by Bob Schwarztrauber
No.
Well, maybe.
Here’s a simple way to tell if you are smart enough to write a book. Ask yourself, or a close friend, or someone in your family who has known you for a long time, and can be trusted to give you a serious answer, this question:
“Have I ever done or accomplished something in my life that other people might say, “Wow! How’d you do that?””
Do you know something, anything, that others might want to know but don’t?
Are you good at something? Anything?
Maybe you’re great at fixing stuff around the house? Maybe you’re a great parent? Maybe you know all the cool places to hang out in your town. Maybe you’re a great guitar player? Maybe you know how do magic, or pick up women, or attract rich men, or sell on ebay, or maybe you collect something cool, or maybe you make people laugh, or draw cartoons?
I could sit here all day listing stuff because there are no limits to the talents of the human race. And no shortage of information seekers.
Sure you say, “I know stuff Bob, good stuff. But how do I know anyone ELSE wants to know what I know, and how do I know if they will pay me to tell them what I know?”
Well, again, thanks to Amazon.com you never have to guess. Just pop on over to Amazon.com and look at the books already written. Look at books on the topic you are thinking about. Are there any already there?
If so, good. That at least means one other person in the world shares the same interest as you. But that’s not enough. Look again. Are there multiple books that address this same subject? Even better!
Now look at the reviews for these books. Are there lots of reviews? Good again. That means these readers are passionate enough about the topic to want their voices heard. Are the reviews good? What do the people like? You want to write more about that from YOUR unique perspective.
Are there bad reviews? What don’t the readers like? Don’t do that when you write your book. Or, be the contrarian, pick a fight, rile them up, go against the grain if you feel the masses are wrong. Nothing stirs sales like controversy.
Don’t worry if there are already lots of books selling on your topic. Most fear the competition, but don’t.Think about this. Say you love to cook. Would you only buy just one cookbook in your life? No you’d always buy more cookbooks. Same with Golfers. Do they ever buy just one book on golf? No they buy more and more books hoping that the NEXT one will contain the secret that makes them great.
You go ahead and write that NEXT book on whatever your topic is.
NEVER write the first book on your topic. Pioneers end up with arrows in their back. DO WORRY if there are no books selling on your topic. It means nobody is interested! Move on. I’ll bet you’re good at more that one thing.
Here’s the bottom line. No matter what your level of skill, there is always going to be someone lower than you. Why won’t you share your knowledge and give this guy a leg up, a head start?
I’ll bet someone helped you when you were just getting started. And you probably didn’t care if he had letters after his name, or wore a suit and tie, or looked pretty. You were just grateful for the help.
Hey, it turns out, YES, you are smart enough to write a book after all. (I secretly always knew you could do it.) Hopefully the tips above will help you make your next project a really big success!
Let me know if I can help.
P.S. I left out one area that is important to many. Fiction books. The only requirement here is that you have a good imagination and can tell a story. Most all the popular fiction books are written according to a handful of proven successful story formulas. Only the character names and situations are changed. Feel free to create your own story, but you should plan on creating a series for maximum success. Few fiction writers achieve wealth or fame from writing a one-off book.
