How To Select a Great Topic For Your Book or Ebook Part 1 of 5
Observe what's going on around you
If you're smart enough to read this article, you're smart enough
to look around you and determine what interests you and those
around you. Think of what problems you've recently solved, and
what kinds of problems others have had and solved. Any problem
that has been solved in your world could easily be the subject
of your next book. People love to read how other have solved a
problem that they currently have.
So, brainstorm a list of problems in your life and in the lives
of those around you. Your friend Bob lost his job? Your sister's
child had chicken pox? How did they cope or find solutions?
While you're at it, start another list of unsolved problems
evident in your corner of the world. Write down problems you
wish you had solved. Aha! These are subjects that people will
really be interested in! How to lose the last ten pounds. The
truth about UFOs. The straightest path to becoming a
millionaire. From your personal corner, your step-granddaughter
is pregnant at age 14? Your grocery bill is double what it used
to be? Your roof leaks? These are problems waiting for ebook
solutions! These unsolved problems would also be great ebook
topics. Remember, you don't have to know the solution, just the
topic. You're going to get someone else to do the research and
write the book for you. You will not actually be writing one
word.
Spend a few minutes Googling
The Internet is a great way to find out what people are looking
for at any given moment. You can search for almost anything.
Google™ is a popular search engine you can use, or you can try
any of the others like Yahoo!® or Mamma.com. Type in phrases
like "top concerns of Americans," "best-selling nonfiction
topics," or "popular how-to manuals." Common worries of 2005.
And while you're on the Internet...
Find out the most popular nonfiction books from the New York
Times bestseller list, Amazon, and a Google search for ebooks.
Your findings will tell you exactly what book subjects people
are buying right now.
Try this. Go to www.amazon.com. From the tabbed menu running
along the top of the Amazon home page, click "Top Sellers." I
did this one day in September 2005 and found a Harry Potter
book, several other fiction books, and titles such as Natural
cures "they" won't tell you about, How what you wear can change
your life, How to profit from the demise of the dollar, and The
official SAT study guide. I've paraphrased to some degree, but
you get the idea.
Here's what I learned just from spending a few minutes on Amazon
that day. People are reading good fiction from already-best
selling authors (Da Vinci Code, the Harry Potter series, and
others). Secondly, Amazon buyers, buying over the Internet, are
interested in nonfiction topics such as improving their lives
and making more money. For these books, just about any author
will do, even virtual unknowns or people who went to prison for
lying to the American public.
And that quick visit only confirmed that the straightest route
to ebook profits is in
the nonfiction ebook market. This is for a number of reasons.
Fiction readers tend to like to curl up in a chair with an
actual book. Some of them attend book clubs where the physical
books are brought around someone's kitchen table with wine and
cheese. Fiction readers tend to purchase from authors they're
already familiar with. Fiction can be more difficult to write
and deliver well. Also, many of the classics in fiction are
available as free ebooks. A reader interested in fiction could
just download those. So stick with nonfiction unless you're
feeling particularly bold and experimental.
Here is some more good news, and if you didn't already know this
then you are going to be smiling big. Drum roll please... ideas
are not copyrighted, therefore any idea you see, hear, or read
anywhere anytime, is yours to use for an ebook! You can create
books around the same ideas that are covered in the Amazon best
seller list, and turnaround and create an ebook on the exact
same subject!
Now, copyright law does protect the way ideas are expressed, so
you want to make sure your hired author does not plagiarize or
copy book text outright. And you cannot use the title word for
word either. But there's nothing stopping you from creating
another book or ebook that covers the same subject with a
different voice. It's all as completely legal and guilt-free as
nonfat Haagen Dazs. This is why looking at bestseller lists is a
great way to get topic ideas.
About the author:
Aaron Morganstern is a freelance copywriter, and has ghost
written ebooks for several well-known internet marketers. He
resides in Utah with his wife, and enjoys skiing and other
outdoor activities. For more information about ebooks and
writing he recommends the website writingcash.com and he
can often be found on writing forums giving helpful advice to
aspiring young authors.