Writing a nonfiction book - Ruth Bullivant Book Coaching

Writing a nonfiction book

The process of writing and publishing a nonfiction book isn’t intuitive.

I want you to know the facts.

It is not about starting at page one and writing another three hundred pages.

It is not about writing down everything you know about a given topic.

In fact, to get started, it is not even about making an outline.

The key decision you need to make when you plan your book

How do you want to get your book out into the world?

When you write a nonfiction book, you need to know from the start how you plan to get it into your reader’s hands.

Are you hoping for that elusive “bestseller” status emblazoned on the cover?

Do you hope that a good, respectable, if rather small, publisher will pick it up?

Do you prefer to keep complete control over your book’s publishing journey and know you will self-publish?

The choice confronting you

As soon as you start noodling a great idea for a book, you’re faced with a big decision.

Traditional, or self-publishing?

If you read on, I’ll explain the difference at its simplest level.

But making a really good decision requires an understanding of the way money flows in the book world.

See my full article, free on this link, for a more in-depth explanation.

Traditional publishing

Publishing by the traditional route of querying a publisher, or finding an agent to find you a publisher, is hard to achieve. You have to persuade a publisher there is a viable market for your book.

But if you secure a publisher, you gain access to a wider distribution network.

Self-publishing

There are a few ways to achieve self-publication.

If you opt to do everything (design, formatting, file-making, book cover and all things related to book production) then the only person you have to convince to buy your book is your reader.

Truly independent publishing enables you to keep control of your book’s production at every stage of the process.

If you want to engage a team to help you, there are high-quality, hard-working book producers out there who will assist every step of the way. You can hire PR help, Marketing help, and anything else you need. The difference with traditional publishing is you can expect to pay a high price for such services.

You might instead opt to contract with a hybrid publisher to publish your book: in return for their distribution network, you pay a (sometimes considerable) fee and share your royalties.

You never pay for traditional publishing. Whether you are prepared to relinquish control of your creative decisions, and to work to someone else’s timetable, is for you to think about.

The Book Proposal

The book proposal comes before the book

If you plan to seek traditional publication, you will need to write a book proposal before you start.

(Ssh! I’m going to share a trade secret with you. You need a book proposal for your self-published book, too.)

Book proposals come in many forms but at heart, they all ask the same questions for the same reason. The publisher needs to be convinced that there will be a profit in publishing your book.

I’m not talking about the royalties you hope will pour into your bank account. Please, don’t think for a minute that writing books is a highly profitable business: only a tiny handful make serious money.

I’m talking about the publisher needing to be as sure as they can that they will cover the costs of publishing your book and make a bit of extra on top, to pay for the ink and keep the lights on.

So, that is why you need to write the book proposal before writing the book if you want to seek traditional publication.

But even if you intend to keep control of the process and self-publish, you need to write a book that people want to read.

That is not the same as sitting down for six months and writing everything you know about the subject.

You, too, need to know what your reader needs to hear and what they don’t; you need to be really clear about who that reader is so that you can make those design choices.

You need to know what you want to say through your book, and what ideas are getting in the way and cluttering up the clarity of your message.

Whether you opt for “Trad” or Self-publishing, the tried and trusted elements of the book proposal help you write the strongest, publishable version of your book possible.

Why write a book proposal?

A Business Case and a Design Plan in one

The process of writing a book proposal is about considering your book idea from multiple angles:

◾Knowing why you want to write it, so you can remind yourself, during the long months ahead, of your deep sense of purpose

◾Thinking who, exactly, needs to hear what you have to say

◾Uncovering what it is really about. What’s the most powerful, cogent way you can describe the true point of your book?

◾Having a clear idea of how long it will take you to write it, and what the practical steps are that you will need to take to move it along to publication.

Are you ready to work with me to write your book?