When you have succeeded in overcoming a big challenge in life or you have dealt with a difficult situation or event that crushes most people, it is natural that you would want to share your experience so that others can benefit from it. Writing a self- help book is a great idea in such situations. However, it is not easy to write one that is commercially successful as well as truly beneficial to your audience. These are some points you should keep in mind to make your self- help book useful and informative to others who find themselves in your situation.

Is the topic relevant, current and really useful?

The first thing to do is to review your topic and take a call on whether or not it is useful for others. Some situations that you have experienced and overcome may be common to many people across the world, but others arise only because of a unique combination of circumstances that may not be duplicated in anyone else’s life. A self-help book is a success when it talks about a problem that affects many people, and there is no evident, tried and tested way to deal with it. Another thing to keep in mind is to research if the subject has already been extensively covered by many other authors. If so, your audience may be highly restricted.

Retain focus on your core topic

Finding your focus and then staying focused as you progress through the book is a huge challenge when it comes to writing self-help books. These are typically based on your personal experiences and it often becomes a drawback because you tend to meander into experiences that do not have direct bearing on the topic of the book. A good way to overcome the problem is to start the project by making a clear, well-defined outline for your book with chapter headings and a short summary of each chapter’s contents. Get someone to give you an objective assessment of the outline before you finalize it.

Build trust

Credibility and trust are keystones to success when you are authoring self-help books. Your audience should feel confident about placing trust on you and there are several ways in which you can do it. One, you can highlight your credentials that show why you are an expert on the topic. Two, you can share your life story to show how you have experienced the same problem and worked your own way out of it. Sharing anecdotes, stories from your life as examples works well to enhance your credibility as an author who knows what he/she is talking about.

Yes, there is; it’s something even traditional book publishers follow to get their books out at the most opportune times, if you will. October to December is anathema, as this happens to be the peak period for the Christmas market when the focus is mostly on gift titles. The start of December marks a flurry of sales as opposed to support, when everyone is under pressure to meet delivery deadlines and react to purchase orders in a timely fashion.

So, while the holiday season and one or two months preceding it are excellent times for sales, they’re not the best times to start publishing your book. It’s an even worse time to begin the finishing touches on your book. The editor, formatting professional, or cover designer you engaged at the end of November or beginning of December is quite likely to be unresponsive to your queries during mid-December.

Post-Christmas is a strategically good time to publish your book. You can get on January’s pre-order timeline and have some days leading up to Valentine’s Day in February. In February, people are also done settling their credit card bills and more open to downloading books to their e-readers. With the new year upon them, book lovers become eager to sample new writers.

The type of book also determines the best times to publish. The market tends to be more receptive to romance, business, cookery and self-help books in the January to April time period (new year resolutions, career changes, attracting new romances). May and June are ideal months for light summer reads, both fiction and non-fiction. September is a good time for crime, paranormal, horror and historical sagas.

Another strategy you can explore is timing your book launch with a particular commemorative day of the year ,Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, International Street Children’s Day, Hug Day, World Autism Awareness Day and the like. It can assist with publicity, especially if you’re after a niche audience.

Finally, you can see what books are due for launch on self-publishing platforms during the week you plan to publish yours. If another writer or writers will be launching books not different from yours or back catalog books of a well-known author in your genre are being re-released, you may want to time your release such that it’s not overshadowed or under severe competitive threat.