How to Choose Your Book Topic: A Self-Test
After ghostwriting 54+ books, I can tell you the topic is rarely the real problem. Most people who contact me already know what their book should be about. They just do not trust the answer yet.
The real question is not “what should I write about.” It is “will this topic sustain an entire book, and will anyone care.” Those are different questions with specific answers. Here is how to run the test on your own idea before you hire anyone.
Start with the problem you solve
The strongest business books are built around a specific problem you solve for a specific audience. Not a topic. Not an industry overview. A problem.
One of my clients ran a cybersecurity company. He did not write a book about cybersecurity. He wrote about the specific vulnerabilities companies ignore until they get breached. That focus gave the book a clear audience, a clear argument, and a reason to exist that nothing else on the shelf provided.
If you are a consultant, coach, or business owner, the topic is usually sitting inside the conversations you already have. What do clients ask you about over and over? What do you explain in every first meeting? What do you know that your competitors either do not know or will not say? That is the book.
Your story is the vehicle, not the topic
A lot of people want to write their story. The instinct is right, but the framing matters. “My entrepreneurial journey” is not a topic. It is a structure, and structure alone does not carry a book.
The topic is the insight your journey produced. What did you learn that other people in your position have not figured out? Your story is how you deliver that insight and make it credible. But the insight is the reason someone picks up the book.
The test: “After reading my book, the reader will know how to ___.” If you cannot fill that blank with something specific, the topic needs more work.
Go narrow, not wide
The most common mistake is a topic that is too broad. “Leadership” is not a topic. “How I built a leadership culture in a company where the previous three CEOs failed” is a topic. “Marketing” is not a topic. “The framework that took my company from $2M to $20M in three years” is a topic.
Narrow feels risky because it seems to exclude readers. The opposite is true. Narrow attracts readers because it promises specific value. Nobody picks up a book called “Business Strategies.” Everybody picks up the book that promises to solve their exact problem. Across my projects, the tightest-focused books were the ones that opened doors. The broad ones sat on shelves.
Check whether you have enough material
A book needs 40,000 to 60,000 words, roughly 15 to 25 chapters of real content. Before you commit, make sure you have enough to say.
List every subtopic, story, framework, case study, and lesson under your main topic. If that list runs to 15 or more distinct items that could each carry a chapter, you have the material. If it stalls at six or seven, the topic is either too narrow or you have not dug deep enough into what you know.
The traps to avoid
The autobiography trap. “I want to tell my whole life story” with no unifying theme. Memoirs work when they are about something larger than chronology.
The everything trap. “I want to cover everything I know.” That is a textbook, not a book anyone reads voluntarily. Pick one thing and go deep.
The revenge trap. “I want to expose what happened at my old company.” These books exist and some are excellent, but they need careful legal review and a story that transcends the grievance.
The me-too trap. “I want to write a book like the one I just read.” If it already exists, yours needs a different angle, audience, or argument.
When you are ready
The right topic passes three tests. You have genuine expertise in the subject. Your audience has a real need for what it delivers. And it can sustain 40,000 to 60,000 words of original content without padding.
Pass all three and you are ready to start. Pass two and you probably need help closing the gap. Pass one or none and you need more time before the book makes sense.
Richard Lowe is a professional ghostwriter and author. He has written 113+ books under his own name and ghostwritten 54+ more for executives, founders, physicians, and public figures, whose books have raised over $30 million in venture capital, earned TEDx invitations, and been adopted as university reading.
Thinking about a book? Start a conversation about your project or read the full version of this piece on my site: https://thewritingking.com/book-topic/