. That’s a waste of time and energy. The editors and agents you’ll be dealing with almost never want to see a completed manuscript. Unbelievable as it may seem, it’s easier to sell an idea for a book than it is to sell the completed manuscript -- infinitely easier. As it turns out, you don’t have to write more than a chapter or two in order to get a sale and become an author. The key is that you’re going to have to write a short book proposal, which will summarize the book, explain why you’re the person to write the book, and talk about the market for the book. Getting your book proposal in order should be your primary concern if you wish to write nonfiction.

Second, and equally important, you’re going to need to write a query letter to literary agents. It’s a waste of time to approach publishers directly. While it’s possible to do so, you’ll usually make a better impression and get a bigger advance if you go through an agent. The way to get an agent is with a query letter. Today, most agents prefer to receive email queries. Despite the informality of email as a means of communication compared to snail mail, there are certain guidelines that you’ll want to follow in your query: get the name of the agent right; outline your book briefly; say something about your credentials; ask whether they’d like to see your book proposal. And that’s pretty much it.

Third, you’re going to want to choose the group of agents you wish to approach with your query. Figuring out which agents to approach can take months of research unless you’ve been reading Publisher’s Weekly or have been following the publishing world for some time. There are ways to make this process go faster, but usually it’s worth your while to do the research right. The reason this is so important is that if you select the wrong types of agents they’ll reject your work even before they read to the end of your query. But if you select appropriate agents you’ll have a fairly good chance of being accepted and of getting your work to the right publisher. Agents have contacts with many publishers, which is why selecting an appropriate agent is a critical step in the book making process. Some agents specialize just in cookbooks or inspirational books, others deal mainly with children’s books, while others only handle fiction or plays or celebrity books. Knowing which agents to send your query to can make the difference between success and failure.

About the Author

William Cane is the author of The Art of Kissing, which has been translated into 19 languages. He taught English at Boston College for fourteen years and today is a widely sought-after speaker at colleges and universities nationwide. His Web site contains more insider writing advice for those wishing to get published: http://www.hiwrite.com/ Copyright (©) 2007 William Cane

Visit my blog at http://mdonnadesigns.blogspot.com/.

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Copyright 2007

Raleigh, NC
Last modified: 01/21/08

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