It is a good place to start, however sometimes it gets people into the “book” mindset, whereas if you think of your product as a course, you can get more money for it.

-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
Joshua Black | The Underdog Millionaire´s last [type] ..Crazy Chiropractor Reveals Six Successful Direct Mail Tips

@Simon, I haven’t used Ebay myself, but that is an excellent idea.

@ Alex, hot sellers on Clickbank are a very powerful way to find out what people are buying and which sales letters are working as well.

@Karen, yes you can’t sell the whole kitchen sink in your product, but you can include all of the main sections that the average customer will require based on the table of contents method.

-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
T.I.P. Team Member
Joshua Black | The Underdog Millionaire´s last [type] ..Find Thousands in Hidden Assets with This One Tip

These are two of the best tips for researching your ebook, before you actually spend time writing it. You want people to read it, so why not go through your due diligence to see if anyone actually has the problem you’re trying to solve. I think going through the chapters for an idea of what you need to consider to include in your ebook is brillant. I know that when I read other ebooks, I do this all the time. You can collect as much information from a variety of sources and then pare down those ideas to what you want to include in your own product. After all, you can’t include everything under the sun on your topic, but there are some basics that you do need to cover.

Karen

Good post mate, sums up nicely something that could take a million words to cover.
I personally use a combination of Amazon, eBay and ClickBank to ascertain the most profitable niche market, then I do my keyword research from there.
Alex´s last [type] ..How not to write an ebook – Are you asking the right questions

Great points Josh.

Regards

Simon

You may be able to run into someone looking at a book related to your topic. Go ahead and ask them what they’d want to learn about the topic – this is the perfect person to aim your book toward because you already know they’re interested and if they buy, you’re golden!
Murlu´s last [type] ..Creating A Cult Following Behind Your Brand

Really Great Post. I never though of using amazon with google keyword tool.
Thanks for sharing this great post.

~Dev
Dev | Technshare´s last [type] ..6 Top Benefits Of Press Release And How It Can Improve Your Internet Business