In the Choose Yourself Publishing Group, I post a new book challenge approximately once a month. [Get access to the Group here.]
The idea of each challenge is:
- The book can be done in a month
- The book doesn’t have to be big (30-50 pages is fine for a self-published book. More of course is fine. And so is less.)
- Many opportunities for sequels and ancillary income potential
- Even if the idea is not GREAT, it gets you going and can create an interesting book (at least for me)
- Easy to market
Here’s the latest. Knock yourself out:
Book Challenge #3:
WHAT WOULD JESUS EAT?
(And Muhammad, Buddha, Krishna, Mother Teresa, Lao Tzu, Confucius, Socrates, and Moses (and more)).
The book should be both inspirational and diet/nutritional. Science and history-based.
Each chapter, based on historical texts, archaeology, religious texts, DNA tests: What was the diet of each religious leader?
This book could come in under 50 pages and be done in just a few weeks.
Feel free to add religious or inspirational leaders that I am missing.
Sequels could be “Diets of the Saints” or “Diets of Today’s Top Religious Leaders”.
The fact that this is in the Diet, Nutrition, Religous, Motivational, and Inspirational categories gives many opportunities to create a #1 Amazon bestseller.
THE POINT:
- Each of these leaders was successful.
Regardless of one’s religious beliefs, clearly each of the above has had an impact on the world. 7 billion people know who each of the above are.
Their diets had to be good enough to keep their brains and bodies functioning at a high level to accomplish all that they have done.
- Interspersed within each chapter will be inspirational quotes, stories, etc. about the religious leader that chapter is focusing on.
The idea is that each of these people, regardless of your opinion of them, had much to say and did much that inspired millions or billions.
Muhammad for instance, didn’t achieve his greatest successes until he was well into his 50s. That by itself is inspirational (and also suggests: what kind of diet gave him that energy then?).
So the book is an inspirational book as well as a diet book. Two categories that independently can create great success.
- The cultural history of that time.
What was the Mediterranean diet of the year 0? What was the Chinese diet in 500 BC, etc.?
What was the historical context that created the political climate of these leaders? For instance, we still don’t know if Lao Tzu was a spiritual leader or a political one.
What is the science behind kosher and Shariah and Hindu eating laws?
- The science: What are the benefits of the Mediterranean Diet that Jesus presumably ate?
Or the Chinese diets of Lao Tzu and Confucius? Or the Hindu diet of the mythical Krishna? (We don’t know if Krishna existed but we can put together a probable diet of that time.)
Do we have any DNA or archaeological results that shed some new light on their diets?
In other words, why are each of these diets healthy, even today? Or particularly because of today?
- Recipes.
MARKETING:
- While writing the book, start to participate in religious Facebook groups and build credibility and even an audience.
- Write smaller articles for related websites. Maybe even take a chapter, simplify it, and publish on various sites ranging from open sites (Medium) to niche-specific sites.
- Cheap Amazon ads or Facebook ads.
- Even create a Kickstarter. (For each level, get another religious leader’s recipes. Or even a t-shirt with a recipe of a meal Jesus would eat. This is an alternative way to get an “advance” plus a built-in customer base.)
FUTURE INCOME POTENTIAL:
- Put an email list signup in the book to get additional recipes and down the road there could be an upsell to a monthly newsletter. For instance, a “What Would Jesus Eat?” newsletter.
- Speaking gigs: Churches, synagogues, mosques, other religious centers, schools, colleges, etc.
- Monthly crate box: Ingredients for a month’s worth of recipes delivered on the first of each month.
You can post your finished books in the comments section or by emailing me here.