Why so few nonfiction compared to fiction!

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WeaselFire

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I am nonfiction author of self-help and spiritual series. Always wonder why so few nonfiction authors.

I think you may have a slightly distorted perspective. My non-fiction is primarily tech and there are literally thousands of non-fiction writers in that genre, from all over the world. In the spiritual genre, there are naturally going to be fewer, the tech book market is hundreds of titles a year from each publisher.

I wrote non-fiction how-to in the dark ages (1980's), what I like to call the "How to build a shelf" book. I almost mirrored Bob Newhart's character except I had no wife, Vermont inn or bumbling handyman (I worked as the bumbling handyman and wrote on the side...). Back then, these types of books could sell. Now days, they're blog posts on a dozen different web sites associated with various TV networks. I that genre, now, you'll also find very few non-fiction authors.

Jeff
 

JDlugosz

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I agree with WeaselFire. I wrote for computer programming magazines (my avitar picture is my first cover) and now magazines like that don’t exist.

If you count every multi-gold-badge holder on Stack Overflow (et al.) as a “non-fiction author” you will find that there are a great many.
 

Al X.

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In my day job, I write a lot of technical reports and proposals. I guess that's non fiction. That said, my descriptions of our firm's qualifications and expertise have been classified as well-crafted fiction at times.
 

Al Stevens

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I agree with WeaselFire. I wrote for computer programming magazines (my avitar picture is my first cover) and now magazines like that don’t exist.
Likewise. My column, articles, and books were my living. Along with consulting, which I did to stay abreast of the field, and lecturing, which was mostly promotional. Now, as a self-publisher, the non-fiction works outsell the novels. I don't think it's name recognition. Most of my older books are obsolete and today's generation of programmers don't know my name. Many of them weren't born when I retired. There is always a market for information if it can't be readily found well-presented somewhere on the web.

Non-fiction is many categories. How-to, memoirs and biographies, history, self-help, tech, philosophy, etc. It's not easy to generalize and arrive at predictions and conclusions about their performance.
 

Antipode91

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I love some good non-fic books and probably spend about 70/30 between fic and non-fic.

I mostly buy psychology/sociology non-fic, like Michael Gladwell. I've also bought self-help on parenting when I was in college, because it reflected on teaching (I originally was in college for elementary teacher).

From what what I know about non-fic writers in real life--which is only a handful--their craft centers around their knowledge, and not so much their writing skills (someone who has a ph.d in psychology most likely can put words together well enough). So they aren't spending their time on a writers forum. Their loss, though. Forum is wonderful for many things!
 

Helix

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I love some good non-fic books and probably spend about 70/30 between fic and non-fic.

I mostly buy psychology/sociology non-fic, like Michael Gladwell. I've also bought self-help on parenting when I was in college, because it reflected on teaching (I originally was in college for elementary teacher).

From what what I know about non-fic writers in real life--which is only a handful--their craft centers around their knowledge, and not so much their writing skills (someone who has a ph.d in psychology most likely can put words together well enough). So they aren't spending their time on a writers forum. Their loss, though. Forum is wonderful for many things!

Plenty of non-fiction writers are skilled both in their area of expertise and in their ability to write about that area in an engaging and informative way. Among them are people with PhDs who can put words together in a better than 'well enough' fashion.
 

JDlugosz

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From what what I know about non-fic writers in real life--which is only a handful--their craft centers around their knowledge, and not so much their writing skills (someone who has a ph.d in psychology most likely can put words together well enough). So they aren't spending their time on a writers forum. Their loss, though. Forum is wonderful for many things!

Plenty of non-fiction writers are skilled both in their area of expertise and in their ability to write about that area in an engaging and informative way. Among them are people with PhDs who can put words together in a better than 'well enough' fashion.

Back in the day, before the Internet went public, I used dial-up to a Compuserve forum filled with writers and editors. Other than peer review, we never really discussed the craft of writing though.

I think one reason is because we were not working on our own without support. Given non-fiction ideas and expertise and some basic writing ability, there were professional copy editors etc. who would help get the article into shape.

And things like “show vs tell” simply were not applicable. Does a phrase need to be beautiful and elegant? Not so much — plain is best, giving just the facts in an easy-to-understand way.

Look at the type of writing skill that we don’t see discussed here: how to write a grammatically correct sentence. How to write a paragraph with topic and supporting sentences and make paragraphs cohesive rather than just arbitrary breaks in a wall of text. Are there any threads about pronouns and clear antecedents? I did see one about being understood by a global audience re non-universal terms and idioms.

In non-fiction there is no characters to invent, flesh out, and develop over a story arc. There is no dialog. There is no plot like in fiction, but there is an outline regarding presentation order when explaining something. The choices there are pretty objective though, not artistic. The standard forms of various types of essays are taught in school.

So, almost all the threads I see here are for things that don’t apply to non-fiction.
 

Helix

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I read a lot of nature writing and popsci, and a fair bit of history. They're almost all written in elegant, evocative prose with clear story arcs. The sort of non-fic you're describing sounds dull as ditchwater.
 

veinglory

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I think it depends a lot on the book. A technical manual for distilling whiskey various ways is different from a history of why people made it these different ways.
 

Al Stevens

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I remember you. Didn’t I see you play the drums in a jazz set in Oakland in 1989? Or on Borland’s campus?
I would have been playing piano. (I don't play drums.) I have played in sessions with other musicians at programming conventions, and among them were Borland events.

It's good to be rememberes. :)
 

Fruitbat

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I think it depends a lot on the book. A technical manual for distilling whiskey various ways is different from a history of why people made it these different ways.

ITA. “Nonfiction” covers a lot of ground.
 

pat j

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I am nonfiction author of self-help and spiritual series. Always wonder why so few nonfiction authors. Is it lower demand or harder to write.? I realize nonfiction often needs specialized knowledge. Like to know your views.

Those who Like to read about Health & Spirit Raise Your Hand.. & Those who don't Like to read Raise Your awareness…LOL

==========

I would say many NF writers are actually busy writing not doing a lot of chatting on social media about writing. At least not as much as the fiction writers do.

NF is easier to write in general. You research what you dont know. And know your limits; writing the TOE for quantum physics is way harder than writing a physics textbook to introduce the topic to students.
 

veinglory

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That would suggest a fundamentally personality difference that, as someone who does both, I am not sure is there. Not to mention that in my case NF is about 100x harder than fiction. It rather depends on who you are and what you write.

I wonder if what we really need is a new thread on stereotypes about F vs. NF.
 
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DrDLN

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There is no general conclusion about which is harder to write: Fiction or Nonfiction. Both require specific talent. But NF require more understanding and knowledge about the subject. IMO, you can't just search and write as some people think. That's why advanced degrees do help...

That would suggest a fundamentally personality difference that, as someone who does both, I am not sure is there. Not to mention that in my case NF is about 100x harder than fiction. It rather depends on who you are and what you write.
 

AW Admin

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This thread obnoxious at best, and rapidly approaching (again) offensive.

Let's not wallow in stereotypes; it doesn't help anyone.
 
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