But we are concerned here with another genre, a genre that permits self-expression under predetermined guidelines designed to give you a better than evens chance of publication without necessity of paying for privilege, providing always that your work and its presentation are painstakingly and professionally executed.

DETERMINE YOUR PROPENSITY FOR CREATING NICHE NON-FICTION

Ask yourself these questions and spend a few minutes in quiet reflection before you provide answers.

1. Do you like to read, be it fiction or non-fiction? 2. Do you enjoy writing letters, reports, or whatever? 3. Do you have a better than average vocabulary? 4. Do you strive at every opportunity to enhance your personal word power? 5. Do you persist with crosswords until you've solved all clues? 6. Do you have an enquiring mind? Do you have special interests? 7. Do you have expertise in any particular subject(s)? 8. Would you undertake research to confirm and expand on what you think you know? 9. Would you be prepared to share this knowledge with others? 10. Would you be willing to make time to write about it for pleasure and profit? 11. Are you comfortable about committing your private thoughts to paper? 12. Are you self-disciplined? 13. Are you relaxed about working on your own?

If you can genuinely answer 'yes' to all of these questions, you already have nucleus of a powerful propensity for creating niche non-fiction in shape of self-help and how-to guides.

If on other hand you answered 'yes' to most and 'no' to a few, then work on those negative areas.

If you answered 'no' to Question 8, then think again and dig deeply this time. Most people have expert knowledge on something or other. It could be a job, a hobby, or any of a thousand disparate topics. And should you consider that what you know would be of little value to anyone else, you would be wrong. Many people share a passion for your particular area of interest and are anxious to become even better informed.

5th January 2004

I decided to opt for one of these offers of publication which proved fortuitous because I was immediately teamed up with a highly experienced commissioning editor who taught me how to craft my raw text into what had been concerning me all along: production of a meaningful volume. "Starting Your Own Business" was published in October 1994, sold out of its first edition in December of that year, and was reprinted in January 1995. It has gone from strength to strength ever since and disposals continue to rise year-on-year justifying my plan to earn extra income at home.

I tell you all of this not to impress but to let you in on secret of how my tutorial came into being.

Subsequent success in writing for profit in my spare time prompted me to delve deeply into reasons why my work always seems to be on target. It couldn't all be down to luck. Sure, serendipity stepped in at outset but there had to be more to it than that. I began to evaluate what I was doing right, where I was going wrong on occasion, what I thought I knew ad what I had still to learn from my peers. The result of my painstaking research is "Writing for Profit in Your Spare Time. This creative writing course encapsulates power-packed tried and tested strategies that work for me and other accomplished niche non-fiction authors; strategies that will work just as well for you. When you've done that: sign up for my free newsletter and I'll pass on new tips and techniques as they emerge.