Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

It seems as if the overwhelming majority of ebook success stories are novels. Is there any hope of non-fiction breaking through? Are ebooks the best reading media for non-fiction? I'm debating about also releasing my book through create space since I think a significant amount of readers prefer paperback for non-fiction. Any thoughts?

Afterlife: An Introduction to Dante's Inferno

David Lafferty

I think non-fiction has just as good a chance as an ebook as fiction. Ebooks are growing in popularity and I for one read both fiction and non-fiction as ebooks. I say go for it. It certainly can't hurt, and with ebooks gaining on the market, it's better to get in the race early.

Sherri wrote: "I think non-fiction has just as good a chance as an ebook as fiction. Ebooks are growing in popularity and I for one read both fiction and non-fiction as ebooks. I say go for it. It certainly can't..."

Thanks Sherri, I've already published my book on Kindle and am starting the process of publishing to Create Space also. CS is kind of a pain to format (especially images) so I'm debating if it's worth the effort.

David wrote: "It seems as if the overwhelming majority of ebook success stories are novels. Is there any hope of non-fiction breaking through? Are ebooks the best reading media for non-fiction? I'm debating a..."

I would say that the answer is "it depends on the topic." I've done no small amount of non-fiction work (my background is in journalism. I think that if there are people interested in your work, it will sell nicely. I have had good success with my music business memoir,
You Had to Be There: Three Years of Mayhem and Bad Decisions in the Portland Music Scene. I thought I would mostly see sales from PDX, but for some reason it's popular in Australia. You just never know.

I've heard from agents at conferences that Ebook nonfiction books are poised to take off probably in late 2013-2014, once all the Ereaders are better able to support images. Paws crossed that's true. I have 7 of my print backlist pet books now available as Ebooks, some heavily illustrated.

Non-fiction does just fine in e-format. Granted, it might not sell in Hocking/EL James/Rowling numbers, but you must bear in mind that neither do the vast majority of fiction ebooks.

Andrew wrote: "Non-fiction does just fine in e-format. Granted, it might not sell in Hocking/EL James/Rowling numbers, but you must bear in mind that neither do the vast majority of fiction ebooks."

In addition, nonfiction typically seems able to command a higher price in Ebook than fiction.

Hello, people! My name is Klemen Globochnik and I am totally new in this group. I noticed the discussion about non-fiction books and I decided to join with my request. If you find it interesting, please comment.

I am a motivational author and currently working on a success-oriented book, titled “MY STORY, YOUR SUCCESS!” I am happy to share the first details about it. Firstly, I would like to test the book cover.

The genre of a book fits these categories: Non Fiction, Success, Motivational, Marketing & Sales, Advice & How to, Self-help, Religion & Spirituality.

I would be glad to read your comments about it (thoughts, feelings, opinions, anything really). Your feedback is a huge support for me to perfect my book! Thank you all for your help and participation in a starting process of my baby.

I wish you all a successful 2013!

“Success without taking people on the journey with you is not really a success.”

[IMG]http://i48.tinypic.com/21cs7sp.jpg[/IMG]

Short answer: Yes, bearing in mind that readers who enjoy fiction are likely a minority of the overall reading population.

I suspect the success of any eBook - fiction or nonfiction - depends largely on how well it is written and how vigorously it is marketed.

My book, Normal, was written for a rather small target audience of brain aneurysm survivors, their caregivers, and medical professionals. I self-published the eBook in August 2012, but did not market it heavily in the first months. Now that it has been released (January 2013) as a paperback, I'm exerting more effort to get the word out.

The eBook sold maybe 24 copies over the first weeks it was released. I sold 36 copies of the paperback at my launch party. The book has been added to the recommended resources list of one neurosurgery center's aneurysm support group and most of my current marketing efforts are geared toward having that happen in simimlar facilities. Since my goal is to help people through the recovery process, my focus is on getting into the hands of those who need it most.

That said, I have received a good deal of feedback that the book appeals to a broader audience, so eventually I will need to widen the scope of my marketing plan.

Yes, but it all depends on the author. Non-fiction books usually offer the author ample opportunities to sell their books through seminars and other speaking opportunities. These are venues that many ficition writers do not have.

Joseph wrote: "Yes, but it all depends on the author. Non-fiction books usually offer the author ample opportunities to sell their books through seminars and other speaking opportunities. These are venues that ma..."

It's true these are venues many fiction authors don't pursue...but they can. Every fiction book has a premise that arises out of a nonfiction(reality), even fantasy premises. It's up to the fiction author to become an "authority/expert" on that subject and leverage the subject matter in speaking engagements, appearances, etc.

Too many fiction authors assume they have nothing to offer. If they have done research or are themselves already experts in order to create a believable "fiction" world, then that IS translatable to seminars, etc. Just think outside the box! *s*

Kathleen McMahon

For my topic, the focus is on educating people how to avoid scams online and unexpectedly I have had more success selling print copies at my speaking engagements than online. But then I realized how that made sense. They hear my talk, I do a Q&A, and they are more likely to buy my books because of that full experience.

Great discussion! I currently have two books available on Kindle, one a non-fiction and one a children's fiction. The non-fiction is by far outselling the fiction - which surprised me.

However, it is only outselling it since the fiction book was published. I'm not sure if that is a coincidence, though, as the timing could have affected the statistics.

The fiction book was published just before Christmas 2012 and the sales of the non-fiction (about aquaponics) took off in January 2013.

It may have something to do with New Years resolutions to eat healthier and grow more veggies!

I know people who are doing really well with non-fiction but they use multiple pen names because they want to be seen as the expert in whichever field the book is talking about. Having multiple non-fiction books under one name names you look like you're spreading yourself a bit thin.

Could non-fiction authors be doing better than it first appears?

Michelle wrote: "Haing multiple non-fiction books under one name ...you look like you're spreading yourself a bit thin..."

Uhm...I've been writing nonfiction pet care books for many years and have 26 titles. *s* Many still in print or updated recently and all selling. I consider myself a "pet expert" and so write about cats, dogs, puppies, kittens, vet care, training, behavior, etc...and they all fall under that same umbrella. I've never heard the notion that writing all these under one name might dilute/spread think the expertise--in fact the opposite.

Now if the book topics are widely divergent, it might be a bit of a stretch to consider the single author has equal expertise in all. But many of us wear multiple hats in "real life." I had a double major in theater/music performance, and write music and play multiple instruments. I also am too cheap to buy stained glass but love it, so learned to do it myself. My dad is an art collector. My mom a champion quilter. So...although I don't write in any of those as an "expert" they can be part and parcel of my fiction, and be an accurate portrayal, enough that I could (if asked) leverage that knowledge during interviews/appearances.

"Could non-fictions authors be doing better than it first appears?"

Well, I don't know how it first appears! LOL! I suspect that nonfiction authors may not publicly compare sales and rankings as religiously as many fiction authors do. It's hard to compare cat books to train collection books, or dog training books to gardening books. But Ebooks lend themselves to niche sales, and I think successful nonfiction authors know their own niche readers very well.

Well, as a non-fiction writer, I sincerely hope so. That said, the majority of top 100 bestsellers are fiction novels. I think the difference is that fiction sells to a massive ‘generalized’ audience, whereas non-fiction sells to a specific targeted niche. Usually the size of the targeted niche, and eventual sales in that area, can’t quite compare to the size of a more generalized market.
I do think a paperback offering is a good idea though. Opens up the market further. I’m not entirely sure, but I think CreateSpace allow you to ‘print on demand’?

Heather wrote: "Well, as a non-fiction writer, I sincerely hope so. That said, the majority of top 100 bestsellers are fiction novels. I think the difference is that fiction sells to a massive ‘generalised’ audien..."

Everyone thinks they can write a novel. And a lot of folks publish novels and shouldn't. LOL! There is a whole lot more competition among novelist than among nonfiction authors. *shrug* I'm not sure what "best seller" list you mean, since they separate those into fiction and nonfiction, but there are many more novels being pub'd it's true. But that also means the "generalized" novel has a much harder time to find an audience.

I'd urge ANY author to get their book out into as many platforms/venues as possible. POD, Epub, audio books, do it all and distribute everywhere. Don't rely on a single store--that'd be like expecting readers to know to look for YOUR book in that one needle-in-the-haystack cubbyhole, LOL! Instead, have it available on kindle, iTunes, Nook, diesel, audible, etc. That increases the chance of find-ability.

how are people feeling about Amazon's Select program these days - does it make sense for a non-fiction book? Or is it better to get it listed in as many places, as mentioned above?

Kathleen wrote: "how are people feeling about Amazon's Select program these days - does it make sense for a non-fiction book? Or is it better to get it listed in as many places, as mentioned above?"

Well, I currently have 3 in Select but will take them out over the next couple of months as my publisher puts 'em in the other venues. It's not as helpful as in the past, does help somewhat with ranking and to get a bit of notice for early reviews. But the ranking doesn't last. I tend to price my nonfiction higher than most fiction books anyway. The ones in select are priced at 7.99 each and two of them are selling well--but not doing great in borrows--so I think they'll do better once everywhere.

That said, I may enroll NEW nonfiction books for a time, just to allow reviewers to get free copies.

Others' milage may vary. *s*

That's helpful, thank you!

I see no reason why they can't.

But consistent, constant promotion and marketing is crucial too!

Gary wrote: "I see no reason why they can't.

But consistent, constant promotion and marketing is crucial too!"

True! and you have to think outside the box. For instance, I'm doing a 99-cent special next week for my kitten book...sort of a "furry Valentine" for pet lovers. But there are soooooo many 99-cent books, such sales have lost their punch, so not relying on Amazon but instead doing this as a mass-promo with a bunch of other writers and bloggers. "Tribe building" is the way to market these days--much more powerful to have someone else say, "Go read this book it's awesome!" When an author says it, that's just so much white noise.

Oh and now, go read this book it's awesome! ROTFL!

Amy wrote: "Gary wrote: "I see no reason why they can't.

But consistent, constant promotion and marketing is crucial too!"

True! and you have to think outside the box. For instance, I'm doing a 99-cent speci..."

Good point Amy!

And lol to that last part too!

I too have written a non-fiction book as a memoire/travelogue type story, called "Solitary Desire - One Woman's Journey to France" so I'm hoping that the idea of non-fiction not selling isn't the case!

Non-fiction is such a broad area so I would say it is possible for certain types of books.

Having said that there are many non-fiction books that I would not read if it was not published by an academic press and the reason is I like to know the material has been peer reviewed or at least I have access to their sources.

Amy wrote: "I've heard from agents at conferences that Ebook nonfiction books are poised to take off probably in late 2013-2014, once all the Ereaders are better able to support images. Paws crossed that's tru..."
I was very dissapointed by the original Kindle display of images (but that was partly down to the formatting too). This totally stopped me buying any reference/non-fiction that might use images.
However, when I got the Kindle app on another (Android) device that could display colour I was much more impressed. I got Barry Cunliffe's Britain Begins andthe image quality/display is excellent. Bit of a shame the book itself was a bit of a let down.

umm, most top ebooksellers are horrible nonfiction how to market ebooks books. I know this is slowly slowly changing, but I'd say news and self help top ebooks, then romance.

Rob wrote: "Amy wrote: "I've heard from agents at conferences that Ebook nonfiction books are poised to take off probably in late 2013-2014, once all the Ereaders are better able to support images. Paws crosse..."

There's a trick to formatting the pictures, true. At first only black and white images were publishable, and if you uploaded color they defaulted to black and white and re-sized them--so the original images had to have good contrast and already be optimized for Kindle-size viewing. Some of that has changed. Four of my nonfiction pet books have images and/or illustrations. They all originally were published by NAL with black and white photos so they looked okay that way--but I recently changed the Complete Kitten Care book images to the color versions. *s* That book won awards in it's original incarnation not only for the content but for the cute kitty photos so there's no wonder it's still my best seller.
Complete Kitten Care