How popular is report type book?

Question

I'm professionally an engineer and though I've written a few articles for a website, it is nothing much. I quite like writing but I can't say I'm very skilled at it, but I am good at searching things patiently.

So in this quarantine, I was thinking about writing a book on ongoing global pandemic in report format (perhaps monthwise), but I'm not sure how this type of book is received. It will be sort of written documentary type of work, but documentary is usually 'filmed' and not 'written'. I've perhaps never seen such type of a book.

I want an advice about whether it is worth writing this book from financial point of view, I don't expect it too be best-seller of course, a few hundred copies would be best achievement I understand. But still, how is the market for such type of book in general? Is the experience from this sort of work worth the time?

Answer 1

I'm not exactly sure what you are proposing but a few thoughts might be helpful.

Ask yourself why other people would read it. At the moment there is so much being written about the coronavirus (check Medium for example). When it is over, will people want to read about the pandemic? What will they want to know? Can they get that information themselves easily? Would they trust what you have written?

Non-fiction books nowadays need to be something special for people to buy. They have to have something unique about them. It may be that they are funny or the writer has experienced something exceptional.

The writing style of a non-fiction book has to be good. I have thrown away books that have very useful information in them because they are poorly written. I can look elsewhere.

How do you intend to get it published? Are you looking for a traditional publishing deal? Will you self-publish?

I suspect there are more than a few journalists sitting at home thinking about how to fill their days. You might have some competition.