How to Write the Non-Fiction Book: A Must Take Course

Two of the best classes I ever took in my life where Typing, all the way back in high school, and How to Write the Non-Fiction Book, a graduate course at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ. One class taught me to type and one gave me something to type about.

We all have favorite classes, but some spark our interest more than others. How to Write the Non-Fiction Book course was one of my well-liked classes because of how comprehensive it was and because of it's practicality. Although I just graduated in May 2007 and haven't had time to write a book just yet, I am well prepared, when I am ready, because of the course.

The Professor:
During the time I took this class, Professor Carl Hausman who usually teaches the course, was on sabbatical. He found a more than capable replacement while he was out. Lisa Rysinger, a former student of Hausman's and author of several books including Exploring Digital Video, taught the course and gave so much practical information.

he went above and beyond, presenting not only the information required to be taught by Professor Hausman, but brought numerous examples of our subject, her own personal contracts, and multimedia presentations. We also had a guest speaker who is Lisa's editor. We were presented with the ins and outs of the editorial and publishing world, and had a question and answer session of what editors are truly looking for.

Invaluable Books:
-How to Write a Book Proposal (Michael Larsen)
-Exploring Digital Video (Lisa Rysinger)
-Writing Non-Fiction (Dan Poynter)
-Writing the Non-Fiction Book (Eva Shaw)
-The Complete Guide to Writing Fiction and Non-Fiction (Pat Kubis and Bob Howland)

The books were all relatively small, but provided a robust amount of information. Some included opinions from various editors on what they want out of a writer, while others took the reader step-by-step through the process of writing a book proposal. We examined Lisa's book on Exploring Digital Video to see and study the finished project. She took us from beginning to end, from contract to end result.

The Course Work:
Well, I am not going to lie. This class was an enormous amount of work. Just a reminder though, if writing a book is something you always wanted to do, and you are writing about a topic you are truly passionate about (which I highly recommend) then the work is truly worth it.

Since this is a graduate level course, the schedule is aggressive. We were required to do a review of similar books on the market, a competitive analysis which was a study of 2 books of our choice on our topic and then we had to provide all the gory details like how many books were out there, how do they compare to our own topic, what elements are included in the books, what the authors had to say, what the publisher had to say, etc.

The book proposal came next which detailed who are audience was and how we planned to flesh out our book. Book titles had to be identified and each chapter, with a description, had to be planned out. We even had to estimate the number of pages each chapter would be which was a book difficult since we didn't write it yet. Suck it up though. That's the life of an author.

Perhaps the most beneficial, but more terrifying part of the class, was a presentation that we had to make to a mock editorial board consisting of our classmates. We basically had to sell our idea to the class and then they provided feedback and suggestions. Fortunately, most of the comments were positive and we had a small group which allowed us extra time to interact with each other.

Haven taken a different class with Professor Carl Hausman and having heard reviews from other students, I know the class is 100% as good as when Lisa taught it! After all, he was the one that designed the course format and taught Lisa in the first place!

Taking the How to Write the Non-Fiction Book was the best money I spent throughout the Master of Arts in Writing program at Rowan University. I highly recommend it.