Hay House recently expressed interest in a second book from me. I loved working with them on the first book, so I'm definitely up for this. If I start on it soon, the release date will likely be around a year from now.
I'm considering a variety of ideas for topics. Hay House is the #1 self-help publisher in the world, but they also publish business books. However, they recommended I write another book in the self-help genre to build upon the audience for
Personal Development for Smart People. Otherwise it's like starting over as a first-time author because they'll be working with different buyers.
Some of the topics I'm considering are:
- Time Management & Productivity - This book would cover personal productivity from the level of life purpose (doing the right thing) all the way down to systems, habits, and daily actions (doing things right). This is a crowded field with well-established experts like David Allen, so I wouldn't want to put a new spin on other people's ideas or merely create an alternate expression of Getting Things Done or Covey's First Things First. PDSP is very unique in its field, so if I write a time management book, I'd want it to be equally unique and insightful. That won't be easy, but it seems like a fun challenge. I obviously have some credibility here due to my productivity articles and my high-speed college experience, so this book could do fairly well commercially. This topic appeals to me, and I've been getting a lot of synchronicities about it, so I feel like I'm being nudged in this direction.
- Polarity - This is a tough topic to cover in my blog because I just can't get into it with sufficient depth in an article or series of articles. I'd need to write a whole book on it to do it justice. The problem is that since most people aren't polarized, I'm not sure this book would have very wide appeal. I'm sure it would be a very original work with lots of interesting insights, but it could be a commercial flop. I'd love to write a whole book on this subject someday though, but the timing may not be right just yet. Although polarity has been an enormously important concept for me personally, many people seem to have a hard time grasping it.
- Subjective Reality - Like polarity this is another topic that needs a whole book to do it justice. I'm sure it would be a fascinating read, but it could also be a commercial flop. It's not the sort of topic people would automatically search for.
- Conscious Business - I like the idea of writing a book on conscious business, explaining how to run a profitable small business where the primary aim is creating value, not maximizing revenue. But since I've only run this business for 4 years, it might be premature to tackle this now. Also, this book would go in the business section, not the self-help section, which means Hay House would have to start over with different buyers. That would put the book at a commercial disadvantage.
- Blogging - People often ask me to write about blogging, but since blogging is my medium, not my message, this topic has little appeal to me. Also, it wouldn't make sense for Hay House to publish a book of this nature, and it wouldn't be able to leverage the readership that PDSP establishes. So I'd rather stick with the self-help field.
What are your thoughts? Do any of these ideas appeal to you? If you could dictate the subject of my next book, what would it be?