aka. How To Choose a Book Topic for IMPACTFUL Pros – Coaches, Trainers, Consultants & Independent Service Professionals
Most people who want to write a book don’t get stuck on writing.
They get stuck much earlier.
They get stuck at the question…
“What should my book actually be about?”
And usually, what follows is not clarity — but overthinking.
Too many ideas.
Too much pressure to get it “right”.
A quiet fear of choosing the wrong topic and wasting years of effort.
So, they either…
– keep circling ideas without deciding,
– start writing and abandon the project halfway through,
– or write a book that feels meaningful… but doesn’t quite do anything for their business.
Most dangerously…
Some people do choose a topic and they get stuck later on…
… and they never suspect that it could be the topic the reason for that “stuck-ness”.
If you don’t get anything else out of this article, this is your topic gold…
Choosing your book topic is not a creative exercise.
It’s a positioning decision.
And when that decision is made from clarity, your book starts becoming one of the most powerful positioning assets you will ever create.
Here, you’ll discover….
– what book not to write;
– what positioning is and most importantly what is not;
– how your book topic can position you as a Leading Authority™ – and it might surprise you what a Leading AuthorityTM actually is;
– the number one strategy to choose your topic;
– how to quickly validate your topic;
– the checklist resource you can get for free, as my gift to your expertise book;
And much, much more! – I want you to have everything you need in one place about choosing a great book topic.
#1 – Expertise Book™ Clarity
Let’s start by getting clear about the book we don’t want to create first…
– A “promotional” book – This is not about selling your services in your book.
We’re going to do something much more powerful…
We’ll allow the reader to see for themselves the value of working with you.
– An “e-book” – We’re definitely not going for something that looks like those “e-books” or “reports” you see a lot online.
– The “bible” in your topic of expertise – You don’t need to write everything you know. You are NOT writing an encyclopedia. Trying to write the “Bible” of your topic is the fastest way to get overwhelmed and never finish.
We want a focused, targeted book that solves a specific problem for a specific person.
Now that we know what book not to write, in order for your book to position you to be seen and chosen by potential clients, we’ll need to understand positioning and exactly the positioning you’re aiming for.
#2 – Positioning – A Simple Understanding
“Positioning” makes the difference between being seen, valued and chosen by your best clients or being ignored by the very same people you can help the most.
Do you ever wonder… why is it people see clearly and value the contribution of some experts while others remain invisible?
The answer to that is positioning. (We are not talking here about bragging, self-proclamation or declaring oneself the #1.)
What we are talking about is how visibility (and invisibility) really work.
The market place is noisy and cluttered so human beings turn it off. That’s our way of managing an overload of information. We have bandwidth only for what we perceive as true resources to us.
Positioning starts by becoming a valuable, relevant, credible resource for your audience of potential clients in the first two seconds of them seeing you or the online representations of you.
How Positioning Works
As human beings that we all are, we have a fantastic brain… Well, in fact we have 3 brains. The oldest part of our brain is called the reptilian brain and it is in charge of our survival.
When we meet a person, our reptilian brain will decide in a matter of seconds if it is a friend, an enemy or someone that should be… ignored.
Unless you make it in the category of friend (resource), chances are your message will be positioned to be ignored.
What “friend” basically means is that you can trust me and I am here to provide resources to you (and NOT to take away from you).
After that initial decision, they decide that you are relevant and there to provide resources… Now they put you in some category in their mind. That is how our brain works as humans. We immediately assign meaning. In this case, we position or place the expert in front of us in a category of resource (for ourselves or for someone we could refer them to).
So, every time you interact – live or online – is an opportunity to position yourself as a valuable, relevant, credible resource.
And your book is the perfect chance to be seen as a valuable, relevant, credible resource.
What Positioning Is NOT ABOUT
It’s not about bragging or proclaiming yourself the expert/thought leader/leading Authority. It’s not about photo shoots and making your website look like the cover of a magazine. (There is plenty of that around and people are ignoring all of that.)
How to Position Your Brand Right…
You want to claim the mental space (positioning) of a Leading Authority™ in your field but not by proclaiming yourself a Leading Authority.
What works is to become an educator and advocate for the success of your audience so that they pay attention to every word you have to say and they invest in working with you.
#3 – Leading Authority Positioning™
As we have said, your book is not about a self-proclamation of authority.
Let’s look at it from the perspective of your reader and potential client…
As human beings going through a big, painful problem, we want to make sure that we are trusting a person who knows how to help us (authority) and who can point us in the right direction, hold our hand and bring us to a safe place (leadership).
Leadership and authority are words tossed around a lot, so let’s have a closer look at what we mean.
The dictionary definition of authority is someone who knows a lot about something. (Notice how the dictionary says “a lot” and not “everything”).
According to merriam-webster.com/dictionary…
Authority is “the confident quality of someone who knows a lot about something or who is respected or obeyed by other people. A quality that makes something seem true or real. An individual cited or appealed to as an expert.”
One of my favorite definitions of a leader…
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way”.
– John C. Maxwell
Your book can position you as a Leading Authority™ without you needing to brag or call yourself an expert. With empathy, become a relevant resource for your audience by showing the way.
What if…
All you had to do right now is to decide to become a champion for the success of your audience by taking them closer to the outcome they want to achieve?
What if you could let it be that simple?
#4 – Why Your Book Topic Is the Most Powerful Authority Positioning Tool You Have
Your book can position you as a valuable, relevant, credible resource.
But first…
A Little Thought Experiment (1 minute)
Think of a service you have recently bought. Why did you buy? What made you choose that specific person to buy from?
Where Do the Clients Always Come From?
There are plenty of reasons people hire other people that are circumstantial and therefore non-replicable.
However, there is a reason we all buy which is constant…
We buy because we see the value of an offer.
A book is successful because of the value it adds.
We want a book that will provide immense value to your readers and will position you as a great resource.
So…
We’re going to start by…
Defining Value…
“Adding value means to take people closer to the outcome they desire”
– Ana Rosenberg
The two most important keywords here are: outcome and desire.
As soon as we start talking about outcomes, people get nervous because they feel they have to promise a result.
This is not the case.
You can only show what is possible if your client does the work.
The people you can help are looking to get an outcome. That’s value to them.
Value is not a lot of stuff.
They have a picture in their minds of the outcome they want. If your book does not speak to that outcome, it will be invisible to the very people you can help.
Ask Yourself…
Why are you reading this article? What outcome are you trying to achieve?
The second keyword is desire. The best topic is something people already really, really, really want.
We’ll come back to a simple way to discover what people really, really, really want in a minute.
#5 – A Mistake People Make When Choosing Their Topic…
They want the topic to be unique so they get away from what people want and end up with topics that are not profitable.
There Is a Better Way of Making Your Book Unique…
Monet and Van Gogh are two of my favorite artists. I never get tired of looking at their Art. They both painted the same topic: nature and most specifically flowers.
Their uniqueness is not in the topic…
…, it’s in their interpretation of the topic.
Your book will be unique because of your interpretation of the topic. First, you are unique and there is no doubt about that. Second, you bring your unique understanding and solution to a topic. Third, you bring your unique energy and Art.
We’ll start by choosing topics where you have a great understanding and interpretation.
Ask Yourself…
What topics can I add value to today?
#6 – The Most Powerful Profitable Topic Tool
One of the best tools for finding the perfect topic is the ‘Problem-Solution, Problem-Solution (PS/PS) Framework’. This framework helps you create a book that solves your audience’s most urgent problem while setting you up to offer the next solution they’ll need.
Here’s The PS/PS Framework Works…
1. The First Problem
Think about what’s keeping your audience up at night. What’s their most pressing challenge right now?
This is the problem your book will address. It’s what grabs their attention and makes them say, “I need this book!”
This is the topic that will position your work as a valuable, relevant, credible resource.
2. The First Solution
Your book will provide this solution.
3. The Second Problem
After solving the first problem, your audience will naturally encounter a new challenge.
This second problem creates a bridge to your next offering, such as a coaching program, course, or service.
Yes, people can become clients from a book. They now need to solve the next step problem. If nothing else, they recognize their need to go from information to implementation. And who is better suited to help them to turn the useful information from the book into real transformation?
4. The Second Solution
Your business provides this solution. Your next step—whether it’s a workshop, consulting package, or online program—becomes the answer to their new challenge.
The beauty of the PS/PS Framework is that it makes your book not just a resource but the first step in a longer journey with you.
#7 – Is It a Solid Topic?
Once you decide about the value you want to provide in your book, it’s time for a simple validation of the topic.
We’re going to use research about outcomes people want from two giant sources of data that we couldn’t afford as a small business…
Amazon and YouTube.
1) Go to Amazon books and Kindle and type your topic. (15 minutes).
Are there a lot of books on the topic?
People interested in a certain outcome usually buy several books on a topic and they hire coaches, consultants and professionals, too.
How many books do you think I’ve bought and read about business? Only one? How many programs do you think I join every year about business?
Read the comments and reviews people leave. You’re interested in what they liked about the book, what they feel it was missing, etc.
2) Find books on the topic published by traditional publishers. Look inside the book at the table of content and at the back cover.
Traditional publishers put a lot of research into that back cover, describing what people will get from reading the book.
3) Go to YouTube and type in your topic. (15 minutes)
Are there plenty of videos about your topic? What questions do the videos answer?
You don’t need to watch the videos. Just write down the titles.
NOTE – If there are YouTube videos and books on a topic, you know that you have a certain validation to create an asset that people will want.
#8 – Narrowing Down Your Topic
Remember how we said that your brilliant book is not an encyclopedia?
One of the biggest mistakes is to try to create a book that is the “bible” on a topic.
From the value point of view, people find it more valuable if your book is easy to consume and they can easily complete it.
From the business point of view, it’s usually better to create books on laser-focused outcomes and not all your expertise in one mega bible.
From the time point of view, if you try to produce the bible on a topic, it gets very difficult to finish the book. Things sometimes change before you even complete your book!
It’s a good idea to narrow down your topic if it is too wide.
For example, if a weight loss coach wanted to create a book on weight loss, energy boost and sleep, it would be too wide.
If I wanted to write a book on how to grow a profitable business, it would be too wide.
If a language trainer wanted to publish a book on how to learn French, it would be too wide.
Quick Approaches to Help You Narrow Your Topic
What comes next is different approaches to narrow down your topic. Go through them quickly and see what sparks an idea for your specific book. You don’t need to apply them all.
1. – Audience
One of the easiest ways to narrow down the topic is by choosing the audience for your topic.
For example, our weight loss coach can create a weight loss book for new moms to lose the baby weight. Our language trainer could publish a book to help tourists learn French.
2. – Levels
Decide the level of results for your book.
For example, our French trainer can decide to create a book for beginners. Our weight loss coach can publish a book to help lose the first 10 pounds or to lose the last 5 pounds.
Ask yourself…
– Is it a book to get people started?
– Is it a book to take people to the next level?
– Is it a book for mastery?
3. – Zoom In
You can choose a topic within a bigger topic.
For example, a divorce attorney can create a book about child custody, a subtopic within divorce.
A weight loss coach can publish a book about emotional eating for new moms. Let’s say that they know that new moms have trouble to lose the baby weight because they engage in a lot of emotional eating. So, our weight loss coach could create a book about overcoming emotional eating for new moms.
4. – The Positioning Approach™ To Choosing Your Topic
You can choose a topic you want to be known for.
For example, let’s say that our weight loss coach wants to be known for weight loss for new moms. She can publish a book exactly on that topic.
This is not so much from a place of ego but from the practical standpoint of not choosing something you don’t want to be known for.
The negative example…
An executive coach who published a book about networking but didn’t want to be known for teaching networking.
5. – The Formula Approach™
If you have a ‘formula’ to help your clients get closer to the outcome they desire, you can choose one step of your system and turn it into a book.
Our weight loss coach for new moms could use the first step of her system and teach how to jump start their weight loss.
6. – The Moments Approach™
There are different moments during the day that your readers find challenging.
There are different moments during the journey of getting to the outcome they desire that your readers find challenging.
You can narrow down your big topic to help your readers address one of those.
For example, our weight loss coach knows that one of the hardest moments in the day for a new mom is the lack of energy in the afternoon. She could publish a book on boosting energy for new moms.
Our career coach might know that one of the challenging moments during the process of landing their dream job for women in tech is to negotiate the salary. She could publish a book on the confidence to negotiate a salary.
#9 – What to Avoid
A topic that is too vague or general. The more specific your topic is, the more relevant, valuable and credible your book is.
A sad example – I was offered a book by a weight loss expert about being slim and fabulous. The promise of “becoming slim and fabulous” is so vague (and in my case it feels so unreal) that the book had the counter positioning effect. I had that “gut” feeling that it could turn out to be a waste of my time.
REMEMBER – There is no “wrong” topic if you have your audience in mind and in heart.
AND – This is only one book. You can create many more.
#10 – Note on Passion
Notice I haven’t asked you about your passion. There is a good reason for this.
If there is a topic you feel passionate about, you will already know it. If not, no problem.
What topic, for now, would you enjoy?
#11 – Next Step
Now, you know how to choose a topic. Let’s make it easier. I made you this…
FREE Resource – The Expertise Book Topic Checklist™
A step-by-step guide to choosing a book topic that positions you as a Leading Authority™, attracts your ideal clients, and sets you up to be seen, chosen, and well paid.
GET YOUR TOPIC CHECKLIST – https://anarosenberg.com/book-topic
Till next time, remember… Your brilliance is portable. You can take it with you anywhere and everywhere, including choosing the topic for your expertise book.
With all my love
Ana
Action Resource
Get your The Expertise Book Topic Checklist™ – yes, it’s FREE
A step-by-step guide to choosing a book topic that positions you as a Leading Authority™, attracts your ideal clients, and sets you up to be seen, chosen, and well paid.
Get Your Topic Checklist – https://anarosenberg.com/book-topic
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