Once you know what other books are on the market, you can begin to narrow the focus of your own book idea. Ideally, your book should present a fresh angle that hasn't been explored by others. This is where the techniques for generating book ideas discussed in Chapter 1 come in. Think critically about the material covered, how it's presented, and whom it's for.

Underserved Markets

There may be a dozen or more available titles on your topic, but that doesn't mean they're appropriate for every reader. Let's say you want to write a book about professionalism in the workplace. There may be lots of books about this, but most of them may be aimed at supervisors, managers, and executives, who are most responsible for setting the tone and upholding standards of behavior. Perhaps your book could focus on what entry- and midlevel employees can do to promote a professional atmosphere, addressing such issues as attire, language, makeup and jewelry, and even workspace decoration.

As discussed in Chapter 1, there are many potential audience segments for virtually any topic. Customer service books can be targeted to employees and managers, or to customers who want to know how to resolve problems or get the level of service they're looking for. Personal finance books can be targeted to middle-aged couples who are worried about retirement planning or to new college graduates who have concerns about handling and saving money. When you look at the competition, think about which readers those books have ignored.

A Different Perspective

Lots of books offer advice from experts in various fields, from finance and self-help to legal issues and even cooking. But sometimes there's an opening for a “real-life” perspective on a topic. “Expert” advice sometimes doesn't translate well into ordinary lives. Few people have the patience to decipher legal documents, for example, so putting legal language into plain English provides a service to the layperson who may need information on divorce, living wills, partnership contracts, and the like.

In fiction, a different perspective may mean telling a tale from an unusual point of view. Granted, you won't get far if you try to sell a Gothic novel told from the hero's point of view instead of the heroine's. But perhaps you could tell your Western story from the point of view of the stable hand instead of the gunslinger. Black Beauty and Call of the Wild were told from the point of view of, respectively, the horse and the dog, and were much more effective than if the authors had used human narrators.