# Book Research

> External evidence and grounding for the book — market whitespace, comparable titles and reader demand, publishing routes, factual or authenticity research, claim verification, and sources. Use when the author needs evidence rather than invention, a market-opportunity study, comparable-title analysis, subject expertise, or fact-checking. Persist findings into book.db with provenance.

- Skill: `nibzard/book-research` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add nibzard/book-research`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/nibzard/book-research/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Research & Search
- Author: nibzard (https://skillmd.com/u/nibzard)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/nibzard/book-research

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# Book Research

Supply evidence rather than collecting links. Separate facts, proxies, inferences, and hypotheses, and write every material finding into `book.db` with provenance so it survives the conversation.

This skill inherits every rule in `AGENTS.md`. It never overrides human creative authority or database safety. Route through `$book-guide` first for any mixed request.

## Research modes

Pick the mode from the request; do not load the heavy framework for a small question.

1. **Market whitespace** — find defensible, evidence-backed opportunities for a new book and series. This is the heavy mode; load `references/market-whitespace.md` only here.
2. **Comparable titles and reader analysis** — build a comparable-title dataset; analyze demand, satisfaction, supply, reader jobs, and tension pairs.
3. **Factual story research** — subject expertise, historical/technical accuracy, setting and profession detail.
4. **Claim verification** — check a specific in-world or marketing claim against sources.
5. **Authenticity and sensitivity** — representation, lived experience, and harmful-similarity risk.
6. **Publishing and route-to-market** — traditional, independent, serial-first, direct, hybrid; format and channel fit.

For modes 2–6, apply the discipline below without reading the full whitespace framework.

## Progressive loading

`references/market-whitespace.md` is the full deep-research prompt (demand × dissatisfaction × supply gap × author advantage × packaging × renewable engine × route to readers). Read it only for substantial market-opportunity work. A quick fact-check or single comparable must not load it.

## Non-negotiable research rules

1. Date-stamp the work and state market/geographic scope.
2. Cite every material claim (title, site, publication/observation date, access date, link or stable id).
3. **Never convert rank, ratings, review counts, views, followers, library holds, or search interest into unit sales.** These are distinct signals. (Mirrors `AGENTS.md` write rule 9.)
4. Triangulate: a major conclusion needs ≥3 independent signals, ideally different source classes.
5. Use multiple horizons: recent velocity (~12 mo), current structure (~36 mo), durable demand (~5–10 yr), incoming competition (~18–24 mo ahead).
6. Sample failures and abandoned series, not only breakouts.
7. Respect paywalls, copyright, privacy, robots rules, and platform terms. Paraphrase reader observations; keep provenance.
8. Do not imitate a hit's surface. Extract the underlying reader promise and engine.
9. Return confidence levels and risks. Do not promise success.

## Persistence into book.db

When the work is substantive, persist it (see `AGENTS.md` “Research market white space”):

- one `research` node for the study; store the full report as its current `research` text version;
- one `source` node per material source, with date, territory, source class, and limitations in `data`;
- one `concept` node per opportunity finalist;
- `statement` rows linking sources to concepts with predicates `supports`, `contradicts`, `qualifies`, `signals_demand`, `signals_risk` (`mode='evidence'`, real `confidence`);
- `entry` rows for assumptions, missing data, experiments, and decisions.

**Concepts stay `idea` or `candidate`.** Never mark a concept `canon` or approved without an explicit human choice (`AGENTS.md` write rule 7). Rank is not sales; store each signal as what it is.

If `book.db` is unavailable, also return a machine-readable object (`sources`, `opportunities`, `evidence_links`, `assumptions`, `experiments`) for later import.

## Definition of done

A research turn is complete when the author received evidence-backed findings with clear confidence, every material claim is cited, sales and proxies were kept separate, concepts remained candidates, and durable conclusions were saved into `book.db` with provenance — or a machine-readable fallback was returned.