Everyone has a story—many stories. Between the story of you, your family, the hard times in your life, your successes, that life-changing vacation you took, your unique perspectives and philosophies, etc. The list is endless. The plus side to being unique individuals is that we have a lot of intriguing sides to us. But, not all of them belong in one book.
It’s hard to draw clear and concise connections between your birth story, the realization you had after that car accident in your 20s, and your educated perspectives on ethical archaeology. If you did try to tell all of these stories—and everything in between—you’d likely end up with either a ridiculously long book or a “normal” book with many plot holes.
The best thing to do is to pick one story, meaningful experience, or objective and make it into one book. But, which one? There are a lot of criteria to consider, but here are a few to start with. Write down which subjects you may like to cover in your book, and put them to the test on each step.
Amount of Material
There are a lot of meaningful anecdotes and insights in your life that seem like excellent book subjects—until you finish telling them after only a few pages. Some ideas are best reserved for shorter formats such as essays, articles, or even lectures. When you do choose a story to tell, make sure that you can expand on it enough to fill an entire book. Categorize your ideas into subjects that you could discuss, and subjects you could write the book on.
Relevance
You and your family may adore the story of your grandparent’s meeting and marriage. But, if your goal is to sell as many books as possible, you do need to consider your book’s marketability. This isn’t to say stories that aren’t marketable don’t matter, but they don’t always sell the way people would like them to. What will people take away from the book you write? Would they be willing to purchase a book for that information? This is especially true for business and leadership books—you need to tell people something they haven’t heard before, and that they can’t live without.
“Some ideas are best reserved for shorter formats such as essays, articles, or even lectures. When you do choose a story to tell, make sure that you can expand on it enough to fill an entire book.”
Another good rule of thumb is the story’s social relevance. What important lessons can readers learn from the story? How does this apply to current issues (such as feminism, anti-racist discussions, or LGBT+ issues)? When you look at your list of potential topics, pick out which ones start or add to an existing conversation in society and media.
Expertise and Research
All books require some research to ensure facts are correct and that the writing avoids harmful stereotypes and such. However, it is important to consider where your expertise on a potential subject lies. A book on the same subject you wrote your Ph.D. dissertation on will not require nearly as much time spent researching as something you’ve recently just become interested in. Subjects that are newer to you will require much more time spent preparing, researching, and fact-checking with other professionals.
While access to the internet and basic research skills can get you very far—and people from all walks of life can have something relevant to say on many subjects—it is important to recognize that there is a difference between information you can google and interview about versus information you’ve gained through formal education and verified experts.
Subjects that you’re starting from scratch on will be much more prone to mistakes and misunderstandings, which will add time to your overall writing and publishing process. Again, this is not necessarily a bad thing if your book is thoroughly vetted, but it can be a much greater headache that you may not want to take on.
Impact
I once listened to a statistician who thoughtfully stated that researchers needed to consider the ramifications of their information in public hands—especially when it came to the differences between correlation and causation. Just because a set of data seemed intriguing to a researcher, didn’t mean that it didn’t have negative impacts on the real people behind the numbers.
It is important that all people—people of all races, genders, abilities, nationalities, etc.—have representation of all kinds. There are bad eggs in every batch. People are flawed and make mistakes—and no one should always be held to impossible standards. That being said, frequently publishing work on an issue that is negative or already a harmful stereotype can be crossing the line.
This doesn’t mean avoiding or covering up people’s flaws. But, you do need to consider whether or not your story could do more harm than good in the wrong hands, as well as how you can mitigate those effects.
How is your list looking? Hopefully you’ve got a few solid ideas for your book now. At the very least, you should know which factors to look for as you continue to consider potential subjects.
If you still need help, DAS Author Services offers a series of coaching, ghostwriting, and publishing packages to get your manuscript going. Or, you can check out our free guide to help you refine your ideas.
