I have an idea and I don't know where to start

[Scripto]

A germ of an idea for a book. A non-fiction collection of stuff really.

I’m slightly concerned about how i even start gathering ideas. How do I know if it’s already been said or done? Do I just write it in my own words and hope for the best? What about referencing?

I’ve only ever written academic essay type things before and had plagiarism, referencing and no original thought drummed into me.

If I write something suggesting a person might like to do x, y or z to help with a, b or c do i need to back it up with actual evidence? Or can it be a bit more airy fairy and in that case can I go full pelt into woo? Not necessarily bollox but more traditional folklore - and in that case again, does it need references. More stuff like ‘I was told this back in the 1700s and it works’.

Obviously this needs a bit of work and actual researching but i had a flash of brilliance and inspiration that rarely happens so it’d be a shame to waste it.

[Zilla1]

I could be completely wrong but I think for popular non-fiction there is a spectrum of expectations depending on the subject though even the relatively rigorous would be different to academic referencing and rigour.

Perhaps popular science, health/diet and history/memoir might have some expectations of rigour and evidence though I've seen lots of health and diet-related that appears unsubstantiated assertion. If I was reading a popular science book then I'd expect it to reflect the state of the art tweaked for the audience's age with few or no mistakes. At the other end of the spectrum, lots of books on woo and, say, astrology, might have no expectations for rigour and evidence though internal consistency is always helpful.

If it was a curated guide to crafting or interior design or a collection of things then I wouldn't expect a rigorous referenced approach, evidence and so on.

Drawing on what you've said in your OP, you might have some leeway in how much rigour you want to include. You might have next to no evidence in your 'How to live a healthy and fulfilling life' book or you could put some referencing in your 'Lessons from folklore to be healthy and happy' book.

Don't worry but as you've mentioned plagiarism then the equivalent to plagiarism would be copying or drawing on someone else's copyright to the point of risking breach of copyright. Don't forget that, in general, copyright relates to the expression of ideas rather than the ideas. Wholesale copying someone's words would be bad. Producing a new take on a mature field would be fine provided there was a new spin and not simple copying (depending on where you live, transformation might be one of the tests).

Don't let this stop you as all the new non-fiction books still get published and I'd expect most if not all authors to have reviewed the field of existing work and been influenced by it to some extent before hopefully producing something new and valuable.

Think of cookbooks, perhaps. There may be a hundred recipes for a traditional dish. Some recipes from different chefs might even be substantially the same. Copying published recipes word for word would probably breach copyright (unless it involved using public domain work from outside the copyright period). Look at any of the recent successful cookbooks to perhaps understand how someone has put a fresh spin of recipes that are possibly out there already in some form.

You've probably already done this but look at bookshops or inside amazon for similar books in your 'germ of an idea's' area and see how much rigour and referencing successful authors have required in that field. Research what's out there then transform it, wow your agent and publisher and sell many books.

You might see from some agents and publishers' website that non-fiction submissions can sometimes work a little differently to fiction. They often accept a non-fiction proposal rather than expect the first three chapters or all of the fiction book to be written. Not to stop you writing your book first anyway though when you've kicked the tyres of your idea, you can submit a proposal to gauge interest.

Sorry for the long and rambly post.

Good luck.

[Scripto]

That is extremely helpful thanks.

Will get cracking.