Writing a book takes a lot of time, effort, and, if you need professional help, investment. That’s why it’s no surprise that you might want some reassurance before you even start. How can you tell if your book idea is worth writing? Let’s dive into it.
The Difficulties of the Book Market
Before we start, it’s important to acknowledge the difficulties of the book market. It’s very hard to definitively say whether a book will do well, especially before it has even been written. There are a lot of factors that can prevent even a very good book from doing well, such as:
- The book market moving on from current trends to something new before you’ve published
- A lack of marketing budget or skills – even if you’re traditionally published, you may struggle to make sales if you are at the lower end of the list where marketing budgets are tighter
- Market saturation in your particular niche
- Poor early reviews – not necessarily a sign of a bad book, especially if your marketing has targeted the wrong type of readers
- The cover or blurb not doing the right job of selling the book
- Sheer luck of the draw – your book came out on the same day as the hottest titles of the year and thus got no attention, the publisher you wanted for your book already filled their list for the year, the editor you wanted didn’t even read your submission because they’ve already got too much on their plate… and so on!
That’s why it’s important to bear in mind that no matter how careful you are about vetting your book idea, it’s still no guarantee of success. On the other hand, if you don’t vet your book idea at all or if everyone in the world tells you it won’t work, that’s also no guarantee of failure.
Market Research
Now we have that out of the way, let’s get into some market research. Start by searching for books as similar to yours as possible. If, for example, I wanted to write The Lord of the Rings, I would start looking into epic fantasy series. How is George RR Martin selling these days? What are the other big fantasy names out there producing epic-length books? Are the big names soaking up all of the attention and sales, or are indie or smaller authors doing okay too? There are tools out there which will give you an idea of how many daily sales a book is making based on its Amazon bestseller rank, which could come in handy.
Reader Research
You can also go right to your target audience and just come out and ask them if they want your book. If I was writing a business guide, I might go to my local Chamber of Commerce, for example. During networking, you could try to ask as many people as possible whether they read business books, what kinds of business books they read, and whether they think your idea could be useful or something they would pick up from the bookstore.
Finding fiction readers in the same way could be more challenging, but part of your marketing for the book you eventually write will be finding out where your potential readers are so you can sell to them, so look at this as getting one task out of the way early. You can even start to build up buzz for your book by asking on social media what readers are looking for, and getting them to approve of your book idea.
If you’re wary about giving away the whole plot, don’t worry. You could talk in tropes (“Would you read an enemies to lovers dragon assassin fantasy romance with only one bed scenes and a talking animal companion?”) or broad swings (“Would you read a book that helped you understand how to budget for tax season throughout the year?”). Compile answers from as many people as possible to get an idea of the general consensus.
Is It Worth It?
Finally, a last word: you might consider writing your book, even if you hear that it isn’t worth it.
Why? Firstly, because of all the massively successful books that were turned down by dozens – if not hundreds – of publishers before they finally saw the light of day, or where the author was thought of as too ambitious or mad before they became a bestseller. Secondly, because this is a book idea that you want to write, and writing it can have more than one purpose.
There is more than one way to measure the success of a book. If you feel proud and fulfilled after writing it, that might be just as good as writing a book that becomes a bestseller and yet didn’t fulfil you. Or you might find that writing this book gives you the experience and knowhow to write an even better book for your next try, which could then give you the springboard to the success you’re after. If the book matters to you, I urge you to give it a try. There’ s no such thing as wasted time when creating art or trying to help others.
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