What exactly goes into writing books across inspirational genres? The surge of inspirational writing over the past decades has led to a multitude of books, from fiction to fact, that are meant to inspire the reader to change their life. Let's dive deeper into genre trends in inspirational works and how to go about crafting an inspirational masterpiece.

Fiction to Fact: The Inspirational Genre

There has been a surge of inspirational writing over the past decade. From works that discuss spiritual concepts to remarkable true stories to fiction where a character overcomes great odds, inspirational genres of wider genres have grown increasingly popular.

Generally, inspirational works are considered subgenres of broader genres. So you could have an inspirational book that is an autobiography or a romance novel.

Inspirational books can be a challenge to write because they require much more than just being positive; your writing has to truly encourage people and help them realize that there is a greater meaning to life.

Basically, books across inspirational genres inspire their readers!

Inspirational Genre Trends

Inspirational books come in many forms. They often have spiritual aspects and are sometimes religious. They can be based on true stories, or they can be fictional tales to inspire someone.

Generally, any book written with the intention of inspiring its reader (rather than solely informing or entertaining) is considered part of the inspirational genre. Inspirational books feature a lesson of some sort—something for the reader to believe in.

Let's look at some genre trends, from fiction books to fact-based books.

Fiction Inspirational Genre Trends

Inspirational fiction comes in a lot of different forms and can be a subgenre of any wider genre, such as adventure, young adult, romance, or anything really.

The main genre trend across the inspirational fiction genres is the main character being confronted with a great challenge or test and overcoming it. Through overcoming the adversity that was in their way, they grow as a person, learn something about life, and perhaps in a way, become a new person.

Inspirational fiction can follow people of any background or age group. One common trope is coming of age, where a young person goes on a journey towards adulthood.

In Inspiration, there is a lesson at the end of the book that the character has learned along the way.

Inspirational fiction is hard to define because different things may be inspirational to different people. Generally, fiction books that were written with the aim of inspiring their readers are considered part of the inspirational genre.

Fact: Inspirational Genre Trends

Usually, factual (or nonfiction) inspirational books fall under the category of self-help. They offer advice to people struggling. This advice could be about positive thinking or getting into good routines. It could also be about staying in the moment or mindfulness.

The big difference between fact and fiction across inspirational genres is that factual books will blatantly say what the message is, usually at the start. The opening of the book will generally be along the lines of "This book will teach you that you can achieve anything if..." and then it will introduce the book's inspirational concept. From there, the book will go deeper into how you can achieve the thing in question. So basically, fact books tell you the moral of the story at the very beginning rather than at the end. Then, as you read on, the author dives deeper into the message they have told you.

Some factual inspirational books focus on religion, prayer, and how to implement religious beliefs. Some have nothing to do with religion but generally have an element of spirituality in them. They may not revolve around a religious deity specifically, but they often involve something bigger than ourselves.

Oftentimes, inspirational books that are nonfiction grapple with abstract concepts like the mind or soul or what it is to be a good person. These are things we can't really put a clear, in-depth definition on, but the book will attempt to address them.

Tips for Writing Inspirational Books

When crafting a piece that's meant to inspire, here are four things to keep in mind:

1. True Stories: When writing inspirational fiction, look to fact. When coming up with an idea for an inspirational story, take a look at real-life inspirational tales, whether they are from your own life or from history. Oftentimes, the inspiration for a book in the inspirational genre comes from real-life stories, sometimes stories that start from the mundane, and sometimes those that you almost can't believe to be true. A lot of writers take things that have happened around them in the real world and create a story from there, and it's an effective way to create a fictional masterpiece.
2. Passion: What lights a fire underneath you? What do you care about? I mean, do you really care about it? Obviously, as a writer, you love writing (although sometimes, as writers, we struggle with actually sitting down to write). But ask yourself: What else in life is your reason for getting out of bed in the morning? It could be your family; it could be your faith; it could be anything. You may not always be aware of it or truly acknowledge it, but there's something you have a passion for.
3. Relatable and Empathy: Remember, your story has to inspire others. In order to do this, your reader needs to be able to relate to the situation your character is in and empathize with the protagonist. That doesn't mean the books can't have fantastical other-worldly elements as well, but the core message needs to be something that resonates with your reader. Readers relate to themes like survival, looking after your family, wanting to succeed, and trying to accomplish something; those are things we can all make sense of in different ways. As for empathy, in order for us to be inspired, we have to root for the character to overcome their difficulties.
4. Be Natural: It's important to use your own voice and write from your perspective. As a writer, you can't try to make an impression on another author in your book. Using your own voice and your own style is key to making your work stand out. That doesn't mean you won't learn things from other authors and apply them to your writing, but it's important to write in a way that comes naturally to you.

"Surge of inspirational writing" means there are a lot of books in this genre out there. So remember, regardless of what story you are telling, it still must be well written, both in terms of functional things like grammar and syntax and content-wise with narrative structure. There's no shortage of books across the inspirational genres, so make yours stand out by really crafting a well-written masterpiece.

Join the Surge of Inspirational Writing

So, how can you get on board and join the surge of inspirational writing we are seeing across genres, from fiction to fact?

Writing the book itself will obviously take time, but you don't have to wait until you have the book written and edited to start marketing yourself. Consider starting your own blog or author website. You can write about different aspects of writing the book and the background of the story you are telling. You could even share a little snippet of your book (but only a small piece, like a paragraph or two). Building readership for your blog will ultimately help you build readership for your book. The great thing about having a blog or a website is that it can act as a kind of hub for people to visit. Maybe readers will find you on social media and want to know more about you; you can direct them to your website.

If you are making an author blog, try to post consistently. In fact, it may be a good idea to have a few spare blog posts written up so if there's a week you don't have time to write something new, you can publish one of those.

Before you get started writing anything, you should ask yourself: Who is your target audience? Who is the reader you have in mind for your piece? It's necessary that you have an idea of what type of person your reader is, so you know how to talk to them. When writing an inspirational story, a good way of finding out your target audience is simply by asking who would be inspired by it. Or even, who needs to hear this?

When you've established who your target audience is, you can really buckle down when pitching your book. For books across inspirational genres, it's really important that you are confident when selling the idea. Whether you are pitching to publishers or to your potential readers, you need to come across as believing the message you are selling. No one is going to buy into your supposedly inspirational book if you yourself don't sound, well, inspired. Practice pitching confidentially so you can turn potential listeners into believers.

Fiction to Fact: Book Marketing in the Inspirational Genres

When it comes to writing an inspirational book, there are specific things you can do to market your work better. Looking at genre trends, you will always notice two things about the cover of an inspirational book. From fiction to fact, inspirational books always have titles that stand out and great cover designs.

The titles of inspirational books need to be somewhat inspiring in themselves. The title needs to be something that grabs the reader and tells them that this is a story that is worth reading. It's worth taking your time to decide what to call your book. When you come upon the right name, you will know it, so keep brain-storming.

As for cover artwork, it's worth getting it done professionally. The cover art for an inspirational book really needs to stand out, like it is itself a piece of art. Something with contrasting colors and a core image (e.g., a candle or a bird) usually works.
For marketing, you want to really let people know why the story is important to you. You want to tell readers why you wrote the book and why the story inspired you.

Self-publishing is a good way forward for inspirational genres for a few reasons. For one, you will have complete creative control over your work. This is great if it's a story that hits close to home, so you know none of it will be changed. You can also target a niche audience. Very often, inspirational works are subgenres within genres and have a more niche readership basis. You can target that niche directly, as you'll be in control of the marketing. As well, self-publishing allows you to get your work published faster and not have to wait for approval. And you ultimately earn more from royalties.

How Can Dibbly | The Urban Writers Help You?

If you're looking for help writing your next great work in the inspirational genre, then Dibbly | The Urban Writers is the place to be. We have a team of vetted freelancers who can write your manuscript and edit it to a high standard. On top of this, we have a team of talented artists who can provide you with the cover design of your dreams.

At Dibbly | Urban Writers, we also offer our own writing software called Dibbly Create, which combines human creativity with AI. Through Dibbly Create, you get help researching your work, and our AI friend KIP will help with idea generation.

Dibbly | The Urban Writers care about helping you create the book of your dreams so get in touch with us today.

Final (Inspirational) Words

Hopefully, reading this has given you the encouragement to contribute to the surge of inspirational writing and inspire your readers with your words.