Ever since Jim Edwards and I wrote our best-selling
e-book, "How to Write and Publish Your Own OUTRAGEOUSLY
Profitable e-Book --- in as little as 7 days!," people have
written to us for advice on how to pick a good subject for
their e-book. While we've addressed that question in our
book and in other articles, last night I came across a
surprising new way to help you pick a million-dollar winner.
Last night I was reading a wonderful old book on
creativity. It's titled 'Direct Creativity' and written by
Robert Crawford. It's dated and copies of it sell for a
lot of money today but it still contains some pure gold.
For example, this amazing insight from the book lit up my
brain cells:
"Most things you consider have several possibilities,
not just one."
At first glance that tip might not mean anything to you.
But imagine you're looking for a topic for your next e-book
--- and you want to be sure it will be a winner. Crawford
explained his principle this way:
"You are an author. You lack a good subject for a book.
You have been reading 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' But are there
not other down-trodden people in the world? There might be
a story of a down-trodden Indian, or down-trodden African,
or a down-trodden Eskimo, or a down-trodden Chinaman, or
maybe a down-trodden white person in a northern city.
Perhaps you choose the story of an American Indian because
you feel that you have a mission in the world to improve
his lot."
Do you see how this works? I love this insight into
creativity. What it means for you and your next e-book is
this:
Search online for the best-selling books of a few
decades ago or even of a century or two ago. Just as 'Uncle
Tom's Cabin' was a classic and controversial book of the
1800's, and one you could adapt into an original e-book of
your own today, there are countless other once mega-hit
books out there that time has forgotten. You can find such
a book, model it, and write a new e-book based on its basic
and already proven concept.
For example, John Bear wrote a book called 'The #1 New
York Times Best-Seller.' It was a reference book consisting
of facts about the 484 books that had been New York Times
best-sellers (up to 1992, when the book was published). You
could flip through it, look for a book that was successful
decades ago, and then write an e-book based on the nature
of the best-selling book. The chances are extremely high
that your new e-book would be a success, too.
Why is this so? The truth is, there are only a finite
number of topics available to us as authors. I once read
that there are only 36 possible plot situations. You can
have millions of novels and screenplays written, but only
out of those 36 plots. (See 'The Thirty-Six Dramatic
Situations' by Georges Polti.) The same holds true for
nonfiction. The key is to find a winner from the past and
update it with your own style and your own message for
today.
Of course, you still have to write a good book. That's
where the e-book Jim and I wrote can help you, too. But for
a creative way to determine your next e-book, this
brilliant method is priceless.
In short: Do a little research, find a successful book
of the past, and model it to write a winner of your own
today.
Go for it!
About the Author
Joe Vitale of www.mrfire.com is author of numerous books,
including the international #1 best-seller, "Spiritual
Marketing," the best-selling e-book, "Hypnotic Writing,"
the best-selling Nightingale-Conant audioprogram, "The
Power of Outrageous Marketing," and the best-selling
e-book (with Jim Edwards) "How to Write and Publish Your
Own OUTRAGEOUSLY Profitable e-Book --- in as little as 7
days!" See www.7dayebook.com