STEP #4: COMPARE THE COMPETITION AND DISCOVER IF YOUR IDEA IS UNIQUE AND NECESSARY
Goal: Create a competitive and competing titles analysis to evaluate if your book is unique and necessary (or how to make it so).
1. Exercise: Determine the book’s category. Where in a bookstore will you find it? On what shelf? (Example: Religion, History, Business, Self-help, Fantasy, Romance, Chicklit, etc.) If you don’t know, ask a bookstore clerk; tell them about your book (use your pitch), and ask where it would be located in the store.
2. Exercise: Begin compiling a list of competing and complementary books for your book’s business plan by searching such books on sites like:
You can also do this kind of research in a bookstore. Come up with a list of ten to fifteen books you consider direct competition to yours—books that cover the same type of information or that tell the same type of story. Then narrow the competition down to five you feel are closest in subject matter or storyline. List these by bestseller status or by date of publication. Include this information: title, subtitle, author, publisher, copyright year, number of pages, paperback or hardcover, and price. Then for each book, describe the ways in which it is similar to your idea (or how it helps readers) and the ways in which it is different or unique; Finally, write a brief paragraph about how your book is unique in comparison.
3. Exercise: Do the same type of research you did above, but this time do it for complementary books (those that are not direct competition or that readers would buy in addition to yours).
4. Exercise: If you have trouble discerning complementary books, consider this: If a reader buys your book instead of another book, that other book is your competition. If a reader is interested in buying your book, what other books might he buy to gain different information? These are complementary titles. You can also go to Amazon and look at the section on a particular book’s page that says: “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought.” These may be complementary books (or competing books).
How to Gather Detailed Data for Your Competitive or Complementary Analysis
5. Exercise: Begin searching for sales data on the top competing books in your category. If you don’t have a BookScan subscription (which most aspiring authors do not), use Google or another search engine to find sales figures on popular books in your category.
• Look for articles that mention sales.
• Use the free version of Publishers Weekly.
• Use the Amazon.com bestseller list as a way to discover which books are selling better than others. This list is updated hourly and is based on BookScan data. You can find the list by inputting “Amazon Best Seller List” into the book search engine on the site. Then begin clicking through the category list on the left until you find the category for your book. Or find a bestseller in your category. Go to its page. Scroll down until you see its bestseller ranking. Then click on the link to the list. Then peruse the appropriate bestseller list in your category.
• Use KDPCalculator.com to make some educated guesses about competitive book sales in your category. Input the current Amazon Best Seller Rank of any book on Amazon (it does not have to be a Kindle version). You can find the Amazon Best Seller Rank under the book’s product details. This site tells you how many copies per day a book sells on any given day. You can then estimate how many it sells per week, month, or year.
• Find historical statistics for particular books in A Guide to Book Publishers’ Archives, which identifies archival collections from actual publishers—a reliable source of sales data.
6. Exercise: Do a competitive book tour. Take a trip to both online and physical book stores. Look for books similar to your book project. Do this online using search terms that are the same or similar to your book topic in the Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, WriterDigestShop.com, LibraryThing.com, or Google.com search engines. In a physical bookstore, look in the appropriate category, or ask a salesclerk, “Where can I find books like ______,” and describe your book. Once directed to the correct section and shelf, begin exploring the books there. (You can also do this in a library by asking a librarian for the correct shelf and category after describing your book.) Look for ones that earlier searches did not discover, and examine the ones you already have identified. Bring a pad and pencil, and take copious notes. Include information about:
• their tables of contents
• the promises they make on their back covers
• their introductions
• their forewords
• the author’s bio
• special features, such as quotations, a workbook element, case studies, tips, or tools
• the style, tone, character archetypes, endings, beginnings, story arcs, illustrations, etc.
If working online, do this research using the “Look Inside” program offered by Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.
7. Evaluation: Once you finish your research, consider these factors about the competing books you have identified:
• How it is different from the book you want to write?
• How it is similar to the book you want to write?
• Is the scope of the book different? How so?
• Does it have different benefits? What are they?
• What are its pros and cons?
• How would you improve it?
• What do you like about it? Dislike?
• What promises does the author make to readers? What promises does the author fail to make that he could or should (or that you can)?
• What are the author’s credentials (or lack of credentials)?
• How do your credentials compare to the author’s?
• What other similar people could have written the foreword?
8. Exercise: Study reviews of best-selling books in your category and the competing books you have identified. You can learn a lot about a book by what others say about it—and about what readers think is good, bad, or missing from these books. This is gold! Include in your book the things that are missing in these other books. Study the positive and negative things readers and reviewers have identified. Make special note of the negative comments. Look at your project, and ask yourself how you can make sure your book improves on these issues—or addresses the issues in a positive manner.
9. Exercise: Visit the websites or blogs of the authors of the competing books you have identified. See if you can find any additional information on book sales, market, readership, etc.
How to Use Your Competitive Research to Improve Your Book Idea
10. Exercise: Create a spreadsheet for all the information you are gathering on your top five competitive and top five comparative books. This will help you put the research into perspective visually.
11. Exercise: Is there a hole on the shelf in your category? If yes, describe it. In other words, what type of book is missing from your niche? Do not describe your book project but the “perfect” book to fill that hole. Write down a description of that “perfect” book based on your research. Now, how does your book idea compare to the book you just described? Are you offering readers of these other books something the other authors have not delivered previously? Or not?
12. Question: How might you affiliate with the authors of the complementary books you have identified? How can you become venture partners with them?
13. Evaluation: Spend time comparing your credentials to that of the authors of the competing books you have identified. Then answer these questions:
• How do you differ from them, or how are you similar to them?
• Will it help you or hurt you to have different qualifications or similar ones?
• Do you have the experience to join the ranks of these other authors?
• What do you need to do or be to compete with them?
• What would you have to do to make yourself stand out from the other authors?
• Do you need a larger platform? In what way?
• Do you need to be scholarly? Or would it be better if you wrote from your life experience? Why?
• Do you need to write a series? Why or why not?
• Do you need to have a degree in literature? Why or why not?
• Do you need to specialize in an age group? Why?
14. Exercise: Make a list of things you need to do to stand out in your category or niche.
15. Evaluation: Based on your research and your evaluation, decide if you need to make changes to your concept. Explain how your book:
• tells a fresh story
• offers a different perspective
• provides a compelling argument that other authors have not made
• provides a different set of data or more current information
• has a totally new angle on a tried-and-true topic
• takes readers on a singular journey
If you need to make adjustments, jot down some ideas here. Then go back to the previous steps, and adjust your plan.