I was curious about how many non-fiction writers are on the forum, whether people who already have non-fiction works published or who hope to in the future.

I write non-fiction regularly, though not as much as I write fiction, and I've had ten articles published so far in magazines.

How about you?

I am a writer of essays. More research and bibliography than blog posts, but still more or less opinion pieces. I meant to post a bunch in here, but I haven't had a chance to write much for a while.

I hope you can post some soon.

So do I.

I write non-fiction sometimes, usually research papers. I am not seeking publication right now, but I may go into it more fully at a later time. Non-fiction is more difficult to me than fiction. Is it for you?

Yes, I find it more difficult to write than fiction, too. But I still enjoy it.

I enjoy writing computer tutorials and documentation. (I think I'm the only person on earth on actually enjoys writing technical documentation - it's a classic task to despise.) But I haven't gotten anything published, and I have no plans to in the near future. I've posted a few tutorials on my blog, and during my summer job I got to write a little documentation, but that's it.

In addition, I enjoy writing the occasional essay or book review. A really solid review in particular is a joy to read, so I've been inspired to develop the skills to write the sorts of book reviews that can be as simultaneously entertaining and enlightening as some of the ones I've read.

Book reviews that are simultaneously entertaining and enlightening are quite a challenge to write, but are definitely enjoyable to read.

For school, I do all sorts of non-fiction writing. I'm doing an undergraduate thesis next year and will to a bunch of research and writing for that. However, I don't have any plans to continue with that sort of writing once I graduate.

If I do any non-fiction writing after I graduate, it will be for documentary filmmaking and/or commercial writing. I find that those two forms of writing often blur the line between fiction and reality a lot because they are very persuasion based. Thus, if I don't tell the version of the story that is the most dramatic or produces the most sales, then I won't be in the job for very long. I tend to be an optimistic person, so it doesn't bother me to show off the bright sides of a product, but there is always the temptation to oversell something. I'm getting off on a whole other discussion, so I should probably stop now...

Writing a documentary film would be fascinating. The world needs more truthful documentaries.

Most of the writing I do these days is non-fiction articles for my blog, primarily about life and faith, not particularly critical thinking kind of material. XD

I enjoy reading your blog articles.

I do nonfiction periodically. I've started blogging again, and I'm working on an original cookbook (if that counts? ). I do have several ideas for spiritual/instructional nonfiction books, but I am not sure if I have enough material to make them "books"--or if I should make shorter conference panels to start.

Yes, cookbooks count.


Even if you do have enough material for books, conference panels could be a good "test run" of the material before putting it in book form. Responses to the panel might reveal new angles that would could be included in the final product. On the other hand, the faster you have a book, the faster panels could help it sell.

Oh good, then I will start blabbering about my cookbook on the forum.

Both very good points.

For the last several years I've been taking classes in Technical writing (which is defined as "writing about any technical subject"---the most obvious example nowadays is software documentation, but brochures about investment options and automobile manuals are also "technical writing"). I haven't done much with my training outside of class so far, but I expect this'll probably be (as it has been for the past few years---these classes have been fairly intense) most of the actual writing I do for a while.


Many of the "how to write" books that I've read that have turned out to assume that "writing" means "nonfiction writing" have said that you should build up your credentials in whatever your topic is (preferably a niche topic for which there is high demand but few writers already covering it), then make your pitch for your nonfiction book to publishers. The same principle applies, though, even if you're planning on self-publishing: if you've appeared on panels or given talks about something, when you write a book about it you can truthfully say so in your author biography. While if you have a book about it you'll be in greater demand as a speaker on the subject, and, as Jonathan said, that can help sell books.