How to Pick a Book Topic So Your Book Actually Sells

Before you start writing or publishing you should ask yourself, does my background fit the book?

Right now, if you check Amazon you will notice that a lot of the best sellers over the last year have been educational books for children guides for parents who need help homeschooling. A good example of a perfect market fit would be a Montessori teacher publishing a book on how to homeschool with Montessori inspiration.

If you are publishing an children’s book about Manners, make sure you have children. I kid you not. I once met an author who wanted help marketing his children’s book about Good Manners. He didn’t have any children of his own, he was not an educator or pediatrician. He just noticed that some kids were rude and could be more polite, so he was inspired to write the book. The author had no access to any beta readers and didn’t even have any friends with children who he could ask to beta read his book.

Almost every author I speak to says to me when we begin a digital marketing campaign is “I want my book to appeal to a wide audience.” But I always tell them niche is always better.

Niche is better. That’s where you WILL find your reader.

Some topics that are a natural fit for the author and easy to find an audience.

1)  A dentist writing a book about how to make dental visits easier for children

2)  A pediatrician writing a book on the importance of vaccines and regular checkups

3)  An Instagram influencer who posts recipes and publishes a cookbook

I’m not going to buy a marketing book from a person who has never published a book. And I’m not going to buy a book on complex surgeries by a religion major.  

It sounds really simple, but you do need ‘credentials’ if you’re going to write a non-fiction book. Readers want to know that you have the authority to write about your given topic. In summary, your expertise must be in the topic you are publishing about.