Fiction vs. Nonfiction redux

In a follow-up to this week's interview with book publisher/distributor J.C. Simonds, she discusses what Beagle Bay Books is doing with fiction in the future.

--

Can you describe some of the differences you've encountered between publishing fiction and nonfiction?

Beagle Bay Books is publishing its last fiction title this year. The reason: it's unbelievably hard to get the public interested in an unknown author. We are a brand-name society -- especially concerning fiction. It it's not Grisham or King or Rice or Steele, or if Oprah or Katie or Kelly didn't recommend it, they figure it can't be all that good. Fewer people every year are reading for pleasure. Most are using their computers, watching DVDs, or the 1001 things that take up our days. So they don't want to waste their valuable pleasure-reading time on books that might not satisfy. Even if your book is a great one.

I know three people who took their self-published [fiction] books into the world and made those titles successful. Craig Danner published Himalayan Dhaba, a book loosely based on his experiences up in the highlands of Nepal practicing medicine. He printed the book in hardback and made sure all of his regional booksellers got a free copy. He went to trade shows and handed out those books for free (this is the only time I've seen anyone give away hardbacks). The regional booksellers made his book a #1 Booksense pick in the Pacific Northwest, which caught the attention of four big publishers. When the auction was over, Craig got a 6-figure advance. The Penguin promptly ruined the book.

J.R. Lankford wrote The Jesus Thief, a thriller about cloning the Savior. She got seven investors to give her a total of $100,000 to market the book. And she spared no expense getting ads in the New York Times Book Review and many other high profile places. She's sold thousands, still on her own. Not too long ago, she sold the option for movie rights to the actress Alfre Woodard.

Christopher Paolini wrote Eragon when he was fifteen. His parents, micro publishers, helped him promote it. Chris traveled to half the schools in Texas telling students how he wrote the book, then read parts aloud. He sold books out of the back of the room. Pretty soon, librarians were pestering jobbers to get it for them, since the students were asking for it. Scholastic was the main jobber for the state. They expressed an interest in publishing it early on, but were outbid by Knopf. Of course, you know what a big success that's been!

The thing these three examples have in common is that the author/publisher invested a lot of time and money in their project. They were creative and aggressive in their marketing plans. And they got a little lucky. I know people who have been unstinting in their investments of time, creativity and money...and still haven't succeeded in making a splash. But at least they didn't just send the book out into the wilds, hoping it would be "discovered," as so many small publishers do.

Non-fiction has an instant advantage. You are writing for a specific purpose, a definable market to whom you can advertise. If you're smart, you'll do your research about that market before you finish the book, carefully targeting the people you want to reach. From there, marketing can be done through the trade (booksellers, et al) and/or directly to the market. Finding an unfilled niche and serving it is recipe for success.