Are my Bona Fides Good Enough to Write Non-Fiction?

[AnimaDictio]

I have a killer idea for a religious reference book. It's the kind of book that I would use all the time if it already existed. But it doesn't. I come from a family of preachers. I'm a lay minister, too. But my education is in public policy and law. My work experience is all government and politics. Lately, I've been wondering if I need to go back to school for a Doctorate in Theology or Conflict Resolution before I try to convince the world that I can research the material I'd put in this book.

But the other part of me says, if people see this book, those who need something like this will snatch it up super fast, no matter who wrote it, because there's nothing on the market like it, yet.

What's the accepted wisdom on this?

[Mira]

This might be something to ask Nathan, but I'll give you my uneducated opinion.

If you want to go through standard publishing, they talk about platform, platform, platform in non-fiction. So, I think we're not only talking about a degree, but speaking engagements and an on-line following, that sort of thing.

Personally, I'm not sure all of that completely necessary, but I don't know - I have no real experience. I play to write non-fiction, so I'm getting a Master's, but whether I'll try to get on the speaker's curcuit before writing a book - that I haven't decided, so I'm sort of in the same place as you.

The other way is to write the book and self-publish, and see if the book can find an audience. You might address your qualifications in the book if you go this route - admit to what you have, and acknowledge what you don't have and address why you wrote the book anyway. That might short-cut accusations of "who are you to write this book?"

Actually, either way you could write the book. You could write the book and try mainstream publishing. You never know. If no one picks it up, and you really want to go that route, you could then go back and get a degree.....or decide to self-publish then.

Good luck - I know from first hand experience this is a tricky one!

[Nathan Bransford]

Basically, if it's non-narrative nonfiction, unless you're one of the world's leading authorities on the subject and have a built-in audience base who is waiting to buy your book you may have a hard time placing it with a major publisher. There are exceptions, but that's the rule of thumb. It's not enough to just be well-informed about a subject, publishers are looking for authority and an audience.

[Mira]

Thanks, Nathan! That's what I thought....

But Anima, please don't let this discourage you! There's more than one way to go about things. You could change it to narrative non-fiction (memoir), for example, or fictionalize it and market it that way. You could look for a small publisher who represents your type of book. Or you could self-publish, or download it to e-books on Kindle, and try to find an audience through the grassroots.

Either way, good luck!

[AnimaDictio]

Thanks so much Nathan and Mira.

Hmm, I think I'll write it for my own usage and give the book as much internal credibility as possible by including loads of citations and references and excerpts of interviews with experts (Say that five times fast.) I'll make decisions about how to publish later.

Who knows? Maybe I'll develop an audience by writing a religion-themed fiction best seller one day and then thrust my non-fiction pet project on those poor unsuspecting people.