When does an idea become a muse?

[bodklb]

Hi,

Straight to the point: I use to wet the bed to quite a late age, laer than most kids who grow out' of it. It use to really get to me and my parents and we tried a lot of things. Now I was thinking about writing an ebook about it, tips that helped me etc. Not like the standard thing written by someone who has never actually done it.

Yet, how do I know if I know enough to help others? My mother thinks its a bad idea as most of my stopping it was subconscious and I dont know if I could give it a good go. I would use this as a test. Maybe I'm nervous because this would be a first try at a muse and this issue caused me a lot of emotional pain and stress.

Is this sort of thing adviseable??

[Sven]

Interesting question.

First of all, I do not think that your mother would be the best advisor here. She will still be thinking to act in your best interest and there will probably be a lot of her personal fears included in her advise to you.

It may be very benefitial to yourself to write about it regardless of anything else. Writing with the idea to turn it in to a product will probably help you focus.

I'd say, start writing and start testing with the "standard 4hww method"

[Stella Maris]

I would agree with Sven that your mother is not the best person to advise you here, unless she has made millions from marketing information products on the internet! She likely has unfounded, motherly fears about you being "exposed" publicly, perhaps made fun of, etc. But your willingness to help others by being truthful about your own past is a very powerful thing, so why not make the most of it?

It sounds like you have a good muse idea here, especially since you can speak from personal experience, and therefore have compassion on the topic. But of course it is all about providing value, so that must be a focus for all of us.

My suggestions, for what they're worth:

1. Before you invest ANY time/energy on this, research what the existing products are in this category currently. Know the competition, and tailor your approach based on what you find out.

2. To create a more comprehensive product, research the topic thoroughly (become the "expert"!) and pull together info on the various fields of thought in addition to your own experience. This will give your customers/readers multiple things to try, since all children are a bit different and parents might need to try bits of this and that to find what works, just as you did.

An AMAZING resource for researching anything child related is the Berkeley Parents Network. This is a gi-normous online group, and their forums provide many resources, advice, links, names, books, etc. The sheer volume of parent participation on the site is a goldmine of info. I Googled their site with the word "bed wetting" and all sorts of threads came up. Taking some time to read through those posts might give you a better idea of what parents are looking for, what has to happen before they seek out help/products/advice and are willing to spend money, etc. Since you will be marketing to the parents, it will help to get into their heads a bit. The website is here: http://parents.berkeley.edu/

3. Interview some other adults or children who overcame this challenge to get their perspectives, and include quotes from those interviews throughout your final product (within the body of the text, or as "pull quotes" listed in the margins. This might provide a very personal, caring, human element to the topic, as well as providing a nice selling point (i.e., not just advice from some detached clinical sort of person, but detailed, intimate revelations from those who have faced this same challenging situation). You can keep the names anonymous for privacy.

You might consider pulling together the best quotes from these people as a separate little bonus product, or as an add-on chapter to the main product. Seems like these quotes would help parents better understand what their children are going through.

4. Maybe consider interviewing some mental health providers who specialize in this area, to see what the formal thinking is on this topic, for better or worse. Interviews can be done quickly by email or by phone (be sure to record them and make sure the recording starts with them saying, yes, they know they are being recorded, and then the date/time, and keep the recording on file). If you feel that their advice supports your premise, you could offer to list their full name and link to their sites so they can get more referrals from your clients.

4. Offer a resource section with your product, or on your site. For instance, if your ebook/DVD/whatev talks about using item A or B as a tool in the process, provide links to the best providers of those items, and maybe review their services (for instance, company 1 has free shipping, but company 2 has the highest quality). This saves people time, and again, adds value.

Well, that's all I got right now. Best of luck to you in this endeavor!

[liam75005]

Competition ! Look at what is already available (articles, website, advice)...

The best thing for you would be that there is not much advice, but some of it... this way you can have the best development without too much risk.