Review: Discover High-Quality Ideas and Test-Market Before Writing
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 2, 2013
James Thomson's "How to Create Nonfiction Book Ideas That Sell" combines an amazing set of creativity-sparking methods and resources with sound advice about how to test the market for your topic before writing, judge potential sales and get moving on the writing process.The book is divided into five parts: 1) Getting Started, 2) Finding Ideas, 3) Enhancing Your Ideas, 4) Judging Your Ideas and 5) Taking Action. An Appendix contains a well-organized set of Internet and other resources.Section 2 "Finding Ideas" is by far the longest section. There are over 100 idea-generating methods discussed. This is my one problem area with this book. So many methods are presented that it is difficult to winnow those of highest value. I would have liked to see this section subdivided further into subtopics for easier reference, especially in a Kindle ebook.The most valuable content consists of several methods and lists Thomson presents to accelerate and smooth the idea-generating and market-testing activities. These are found in various parts of the book, again without sufficient cross-referencing for easy access after reading the book. I took extensive notes with Kindle Locations identified that should make my own referencing easier. Other readers might want to consider taking at least sketch notes with locations for key items they find of interest.The final chapter "Taking Action" offers a dose of realism to those who think the writing and publishing process is easy. In this chapter Thomson presents a set of questions to ask yourself about your commitment, passion and the market you intend to sell into. The nature of the questions suggests that success as an author does not come easily. I welcome those questions as they will likely help greatly in the selection for my first nonfiction book of a worthwhile topic that will sell.Overall this book is an excellent and thought-provoking starting point for selecting a nonfiction book topic. I like it but note that it could be just a bit better organized - thus 4 stars.