Searching for Subjects

If you’re like many people who are building publishing businesses, you’re on a constant quest to find great, marketable topics on which to write. Let’s focus on some strategies that fall outside the normal “which genre is selling the hottest” mindset.

There are two primary problems with “the hottest genre” books. The first is that you will have considerable competition because everyone has tickets for that game. It’s very difficult to build a reputation among the Amazon pages of selections. It’s roughly the equivalent of trying to build your band’s reputation when all you play are the elevator tunes of the 60s without vocals. You all sound the same.

The second problem is that you’re likely to get tired of all that competition and drop out of the business before you get your feet on the ground. You’ve seen these folks. They’ve learned a bit about what it takes and are now selling the stories of how they failed via membership sites and packaged training courses. Has it occurred to you that if they were truly successful, one doesn’t stand on a mountaintop and shout out the directions to your private gold mine?

Kindle publishing, in particular, has become an extension of a Google search. If there’s an earthquake in Bolivia, the world will know about it roughly 90 seconds after it takes place, courtesy of Twitter. If you’re watching for those big stories, and know how to predict them, you can have the “hot off the press” book on the topic. The world has earthquakes daily. Have 90% of the book ready and add in a chapter about Bolivia’s history with quakes and you’ll be on the top of the charts by nightfall. Get your basic ingredients into place and customize it.

Is there some celebrity who is likely to not last out the year? Are there rumors of a government about to be overthrown? Have you heard of some new experimental drug to treat cancer? The point is, we are moving at a global speed and the public wants all the background information—now.

You get Google ranking, Amazon ranking, perhaps invited on a few radio talk shows… there’s nothing but positive press involved. You can write the book, be the expert, before the event even happens.

What’s one topic you could write about today that will, without fail, become a news headline in the near future?