Part 1: Book Topics
Copyright © 2013  John Schwartz  All Rights Reserved
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 1
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Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 2
People tend to rely heavily on other people.
Before making decisions, they seek out guidance and suggestions
from those they trust or believe know more than they do.
When they encounter problems, they look to other people for
solutions and support.
If they want to learn something new, most people don t want to
waste time figuring it out on their own. Instead, they look for tips,
tricks, and instructions from people who have already been through
the learning process.
They look to friends, family, websites, videos, books, TV, and yes 
Kindle books!
Why not your Kindle books?
If you ve ever made important decisions, gone through problems, or
learned a lot about a topic, you have the experience necessary to
write a useful Kindle book.
You DO NOT have to be a professional writer or even particularly
intelligent.
Don't believe me? Keep reading... you will by the time you finish
this ebook.
All you need to write a great Kindle book is to tap into your wealth
of personal experiences.
Why write books from your personal experiences?
Lots of reasons:
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 3
" Bunches of easy topic ideas
" Very little time spent on research!
" It creates a more interesting book
" Your experience gives you some authority
" New Amazon buyers get to know you in a way that relates
directly to a topic that affects them. That s important because
it can be difficult to build relationships with Amazon buyers.
" It gives you a way to sell books despite there being plenty of
 real books written by experts and published by big
companies. While they might have a lot of facts, you have
lessons learned from your actual experience. That experience
with practical advice gives you  also purchased potential.
Which brings us to an important point...
I m going to help you pull practical
advice out of your story. THAT
will be the focus of your book!
People want help for their problems. Your story is interesting and
has benefits over typical researched books, which are often too dry
and scientific.
But readers ultimately want help for THEIR situations, not to read
about yours without some kind of lesson or guidance.
Let's talk about topics for your book.
When searching for topics, we are going to focus on what
readers can learn from your experience.
So, keep in mind the three types of topics that are good for these
books:
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 4
1. Decisions that you ve made.
2. Problems you ve encountered/overcome.
3. Subjects you ve learned.
And think of them from a reader s point of view:
1. Help making a decision.
2. Help dealing with a problem.
3. Help learning about some subject.
Oh, and here s why you shouldn t be intimidated by
writing this book:
Your experiences can be just about anything!
It can be anything from making hairstyle decisions to choosing
the right house for your family.
Problems overcome can be anything from getting over a crush
to battling cancer.
Subjects you ve learned can be beginner golf or using chemical-
free products or even your favorite TV show.
I m going to help you a) find a topic, b) write your story in an
interesting way, and c) come up with good advice from your
experience.
You CAN write this book!
Let's dig into the specific steps you need to follow for a repeatable,
easy process...
Topics >> Topic Ideas!
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 5
I m going to detail three different ways that I use to come up with
topics for these types of Kindle books.
Bu you only need one to be off and running!
You bought this info-product because you want to write a quick and
easy Kindle book, right?
Well, the purpose of this step is to quickly find a topic for that
book. So, I recommend that as soon as you find a topic, skip the
rest, and move onto Step #2: Refining Your Topic.
You don t have to learn everything right now. In my hard-earned
experience, it can be distracting and lead to procrastination.
You also don t have to find the absolute best topic out of every
possible topic you could write. That is NOT quick and easy!
Don t go for perfection. Go
for a good, finished book.
This is a repeatable process. You can write a dozen of these books -
even with a boring life of common experiences. It's 100% true.
Find a topic that you like and write that book!
NOTE: Sometimes You Don t Need a Method
I told you that we are going to write a book based on making some
decision, experiencing some problem, or learning about some topic.
Some of you might already have an experience in mind that affected
your life in some way or that could definitely help other people.
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 6
If that's you and this is your first book, skip these
methods and go straight to Step #2 right now!
You might be saying,  Oh, but I need to learn these for next time.
Sure, but you can always open this up again before the next one and
read this section then.
Don't let learning end up being an excuse not to take
action!
Here s something I learned from writing info-products long before I
ever tackled Kindle books: almost everything that I ve really
wanted to write about was easy to write and ended up selling.
I wrote faster and I finished the product so it could be sold. I was
able to set aside my silly perfectionist issues and focus on what I
wanted to say.
All because the topic was something I had experienced in my own
life. I was able to write without forcing it or having to work hard to
stay focused.
Finishing your first writing project can sometimes feel like the
hardest thing in the world. If you ve never written a Kindle book
before, believe me when I say that once you finish one, you ll feel
like you can write 10 more.
Don t doubt yourself. If a familiar topic popped into your head and
you know you can get excited to write about it, go right now to Step
#2: Refining the Topic.
One more thing  don t be afraid of focusing on a specific topic. Not
only will it help you write a better book (faster for you, more
relevant for your readers), it also leaves room for future related
books that can be part of a series.
Instead of doing a huge book about your spiritual journey, consider
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 7
writing about a lot of different experiences and how your spirituality
was tested and/or how it helped in each of those situations.
It s the difference between one giant book about God and 10 books
about 10 different personal experiences and God. That's the smarter
approach  better for you and your readers!
Topics >> Topic Ideas >> Method #1: Cluewords!
This method works best for:
" People who have a wide variety of experiences
" People who know about a lot of topics
" People who can t think of a single experience or topic!
A few years ago, I wrote an info-product about how I did Google
niche keyword research.
I didn t find niche topics like most people did. I found them based
on what I call 'Cluewords'  the little helper words around the
keywords in longer keyword phrases.
When I was looking for topics that people searched, I d think about
searches that I did myself.
Example:
When I found two scorpions in my house - SCORPIONS! IN MY
HOUSE! (If this were a recording, this is where I would reenact my
little girl scream) - I didn t just search for the word [scorpions].
That would bring up movies, lots of traumatic photos, 80s hair
bands, and the insane people who keep the little monsters as pets.
PETS! IN THEIR HOUSES!
Instead, I searched something longer and more specific to my
needs, like [getting rid of scorpions].
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 8
That [getting rid of] part? Those are Cluewords.
If you type just the Cluewords portion into the search box using the
Google Keyword Tool, up come a bunch of things that people want
to get rid of.
Those are often great niche ideas!
I liked that so much for finding good niches and keywords that I
began to use the same system for finding affiliate products on
Amazon. I used Cluewords in review searches to find the best
products to promote.
You can guess what came next. Yep, when I started writing Kindle
books, I used Cluewords to come up with book topics!
Here s how I use Cluewords for Kindle topics:
I go to Amazon and change the search bar to  Kindle Store.
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Then I start typing in Cluewords.
You ll notice that when you start to type, there s an autocomplete
feature. I love autocomplete for quickie ideas!
A lot of times, some of the suggestions are enough to give great
ideas for topics.
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 10
Sometimes I add a word or two to get different suggestions.
Variation: If nothing I like comes up in autocomplete suggestions,
I do a search for my Cluewords by typing them in and hitting enter.
I then sort by  New and Popular.
In the first page or two of results, I can usually get good topic ideas
simply from the titles of other books (see Method 2: Topic Ideas
from Other Books).
Important Note: When I casually say  get ideas by looking at
other books, I don t mean that I copy other books. That would be
plagiarism and that would be bad.
One good thing about using your personal experience is that it
makes it easier to avoid simply rewriting existing books (even
without meaning to).
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 11
We are only looking for inspiration to come up with topic ideas
based on what you ve done or learned.
Your specific experience is likely to inspire ideas that are
significantly different than the books you used for inspiration.
Don t be afraid of competition here. It's OK to choose a topic that
looks like it has a lot of books already. Remember - you can find
a slightly different angle or unique twist because your
story will be YOURS (and yours alone).
A Cluewords Example for Topic Ideas:
Let s say that all these things apply to me:
" I m a parent
" My family has had a lot of pets
" We have cared for elderly parents
A good Cluewords search might be [caring for].
When I type [caring for] into the Kindle Store search bar (leave out
the [ ], by the way), the autocomplete options represent a pretty
wide range of topics, some with [caring for your] and some with
[caring for a].
[Caring for a] is generally for different types of pets or animals.
[Caring for your] looks like it's mostly pertaining to people.
When I add the word [your], in addition to [aging parents], etc.,
autocomplete has two Kindle Store options for [baby and young
child].
If I have two kids, there are probably some potentially good ideas
there depending on what I ve learned from experience with my two
kids&
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 12
" How to manage busy schedules with multiple kids
" Don t bite your brother  What to do when your kids just
won t get along
" Separate but equal  Raising two very different kids without
favoritism or guilt
" Maybe how to balance caring for a sick child with giving
enough attention to the healthy one(s)
You can probably tell I don t have kids, but hopefully you get the
point.
From just one Cluewords search, if I
did have kids, I have now come up
with some terrific potential book
ideas based on a simple and
quick search!
Marketing Note: When I clicked on [caring for your baby and
young child] for a search, there were only 6 books there, and they re
all around $10. If I ended up doing a book about having two kids
(one of them being a baby), I d jot down that phrase because I know
it gets searched by people at Amazon. It would go somewhere
in my book description. Clueword autocomplete searches
can be nifty for good marketing descriptions.
Cluewords Suggestion Lists:
You ll soon figure out your own Cluewords based on how you
search, but here are some Cluewords to get you started...
Note: Very similar Cluewords can produce different
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 13
suggestions. In fact, even adding a space can sometimes
change the autocomplete suggestions. Add or change a word
to find more, and don't be afraid to experiment!
Decision-Making Cluewords
How to choose
How to change
Choose the
When to
Should I
Decisions
Problem/Challenge Cluewords
What to expect
What to do
Difficult
Treatment
Solutions
Causes
Advice for
Dealing with
How to deal with
Help for
Surviving
How to survive
General Knowledge Cluewords
Tips
Tips for
Tips on
Ways to
Types of
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 14
Basic
Basics
Lessons in
Ideas for
Advice for
Activities for
Skills
Techniques
What your
What you need to know
Topics >> Topic Ideas >> Method #2: Ideas from Other
Books
This method works best for:
People who have a vague topic idea from life experiences,
but don t quite have a good topic chosen that's narrow enough.
Again, be careful to avoid copying other books. I don t mind
competition, but my experience should allow me to look at other
books and think of something different based on my personal
experiences.
So we start out with a common sense Kindle Store search.
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 15
I type [parenting help] into the search bar. Then I hit enter.
Next, I sort by  New and Popular.
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 16
Because I m only looking for ideas, it doesn t really matter if the
books are self-published or hardcover bestsellers. I m ONLY looking
at covers and titles here to get inspiration for ideas that apply to my
life.
There are a ton of potentially good ideas here!
There s a book about being clutter-free with kids in the house.
I don t really care about how the book is selling (something we look
at in Step #2).
I m just using the title for inspiration for ideas that will be different
(based on my own unique experince). Besides, I think that book is
part of a decluttering series.
If I m clean and organized with kids, I could think of some topics
there:
" How 3 kids helped me learn how to clean
smarter/faster/during naps
" This could also turn into how to eat healthy (or exercise or
study for college or write or run your business or whatever
else) between feedings, changings, and tantrums. Or, for older
kids, how to get ____ done while the kids are at school
" Germs vs. Chemicals  keeping my house (and kids) clean with
safe, natural products
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 17
" Bribery, Games, and Life Lessons  How to get your kids to
help clean the house
" Sneaky Mommy Cleaning  how to clean the entire house
during naps and playtime
" Clean Enough  let go of the spotless idea and let the kids back
in the house
So, as you can see, I could look at that one book title and it might
help me come up with several ideas based on some problem I
overcame, what I do well, or things that I ve learned.
Topics >> Topic Ideas >> Method #3: The List Method
This method works best for:
People who are having difficulties coming up with ideas from
searches or other books or having a hard time associating ideas
with their personal experiences.
In this method, I make a list of my personal experiences.
Remember the three types of experiences that I like for this type of
book:
" Making some kind of decision
" Facing/Overcoming some problem
" Learning about some subject
If you want to get technical, you might be able to argue that in most
cases, even making a decision or wanting to learn about a subject
stems from some problem.
That s usually true, so I do tend to focus on problems that I ve
experienced when I make my list.
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 18
I also think about changes I ve made in my life (large and small).
For subjects that I ve learned, I think about hobbies, things I ve
created or repaired myself, etc.
I can t help you a lot in this step without knowing about your life, so
think of the following list as a way to inspire some ideas for you
based on your personal experiences.
When I make this list for myself, I think,  What would people
search for tips, advice, and help with?
Is there something you re really good at?
Have you ever made money from a hobby?
Have you ever made a drastic change to your appearance?
Have you ever moved to a different country?
Have you ever sued someone or been sued?
Have you ever quit your job to pursue a dream?
Do you have a mental illness?
Did you have trouble in family relationships?
Have you experienced a pet becoming ill and dying?
Have you ever been arrested or gone to jail?
Have you experienced the death of a friend or family
member?
Have you experienced any illnesses (beyond the
common cold, etc.)?
Have you experienced financial ruin of any kind (bankruptcy,
foreclosure, or even growing up very poor)?
Have you ever lost a job?
Have you ever asked for and received a pay increase?
Have you ever lost a good deal of weight?
Have you made drastic changes to promote health?
Have you started your own business?
Did you have complications while pregnant, giving birth, or
afterward?
Have you struggled with infertility?
Have you experienced a break up?
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 19
Have you lived with someone?
Have you been divorced?
Did you plan a wedding on a small budget?
Do you have a child who has experienced serious illness (or
even a number of common illnesses)?
Have you lost a child?
Have you ever done fundraising?
Hopefully, you get the point. The list could go on forever. Any of
those experiences (plus thousands more) could end up as Kindle
books.
If you use this method, make a quick list of everything that you can
think of in a short amount of time. Don t spend hours on this.
Just make a list of what comes to mind.
Action Step
Using one of the three methods I just detailed, come up with
some topic ideas. If you can t settle on just one yet, come up
with 2-3 possible topics.
You might already know your topic. You can skip straight to
Step #2, if so.
Otherwise, once you come up with 2-3 possible topics, there s
no need to go back and do all three methods. Simply go on to
Step #2.
Do this now!
Topics >> Refining Your Topic
At this point, you should have a general topic idea for your Kindle
book.
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 20
If you have a specific angle or twist based on your experience, even
better!
In this step, we are going to try one last time for a unique angle or
twist if you don t have one yet.
Topics >> Refining Your Topic >> The Angle/Twist
First, go back to the Kindle Store search bar. Type in your basic
(broad) topic  divorce, breakup, cancer, golf, etc.
Let the autocomplete suggestions come up. Remember that
adding even a space can sometimes change the
suggestions.
In some cases, you might find a twist or different angle based on
these suggestions. If there are particularly intriguing ones, you
should click on them to see books that come up in the results of that
search.
If not, do a search for your topic idea.
Avoid fiction and higher priced books by doctors with big
name publishers.
Click on one or two of the books. Look at the description and the
kinds of things they talk about.
In a lot of cases, Kindle books try to tackle HUGE topics all at once.
Are there smaller topics you could focus on?
Look at the comments, especially the bad ones.
What did they expect and want from this book? What
were their complaints?
You should be able to find a tighter focus or different angle/twist for
your book by one of these: autocomplete, the books that come up in
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 21
search results, book descriptions, or comments.
Topics >> Refining Your Topic >>Will it Sell?
I know that everyone has their own preferred method for choosing
topics on Kindle. If you have a tried-and-true method, by all means
- use it!
If, however, you are new to Kindle, I m going to tell you one way
that I very quickly get at least a beginning idea of my topics.
Nothing can 100% tell you whether or not your book will
sell. That's important to know right at the start.
You might not even find a book that s similar enough to yours to get
a real idea by comparison. If you do, you don t know how the author
marketed it (or failed to market it).
It's easy to assume that lots of sales means the book was really good.
That's not necessarily true! The writer might simply have been an
excellent marketer.
Here's the method I use to quickly discover what is
selling under the topic idea I've come up with...
Do a Kindle search for your topic with your angle (divorce with kids,
saving your marriage, happiness after divorce, etc).
Sort by  New and Popular.
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 22
I click on the first low-cost book. I don t want to compare books that
also sell in hardcover and are put out by giant publishers (although I
know some people do recommend that).
I look for books that appear to be self-published.
Next, scroll down to Amazon Best Sellers Rank.
A lot of Kindle authors like to use a "magic number" here. I ve seen
people recommend only putting out books where they find a Best
Sellers Rank of 25,000 or under.
Under 25,000 is a pretty good number. The lower the number, the
more that book is selling.
But, I don t have a magic number.
I like when this number is in the 20,000-29,000 range (or below),
but I ll go above that if it s something I really want to write about
or if the book whose rank I checked isn t quite similar enough to the
one that I want to write.
Titles can make a difference, covers and descriptions can make a
difference, and obviously, marketing strategies can make a HUGE
difference.
I usually like to find 2 books* with decent Best Sellers Rank
numbers that look like they are self-published by people who aren t
doctors who have been on Oprah.
*[If I really like my topic and think I can very quickly finish a book, I
might be happy after just finding one book that meets my criteria.]
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 23
Pretty easy, right?
That's how I get only a very basic idea of whether or not similar
books are selling.
There are lots of more involved ways to do it, but I don t
use them.
I ve found that when so much depends on the marketing of your
book, I wasted too much time doing things that can make me doubt
my topic and put off the actual writing.
It's better to use a simple system like the one I just outlined to
firmly decide so you can move on and start writing.
Important Note:
Sometimes your experience covers more than one
problem/topic. For example, there s a wildly successful ebook
about a woman who had cancer at the same time her dog had
cancer.
You might have lost your job and then experienced foreclosure.
You might have a medical problem that ruined your marriage.
When there are two possible problems that are related, check
out both problems using the system outlined above.
If both problems look pretty good for sales, great!
If one problem looks a LOT better than the other, you should
consider making that problem the focus.
But don t only go by other books that you find. If multiple
problems give you a unique story and/or both problems are
equally important to the story, you should focus on both. When
the problems are closely related, that s easier to do.
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 24
I rambled a little there, but hopefully you get the point. If your
story tackles two problems, search both topics and consider
using both in your book.
Action Step
If you still don t have a focus within your topic
Go to the Kindle Store at Amazon and search your topic. Look
at autocomplete and book titles to find your somewhat unique
angle if you don t have one.
If you can t find one, check out a book description and a few
reviews to look for a deeper focus that you could tackle.
Best Seller Rank
Search your topic, sort by  New and Popular, and then click
on one of the first low cost books that s similar to yours. Check
out the Best Seller Rank to see how that similar book is selling.
I move on after finding 2 good ones& sometimes just 1 if it s a
topic I really want to write.
OK, Go! Come back with your topic READY TO WRITE!
In the 2nd ebook in this series (check your zip folder), we'll go over
the actual writing of your Kindle book.
Please proceed to that ebook now.
Super Simple Kindle Books (Non-Fiction Personal Story) 25