What Will Your Book Be About?

If you are one of the millions of people who have always wanted to write a book but haven’t yet, I’m guessing one of the reasons why is because you aren’t sure what to write about. That may be rooted in a lack of clarity about your topic.

With that in mind, here are a few short tips to help you figure out what your message is.

Ask yourself “What do you know about?”
All of us have a lot of knowledge in at least one topic, so your book will likely have something to do with that. The key is to figure out the intersection of what you know, what your audience WANTS to know, and what your audience will pay for. That’s the sweet spot. When I ghostwrite books for clients, I love working with entrepreneurs because they usually have a pretty good idea what that looks like. If you are still at a loss for ideas, begin asking people you trust what they think your strengths and core areas of genius might be. This could generate a great idea for your book.

Find out what people want to know.
Pay close attention to what people ask you about your area of expertise. If you notice the same questions coming up over and over again, it might be easier to write a book, then hand it to them and say “Read this!” Your book might be as simple as “The 10 Things You Should Know Before You…”, then fill in the blank with whatever you do, whether that’s fixing cars, remodeling homes, or buying/selling real estate. The possibilities are endless.

Figure out what to do if you have too many ideas.
There is a possibility the you may have so many ideas that deciding on one is difficult to do. If that’s the case, perhaps you have several books inside you waiting to be written. You might even have a series of books based on what you know. If that’s the case, I often recommend to my clients to have multiple notepads with working titles for each book they have in mind. As they get new ideas, critically assess which notepad that idea belongs to. This will help you gain clarity and not have your mind be cluttered by good ideas that you don’t need YET.

Having clarity around your topic is critical because it guides the whole process. You want to make sure your book is something people will want to read and hopefully pay for. Using these tips should give you a great start.

If you want to discuss a potential book project further, simply email me at brian@briankwright.com.

Brian K Wright has been a Public Speaking and English Composition instructor at the college level, and is now the host of the popular Success Profiles Radio. He also publishes Success Profiles Magazine, and is a ghostwriter and book writing coach for his clients. You can learn more about him at www.briankwright.com or email him at brian@briankwright.com.