Hello out there, This is my first post and I've got a few questions regarding autobiography writing and non-fiction writing. I'd be very grateful for some useful advice. Is there a general rule of what is acceptable in terms of how the contents page is set out? I realise that if it looks too cumbersome or complicated this could put readers off. But one of the major points I am trying to get across is how my disorder affects every aspect of my life. For example could you set it out: Section 1 - Part 1 – Chapter 1. And so on. Also I have read through quite a number of examples from writers on how many pages are acceptable in memoirs and there does not seem to be a general rule of 250 pp as there was ten years ago. Is this still the case with some publishers or would it be wise to allow an agent to point out the pitfalls of innocent oversights?
first of all, mss are not referred to or 'sized' by the number of pages, only by the word count... that was case ten years ago and for decades prior, as well... as for your book's structure, i don't see why you'd need to have 3 divisions... 2 would be more acceptable to both publishers and readers, imo... what kind of non-fiction book are you planning to write?... and, btw, autobiographies are non-fiction...
