Writing an e-book could be a very lucrative undertaking. Since the technology is here, writers now aspire to write e-books on the topic that they are passionate about. If you have the talent, you can start writing your first ebook starting tomorrow. All you need, especially if you are doing it for the first time, are guidelines on how to write an ebook. How lucky of you stumble upon this list! Here we provide you useful tips that will surely see you through this very challenging yet exciting endeavor. Best of luck!
10. Choose a topic that you know
In choosing a topic, you would have to stick to what you know. It would be evident in your writing whether you have innate knowledge of the topic you are writing about. Next, you also have to consider your target audience at the very outset because your approach and topic development will be dictated by the people who will eventually read your ebook. It would be prudent to figure out from the very start what this particular audience prefers. Thirdly, you have to see whether the topic you can write about is already a ubiquitous item in the Internet. If so, you might want to rethink it. If people are already getting free information, why would they purchase an ebook on the topic?
9. Why?
In relation to the initial task of choosing a topic, you should find a very good reason. Will the information your ebook contain fill a lack? Is the content essential in human existence? Will society be better for it? Before you think about income and fame, you have to be clear as to the core purpose of your ebook. You also have to determine what you want to gain from it.
8. Break it down
Writing your very fist ebook is a huge task, no question about it. Even before you accomplish the symbolic achievement of writing the first sentence, you have to sit down first and break down the tasks involved. Writing an ebook is no different from other tasks and there’s no better way than to do it one step at a time.
7. Choose a title ever so carefully
When you are figuring out the title of your ebook, you have to keep one thing in mind. What would Google (and other search engines) think of it? Since your ebook will be up in the cloud when it is completed, you would have to think of a title with keywords that would fare well in search results. You have to remember that these days you can’t be a bestseller if traffic is not finding its way to you. If you are not entirely well-versed in search engine optimization techniques specific to ebook titles, you can start reading articles online on the topic.
6. Measure the hours and keep track of time
If you are already a successful writer with a number of bestsellers under your belt, then you can probably get away with not being conscious of time’s passage while you labor on your next masterpiece. But then, even established writers have deadlines and agents breathing on their necks. You, the fledgling ebook writer may not have those just yet, but you do have to be aware of the minutes ticking away. What for? You need to keep track of the time you spent on your e-book because that gives you a concrete idea as to what your hourly rate is. That will help you figure out whether your efforts have been worth it. If it has paid off and you actually earned a considerable income, then you can always do another one.
5. Don’t pass off a sloppy mess as your first ebook
If there’s one thing that you should not do, it is to put together all that you have written in the past (the ones that gel together), tweak them a bit to fit certain standards, and pass the whole thing as your first ebook. If you resort to this travesty, you would earn what you deserve—no fame, and no fortune, because sloppy work does not deserve any of that.
4. Do the dirty work
Research is dirty but necessary work. You owe it to your readers to give them updated and relevant information from reliable and verifiable sources. You have to learn how to maximize online search tools. And if you are writing about a topic that requires pertinent information from scientific journals and formal studies, you have to invest on memberships for access to online literature. You may also make the most of your connections and social networks. LinkedIn is a good enough place to start. Ask the people in your network for additional resources that may be useful to your writing project. And you would need to join targeted forums where there are dynamic discussions of the topic you are writing about.
3. Prepare a mindmap that can refer to
What we’re saying is to write an outline of your flow of thought and thinking process. If you have no idea how that works, better get yourself mind map software (there are free tools available for download). This will help you understand better what your own writing process is and it will give you a visual guide on how to proceed from one writing task to the next and eventually from one chapter to the next. The end result will also be revealed to you and it might be helpful if you have something like this to encourage you to complete each tedious task that lead to the fulfillment of your objectives.
2. Keep it interesting
The good news is, there are so many ways to keep your ebook interesting. You can employ various writing techniques. You may also put in graphs and photos to keep your reader engaged. Since your ebook will be published in digital form, you can maximize the layout of each page such that it will not come out boring or predictable without sacrificing clarity and organization. And remember, write in a conversational tone. People like it better when you talk to them through the page.
1. Relax and enjoy.
Most importantly, don’t forget that you are writing an ebook for your own enjoyment and the fulfillment of a dream. If the only thing that you will get from the experience is stress and difficulty, is it even worth attempting?
Leave a Reply