Choosing the genre and topic for books can often be challenging for seasoned writers. And if you’re a first-time writer, it can be especially tough for you. You may not even be able to start anything if you’re clueless about how you should approach your project.
To help you get ahead with it, here are some tips to help you choose your genre and topic and write your first book. These are just a few tips, but you need to do a lot of digging into your own interests and your target audience as well. You have to be mindful of every step you take.
How Should You Determine Your Genre?
Choosing the genre you want to start your writing career with may not be easy. You’ll need a lot of research to determine your perfect genre and your target audience. You’ll also have to select your topics to explore under that genre.
A popular method a lot of writers follow is the one-line summary. This will include the category and genre of your book, what it will be on, who the target audience is, and its main message. These will set the pace for your book.
One thing you must do is study an excellent guide to writing fiction to start smoothly. Following are a few tips to push you to choose the perfect genre for your first book.
● Research on the Most Popular Genre
Before you start writing, you need to determine what the most popular genre is. Research the genres of books that are widely popular among readers and make a list of five genres from the most popular to the least. From this list of five, you can determine the most popular one and which one you want to work with the most.
● Find Out Which Genre You Enjoy More
To write a good or great book, you need to find out which genre you enjoy reading the most, as only then you’ll have enough ideas to write a great first book. This will set a strong foundation for your book, and it’ll sell effortlessly.
Let’s say that you enjoy reading non-fiction books and want to write one, particularly for new mothers. You’d want to discuss taking care of themselves during pregnancy, how they need to change their lifestyle, and what to do post-partum.
● Determine Who Your Reader Base Will Be
When determining the genre for your book, you need to compare the reader base for books under that genre. This is another way of deciding which genre you want to work with.
A very popular genre is sci-fi. If you’re creative and imaginative, you’ll be able to pull this off very well. Besides, sci-fi books have diverse topics to work with, and you’ll get readers from all age groups, allowing your first book to be a success.
● Read a Lot of Books Under That Genre
Once you’ve determined your genre and target audience, you need to read plenty of books to get an idea of what you want. You’ll be able to study the genre tropes, character development, plot build-up, and the tone the book should carry.
You’ll also know what your audience will be expecting in your book. It’ll also allow you to work around predictability and surprise your readers frequently.
● Figure Out the Topics to Explore
While reading all those books, you’ll be able to find out which topics you want to explore more. This will allow you to find loopholes in previous books so that you can bring exciting twists that will hook your readers easily.
As a writer, you should ensure that your readers find diversity in your book, even if they’ve read books with similar topics. Remember, they crave something fresh all the time!
How Can You Choose Your Topic?
Choosing topics can be easy and challenging at the same time. It can be easy in the sense that you’ve already determined what you want to write about and are passionate about. And it’s challenging as, if you have a lot of topics to choose from, it can get quite confusing.
Here are some tips for choosing the topic for your book.
● Write Something You’re Passionate About
You can also write something you’re passionate about. This can be a way to let your audience get a glimpse of you through your writing and learn through your words at the same time.
Let’s say you’re obsessed with the lesser-known fairytales that tribes have been passing on for generations. Your first book can be a compilation of such rare stories. Or, if you’re passionate about sports cars, you can write fiction or non-fiction about it.
● Think About What Your Target Audience Prefers
Of course, it shouldn’t be all about you. You also need to consider what your target audience prefers in the genre you’ll be writing. This way, you’ll connect to your audience successfully and sell your first book very fast.
When you’re aiming at a particular audience, you need to ensure the title of the book matches appropriately with what’s inside. The title should also be catchy enough, easy to read, and should give them an idea of what’s in the book.
● Share Your Expertise
People love to learn more about topics out of their academic and theoretical knowledge, as there are real-life situations that these textbooks don’t talk about. Having a book talk about these things can be very helpful.
Let’s say that you have gathered enough expertise and knowledge on how to take care of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD and can help parents care for their children suffering from ASD.
As a first-time writer, you can write a book that’ll explain the disorder and how to take care of ASD children.
● Write on Self-Developmental Topics
Self-developmental topics have become a trend now, and people are gravitating toward these topics increasingly. They want to read more about the lives of famous people to know how they’ve achieved their success or know what experiences have changed people’s lives.
You can talk about what you’ve learned from your gurus in your book and which experiences have changed your life. People will then be more interested to read your book or even suggesting it to others.
Conclusion
Although determining the genre and topic for your first book can be tough, it’s not impossible. With proper planning, methods, and research, you can publish a spectacular book, which people will absolutely love to read and gift to others.
We hope you found this article helpful and will take these tips for your first book.
