- Do you have an idea for a book
and you're trying to figure out if it's a good one
or maybe you're convinced
you have a great idea for your book,
but you've been told by publishers
or other folks that it's not good?
If you're wondering what makes
a great nonfiction book ideas stick around.
This video is for you.
(upbeat music)
Hey there, I'm Julie the book Broad.
I'm an Amazon overall number one bestselling author
and the founder of a fabulous company called Book Launchers.
Our superpower is caring more about you
and your book than anybody else,
as we help you write, publish, and sell
a nonfiction book
that will boost your brand and make you money.
One of the challenging parts of my job
is figuring out if someone has a good book idea or not,
and more importantly,
whether the idea is going to be marketable
and have an audience.
You might have an incredible story,
but that doesn't automatically mean
that people will buy your book.
And you may have a great book idea,
but writing it might not actually get you
to where you wanna go in your business or career.
So here's the magic formula for figuring out
if your book idea is good.
(laughing)
I wish there was a magic formula
that's not that easy to predict,
but I can tell you the five things I look for
when I'm evaluating book ideas.
Before I do that, let me tell you what doesn't matter to me.
You know, information I immediately disregard.
And that is whether another publisher did
or did not want to give the author a book deal
or work with them.
Because if we're talking about hybrid or vanity publishers,
they tell pretty much everyone the book is good
and will take their money.
The other one is traditional publishers are less interested
in what your book is about and more interested
in the audience you already have.
So if you have a large email list, 100,000 people or more,
or a million followers
or subscribers on YouTube or social media,
the publisher might be interested in working with you
to find a book topic that they think is marketable
because they know your audience will buy it.
So it's irrelevant to me in many regards what publishers
of any kind have told you.
So when I'm evaluating a book idea,
here's what I'm looking at.
Number one, who is the audience for this book
and where can we find them?
If you tell me my book is for everyone,
what I hear is my book is for nobody.
Coca-Cola is marketed at everyone,
but do you know what kind of a marketing budget they have?
And even though it's marketed at everyone,
it's not for everyone.
Health-conscious folks like me who know what's in Coca-Cola
and what it'll do to your body are never buying it.
Luckily for them, Bill Gates doesn't seem to care.
Have you seen the new
inside the mind of bill Gates on Netflix?
That man drinks a ton of diet Coke.
Anyway, your audience matters a lot.
When someone says they're writing a book
for people who run car dealerships,
doctors who are just graduating med school
or parents who wanna teach their kids to read.
I get super excited because those are audiences
we can reach through podcasts,
magazines, events, media and more.
There are places where these people hang out
and thought leaders they already listened to.
There are tons of ways to market those kinds of books
to those kinds of audiences.
So the challenge is when someone has a memoir
and they say it'll inspire you,
you have to figure out who the memoir
is really gonna connect with.
'Cause your memoir isn't for everyone.
So who is most likely to feel like they need your story
or will get something from your book?
Which leads to the next thing I look for in a book idea.
Number two, how will this book help the audience?
What's the benefit for them?
This is the undeveloped hook
which we help our clients create.
And I've talked about it in just about every video
'cause the hook is really the benefit
for the readers and it's so important.
So what are you telling them that will make them richer,
happier, more connected, more respected, more beautiful,
fitter or ill an emotion they need to feel.
What's a pain you can solve for the reader?
What do you know that most people don't know
but really should?
How do you do things?
It can save time, make money, et cetera.
If there isn't a clear benefit for the audience,
then we're gonna struggle to market that book.
Talita Catto's book is a great example.
She helps strippers make more money
and get out of the business
with money in the bank and investments.
Clear audience and a super clear promise.
Tony LeBlanc helps property managers
take their property management business
and turn it into an empire of profitable businesses
that aren't just based on the rent rolls.
Again, great example of clear audience and clear benefits.
Number three, what are the goals of the author?
Well, maybe not directly related
to whether the book idea is good or not,
it does clearly project the author sense of reality,
which can also help evaluate the book idea.
If someone says they wanna sell a million books in a year
or they expect to be in New York Times Bestseller
or they want Ellen, Dr. Phil
or Between Two Ferns to interview them,
unless they have a track record
that would show this could happen
or they have a massive audience
that could help it to happen,
it's a struggle to see how a book idea is going to do that.
Now, if someone says,
I wanna get a copy of my book
into every woman's shelter in the US.
The goal is still lofty,
but you can start to see how that might be possible
with the right idea and the right strategy to approach this.
Or if someone says,
I wanna do 20 paid speaking gigs a year
and their subject is going to appeal
to corporate or large associations
and they already do some speaking,
I'm thinking this could happen.
So I wanna see if the idea lines up with the goal.
Number four, will the idea be something
other people want to talk about?
This is so important because if people aren't going
to tell their friends about the awesome book they just read
and you're gonna miss out
on the best marketing method in the world, word of mouth.
So my next question is,
will people feel like they have something interesting
or unexpected to share when they're at a party
or hanging out with friends?
William Hung's Champion by Choice
will give people a great story to share with others
as he shares what happened when Simon Callow shot him down
on American Idol and why he responded the way he responded.
Robert Kerbeck's book, Malibu Burning
shares stories of what happened
in the 2018 Los Angeles fires
and how celebrities and Malibu residents handled the fires
and even some of his ideas around handling,
preventing these things in the future.
That's a lot of things that could create
interesting conversations for people
to share after they read his book.
So what is in the idea that is going to be shareworthy?
That's really important.
Finally, number five, what makes the author
the right person to write this book?
This is again, less about the idea, but also essential.
What is unique and interesting about you, the author?
What's the perspective that you're sharing
that brings a different angle to this book?
By the way, this is the thing that makes your book
something that only you could write.
I have a client that was doubting his book saying,
other people have similar stories,
and I really had to remind him,
nobody has your story and nobody is sharing it
for the exact reason that you are.
You have to own this,
and it's not about being completely different
than everybody else,
but it's knowing that you have a unique story
and perspective and that what you're saying
or what you've been through
makes your perspective different.
Not every book idea has to have all five,
but it's much more likely to be a success
if you do have all five.
If you're wondering if you have a great nonfiction book idea
and you're looking for a company to help you write,
publish, and sell that book, let's chat.
Just take a couple of minutes to tell me
about your book idea and goals right here,
in booklaunchers.com/application
and we'll hop on the phone and chat about it.
Whether or not we decide to work together,
I'll make sure you have clarity around your book idea
and the direction that's most likely to work.
What do you think matters for a great book idea?
Share that in the comments below
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No boring books swag,
like this wonderful hoodie every once in a while,
most often a coffee mug or a journal,
and I've been told the coffee tastes better in that mug.
So you're just gonna have to try it
and find out for yourself.
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Big virtual hugs to you for your comments, likes and shares.
I'm so grateful to hang out with you
in my YouTube community.
Do you know how to write a nonfiction book?
This video will give you three tips to write faster,
or maybe you don't wanna do the typing
and you wanna hire a ghostwriter,
this video will help with that.
Either way, let's keep hanging out for a while, okay?
I'm really enjoying our time together.
So click on the next video 'cause I'm waiting for you.
(upbeat music)