Writing Non-Fiction – The Climb #819

Friday 21^st May 2021

One of the things I’m interested in doing is diversifying my writing. It just means that if a novel is struggling or I’m waiting back for some feedback on a script, I have other stuff to keep me busy. So far this year I’ve submitted a script I’m waiting to hear back, done some work for an interactive project, edited a novel and am currently writing another.

But another area I want to explore is non-fiction. Back when I was working on A-F, I used to write for a number of magazines. I even had my own 8 page section in one of them.

Then about 5 – 10 years ago I did a bunch of online publications. They didn’t pay, but I chose to do it for a bit of exposure. Eventually, wanting to prioritise novels, I stopped to focus purely on fiction.

But that’s the joy of non-fiction, they are one-time gigs.

I’d like to keep my skills up to date, and as a result, one of the things I want to do is trying and do another paying writing gig.

The problem is… what do I know about? I stepped away from the action figure world a decade ago, and whilst I’ve been enjoying picking up a few Marvel Legends figures recently, I’m not as in the know as I once was.

I did write about Geocaching but I haven’t done that (other than the odd bit here and there recently) for 5 years.

The obvious answer is either HEMA or writing. HEMA I worry about as there are plenty of people better informed than me, and I do feel like an idiot in that space. They are all academics, which means they can write.

And writing – the market is flooded, and I’m not sure what I can add. I have a few specific ideas, but I want to save those for videos.

So I’ve been researching, and what surprises me is the lack of magazines now. Most of the specialist stuff has moved online and most don’t pay. And that’s the key for me in this challenge…. I need a paying gig.

I spent a few hours researching, but came up with nothing. The toy magazines are now gone. I think Geocaching is mainstream enough that the countryside magazines have all done it to death. I looked at the history magazines for HEMA but honestly, getting into the history aspect of HEMA is the bit that scares me the most.

I supposed I could try some combat sports magazines or something but I suspect it’s been done. I could also try US Magazines.

The thing I realised was that I really need to find the paying markets online and go from there. And with online going more video reporting than text, that could be a struggle.

I’d hoped that this was going to be more simple than it was, but I intent to keep chipping away at it, both gathering ideas and finding potential markets.