Writing a nonfiction book is so much easier than writing fiction. As an author, I have written 3 fiction and 10 nonfiction books. As you can see from the numbers, I prefer to write nonfiction.
The reason I find it easier to write nonfiction is that I can look up information and data that already exists, whereas when writing fiction, I mostly have to use my imagination.
So if you’re interested in writing nonfiction, I will show you 5 simple techniques for coming up with ideas for writing a nonfiction book.
1. Think of what you’re good at doing.
You may have a lot of talents and skills you may not have thought of that you’re good at. For example, you may be good at writing stories, creating business plans, drawing pictures, or playing board games. Grab a pen and a notebook, or you can use your laptop.
Take a ruler and draw a line in the middle of the page so that there are two columns. In the left column write the title, “Things I’m Good at” and in the right column, write, “Possible Book Titles”.
For example, you may be good at playing the piano. So a possible book title could be “How to Play Piano Like a Pro”.
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Writing down your ideas of things you are good at can help you to come up with titles for nonfiction books that you could write.
2. Think of your qualifications.
Although you don’t need any special qualifications to write and self-publish a book, you could use your qualifications to write a book in a specialist niche. For example, you may have a qualification in computer programming, nutrition, plumbing or photography.
Your knowledge in these specialist areas could be very lucrative. Possible book ideas for these niches include Computer Programming for Beginners, The Complete Guide to Nutrition, How to Become a Plumber, or How to Take Great Photographs at Night.
So think about all the courses you took and the new skills you developed. What you studied in school could help you to come up with some winning ideas for a nonfiction book.
3. Check the newspapers and other media.
Another way to come up with ideas for a nonfiction book is to read newspapers, magazines, or other media. For example, you may read an article in the newspaper which explains how to buy a house in the UK.
You can take the ideas from that article and expand on it to write a book. You might also read a magazine article that explains foods to avoid if you want to lose weight. You can then write a book about foods you should eat to help you lose weight.
You can also get nonfiction book ideas from listening to podcasts and webinars or by watching YouTube videos about your favorite topics.
4. What hobbies or pastimes do you enjoy?
There are thousands of books that have been written about people’s hobbies. You could write a book about how to play chess, how to start a vegetable garden, or how to sew dresses.
Maybe you have unusual hobbies that other people might be interested in reading about. For example, some strange hobbies include soap carving, making snow globes, or collecting Barbie dolls.
Most people love reading about how to improve their hobbies and how they can make money from them.
5. Do research on Amazon to see which books are selling well.
If you need more inspiration in coming up with ideas for your nonfiction book, I highly recommend checking out the bestselling books on Amazon according to your chosen niche.
- Go to Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk if you live in the UK and click on Best Sellers or type in best sellers in the search box.
- Click on the Kindle Store and then click on Books on the left column. However, on Amazon.com you may already see the sub-categories listed under Kindle Store.
- Select the category you have chosen to write in, e.g. Business & Investing. Here you will see a list of all the top 100 bestselling books in the category Business & Investing. The same goes for all the other categories.
- To narrow down your search, click on any of the sub-categories under Business & Investing, e.g. Finance. This page will show you a list of all bestselling books in Finance.
Based on your search in Amazon, you will see which topics sell the best and this will give you an idea of the type of nonfiction books you should write.
It’s not always easy to choose a topic to write about. You have to make sure that the ideas you come up with for writing a nonfiction book are ones that are popular among your readers and that will generate thousands of dollars in sales for your business. Hopefully, these five techniques will help you to come up with great ideas for your nonfiction book.
