How to Figure Out What to Write a Book About? A Self-Test

“The hardest part of writing is knowing what to write.”??– Syd Field, author and screenwriter

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Those of us with an itch to write usually end up wanting to write a book. You’d think that’s where this question of “what to write a book about” would pop up, but it’s not. Most writers have a pretty good idea of what they want their first book to be about. Often, it’s something they want to get out of their system, like a memoir, or a book about something that happened to them (addiction, disease, trauma, adventure), or a story they want to tell, maybe in novel form. A writer with a profession (therapist, doctor, lawyer, journalist, smuggler) may want to write a book about that. Then there are the collections: short stories, poems, photos, blog posts, recipes, essays.

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The Second Book

The problem of what to write about usually pops up when we sit down to write a second (or later) book. That’s when the heat is on. We think, “This book needs to be important. This one should make a difference. It should be useful. It should count. It should move people.” We also think our second book should correct all the mistakes we feel we made when writing and publishing the first one. That’s a lot of pressure!

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How Many Books Can You Write in a Lifetime?

When it comes to the job of choosing a topic for a blog post or article, that’s no biggie. We can write hundreds of those in a lifetime. But picking a topic to write a whole book about makes us nervous. A book, fiction or nonfiction, can take a year or more to write. If you do the math, there’s obviously a limit to how many we can turn out in our own lifetime. One published book isn’t enough to call ourselves a “real” writer. Up to a dozen feels respectable. One hundred might make us suspect: Lightweight? AI-written? If there are 30 million books on Amazon alone, and the average person reads only 700 books in a lifetime, that’s just more “math” to factor into our topic choice for our second or any future books.

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Personal Writing Goals

Two things that can help you answer the “what to write about” question are knowing your main writing goal, and taking a self-test (like the one below). When it comes to goals, not every writer wants to be a best-seller, even though it sounds good. You may not want to have the kind of busy lifestyle or time commitment that can go along with being a big success. Some authors just want a book to give them “street cred” for teaching a class, or to qualify for speaking engagements. Others want to publish a collection of photos, poems, or recipes on Amazon to share with friends and family. Or a memoir for future generations. A mental health professional might want a book for their colleagues, or for clients to help them deal with a specific issue. You don’t need to be a best-seller to do any of these things. Identifying your publishing goals upfront can save you a lot of time, money, and stress. ?

If You Are Still Undecided, Here’s a 3-Part Self-Test

This test is can be spread over a week. It consists of a 5-minute test; a 5-Hour test; and a 5-Day test:

Part 1:??? The 5-Minute Test:

On a file card, write down 3 things you know something about, are good at, or have an interest in, such as work, an avocation, a hobby, cause, concern, period in history, question, speculation, theory, or place. Mull them over. Pick the one that most resonates with you. Put a checkmark by it. Can you see yourself spending a year living with this topic? If so, then that’s your book’s working topic. Fiction or nonfiction?

Part 2:??? The 5-Hour Test:?

Now that you’ve got your working topic, do 4 hours of research using the 4 websites listed below, one hour on each.? (NOTE: Some book topics may call for special readings. For example, for a memoir, you may want to substitute personal journals or letters for going on Wikipedia. For a historical novel, squeeze in a history website). Limit total time to 4 hours for research.

a.????? Amazon.com – Search for books on your topic. Note any published in the last five years. These are your “comps” (competition).

b.????? Wikipedia.com – get an overview of your topic. Anything unexpected?

c.?????? Google.com your topic to see what’s available on it.? Get a sense of how “hot” it is – or not.

d.????? YouTube.com – Who is talking about your topic? Any podcasts or gurus? Any new aspects?

e.????? The 5th Hour - Using your new knowledge, write a “faux” Table of Contents (TOC) for your book, even fiction or memoir. Think of a working title. 12 total chapters. Consider dividing it into 2 or 3 parts.? Purpose: To see how much territory you want to cover in your book.??

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Part 3: The 5-day Test

Write a first draft of the first chapter of your book. (Don’t call it an Introduction. Some readers skip those). You should be able to do this in five days. Each genre has its own challenges. Whet the reader’s appetite for more. That will help your marketing later on.

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What Now?

By the time you’ve thought about your goal as a writer and you’ve taken the 3-Part self-test, you will probably know if this topic is the right or wrong choice as your book’s topic. You will either be more interested, or less interested, in continuing with the topic for the next year or so.? If you realize that you have lost all interest, that’s good intel! You’ve just saved yourself a lot of time and grief. Move on.

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When you’re ready, re-calculate. Go back to the drawing board. Re-think your writing goal and do the test again. Sooner or later you will figure out what to write a book about. Happy writing!

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Sylvia Cary, LMFT, is a licensed psychotherapist in Sherman Oaks, California, and the author of a number of books, including THE THERAPST WRITER: Helping Mental Health Professionals Get Published (Amazon and Kindle), and the soon-to-be-published, WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE SELF-PUBLISHING: A Visual Guide. SylviaCary.com and [email protected].