So you know the truth: your book won’t be the only one on your subject. You have competition. And the competition can be intimidating. (Take me, for instance – I’m competing with self-publishing guru Dan Poynter and George Orwell, for goodness’ sake!) But we are undaunted, if a little nervous. So let’s take a look at the competition and what to do about it.
To Tell the Truth is an 18-week mini-series exploring the practical side of non-fiction writing and publishing. The series outline is located here, and previous episodes may be found here. To Tell the Truth is published Monday evenings and is crossed posted at MélangePress.
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Finding the Competition
If you are a subject matter expert, your bookshelf is already full of competition. And by competition, I mean the books on your subject matter that you’ve learned from, referred to, and wished for more from. It is entirely possible that the gaps in information, or the outdatedness of that information, is what’s spurring you on to write a book of your own.
So there’s part one of finding the competition. Part two is as close as your nearest library. And then, the nearest bookstore. The sad truth is that there are not many subjects that haven’t been written about already, so you will find competition.
Once you’ve found them, make lists of them. Write down the titles, authors, publisher, publication date, and a few key words. Divide them into "really close to mine"; "completely contrary" (for example, if you’re writing a book on how wonderful vinyl albums are, a completely contrary book would be one calling for the destruction of vinyl in favor of CDs and mp3s); "like mine but outdated"; "on a similar vein but major gaps"; plus whatever other categories strike you. You don’t have to buy or borrow them, just know them.
What if you can’t find them? Broaden your search. Your book on minor-league baseball in Albany, NY, may stand alone as the only book about minor-league baseball in Albany, NY, but it is probably not the only book on minor-league baseball, or the only book about baseball history, or the only book about Albany's history.
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Using the Competition
Now that you have found them, what will you do with them? That’s easy, and it’s almost not worth mentioning, but sometimes the most obvious ideas pass us by, so bear with me during this "well, duh, I knew that" section.
First, use their gaps/outdated material/contrary positions to help you formulate your own thesis and outline. Spend the time doing a lit review. If books on teaching storytelling techniques don’t talk about improvisation at all, you may have an opportunity to talk about using improv techniques in storytelling. In fact, one of my authors, who runs an improv theatre company and teaches storytelling as a leadership tool came to exactly that conclusion and is writing her book now, all because of a lit review.
Second, use them as resources. Remember all of the papers you wrote in school? The endless lists of references? The bibliographies of sources? You didn’t think that was all going to be stuff you would never use again, like algebra, did you? It is very likely that your competition has some great ideas that you will want to reference, some concepts you can use as a jumping-off point, or even better explanations that you will send your readers to (there’s no point is recreating the basics of using a comma in a book on grantwriting when referring to the Bedford Handbook will do just as well).
However: make sure you follow the rules for avoiding plagiarism; in school, it means a failing grade. In real life, it means lawsuits. Make absolutely sure you are following fair use rules, completely and properly noting references, and getting permissions as needed. If in doubt, run your manuscript past a copyright attorney.
Third, sometimes your competition will be your best allies. They may be willing to do a peer review of your book, or provide back cover copy, or even point you in the right direction – perhaps into areas they wish they could have gone in their own books and would love to see covered. For example, the author of a book on generational theory in religious settings not only used but got a foreword written by the authors of a book on generational theory in the US.
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Beating the Competition
So how do you beat the competition? Be better than they are.
Okay, it’s not that simple. I mean it is, but it isn’t. By "be better" I mean cover the information more thoroughly, be more updated, have better-supported ideas, be better written and more useful. You can learn a lot about what not to do by spending time with those books you put on your list. See what they do wrong (or don’t do at all), and do it right. And let people know you are doing it right. "Finally, a book on business etiquette that doesn’t only think you need the rules when traveling in a foreign country" or "get the story behind the story" or "learn what NOT to do when writing a screenplay."
Oh. And actually do it. If you promise a handbook for Pop Warner football coaches, make sure it is a useful book to help a coach on the field, and not pages of thick textual theory.
It’s all common sense stuff, but it’s easy to forget. When we set down to write a book, we tend to get tunnel vision on the topic and forget to look at what others have done. WineRev (Carl Eeman) tells of the look of dismay on Jay Weiner’s face this past April, when Jay walked in to talk to Mike McIntee at The Uptake about his forthcoming book on the Minnesota Senate recount and saw Carl talking to Mike McIntee at The Uptake about his already published book on the Minnesota Senate recount. Poor Jay... in his tunnel vision, he didn’t realize he had competition. Now Jay’s book will be different than Carl’s, but tunnel vision can bring you up short.
Know who’s out there. Find them, use them, and beat them. All with grace, tact, and aplomb, of course.
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Next week, we’ll talk about how to get the first draft written. There really are tricks to the trade.
Cheers!