How to Find Good Ideas for eBooks

An aspiring writer faces many problems, and picking the right topic for an eBook is among them. You can be a professional in your niche and have a great desire to write, but you still may not be able to come up with the topic. To stop this struggle, we have created a list of topics and advice on how to create an eBook.

The main things you need to know about before you will be ready to start searching the topic: your goal and audience. What goals do you plan to achieve with writing the eBook? Who is your audience? Create a book that will meet the needs of your audience. If your business sells certain goods or services, try to connect it to the topic. For example, if you sell sportswear, you can write a book on how to start jogging and end with running a marathon.

Writing a good eBook can not only promote your business, but also become an additional source of income. If you want to write an eBook, you need to find the right niche and topic for your future masterpiece. There are hundreds of ideas that can be used for writing an eBook. But will this book be popular? Will the book get you more clients or increase sales? Is the topic worth your time? Where can you find popular eBook topics? Consider the following tips to find the best matching topic for your eBook.

Start with Answering the Right Questions for eBook Ideas

Answer the following questions. This will help you find the balance between your interests, knowledge, and demand.

• What books do you like to read?

If you are a fan of a certain literature genre or you prefer to read books about a certain topic, choose it for your own book. For example, if you like to read about writing, write about it (how to become a more productive writer, interesting tips, advice). Inspect your bookshelf and write down five of your favorite book topics.

It won’t be a crime if you pick the same topic as your favorite writers. Don’t be afraid that you will just repeat another author’s thoughts. The fact is that there is nothing new that can be said on non-fiction topics. Readers buy books not for new information; they want to read your point of view on the issue and the solution.

• What do you wish to know before doing a particular activity? What difficulties have you overcome?

During your professional career and throughout your life you have experienced different challenges. Stories about your failures will make the reader closer to you. Remember all the cases when you thought “I wish I knew before” and write them down. What situation and life lessons will be the most interesting for your audience? Think in what way it can help your readers.

• What mistakes do people frequently make?

To show that you are an expert in your sphere, you need to help people avoid making mistakes. Think what problems people frequently face. Why does it happen? What do successful people do to avoid those problems? Analyze your mistakes and your competitor’s mistakes. Think about the causes and how you behaved.

Conduct a Research to Find a Winning eBook Topic

Make research. If you have answered the previous questions, it’s time to come up with hot eBook topics. How can you find one? To meet your interest and your audience’s needs, make a little bit of market research. Aim at the competitive market – this will raise your chance of success.

• Define keywords.

To get closer to the most searched eBook topics, visit services like Google Analytics or BuzzSumo to identify the most frequent requests related to your topic. Look at keywords with medium and low competitive rates. Pick a list of keywords that fit your interest the most.

• Browse Quora, Facebook communities, news, and related blogs.

What questions do people ask? Are there any urgent questions without a detailed answer? Don’t be afraid of popular topics. It will be better to receive critiques instead of being unnoticed.

• Analyze online bookstores.

What best selling books are related to your topic? What are the most popular eBook topics on the market right now? Read the feedback from readers, examine the description, and read available free pages and the table of contents. You can analyze covered topics, find more ideas for your own book, and come up with an eye-catching title. But don’t fall into the money trap, as popular topics can be too saturated with books and it may be hard to stand out.

• Analyze your competitor’s activity.

What type of content do your competitors share? What topics do they cover? What type of content is the most popular? Make sure that your competitors haven’t written anything similar to your topic.

• Ask your audience.

Make a list of topics and create a poll on your Facebook page or make a survey through newsletter. Ask your readers to vote for the topic they are interested in.

Get Inspired with Great eBook Topic Ideas

Start with one of these eBook topic ideas:

1. Detailed how-to manual. For example, you can write on how to break a bad habit or how to start a business.
2. Step-by-step guide. This eBook should describe every single detail of the process to achieve a certain goal. For example, you can focus on becoming healthy or making a popular Facebook page or Instagram account.
3. Ready-made ideas. Tell people the additional possibilities of earning money or a list of ideas for start-ups.
4. Recipes. This will be a good idea for those businesses connected with food or food preparation. People usually pay for convenience. You can tell about popular recipes or how to prepare dishes using your products.
5. Story of success/failure. Write a story about your experience, give advice to your readers, and warn about possible mistakes.
6. I had a dream. Have you ever desired something and it became true because of your hard work? Write about it!
7. Advice for the novice. It is a classic idea that is still in demand. What problems did you experience at the beginning of your work? What risks and pitfalls can the beginner face?
8. Workbook. Write a workbook on how to learn to generate more ideas. Describe the ways to boost the creative process and keep your ideas from being discarded.
9. Check-list. When people are going to start something, along with a guide they will need a good check-list to consider all possibilities. It can include going to the mountains or a marketing project.
10. Samples, templates, and blueprints. People like ready-made solutions: writing a letter, creating clothes, etc.

The List of eBook Topics to Avoid

Among the topics to avoid are the following ones:

• Obvious topics. The sky is blue, the water is wet, etc. If your reader won’t find any new information, there is no point in writing such a book.
• Clichéd topics. If you won’t be able to describe a popular topic from a new angle, don’t invest your money and time.
• Topics that are useless. If you are describing a squirrel’s thoughts on wanting to find a peanut, but readers can’t associate themselves with the protagonist, that means that your story is useless. The reader will put away books with useless information.
• Negative topics. Intolerance, conspiracy theories, and persecution complexes don’t make for a good topic to bring into society. Concentrate on the positive and make the world better.

Checklist to Make Sure That the Chosen eBook Topic Is the Best

So, you have come up with the desired niche and topic. Before starting to write, we recommend you to make sure that the topic is good enough to put all your effort and time on it. If you don’t want to fail, use the following checklist:

1. Books with a similar topic are in high demand. See book ratings and categories to find the eBook topics in demand and find proof that the topic is selling. This point will guarantee that your book will also be in demand.
2. The book market is not crowded with similar books. It will be hard to enter a market that is already full of recurrent topics and it won’t guarantee good sales.
3. The chosen topic doesn’t require special knowledge. For example, a book about nutrition will be more credible if written by a nutritionist or physician. Pick a topic related to your professional sphere or a well-known topic.
4. The topic has unique features that were not covered in competitors’ books. Such additional value will raise your chances to stand out from the crowd of competitors.
5. The topic can give you a chance to write a series of books. Writing a series of books is a bit easier than spending time on searching for various topics.
6. The chosen niche is relevant and well developed. Make sure that there are no signs that it will soon disappear or become uninteresting.

The Bottom Line

If your topic corresponds to each point, start writing right now! Finding a good topic is halfway to success, but don’t forget about the content and marketing your book afterward. To know all peculiarities, check out our guide on how to write an eBook, which contains a step-by-step guide and valuable advice, our eBook examples may be useful as well. Hopefully, our advice will help you create a best-selling masterpiece. We wish you all the best!