How to Find a Job as Non-Fiction Writer

Table of Contents

I’ve been a nonfiction writer for thirty years

During those three decades, other writers, those changing careers from a non-writing field to writing, and those brand new to the industry including my writing students, kept asking one question over and over again: “How can I get a writing job?”

“How can I get a writing job?”

There are many answers to that. The outcome is simple; you have a job. You feel so good about it. But the inputs are many. It’s like cooking. A lot of ingredients, time and effort go into that dish that appears in front of you in a simple bowl.

I myself have used many methods to start my career and then to advance it. I held many writing positions, worked for more than one company, and had my own writing projects and private clients on the side. I learned a few things along the way; things that work, as well as those that don’t.

The world has changed of course through the years and decades. When I started my career there was no Internet, no computers, and we were all banging on typewriters (mechanical and electric). I still keep my first mechanical typewriter, my old friend FACIT 1620, in my office today.

Changing times meant changing methods and venues. Today we have a lot more resources at our fingerprints than we had twenty or thirty years ago. I also believe, despite all the digital multimedia explosion, that there are more writing opportunities today than before.

Throughout those years I’ve accumulated a wealth of career information. I shared everything I knew and tried to help my job-seeking brothers and sisters the best I can and whenever I had the time. But after a while it started to become overwhelming. There are just so many hours in a day.

These days I, unfortunately, do not have the time to answer job-related inquiries individually. That’s why I decided to write this book, to answer all related questions under one cover.

This Book is For…

This book is written for all nonfiction writers looking for a job. It intends to help them find a job and make them aware of the writing specialties, niches and opportunities that exist out there rather than teaching them how to write.I hope this book will help you find that first, second or third job and raise your career from one orbit to another as you go along.

But let me say that, while you are doing all that chasing, querying, and self-promoting to find the jobs you like, I hope you’ll enjoy your writing career and business as much as I did, every minute of it.

Having fun is important. Why do it otherwise? It’s a noble profession, this writing business of ours. We are privileged to explain the world to the others. It’s a responsibility. We make what was inaccessible before suddenly accessible to the millions. We carry the torch of illumination forward, every day. That’s why I say a life spent in writing is a life well spent indeed.

Isaac Asimov, the phenomenal sci-fi writer who (according to one estimate) wrote close to 500 books during his long career, said: “If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.”