Frankly, most literary prospecting simply involves using practical research techniques to look for public domain material that a curious public will want to read when you and your publisher bring it back into print.
For Example
Nashville, Ben West Public Library, 1998. I am looking through back issues of St. Nicholas magazine for 1919. The magazine is famous for having first published the works of Edna St. Vincent Millay, the poet, and other writers who went on to greatness.
(Rudyard Kipling wrote the first of the Jungle Book stories for this magazine, and Little Lord Fauntleroy was first published as a serial in the publication.) Later contributors included F. Scott Fitzgerald and the critic Edmund Wilson (From The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature).
One of St. Nicholas's 1919 issues featured a classic story by Louisa May Alcott. I found the story gripping because of the manor in which it came to be written. Called 'Patty's Place,' the story featured a virtuous heroine named Patty, who, though a little regarded servant in the household, became a valued family member through hard work and sacrifice. It was a Christmas story and came with all the 'trimmings'-- industry rewarded, virtue satisfied; in short, a happy ending.
This story was in the public domain, having been published during Alcott's lifetime; but what added greatly to its commercial value was the fact that Miss Alcott had originally penned this piece for five girls, who were running their own magazine in imitation of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy in the Alcott's book, Little Women.
In other words, there was a story behind the story that could be used to promote what became my book The Quiet Little Woman.
The end result of this prospecting discovery was that eventually Honor Books of Tulsa, Oklahoma, brought out a 315,000 first printing, and The Quiet Little Woman went onto the USA Today bestseller list for gift books in 1999.
Of course not everyone is going to have this kind of serendipitous experience, but practically everyone, using the right research tools, can find something that will eventually become a new book.
Here follow some of the resources you are going to need, along with suggestions for how to use them.
Access to the Internet
Yes, this is a no-brainer, but access to the Internet is absolutely necessary for research. Here is why.
By doing general searches on Google.com or on Amazon.com you can readily find out if your idea is indeed unique or is actually in competition with dozens of other books.
You can generate ideas by searching in your particular areas of interest. Let's say you have an interest in True Crime as a topic, and you want to know how much has been done about Lizzie Borden, the accused axe murderess. The Internet is going to tell you there is a lot of information out there on Lizzie, but it is also going to give you a University of Missouri at Kansas City website that reprints most of the photos and documents of the case. Even if you decide there isn't room in the marketplace for another book about Lizzie, you can still have a fascinating time reading her own testimony as to what she was doing the fateful afternoon her father and stepmother were killed.
You can do fact checking on the Internet. Although information on the Internet is notoriously inaccurate, by going to Snopes.com you can at least find out if your research topic will turn out to be somebody else's 'urban legend.' At Wikipedia.com, you can find out if something or someone you are searching for is on other people's radar or not. Wikipedia publishes an enormous amount of material, and you may discover that the obscure author you are researching isn't so obscure after all. (Of course, double and triple check any information you find from any source, be it book, the Internet, magazine, television, radio, the movies, or your Aunt Bertha. Personally, I trust my Aunt Bertha, but I don't know about yours.) Going to Gutenberg.org will show you what is available as an ebook but should not deter you from pursuing a project until ebooks become a lot more popular than they currently are.
By performing broad word and phrase searches, and by doing so early and often, you can generate a multitude of more specific ideas that can be turned into literary gold.
Upcoming Movies
Although movies don't generally give me ideas for books, this source of possible inspiration should not be overlooked. Example: "Titanic," the movie starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DeCaprio. Perhaps no one could have predicted the sensational response this movie received when it first came out, but they could have been alert to spin-off products that developed as the movie kept breaking records at the box office. For instance, one clever person simply gathered the contemporary news reports of the ship's sinking from the pages of The New York Times for 1912, and pretty soon, 60,000 copies of his book, made from public domain material, were in print. You should be so fortunate and alert!
Literary Reference Books
I didn't start out to own over fifteen large-sized literary reference books when I began prospecting back in the late 1980s, but I am glad I've got them at my fingertips now. The ones that have proved most useful tell me at what stage a writer's career "took off." I am, after all, usually looking for something by a famous person that has been forgotten or was never given its proper due when first written. The really popular material has usually been kept in print by someone. Huckleberry Finn is indeed in the public domain, but there are literally dozens of volumes, both cheap and expensively bound, readily available at any book store. So, instead, look for mystery writer Rex Stout's novel that was published serially in a magazine from before 1923 and see if a publisher might be interested in it. Chances are someone will be, because Rex Stout later became famous as the creator of detective Nero Wolfe.
Book Stores
Book stores are a great source of ideas because most of the chain stores quickly let you know what is of current interest: cooking, dieting, celebrity, etc. None of this may be of any particular help; but the bestseller list, usually featured at the front, should hold your attention if you are looking for a big popular success. The front table of most stores will tell you that names sell books, with subject matter coming in second so far as interest goes. Quality of the writing probably comes in dead last. My books on Laura Ingalls Wilder have sold well because her name is connected with one of the most popular TV shows of all time, "Little House on the Prairie." Her writings are indeed fascinating, but without her name recognition no one would read them.
Magazines
Also best found in book stores or maybe libraries, magazines will keep you up on what is of general interest: sex; beautiful women; handsome, studly men; and money, lots of money. Be sure to check out Publishers Weekly either in a store or online. This magazine is the Bible of the book industry. (Caution: the news on the sale of books is always bad, but books still aren't going away, at least not just yet.) Really old general interest magazines published before 1923 deserve your interest. They are a great source for forgotten fiction by major writers. Many early twentieth century novelists supplemented their income by publishing in the active periodical market of their day. These old magazine are a treasure trove of forgotten material.
Libraries
Of course, if you can't peruse a major book store, libraries offer a good alternative; and they help you see what has captivated the reading public in the past. Besides, they are quiet places to work, and their archives may offer material of interest, as they did for me in the case of The Quiet Little Woman (see above). I recommend an intense study of the nonfiction and reference book section to see what information they have on authors and that you make a habit of reading biographies of early twentieth century authors. Keep an open mind. Maybe that early book by L. Frank Baum wasn't as good as The Wizard of Oz, but then again, maybe the crowd has overlooked a literary gem of his that deserves another chance.
General Media
I work not far from Music City USA. I've heard of song writers who try to deduct their TV sets for income tax purposes because they use the TV for song ideas. They claim the TV is a vital part of their business. I don't know how that works with the IRS; but good ideas do come from everyday sources, so the radio, the TV, and the newspaper should be perused for things of fortuitous literary value. What Oprah loves, the reading public loves. `Nuff said?
In short, whatever works for you, do it and do it again--until it stops working.
