Too many new authors think of a “mega-concept” for their first book. They want to go epic; they want to write a book that answers everything and is so useful that it will have something in it for everybody!
Well, that book already exists. It’s called an encyclopedia. And, if you take a cursory look around, not many people are hunting the Amazon bestseller lists for the latest version of Britannica.
A non-fiction book needs to answer a specific problem.
As an example, let’s look at bestselling author Annie Duke’s latest book: How to Decide. What problem does that title tell you it solves? Indecisiveness. What would you expect to read about in that book? How to make better decisions, or how to make decisions in the first place. Would the book have some theory about why people can’t make decisions? Probably.
One problem, clearly stated.
But would the book also spend several chapters talking about a company’s HR department, how to hire better staff and how to keep employees happy? Probably not.
Here’s another example: The New York Times bestseller, Dare to Lead, by Brené Brown. Looking only at its title, do you think that book would spend a third of its content discussing the reasons CEOs need to reduce their company’s carbon footprint? Nope. Would it enter into a detailed discourse about the types of software an enterprise needs to increase its efficiency?
I don’t think so.
Non-Ficton books need to solve a problem, preferably one major problem. They should be focused on a single major concept. If you have more to write about, you should include it in a second book.
This is one of the biggest mistakes new writers make: They go too broad.
Follow this formula and you won’t go wrong:
- Who is my audience?
- What problem do I solve for them?
- Build an Outline with Chapters that take them through the problem solving process.
Using Dare to Lead again, go to Amazon and use the Look Inside option for the Kindle version of the book. Your will see four Chapters (named Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four) and only the first chapter has Sections (One through Five). The author has created containers for the advice she is offering and is doing so on an ‘as needed’ basis. Meaning, just because Part One has Sections, doesn’t mean the rest of the chapters need Sections.
Use a concise Outline to hold the containers that are your chapters which will organize what you will write about. Once you have a clear through line you can begin to fill in the content (write the chapters).
Why your book needs to solve a problem — let’s talk Searchability
We all want to be New York Times Best Sellers. Those of us who have been writing for many years know that this goal is akin to the hackneyed tale of the young hopeful who travels to Hollywood to make it big, only to end up serving coffee and cakes at the local diner for the rest of her life.
Unless you’re Richard Branson, a better goal for your first non-fiction book is to write something that establishes your presence as an expert in your field. Another good goal for your first book is to get some direct business from it.
A successful first book also opens the door to a better-selling second book.
So, if you’re not Richard Branson, how would people find your book? They’d search Google, Barnes & Noble, Amazon or Apple. And they would search for the problem they are trying to solve.
For example, they might search for “how to decide better,” and up pops Annie Duke’s How to Decide, which we discussed above. Or they might search for “how to lead more effectively.” Hello, Brené Brown’s latest book.
If your nonfiction book’s subject isn’t something specific that people might search for, you’re probably going too wide.
You are not your own brand in people’s minds — yet
Before February 2021, few people would’ve equated Bill Gates with climate change. And yet his book on climate change rapidly hit the top spot on The New York Times Best Seller list.
I imagine that if Elon Musk wrote a book titled Which Pokemon Is My Favorite and Why, it would probably also hit national bestseller lists — at least for a while.
That’s because Bill Gates and Elon Musk are their brands. As one literary agent once put it to me, the author’s network is key in nonfiction.
Until you have that network, relying on SEO and answering a specific problem with your book are better options when settling on a topic for your book.
In Australia, there’s a company called The Printer Guy. I don’t need to ask what that company does. The title solves my problem. After getting a few printers satisfactorily fixed, I might discover that they also bake bagels as a side hustle. Sure, I’d buy a bagel from them later. Because now I know them. They have grown from “just printers” to a brand in themselves.
If your book answers a problem, does it well and really helps the reader, that reader will soon start to look at you as the brand. Perhaps, then, six books later, you could also write a book about anything and have it sell.
For now, stick with one specific topic that you are known for…and, if you need help, please reach out to me.