E-Book Information

Your First Step To A Digital Publishing Empire


There is only one way to climb a mountain - step by step.

Now think of writing your ebook in the same light. You must create it step by step, and one day, you will take that last step and find yourself standing on the summit with your head in the clouds.

The first thing you have to do, as if you actually were a mountain climber, is to get organized. Instead of climbing gear, however, you must organize your thoughts. There are some steps you should take before you begin. Once you've gone through the following list, you will be ready to actually begin writing your ebook.

Beginning Steps to Writing an ebook

First, figure out your ebook's working title. Jot down a few different titles, and eventually, you'll find that one that will grow on you. Titles help you to focus your writing on your topic; they guide you in anticipating and answering your reader's queries. Many non-fiction books also have subtitles. Aim for clarity in your titles, but cleverness always helps to sell books ? as long as it's not too cute. For example, Remedies for Insomnia: twenty different ways to count sheep. Or: Get off that couch: fifteen exercise plans to whip you into shape.

Next, write out a thesis statement. Your thesis is a sentence or two stating exactly what problem you are addressing and how your book will solve that problem. All chapters spring forth from your thesis statement. Once you've got your thesis statement fine-tuned, you've built your foundation. From that foundation, your book will grow, chapter by chapter.

Your thesis will keep you focused while you write your ebook. Remember: all chapters must support your thesis statement. If they don't, they don't belong in your book. For example, your thesis statement could read: We've all experienced insomnia at times in our lives, but there are twenty proven techniques and methods to give you back a good night's sleep.

Once you have your thesis, before you start to write, make sure there is a good reason to write your book. Ask yourself some questions:

* Does your book present useful information and is that information currently relevant?

* Will you book positively affect the lives of your readers?

* Is your book dynamic and will it keep the reader's attention?

* Does you book answer questions that are meaningful and significant?

If you can answer yes to these questions, you can feel confident about the potential of your ebook.

Another important step is to figure out who your target audience is. It is this group of people you will be writing to, and this group will dictate many elements of your book, such as style, tone, diction, and even length. Figure out the age range of your readers, their general gender, what they are most interested in, and even the socio-economic group they primarily come from. Are they people who read fashion magazines or book reviews? Do they write letters in longhand or spend hours every day online. The more you can pin down your target audience, the easier it will be to write your book for them.

Next, make a list of the reasons you are writing your ebook. Do you want to promote your business? Do you want to bring quality traffic to your website? Do you want to enhance your reputation?

Then write down your goals in terms of publishing. Do you want to sell it as a product on your website, or do you want to offer it as a free gift for filling out a survey or for ordering a product? Do you want to use the chapters to create an e-course, or use your ebook to attract affiliates around the world? The more you know upfront, the easier the actual writing will be.

Decide on the format of your chapters. In non-fiction, keep the format from chapter to chapter fairly consistent. Perhaps you plan to use an introduction to your chapter topic, and then divide it into four subhead topics. Or you may plan to divide it into five parts, each one beginning with a relevant anecdote.

How to make your ebook "user friendly"

You must figure out how to keep your writing engaging. Often anecdotes, testimonials, little stories, photos, graphs, advice, and tips will keep the reader turning the pages. Sidebars are useful for quick, accessible information, and they break up the density of the page.

Write with a casual, conversational tone rather than a formal tone such as textbook diction. Reader's respond to the feeling that you are having a conversation with them. Break up the length and structure of your sentences so you don?t hypnotize your readers into sleep. Sentences that are all the same length and structure tend to be a good aid for insomnia!

Good writing takes practice. It takes lots and lots of practice. Make a schedule to write at least a page a day. Read books and magazines about the process of writing, and jot down tips that jump out at you. The art of writing is a lifetime process; the more you write (and read), the better your writing will become. The better your writing becomes, the bigger your sales figures.

In an ebook that is read on the screen, be aware that you must give your reader's eye a break. You can do this by utilizing white space. In art classes, white space is usually referred to as "negative space." Reader's eyes need to rest in the cool white oasises you create on your page. If your page is too dense, your reader will quit out of it as soon as their eyes begin to tear.

Make use of lists, both bulleted and numbered. This makes your information easy to absorb, and gives the reader a mental break from dissecting your paragraphs one after the other.

Finally, decide on an easy-to-read design. Find a font that's easy on the eyes, and stick to that font family. Using dozens of fonts will only tire your readers out before they've gotten past your introduction. Use at least one and a half line spacing, and text large enough to be read easily on the screen, but small enough so that the whole page can be seen on a computer screen. You will have to experiment with this to find the right combination.

Of course, don't forget to run a spell and grammar check. You are judged by something as minor as correct punctuation, so don?t mess up a great book by tossing out semicolons randomly, or stringing sentences together with commas. (By the way, that's called a "comma splice.")

Last of all, create an index and a bibliography. That's it! You've written a book! Now all you have to do is publish your ebook online, and wait for download request from your website visitors.

Markku Saastamoinen is an Online Business Entrepreneur and has recently created an amazing system for increasing your free time AND profits in few weeks at: http://www.megapreneursystem.com


MORE RESOURCES:

Books vs. eBooks: Which Are Greener?
Riverwired, NY - 16 hours ago
eBooks need energy. Every time you read an electronic book, you need to use some electricity. This need will be minimized as electronic paper technologies ...


KADOKAWA TO UNIFY SALES NETWORK FOR E-BOOKS, EXPAND LIBRARY
Trading Markets (press release), CA - Aug 28, 2008
E-books from main group publisher Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co. have been distributed to booksellers' online shops via broker MobileBook.jp. ...


How Apple could make e-books work
Macworld, CA - Aug 26, 2008
“Because I hate e-books,” you protest. “And so does everybody else.” OK, I hear you. But this dislike of e-books probably exists for the same reason that so ...


PC World

Kindle Upgrade Unlikely Before Next Year
InformationWeek, NY - 13 hours ago
Although they would still have to buy eBooks, digital text usually sells for substantially less than the heavier, hard copy books that students lug around ...
Amazon Closes Book on Rumors of New Kindle E-Commerce Times
Amazon dismisses Kindle update rumors Electronista
all 24 news articles


Labor Day Cybook Special at BooksOnBoard
WebWire (press release), GA - 10 hours ago
Rewards Dollars can be applied to any eBooks and downloadable Audio Books in the online store. The special also includes a free SD card pre-loaded with 100 ...


E Canada Now

Amazon Kindle Review: Igniting Interest in E-Books?
PC World - Aug 26, 2008
I've found e-books intriguing for a while now, as they could be easier to tote, easier to store, and easier to read than their paper brethren. ...
It's an easy read Melbourne Herald Sun
Amazon Relies on Customers to Pimp the Kindle Wired News
all 12 news articles


eBooks proposed
Northwest Missourian, MO - Aug 27, 2008
The device works similarly to an iPod - eBooks can be downloaded into a library and then seen on the eReader. The device weighs only a few ounces, ...


Major Reasons Why People Buy & Sell eBooks
Corsavoo.com, France - Aug 27, 2008
eBooks are inexpensive, convenient, and practical. They take very little costs to produce and reproduce, since technology has allowed for “copy and paste” ...


Penguin Group Offers Download Audiobooks & eBooks to Public Libraries
Trading Markets (press release), CA - Aug 27, 2008
Hundreds of Penguin Group audiobooks and eBooks will be added to OverDrive's e-warehouse, supplementing OverDrive's collection of more than 150000 eBook, ...
Festival of the Book features miniature books La Jolla Light
all 4 news articles


More than 750 free eBooks for your Kindle
Mobility Site, AL - Aug 27, 2008
Diesel eBooks has put together a list of more than 750 eBooks in PRC format that can be downloaded from and read it in your Kindle. ...

E-Books - Google News

home | site map
© 2006