Evaluate Market Demand First Writing a book is similar to selling a product to a specific target market.
The topic and title of your book depends on market demand.
Many authors make the mistake of writing what they love, without conducting appropriate research.
Clouded by the belief that others will have the same interests, they spend valuable writing an e-book that no one will read.
From a business perspective, this would be like manufacturing a product without any idea if there was demand for it.
Without proper research, the manufacturer could stand losing thousands of dollars for being overly optimistic.
Would you want to make the same mistake as an Internet marketer, speaker, infopreneur or entrepreneur? Analyze your skills and experience Another aspect to writing is to write about something that you know and love.
Your work experiences, skills and hobbies would have made you an expert in certain areas.
For instance, if you love photography, you could probably write an e-book on topics related to photography.
It would also be easy for you to come up the content for something that is close to your heart.
In fact, with experience, you probably would possess unique and valuable information that is not easily attainable elsewhere.
Thus, people would need to PAY you for this information.
This would therefore be YOUR personal competitive advantage.
Select a focus to meet market need While it's best to write what you know, this also needs be balanced with market demand.
The best way to do this is to find a match between what you know, and the market demand for it.
Using the example above, if you discover that there is a lack of materials in the area of being a wedding photographer, you may want to write a book that addresses only this.
Why do we need to focus? Well, your focus is where you'll build your competitive advantage.
This is your area of specialization, where you are perceived as an expert in.
Readers are interested to learn from experts, not generalists.
Your next questions would probably be: How do I become an expert? Am I good enough to be regarded as an expert? The fact of the matter is, anyone can be an expert.
Your experience in your area lands you credibility, and helps differentiate you from others.
If there are indeed areas within your specialization that you are less knowledgeable about, you could read up on these areas, attend a course on them, or talk to others who have experienced it before.
Continuing on from the previous example, being a wedding photographer requires you to be well knowledgeable in elements such as selecting the right lenses , using correct amounts of lighting for indoor and outdoor shots, choosing a good camera, color matching and contrast, the ability to capture photographs from the right angle and digital image editing.
Your talent and creativity may be to recognize a good shot and to capture properly.
However, you may lack the necessary computer skills to perform proper digital image editing.
Thus, you need to acquire this skill in order to fulfill your need to be an expert.
Check out recent buzz Online! The Internet has become one of our most useful resources of all time.
With the recent influx of Internet users open to voicing their opinions online, it's easy to have a gauge on what's hot in the market.
Through online forums, you'd be able to view questions people frequently ask, and the topics that generate huge interest.
This way, you are able to fit the focus your book to meet these needs that you know exist.
On top of this, these groups also form part of your target market, which makes it easier for you to promote your book when it is published.
Sites such as Myspace.
com, Technorati.
com and MSN.
com often list out hot topics that people are discussing about.
Look to Alexa.
com or Overture.
com for frequently used keywords.
This will provide you with leads as to what people are interested to research on.