: Re: technical subjects - non-fiction vs fiction This is a question I tried to ask in Novelizing non-fiction, is it worth it? But was un-clear and maybe too generic. Let’s say I am a scuba diving

@Ravi5107385

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Is it better to write that as a non-fiction book or develop a novel on the subject?

With one huge exception, my general answer would be that you should write a straightforward instructional book. Most novels I have read that simply wrapped a story round a lesson read like books for children. That annoys me. I'm a grown up. I don't need the pill sugared. Now I think about it, unless done very well, books of the "children's problem" genre even annoyed me when I was a child.

What's the huge exception, then? If you have a diving story you itch to tell then please write the novel! A compelling human story springing from and integrated with deep knowledge of a technical subject is a joy to read. And highly saleable. Think Tom Clancy.

Talking of sales, though, in general I believe you are mistaken to think that a non fiction book would have a "smaller but dedicated audience" compared to a novel. Depressingly, the audience for all types of book, fiction and non-fiction alike, is small. See this sobering article by B J Gallagher. However I know from personal experience as a published non-fiction author that if you can write a decent non-fiction book clearly explaining something that some group of people need to understand, then you can get published far more easily than can the aspiring novelist. Publishers know that people regularly seek out books by qualified authors to teach them about diving (or other technical subjects) or, better yet, to get them past a particular diving qualification. No one ever born rushed to a bookshop thinking, "I want a first novel by an unknown author, and I want it right now."

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