Top Ebook Topic Ideas in 2024: What do readers want?

Last updated: December 10, 2023

Writing ebooks (or to be more accurate, selling ebooks) is a great way to establish a passive income stream. And if your aim is to earn money it helps to be in tune with the ebook topics people most want to read. So what are the most popular ebook topic ideas in 2024?

A good place to start is to think about how people’s lives are changing. How have we been affected by recent events? For one thing, people are reading more ebooks. Sales of consumer ebooks rose 17% in the first half of 2020.

As well as having more time to read, the pandemic made us more aware of our immune systems. General health and wellbeing are topics many people want to know more about. Also, let’s be honest, a few of us packed on a bit of extra lockdown weight that we’re now keen to shed. There’s a rich vein of popular ebook topics to start with!

Learning how to work productively from home without the discipline of an office routine is a new experience for many. So too is the idea of having free time when you find yourself liberated from the the slog of the daily commute. Plenty of trending ebook ideas in there.

Pet ownership soared during lockdown. And many people found the whole business of looking after and training their new pets way harder than they imagined. They want help and advice.

The other big issue on many minds is climate change. While we can’t change the world, we can change our own habits and make better choices. Could you write an ebook that would help?

14 Popular Ebook Ideas in 2024

Let’s go over the list of 14 popular eBook ideas you can write about in 2024:

1 – How To Guides

Readers always want to learn how to accomplish something. Writing an ebook that teaches a particular skill, technique, or technology could win you a lot of customers. Popular how tos include photography, career guides, parenting tips, study guides, and more.

2 – Self-Help

Self-Help is a huge genre, covering areas like time management, personal development, mental and physical health, and more. Some ebooks will focus on an audience at a particular life stage, like busy parents, students, retirees, or overworked employees. Other ebooks stand out through their tone and style, perhaps with a humorous, forthright, or insightful way of approaching their topic.

3 –Fiction

Fiction ebooks exploded in popularity with the advent of the Kindle in 2007. With many novels and short story collections available for just a couple of dollars, or even for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription, some self-publishing authors are making millions from fiction ebooks.

4 – Children’s Ebooks

Want to write for children? Ebooks could be a great option. While very young kids may still mainly enjoy physical picture books with pages to turn, middle-grade readers and teens are increasingly turning to fiction and non fiction ebooks on phones, tablets, or ebook readers. This is a great market to get into if you want to write a series and have a good sense of what kids love.

5 – Women’s Health

With many women feeling that issues like the menopause, endometriosis, and gynecology concerns have been too often dismissed by the medical establishment, ebooks dealing with women’s health have become a popular genre. With books ranging from general guides to personal memoirs, from gut issues to healthy aging, you’re sure to find a keen and engaged readership.

6 – Health and Fitness

Health and fitness has always been a popular niche – and it’s never one that goes out of style. It covers a range of topics from beginner to advanced level, including nutrition, different lifestyles (like veganism), exercise tips, guides to getting leaner, running, weight training, and much more.

7 – Diet and Recipes

Ever noticed how many diet books come out each January? Dieting advice is always popular – whether it’s based on traditional wisdom or wacky new eating regimes. Recipe books are also hugely popular, covering everything from batch cooking for busy families to impressive dinner party meals with an array of fancy side dishes. Diet and recipe books will always sell strongly.

8 – Natural Remedies

With a growing interest in non-traditional medicine over the past couple of decades, ebooks dealing with natural remedies are often strong sellers. You could consider topics like homeopathy, herbal cures, or even radical lifestyle adjustments (like cold-water swimming) in this niche.

9 – Working from Home and Time Management

Post-pandemic, many of us are still working from home – and after the Great Resignation, lots of people are working for themselves for the first time. This has opened up a huge need for advice on issues like staying focused, networking when you’re not in the office, and keeping a good work/life balance when your work is in your home. If these are topics you love to write about, there’s lots of scope for ebooks in this area.

10 – Looking After Pets

Do you have a playful pooch, a cuddly cat, or even a gorgeous goldfish? We love our pets – and first-time pet owners will be keen to have clear, straightforward advice on how best to care for their new family member. This ebook niche includes general, beginner-friendly books as well as more specialist guides on issues like training and nutrition.

11 –  Crafts and Hobbies

Whether it’s a brief respite from a busy life or a handy way to fill up the hours during a lonely weekend, crafts and hobbies are having a huge resurgence. Crafts like crochet, knitting, and cross stitch have attracted a new, young demographic – and hobbies like board gaming and dinner parties have shaken off their staid reputation to become much more lively. An ebook is a relatively cheap hobby-related spend, so it’s an easy sell.

12 –  Sustainability and Carbon-Reduction

The climate crisis has become an increasing concern for many of us over the past few years. More and more people are taking a personal interest in living a more sustainable lifestyle and reducing their carbon footprint. Ebooks dealing with these topics in a practical, positive way could be very popular. You could also write an ebook that digs into the bigger issues around sustainability and carbon-reduction or that discusses specific case studies.

13 –  Parenting Guides

Most parents start out with zero experience … and a huge desire to learn on the job! Post-pandemic, with parents and families having faced challenges like homeschooling and a lack of outdoor play, many parents may be looking to troubleshoot family issues like excess screen time or school anxiety. Parenting guides can cover every stage from pregnancy to empty nesters. Whether you want to write an ebook about toddlers or teens, there’s going to be a topic in here for you.

14 –  Personal Finances

Another perennially popular topic, personal finances has become more important than ever with rising energy and food costs in many parts of the Western world. Readers facing increased bills (and stagnant wages or layoffs post-Covid) are keen for ways to cut costs and earn more. More affluent readers will be looking to protect and grow their savings during difficult economic times. That’s where your ebook comes in, providing practical tips and advice, and potentially encouragement and emotional support.

Tip: A great tool to help further narrow down these topics is Google trends. You can see how different topics popularity has changed over time and even at country level.

Time to Get Specific

Successful ebooks that are profitable tend to have a narrow focus. For the reader there’s a clear promise about what they’ll learn or how they’ll benefit.

So, rather than general diet advice, people search for specific ebook topics such as Keto Diets, Gluten-Free Foods, Vegan Diets or Dairy-Free Cooking.

Top ebook topics in 2024 also reveal plenty of interest in allergies, natural remedies, essential oils, meditation and mindfulness.

In the work from home category people want ebook topics that will help them be more productive. They also want to know about how to earn secondary incomes from blogging, affiliate marketing, selling and, of course, writing ebooks.

Pet owners will only be interested in the specific pet they have – and probably a particular issue (such as behaviour or chewing furniture). Dog training is a hot ebook topic. As is anything that offers to help people understand cats a bit better.

An ebook offering advice on lifestyle changes that help to reduce our personal carbon footprint would also be a good seller in the current climate.

You’ll also want to think about how long your ebook should be and what type of design will most appeal to your target audience.

Target the Title

The success of your ebook has a lot to do with the title. This comes back to what we said about making a specific promise.

‘Lose Your Lockdown Pounds in 30 Days’ will get more downloads than ‘How to Lose Weight.’

‘20 Foods That Boost Your Natural Immunity’ would draw in more people than ‘How to Eat a Healthier Diet’.

Other profitable ebook title formats include:

• x Ways to…
• The Ultimate Guide to…
• The Step-By-Step Guide to…
• How to Achieve X in Y Days
• 10 Must Have…
• 10 Things the Experts Don’t Tell You About…

If your ebook lives up to the promise, and the price is right, you’ll get great reviews, recommendations from your readers and more sales.

Tip: Use social media to sell ebooks with very little effort – and explore these other marketing methods too.

Getting Started

If there’s something you know a lot about there are almost certainly people out there looking to learn. If the subject fits with the most popular ebook topics in 2024 you know there’s an audience waiting. There are over 7.5bn people in the world – if only a tiny fraction of these download your ebook you’ll do very nicely indeed.

It could be that you have a lot of existing material that you’ve published on your blog. Pull all of this together, organise and edit it so that it has a very specific focus, give it a snappy title – and away you go. Your first ebook is ready to load to your Payhip store.

If you’re now convinced that you have a great ebook topic, now could be the time to find out more about how to write an ebook. And once you have written your ebook sell it on Payhip!

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