Do you have an idea for a nonfiction project? Ask yourself these questions before deciding if your idea is book-worthy, or if it makes more sense as an article.

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Nonfiction Article vs Book Video Transcript

Hello. This is Mary Kole with Good Story Company. Today, I want to talk to you about a very common question that I see agents and publishers asking about nonfiction projects. "Is this an article or is this a book?" 

And I've written about this before but I really wanted to come back to it for this video because it is probably the number one question that will be asked about your submission if you are doing a diet book, business book, leadership book, self-help, parenting, any of those popular categories with your nonfiction. Somebody is gonna look at your idea and your idea may be, you know, a three-point system, the parenting without tears, for either of you, the parent and the child, so a three-point system for parenting without tears. If that's somebody's existing book, I'm so sorry. I'm not meaning to plagiarize anybody. I'm just thinking off the top of my head. So you're gonna submit a proposal for this. One of the big, big things about writing nonfiction is asking the question of "What can you really contribute to the space and in a lot of these categories, like business, leadership, women's empowerment, parenting, diet, lifestyle, fitness, all of that?" These are crowded bookshelves and a lot of nonfiction comes out in these topics. And so the implicit question is always, "Well, what are you at into the space with your idea, with your platform, all of this?" And so, "Oh, a new parenting method, a new parenting system. Okay. Is it unique enough if packaged in such a way... Is there a new framework there around a very old and popular topic that necessitates it being a book?" 

And this is sometimes the hardest question to answer because three tips for parenting without tears could very easily be a very popular article on Medium, or HuffPo, or a lifestyle blog, Scary Mommy. There are tons of blogs that would love an article like that where you could publish. There are parenting magazines that would love an article like that where you could publish. 

And so, one of the big things that you need to ask yourself when you have a great nonfiction idea is honestly, "Do I have enough material to make this a book? Do I have enough research, and support and, you know, kind of a new thinking behind what I'm proposing to write about that separates it from just a really great article?" And a lot of the time, when I looked at agents and publishers evaluating nonfiction proposals and evaluating ideas for nonfiction books, that very same question would come up, "This seems like an article. There doesn't seem to be enough here for an entire book." 

Now, some nonfiction books can be very easily digestible. They don't have to be long and, you know, complicated with a lot of research cited and a huge bibliography. But the more sort of information you have to convey, the more nuanced that your points are. So it's not just really three tips for, you know, the parenting without tears. There's a lot more to it. Maybe there's a whole framework about the power dynamics between parents and children. If you are able to sort of include this kind of larger worldview, or mindset shift, or another sort of element of substance and nuance to your nonfiction proposal, you are more likely to get away from that potential feedback of "This is more like an article." Because, unfortunately, a lot of the time, we can get away with, in an article, giving a lot of the information that people try to bulk up into a nonfiction book proposal. 

And so, agents and publishers are wise to this dynamic. It's for a writer much more glamorous and desirable sometimes to get a book out of a really good idea rather than write an article because an article is published, it's gone. You know, it hit the news cycle and there's another magazine coming out tomorrow. A book is more permanent. It can be a great marketing tool for your career as a coach or a speaker, whatever, but it really does have to pass this litmus test first. And so, I would want you to be aware of that question being asked so you can ask it yourself as you're developing your nonfiction idea. 

This has been Mary Kole with Good Story Company. Here's to a good story. 

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