Writing a book is different than writing an article or a blog - it is more permanent somehow and seems to be a more solid reflection of who we are as a person. This must mean that we need to take the entire process more seriously and whatever we write should be something we have expertise and knowledge about. Without doubt, our readers and the world in general, treat a book with much more importance and respect than the somewhat ethereal world of digital writing on blogs and websites. The printed page holds a mysterious power and respect for its permanence and that is exactly why we are writing a book in the first place, is it not?
A non-fiction book should be based on a level of expertise, training and technical ability that the author can demonstrate in both their biography and their writing prowess but just exactly how do we go about discovering what we are "expert" at? We can look to our formal education credentials for starters. Holding a degree in any discipline will automatically confer expert, or at least knowledgeable, status. There are many more areas in which we can search for writing ideas that will offer real value to our readers and that is the most important criteria. Are we providing value for our readers and another way to look at it is this; how will our writing change a reader’s life for the better?
If we consider our credentials for writing in this context, it allows us to look at areas of life that we are interested in, such as hobbies and sports, ancillary skills that we have developed like writing, speaking and training, perhaps travel that we have done, courses we have taken, jobs we have held, computer/internet training that we have undertaken. Look for things that you think people take for granted like editing, punctuation and other writing related skills - not everybody has these. Your longtime enjoyment of gardening, reading, fine wines, good food, weather phenomenon, party planning, photography, recycling, business cycles, the stock market, Roman naval wars, tarot reading, car racing or anything else under the sun, including the sun, can be fodder for your book. If you are interested in something, there is a very strong likelihood that there are other people on the planet who share your passion and want to read the latest book on the subject - yours!
excerpt from, "The B. O. O. K. System"
by Robert J. Bannon
