Are You Writing Fact or Fiction?

Fact: You want to write a book.

Fact: You might want to write several books.

Fact: You’ve toyed around with the idea of writing fiction.

If you’re like most aspiring authors, or even an entrepreneur, you’re interested in writing fact and fiction. There’s just something about being thrown into another dimension in the space-time continuum where a planet is getting too close to its sun, about to explode and the 75,000 colonists have to get saved in time using only five transporter pads…

…sorry, my sci-fi geek side is showing…

As you can see, even I, a writer of primarily non-fiction, have toyed around with the idea of writing fiction. Heck, once upon a time I actually wrote 14 chapters of a sci-fi novel. And I have many ideas for other fiction books.

If you’re interested in how to write fiction, once a year during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) a challenge is issued to fiction writers around the world to complete a novel within 30 days. And many people do it.

But the question here isn’t only how to write fiction – there are plenty of books out on that subject (and Writer’s Digest magazine devotes most of their issues to the topic of fiction writing). The bigger and more expensive question is, how do you self-publish it?

Fact: It’s Hard to Make Money Off of Fiction.

Yes, there have been a few – one out of every 500,000 or so – novelists get lucky and make the New York Times Best Seller list. But most fiction writers become starving artists who write because they can’t get their characters’ voices out of their heads.

When I ran my done-for-you publishing company, I had fiction writers coming out of the woodwork to sign up for my programs. But I made a commitment to only work on non-fiction business and self-help books back in 2012 because I’d seen too many fiction authors invest thousands of dollars in publishing one book only to sell a handful of copies and not make up their investment. And if you know anything about me at all, you know I don’t rip authors off. It makes me mad when other companies do that.

So if you do decide to hire a publishing services company to produce a fiction book, here are some ways to use your fiction to make more money:

1. Write and publish non-fiction too. The fiction book will build recognition for your name and the non-fiction book will drive traffic to your business through credibility.
2. Use your fiction book to teach writing workshops. Yes, that means you’re going to run a business and make money off your fiction book – beyond simple book sales. You’ll make up your investment much faster if you tie some other form of income to your book.
3. Write a fictional “teaching” book. The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews are examples of a fictional tale being told to drive home a point and teach a lesson. These types of “fiction” books sell like hot cakes and often go viral.
4. Publish your fiction book as an eBook… first. Ultimately, this is the best way to go. There is little upfront investment in eBook programming and eBook covers only need to be designed for viewing on e-readers and the web, so there is less work involved with creating the digital files. And if you’re sticking with Amazon’s Direct to Kindle program, you won’t have any fees for publishing the book. You can update your eBook’s listing at will, put a previous eBook on sale if you’re coming out with a sequel and even take a shot at being the next member of the Million Dollar Kindle Club. Fiction sells more on Kindle than anywhere else, so even if you desire to hold a printed book in your hands, test it out on an eBook audience first before you invest in hard core printing.

We’re committed to helping make your dream happen in a way that’s going to help you (not make you go broke) which is why we created The Book Ninja Academy. And being a lover of fiction myself, I firmly believe there can’t be too much of it in the world.