Let’s talk about how you might come up with a good idea for a book…

I contend that writing a book helps to position you as an industry expert. It increases your credibility, it clarifies your own thinking on the topic, and it leads naturally to media and marketing opportunities.

I previously encouraged you not to think of a book as a large-scale project to be embarked upon ‘one day,’ and rather to regard it simply as a long essay. This changes your own perception of its potential difficulty and helps you to get started. It certainly helped me.

My seventh book with Penguin, which will be my eighth commercially published title, will arrive in bookstores in a month’s time. Also, I’ve just completed the recording of the audio version of book number seven, ‘What Makes Them Great?’ which went live last week, and is now available from www.audible.com.

So let’s talk about where to get your ideas

How do you generate them? I would argue that you’re already doing so on a consistent basis. You’re just not aware of it, and you’re not recording them when they occur.

Don’t worry if you’ve never had some blinding epiphany on a literary road-to-Damascus. It doesn’t work that way. Most books are really little more than a passing hunch, a notion, that you simply take more seriously than others.

For instance, I spend a great deal of time in conferences. As a result, I inevitably see some terrible PowerPoint presentations. One day I thought: Someone should really write a book on how to present without PowerPoint. Et voila: a premise is born.

Now how many people do you suppose have previously had that thought? It’s hardly earth-shatteringly original. But then, how many actually did something about it?

Start paying attention

I want you to become highly attuned to your passing notions, even down to the slightest hunch. If you catch yourself saying things like: “You know what would be interesting?”, or “Someone should really…” - the chances are you are playing with the kernel of a workable idea.

Here’s another example. My mother has been a lifelong Biblical scholar. She has long toyed with the idea of writing a book, but argues that she doesn’t really have anything to say. Yet in conversation, she cites fascinating and little-known bits of Scripture that few are even aware of, tales of hybrid demon-human races in ancient times, prophecies about people who are ‘unable to die despite wanting to’ in the Apocalyptic future. So what’s the premise? Well, how about: ‘All the strangest bits of the Bible’? That sounds like a book to me. And it would allow her to flex her muscle on all the angles that she already finds fascinating.

We have these hunches all the time. They’re simply the things we find interesting, and the angles that capture our attention. I’d like you to start recording those hunches, those unique interests and angles, even in their most basic form. Make a note, or send yourself an email: ‘Book idea - Could there be something in this?’

A book premise is not a mythical formula granted by the gods to a select chosen few. It’s just a hunch; a hunch that you happen to take more seriously than the next guy.

For instance, I spend a great deal of time in conferences. As a result, I inevitably see some terrible PowerPoint presentations. One day I thought: Someone should really write a book on how to present without PowerPoint. Et voila: a premise is born.

Now how many people do you suppose have previously had that thought? It’s hardly earth-shatteringly original. But then, how many actually did something about it?

I want you to become highly attuned to your passing notions, even down to the slightest hunch. If you catch yourself saying things like: “You know what would be interesting?”, or “Someone should really…” - the chances are you are playing with the kernel of a workable idea.

Here’s another example. My mother has been a lifelong Biblical scholar. She has long toyed with the idea of writing a book, but argues that she doesn’t really have anything to say. Yet in conversation, she cites fascinating and little-known bits of Scripture that few are even aware of, tales of hybrid demon-human races in ancient times, prophecies about people who are ‘unable to die despite wanting to’ in the Apocalyptic future. So what’s the premise? Well, how about: ‘All the strangest bits of the Bible’? That sounds like a book to me. And it would allow her to flex her muscle on all the angles that she already finds fascinating.

We have these hunches all the time. They’re simply the things we find interesting, and the angles that capture our attention. I’d like you to start recording those hunches, those unique interests and angles, even in their most basic form. Make a note, or send yourself an email: ‘Book idea - Could there be something in this?’

A book premise is not a mythical formula granted by the gods to a select chosen few. It’s just a hunch; a hunch that you happen to take more seriously than the next guy.

Douglas Kruger is a multiple award-winning speaker, focusing on innovation and expert positioning. Books like his, ‘They’re Your Rules, Break Them!’ are bestsellers informing his conferences speeches for leadership audiences. Book him as the motivational speaker for your next event at www.douglaskruger.com.