Which is easier to sell - Fiction or Non

Nonfiction is easier to sell (although not guaranteed) than fiction for a first-time author.

Agents and publishers are interested in well-written nonfiction books because of their marketability to specific groups of readers. If you're a hobbyist or better yet a mechanic and have written a book about restoring classic Mustangs, then that book has marketability to legions of people who love old Mustangs.

It helps (but is NOT required) to have a platform, meaning that you have credibility as the author. Say, a mechanic who's written the Mustang book has a definite platform over the guy who has also written a Mustang book who's a schoolteacher and just fixes them up on the side.

And I've said this before in other threads as other posters have too: memoirs are a tough sell. IMHO, you're better off trying to get fiction published before a memoir. At least the memoir could end with you now being a successful novelist. Plus, you will probably have an agent who might be able to help sell the memoir.

Back to nonfiction. You don't necessarily have to send out proposals and queries before you finish, but it helps, and it's acceptable practice in the industry. In the proposal you have to detail all the chapters and give samples and the time you think you'll be finished.

allen

Non-fiction.

It depends on who you are. Non fiction in general sells more but you have to be a recognized expert or have a very compelling topic that people will want to read about. A memoir of my life wouldn't sell. People just wouldn't care. I don't blame them. I have no particular areas of expertise (speaking three languages just can't be spun into a story) that would be saleable. Gardening is perhaps the only one that comes close, but I don't have a platform. My gardening blog was moderately popular, but not enough to make a publisher believe I have a platform.

Soooooooo, I have a much better shot when it comes to fiction.

If you want to sell a memoir and you are not a celebrity, you have got to have a unique twist or viewpoint on an issue that people will find compelling. I have no idea what your life story is, so I have no opinion on whether you've got that. If you're thinking that people would be able to relate because so many of them go through the same thing, then probably it's best to forget it. If you're an unknown person facing common challenges, it would be a very tough sell.

Sounds like a great plan. Keep at 'em!

alen

Sell

Generally speaking, nonfiction is easier to sell because the market is so much larger, and because the writing is less important. But selling a memoir is brutally tough, unless you've lived an extraordinary life. There just isn;t much call for memoirs about the average person. Who would care?

It's interesting, though, how nonfiction helps drive the fiction market; or, more precisely, how events or subjects that garner headlines can push sales of the novel that taps into them. Think Joy Luck Club, which, I recall, came out not long after the Tienamen (sp?) Square demonstration, or The Kite Runner, which followed the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

Not long ago, I was talking to an agent about a story for a historical thriller. I was wondering whether to include a well-known person, because the story could work either way. He said, By all means, because including him would make a terrific nonfiction hook; few people know that this man was involved in the activities I describe, so it gives a different slant on him.

Drugs.

caw

joyce said:

I have two WIP's that are fiction and a non-fiction memoir that I've been playing around with for a little while now. I'm still unplublished and was wondering if a non-fiction book would be harder to sell than a fiction one for a first timer. From everything I can see, it looks like with a non-fiction work, you should send out a proposal to an agent before the book is completed........is this correct? I know everything depends on the writing, current market trends, ect., but wondered would it be harder to break into the industry with a non-fiction title, or should I still go the fiction route first?

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Non fiction is easier to sell if it's not a memoir. I am published in a couple places, but do not have a book. I write non fiction articles. I did take a course in getting a book published. The main theme of the course however was not on writing, but on marketing.

You need to build a platform of your work. For example, for your fiction writing perhaps you can excerpt a piece from one of your WIP's and submit as a short story to an appropiate magazine. Maybe give readings, etc..

My WIP is a biography, however I reached a point where I went dry. So currently I am writing a fiction piece. Since fiction is not my genre it is challenging and bringing a new perspective to writing.

Perserverance pays off.

Good Luck