Fiction v. Nonfiction. There is a difference between entertainment and information, known as fiction and nonfiction. Every nonfiction book is unique. The buyer interested in the subject of raising llamas is not necessarily a good prospect for a book on skydiving or waste-water treatment. Fiction, on the other hand, is related to other fiction in its category. A reader who buys one mystery is a prime candidate for another mystery. Fiction must compete for peoples’ time. People must choose not only between reading this book of fiction and reading other books but between reading this book and engaging in other forms of entertainment such as going to a movie or walking on the beach. Nonfiction does not compete for time. Nonfiction is information that people buy because it will save them time or money. It is much easier to convince people to buy nonfiction than fiction. We often say “start with nonfiction and do not publish fiction until you can afford it.”
At Para Publishing, we specialize in coaching nonfiction book publishers to sell more books. Some of our programs, ideas, leads and resources will work for creative literature but that is not our specialty.
Children’s books. Twenty percent of the US is made up of children; 4,000,000 babies are born every year. There is a large market for children’s books and they are relatively easy to sell be they fiction or nonfiction. Children’s books tend to have a longer sales life than adult books. They start off slow and build over time.
According to Publishers Weekly, children’s books fall into the following categories: 27% picture books, 17% books for babies and toddlers, 20% for younger readers, 19% for middle readers, and 17% for young-adult readers. Decide which category your work falls into.
Producing children’s books just recently became a lot less expensive. A new type of printing allows you to avoid expensive color separations and to print in quantities of 100 or 500 to test the market before you print more.
Cook Books. People are cooking less but obsessing about it more. They are eating out more (spending 29.4% of their food dollar) but are buying more cookbooks. They are doing more reading about cooking than cooking. People are cooking for others so infrequently that when they do, they will do anything to make sure the meal comes out perfectly.
More than 1,000 new cookbooks are published each year and they sell well.
So cookbooks are becoming more and more specialized: For diabetics, no salt, for menopause, etc. The Civil War Cookbook intertwines history and cuisine for insight into the lives of the soldiers in the battlefield.
Travel books. Getting paid for travel can be great fun. In fact, digging out a story in a distant land can be stimulating, allowing you to get more out of your trip. Few people are full-time travel writers. Most supplement their income and their lust for journeying to far-away places.
Religious books are relatively easy to sell. There is a large market and much demand.
Screenplays. With the expansion of television to 500 channels, there is a larger and ever-increasing need for content. Viewers want fiction (entertainment) and nonfiction (how-to, documentaries, etc.). Someone has to come up with the ideas and someone has to write the scripts.
Newsletters. Articles and news items you publish in your magazine or newsletter can be saved for your book. So the periodical can help you to get maximum value out of your research. Newsletters can bring you fame, fortune, help a lot of people and fulfill your mission but they have to be part of your overall company plan. Make sure your newsletter provides a lot of helpful, interesting news; do not make it just a puff piece for your books and other company activities.
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