Different Flavors of Non-Fiction
As a ghostwriter, my sessions with a new client often start out by figuring out whether they want to write a how-to book or a memoir. They often start out thinking they want to write one kind of book, only to discover it was the other that was calling their name all along. In my experience, this stems from a lack of clarity around the differences between these two types of popular non-fiction books. Then to further muddle the waters, there is the growing popularity of the mashup self-help/memoir book. To determine what kind of book you should write, consider your personal and professional goals for writing.
The How-to Book
This tried and true genre is best described as – you are the expert and you are sharing your knowledge on how to do a particular thing. Think The Joy of Sex, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, or How to Win Friends and Influence People. It is your forum, in black and white hard copy or ebook, through the structure of methodological and turnkey advice, on how to tell a joke, lose weight, or build an online vitamin empire. Why write a book when there is YouTube for this, you might ask? I’m delighted to answer that question – because books still carry weight. They stamp you as the expert and thought leader in your field. They cut through the noise of the billions of bytes of visual content we are subjected to on a 24/7 basis. You can hold them in your hand and paste their link to them on your social media. Some current popular examples of how-to books are The Triathalon’s Training Manual or Tim Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life. Write a how-to book if you want to be known as an expert in your field, become a speaker on your topic, and want to have an influence on how things are done in your profession.
The Memoir
The memoir has seen an explosion in popularity over the past several years. To clarify the difference between a memoir and an autobiography, the latter is a factual telling of a certain part of a person’s life or around a particular theme or event. Whereas an autobiography is a first-person account of a person’s entire life. The hybrid memoir-business book has also become very popular as it usually combines the story and genesis behind a person’s vision and how they created or experienced how they established a business or sailed around the world solo. In this context, readers learn about being a business owner or sailing, but it’s more story than how-to. While memoirs have traditionally been associated with celebrities or other popular personalities, that has changed. Write a memoir if you have an experience or life lesson to share with readers or you want to become a motivational speaker. Please note that memoirs are notoriously difficult to sell unless you are a celebrity, so the decision to write a memoir needs to be personal rather than commercially motivated.
This brings us to another hybrid – the memoir/self-help book. This sub-genre centers on the author wanting to share an experience they believe will help others go through something similar AND provides actionable advice on how to achieve the goal. An example might be Judith Henry's A Dutiful Daughter's Guide to Caregiving: A Practical Guide. The book includes reflections on the author's childhood and her relationship with her parents, combined with the practical aspects of caregiving and how she learned to navigate a difficult healthcare system, financial, and legal issues. Many clients of mine often want to write this kind of book, but in my experience, it can make a how-to book less commercial and a memoir less personal, and these “hybrid” books are challenging to market, so choose with care.
Creative/Narrative Non-Fiction
Lastly, it can’t hurt to throw in a definition of creative non-fiction, also known as narrative non-fiction, another popular genre. Most of the New York Times non-fiction bestsellers are narrative non-fiction, and they often read like novels. These books are written with attention to plot, character development, and structure. A recent example of popular books in this genre are Matthew Goodman’s books The City Game: Triumph, Scandal, and a Legendary Basketball Team and Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World, as well as Eric Larson's The Splendid and the Vile about Winston Churchill. Usually, this kind of book requires extensive research, significantly more time to write than “writing what know,” and highly refined craft. Write this kind of book if you aspire to make money as a writer.
Understanding the differences in the various types of non-fiction books you can write will save you a lot of time in the creative process with your ghostwriter or editor. Let the games begin!