Please recommend a book about writing non-fiction books

January 2, 2023 2:15 PM

I'm working on a biography and I don't know anything about how these things are done. I've written graduate-school level papers on a completely different topic, but this is for a general audience. I'm not even sure what I need to know.

The person is alive but it's extremely unlikely I'll be able to interview them, so I'm relying on past interviews (both video and print), articles, other biographies, and some other primary source material. I don't know how to cite this stuff or how specific I need to be (again, this is for a general audience, and most of them will already have some familiarity with the subject). Once I have it written, I don't know how to find an agent, or any of that. I would love a book to provide some guidance and structure.

posted by nezlamnyy to Writing & Language (9 answers total)

These maybe more impressionistic and less nuts and bolts than you're looking for, but two of the most prominent non-fiction writers of the 20th Century both have books about the meta subject of their writing process:

Draft No. 4 by John McPhee
Working by Robert Caro
posted by caek at 3:01 PM on January 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

Not a book, but maybe you'd like to watch the new documentary about Robert Caro and his editor.
posted by BlahLaLa at 3:23 PM on January 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

I know this isn't what you're asking but if you are writing about a living person, especially one who is not cooperating with your project, absolutely set aside time to educate yourself about libel laws in any jurisdiction where you live, they live, and where the book will be made available. Also set aside a budget for a legal read and a defence, if needed.

This is from personal, very costly, experience. It really doesn't matter what the tine of what you're writing will be. People take offence at many surprising things.
posted by Ardnamurchan at 3:45 PM on January 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

If I were in your place I would want to read On Writing Well by William Zinsser. One of the few writing guides I've seen that focuses on non-fiction.
posted by Flexagon at 7:13 PM on January 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

"Follow the Story" by James B. Stewart.
posted by amk at 7:17 PM on January 2, 2023

Via a recommendation from Eszter Hargittai on Crooked Timber: Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction and Get It Published by Susan Rabiner and Alfred Fortunato (concentrating on the kind of nonfiction from big publishers that gets reviewed in major newspapers), and So You Want to Publish a Book? by Anne Trubek (who runs a small press). In Trubek's book I particularly appreciated the list of presses and imprints belonging to the Big Five, her breakdown of budgets, her frank appraisal of what helps sell more copies of a book, her thoughts on horizontal solidarity among authors and reader, and her assessment of Amazon's effects on the market. And in Rabiner's and Fortunato's book, I was struck by their in-depth explanation of how to structure a book proposal (and the many examples of what works and what falls flat), their thoughts on what editors are seeking, and their advice on structuring a book and making one's argument fairly.
posted by brainwane at 7:30 PM on January 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick is my favorite. I’m an essayist with decades of writing and publishing experience.
posted by Well I never at 8:45 PM on January 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

Just to point out that generally, nonfiction is sold on proposal (not the finished product.) So you may want to focus on that before you write the whole thing. "Thinking Like Your Editor" above is terrific.
posted by heavenknows at 9:45 AM on January 3, 2023

Small tangent regarding: "Robert Caro and his editor."

Today's Fresh Air interviews Caro's editor, Robert Gottlieb.
posted by bz at 12:57 PM on January 3, 2023