This is an eternal question many writers face – should I write a fiction or a non-fiction? Mark Twain famously said once that it doesn’t surprise him that truth is stranger than fiction and the latter has to make sense. Writing non-fiction is perhaps easier because you have a wide range of topics to choose from. Moreover, there are more reference materials for writing non-fiction. Fiction writing is a different skill altogether. You have to use your imagination and create something that no one has created before. This is where the challenge lies.
So what makes you more successful, fiction or non-fiction? You become successful as a writer when your book makes it to the bestseller list. The problem is that both fiction and non-fiction can make it to this list. So, it is difficult to decide whether you should write fiction to become famous.
In the overall scheme of things, it does look like writing non-fiction can bring you more success. This is simply because the market for non-fiction is larger. You can publish your book, but there are many other channels through which you can sell your writing. Weeklies and journals are always desperate to find non-fiction writers in their niche. Reach out to them and they will help you gain success. Because of its larger exposure, non-fiction tends to sell better. If money is a measure of success for you, then non-fiction is certainly a better option.
Writing non-fiction also makes you research and meet many people. This makes you a better writer and a better communicator. You get many new ideas and find out information that you didn’t know earlier. And don’t think that writing non-fiction doesn’t require skills. Putting information on paper and presenting it properly requires skills and you need to learn these skills. As you write more, you tend to become a better writer. And as you become a better writer, you tend to gain fame.
So, it’s not mandatory that you need to write fiction to become a famous author. Dale Carnegie didn’t write fiction at all, but he is among the highest selling authors of all time. His books sell even today, years after his death.
At the end of the day, it is your writing skill that matters the most. If you can identify your audience and present to them on a nice looking platter what they want to read, you automatically earn great fame. Focus on improving as a writer and fame will follow you.
Image credit: Rafael J M Souza on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Profile_Pic_Moumita.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Moumita Goswami is a full-time homemaker and a passionate writer. She stays in Pune with her husband and daughter. After giving up working, she started writing about five years ago and can now be seen using her computer keyboard almost all the time. An MA in Psychology from Calcutta University, Moumita has spent time in Kolkata, Delhi and now Pune. For Moumita, writing started as a sudden chance but she soon discovered her likeness for it. And now she has developed a passion for writing and hardly any day passes without her scribbling a few lines. She dreams of publishing her own book one day and is working towards it.
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