Writing an e-Book 101: The Complete Guide
Introduction
An eBook is an ELECTRONIC book - a file containing all the information that a hard book would contain. eBooks are downloaded directly from a secure library online to YOUR computer.
The most common file format for an eBook is a PDF which can be opened in Adobe Reader (a free PDF reader), however, you will be doing the actual “design” of your eBook in a word-processing program like MS Word (a part of MS Office).
If you have a complex design that includes lots of illustrations, you may wish to use a desktop publishing program such as PageMaker or Quark. Also, if you want to add more features to your PDF document, such as hotlinked URLs, forms, or pages imported from other programs, you should purchase the Full Version of Adobe Acrobat. It is well worth the price, particularly if you expect to create more than one eBook. More in Step 6.
Now, the paragraph above is beyond the scope of this eBook guide. Since MS Word is the most commonly used word processing program, this guide will focus on formatting in MS Word.
Now, with all that said, let’s get started.
Choosing a Topic
It goes without saying that you should pick a topic you believe other people would be willing to part with their hard earned cash for. It should not be a subject overly done or where there are already vast amounts of useful information already available. Often times, finding a small niche audience willing to pay for your information is better than trying to compete with dozens of other more common subjects.
List all of the Topics in which you are knowledgeable
To help you find a topic, make a list of all the things you could confidently write about. Do you have hobbies or skills that others would be interested in? Do not make the mistake of assuming that because you are knowledgeable about a particular subject, others are too.
Find a Niche
The trick is choosing a niche. Do not write a book which appeals to everyone. Focus on a specific area and you are on your way to success. Why? Because when you target a niche market, you already have a pre-qualified market ready to buy your products.
What information do people want? The answer to these questions, and others, should be your main focus. You need to focus on what they don’t have, sometimes you even have to tell them what it is that is missing and why they need it, and when you give it to them, they will reward you financially. Don’t be discouraged if the niche is already quite popular, this could be an advantage to you. A popular niche is proof that there is already a market, and money to be made. Just be sure that your product is superior to the competition or has a differing twist.
Research the Chosen Topic
After choosing a specific area of interest as the topic of your eBook, the next step is to spend a reasonable amount of time researching that topic. How much time, you ask? It really depends on how much you already know about the topic. What is important here is you want to be an expert in your chosen niche. At this stage, it is easy to get lost among the huge bank of information on the internet. So it is very important to get organized.
While researching your subject, collect all the information you possibly can, and put it into a specified folder on your computer. Then when you feel you have all the information you need, you can proceed to bring it all together in an organized manner. This will make your eBook much higher quality, fluent, and easy to read.
Go to Wordtracker or Overture and see how many times people a month were looking for what you want to write about. This will give you an idea if it is a viable product. Also do a straight search in Google and Yahoo for your keywords, and see what turns up. Investigate some of the sites, you may be surprised that you have a completely different slant on the information you want to present in the eBook – which is a good thing.
Create an Outline
Now that you have a good idea of what you are going to write, the next important step is to write a detailed outline of your eBook. This is the single most important step in the whole eBook writing process. The outline serves as the backbone of your eBook. It represents your ideas and flow of thoughts. Write the outline as detailed as possible.
Start with Choosing a Working Title
Why? Because it gives you a focal point. Spend time on it, as it is something you should keep coming back to for inspiration. Always make sure you don’t deviate from it. Otherwise you’ll end up with an eBook where the content doesn’t match the title. Jot down a few different titles, and eventually, you’ll find that one that will grow on you. Always remember, a great title is what sells, not your content. Period.
Next, write an Opening Statement
Begin your outline with an opening statement or Introduction. Your opening statement might tell your readers a little bit about what they are going to learn or may be a statement in regard to the subject matter. You also need to grab their attention early on and the best way to do this is to make them feel that you have all the answers regarding the topic. After all, why did they buy the book? Make them feel they made the right decision and that you know what you are talking about.
Followed by a Foreword
Your Foreword might include information in regard to who you are, your credentials, copyrights, and what you want your readers to learn.
List the Main Points
Next, refer to the folders where you stored all of your information, choose from your organized lists, and start writing headings, one right after another. This is a great way of breaking the job down into manageable pieces and tackle them one at a time making the writing process a little easier. It’s also a good way to expand on your overview and see if your headings address everything you wanted to cover.
Fill in the Spaces
Once you’ve completed your outline and are happy with your list of headings, you can begin filling in the spaces. Write your text in small blocks and leave a space between your paragraphs.
Keep it Simple
A great tip given by many when it comes to writing is to start and don’t stop. Write down everything that comes into your mind. If you try to think too much about what you are writing, you will forget important information and it will take you much longer to finish.
Picture your perfect audience for your eBook and write to him/her! Write to your reader, not for your reader. Write as if you are talking to the person. Use the language as you would when talking to your friend. Forget about having proper grammar and linguistic structures for your paragraphs. Just get your thoughts and ideas down! If you are stuck in a particular chapter, move on to the next. Don’t force yourself to write that chapter and slow down the whole writing process. It is easier to come back and try writing that chapter again at some other time. You may have new thoughts and ideas which can help you proceed. An important point to remember here is DO NOT EDIT! Just focus on writing.
Most importantly, keep it simple! The average adult only reads somewhere around an 8th grade level, so don’t write as if you’ve just devoured two dictionaries and a thesaurus for breakfast! Write as if you were in a conversation with an average everyday person.
Editing your Work
Now is the time to re-read and edit your work. Read it through several times and be sure to check spelling and grammar errors. If it’s hard for you, the writer, to read and understand then it will probably be impossible to others!
Give it to a member of your family or a good friend and ask them to read it through and give you an unbiased opinion as to whether they understand it. If they don’t, why not? If necessary, re-write portions of the whole thing, then go through this step again.
Write the Table of Contents or Chapter Titles
The final step will be to either create a Table of Contents or go directly into creating your Chapter Titles. If you’re writing your information in the form of a how-to manual, you may want to use a Table of Contents. This will enable your readers to quickly locate important information. If you’re writing your information in the form of a book, then you can leave out the Table of Contents and simply use Chapter Titles.
Whether you’re using a Table of Contents or Chapter Titles, write your titles so that when they’re read, they tell the story. In other words, when you scan your titles they will give you a step by step description of what your information is all about.
Formatting the eBook
A badly formatted eBook will alienate readers more quickly than a badly designed print book. At best, it will look amateurish; at worst, it will be difficult to read or “navigate.” Fortunately, you can create a professional “look” with just a few simple Word commands. You’ll need to consider the following elements:
Choosing a Font
It’s best to use non-serif fonts such as Arial or Helvetica. Use a minimum of 10 points for your text, and 12 to 14 points for subheads. Keep in mind that the reader can increase the display size of your book when reading it onscreen. Since some fonts look better onscreen than in print, and vice versa, test your fonts both ways.
Margins
Use Word’s “Format: Document” command to set margins to a minimum of three quarters of an inch on all sides. You may wish to set top and/or bottom margins slightly larger if you plan to use a header and/or footer. Since eBooks don’t have “left” and “right” pages, turn off the “mirror margins” option.
Headers and Footers
Place a “running header” at the top of each page. The easiest approach is to simply include the title of your book and the page number. You can place this information flush left, flush right, or centered or place the title flush left and the page number flush right. We recommend using a slightly smaller font size for the header, and (if you like) using italic or bold. We also like to use the “border” command to draw a line between the header and the text. Another option is to put the title in your header and the page number in your footer.
To make sure that your header doesn’t appear on the first page of each chapter, you’ll need to use the “Insert: Break: Section: Next Page” command (rather than a page break) to separate chapters. Then, make sure that you’ve checked “different first page” in the “Format: Document: Layout” menu. You can also create a new header for each chapter (e.g., using the chapter title rather than the book title); to do this, turn off the “same as previous” option in the header command.
Adding Illustrations
One nice feature of an eBook is that it doesn’t cost extra to include photos, drawings, charts, etc. If you have a scanner, you can scan your own illustrations and convert them to .gif or .jpg files. A program like Photoshop will enable you to crop, enlarge, or reduce those images, or make other modifications. It will also enable you to save them at a lower resolution, thus reducing file size.
While Word does allow you to incorporate illustrations in your text, it’s not always easy to position them precisely where you want them. If you plan to use a lot of illustrations, you might want to consider using a desktop publishing program like Quark or Adobe PageMaker. When laying out photos or illustrations, be sure to leave an ample margin between the image and the surrounding text, and, where appropriate, include captions.
Last page(s)
The last page(s) of your eBook is a good place for an index, your bio, contact information, etc. It’s also a good place to include advertisements for any other eBooks or products that you are selling.
The Big Finale
Somewhere along the line you have to decide that your eBook is finished. There will always be something that pops into your head later on… that little snippet that you’ll wish you would have used. Don’t worry about it! You can edit your eBook and resubmit it to Iggler. We’ll always be glad to update the PDF on our site.
Creating the PDF from MS Word
To generate a PDF file, use the “print” command in Word and select the “Save as File” option under the “General” pull-down menu. Select “Acrobat PDF” as the file type and set “Destination” to “File.” Hit the “print” button and your document will be converted to a PDF file.
If you actually own Acrobat, you can add other useful features to your eBook. For example, you can automatically hotlink every URL in the text (be sure to include the http:// prefix on all URLS). We recommend underlining links or formatting them in a color, such as blue, so that the reader will easily recognize them as hotlinks. Don’t bother hot linking URLs in your original Word document, as these links won’t be retained in your PDF file. You can link your table of contents directly to the text. You can also import pages or files from other programs, including charts and illustrations. If you plan to import files, leave a blank page in your original document, to be replaced by the imported page; otherwise, your pagination will be incorrect. You can also set various protection levels for your book including a restriction on printing, though we don’t recommend this!
Submitting your finished eBook to Iggler.com
Finally, you’re done! I’m sure you have a great sense of accomplishment!? Everyone does when they finish their first eBook. Now it’s time to make some money! Fortunately, Iggler does this part for you 
Submit your eBook to Iggler at www.iggler.com/sell.html and earn 50% commission on your eBook. Now that’s worth the effort, huh?
About The Author
Dr. Iggler has created many e-books, novels, etc. and presently writes a weekly newsletters called Dr. Iggler’s Weekly Igglings for http://www.iggler.com. If you are interested in other writings by Dr, Iggler, please visit his site, signup for the newsletter, and browse his unique articles.
Writing an e-Book can be a very Daunting task, but by following this step-by-step guide, you’ll be a pro in no time! Not only that, but we should you how to make money with the e-book once it’s written! This is definitely one of the most comprehensive e-Book guides available.
How To Create E-Books For Income
Writing your first E-Book may be seemingly impossible for anyone. For some, writing is natural and they can weave stories, articles and books in a short time frame. But the majority of the population would be dealing with the popular ‘writers block’; they might write a chapter or two and then face shortage of ideas. But like most of the tasks writing an E-Book will be a child’s play if you divide the entire work into tiny convenient parts.
We have provided some tips which will help you to write your own E-book:
·To begin with, you will have to choose a subject in which you have a keen interest or some area which you are expert in. For you the subject might be interesting but care should be taken that it also appeals the audience too.
·Writing the first sentence seems to be a Herculean task. Brainstorming for the title would seem easier to most of the beginners. You might even stumble upon some new ideas while searching for a topic of your book.
·A catchy title can prove to be extremely helpful in boosting your E-book sales.
·You can divide your E-books into various sections or chapters and then go on adding details to it; this way the work seems easier and more systematic.
·If you have some ideas on some topic then you can elaborate it to form an entire chapter or section.
·If you are short of chapters or ideas then you can add in introductory and concluding chapters.
·It is recommended to keep the E-book short and information packed unless the topic demands more concise information.
·If you are working on a computer then take regular back ups on storage media like CD’s or DVD’s to avoid data loss in case your hard disc crashes. You can even upload it to your mail box.
·Using short sentences and keeping lots of white space will make it easy for readers to read your E-book. Make sure that your readers won’t find it difficult to read the E-book.
After you finish writing your E-book, edit it to maintain the flow of ideas. Also check the grammar and spellings and if you are willing then you can go for proofreading it from a professional proofreader. If there are mistakes in your E-book then it will get negative reviews and comments even if you will provide a highly information packed and useful E-book.
After you are satisfied with the quality of the content of your E-book you will have to create a professional book cover for it. If you are not a graphic designer then its recommended to hand over the book cover creation task to some professional artist or publishing company since it is the book cover which grabs the attention of the readers. Choosing the format of the E-book is also important and will depend on various factors of the convenience of the readers. After the book is ready you can distribute some copies to some friends and relatives for their comments which can be used as testimonials for increasing your credibility.
There are many online services which will help you to prevent others from copying data from your E-book. If you feel your E-book has data worth to be protected, then you can opt for such services from various companies.If your first few E-books are not successful then do not feel disappointed. Failures are stepping stones to success and you will attain success with some dedication and hard work.
About The Author
Written By Ronald W. Firquain, Webmaster of http://www.ebooks-mall.org - eBooks- http://www.ebooks-mall.org for your Internet Marketing Business Training System.without htmlbio.:Written By Ronald W. Firquain, Webmaster of http://www.ebooks-mall.org for your Internet Marketing Business Training System.
What To Do When Writing An E-Book
Writing an e-book is a popular means of expression these days. People do it for a number of reasons – for the love of writing, in order to express an opinion, to spread awareness or simply to make money! But regardless of the objectives for doing so, writing an e-book requires careful planning and preparation.
Let’s see how ready you are.
1. Examine your reasons.
First and foremost, understand your motives for wanting to write one. Is it out of passion or to establish your position? Are you looking to earn recognition or revenue?
A book about your support for conservation of rain forests will read very differently from an instruction manual for building your own furniture. Once you’ve written the e-book, the way to publicize it will also depend on the intended outcome. Make your choice upfront.
2. Choose the subject.
If you’re Michael Schumacher, well then that’s easy! But for the rest of us, identifying the subject of an e-book is not necessarily a done deal. For a professional in the world of finance, the choice could be as diverse as writing about the best investment options to creating a primer on terms used in accounting.
While deciding a subject, base your choice on your level of expertise, the need for such information and the proliferation of other written matter on the same topic. It’s always a better idea to cater to the unmet needs of a niche audience than to compete for attention in a mass market.
3. Identify your audience.
Continuing from the last point, it is very important to pinpoint the target reader of your e-book, right from the get-go. The way you write and promote the book will most certainly depend on who is going to read it.
4. Create a format
A book’s a book, so it’s got to have a structure. However, there are additional possibilities with e-books that you might not find in traditional print paperbacks. Here are some of them:
• DIY – A “how to” or “ten tips for…” format works brilliantly for e-books. Tell it with minimum fuss, but make sure the information is complete and usable. Works well with almost any subject.
• FAQ – this makes quick and easy reading. Put yourself in the readers’ shoes and ask all the questions they would. Answer them. Period.
• Bulleted or Numbered Lists – reading off a monitor is not as easy as reading off a page. So while writing an e-book, remember to make it easier for the audience. Lists help the viewer pick up key points easily.
Apart from the structure, you also need to decide what software to use to publish your e-book – but you could just as easily use more than one. HTML, Adobe or Exe files – take your pick. That’s the whole point of going online.
5. Identify the channel
We spoke about this before, remember?
A lot depends on where your core readership comes from. You have control over how your e-book is circulated, so you could choose to put it exclusively on your website, retail it through others or make it available through a select list of partner sites. Experience the joy of not having to deal with a hard nosed publisher!
Writing an e-book can be a way to fame and fortune, but it’s also a big source of fun. Whatever be your other objectives, make sure the latter is included.
About The Author
Hi, I am Akhil Shahani, a serial entrepreneur who wants to help you succeed. Over the years I have run many successful businesses & made many mistakes on the way. I have created http://www.aykya.com to help you benefit from all I’ve learned on my journey. Please visit us & download our special ‘Freebie of the Month’ as a thank you for your visit.
Write an E-Book Together
A couple of months before Christmas, I decided to write an e-book that I could give as a Christmas gift to all of my readers. But instead of writing it myself, I decided to invite my clients to contribute to it.
Here’s an extract of the message I sent them:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I’ve got a product idea that won’t take much effort, won’t cost you a cent, and will give you great leverage.
In brief, we each write a one-page article, I’ll compile them into an e-book, and we all get a great Christmas gift to share with our databases.
Interested? Keep reading. If not, you can just delete this now
OK, here’s the idea … I’m going to put together an e-book titled “Expect More From 2007″. It will have contributions from a number of experts (including YOU!). Each contributor will write a one-page article with tips for readers to get more from 2007.
I’ll put the e-book together by the end of November, and send you a copy to freely distribute to anybody you like. It will be an excellent gift for clients, prospects, your newsletter list, whatever. Heck, I guess you could even sell it if you like.
Contributions will appear in the order I receive them. So get in early if you’d like to be near the front.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The results exceeded my expectations!
The very first day, six people wrote back with articles. Within a couple of weeks, I had 30 contributions. And by the end of the four-week deadline I set, 57 people had sent through an article.
The final e-book (which you can download at the end of this newsletter) contains 58 of the best ideas, strategies, thoughts and guidelines for making 2007 your best year ever. If you implement even one-tenth of these ideas, you’ll have a GREAT year!
I’m so pleased I decided to make this a joint effort, and even more pleased that so many people jumped at the chance to take part.
Look at the benefits …
Just consider the benefits for everybody who takes part:
* Everybody contributes just one page, but gets a full e-book in return.
* They have a low-cost, high-value gift for their database.
* They get their own product to use in any other way they choose.
* They get their name in front of 57 other high-value databases.
* Their readers hear from a variety of experts, not just themselves.
Can you do something similar with your own client base? All it takes is a simple e-mail message to get started …
By the way, you can get my “Expect More From 2007″ e-book here:
http://fslib.info/docs/ebooks/ExpectMoreFrom2007-GihanPerera.pdf
About The Author
Gihan Perera is the author of “The Seven Fatal Mistakes That Most
Web Site Owners Make - And How To Avoid Them” and “Spin: Turn One Idea Into Hundreds of Information Products”.
Visit http://GihanPerera.com and get your complimentary copies now.
Write Your Own E-Book - The Easy Way
Ever wanted to write your own e-book but don’t know where to start; don’t know how to write a book; hated English when you were at school? Read on and I will show you how to create your own e- book and have your name as author and only have to write 4 or 5 paragraphs yourself, something anybody can do
Still with me, right lets get started.
What we are going to do is, using other peoples hard work, create an e-book that will sell like hot cakes. This sounds too good to be true, I know but stay with me. This method is one used by some of the top selling publishers on the internet, to create products time after time.
In another article, ‘Researching Your Niche - How Hard Can It Be?’, I showed you how to find niche e-book ideas in article directories. Today we’re going to use the content in them to create e- books.
Web site owners use Article Directories to submit their articles they have written so they get free publicity for their web sites. At the end of each article is a link back to their web site with a bit of information about their site. These site owners want people to take that article and market it to others so they get visitors to their site with out spending any money on marketing themselves. This is perfect for savvy entrepreneurs who are willing to spend a few hours of their time in order to profit for many years.
Go to www.goarticles.com or any other article directory, and type in the topic of the niche you want to write about in the search bar at the top right (make sure it’s on “article content” rather than search by author). So for example type in ” gardening”. You’ll get thousands of result related to what you have searched for. Now what I want you to do is simply go through the results finding at least one hundred quality articles related to the topic of gardening and copy and paste them into Word or some kind of word processing application.
As I’ve said make sure they are quality articles. If you create an e-book using rubbish you’ll just get a sky high refund rate and it will all be a pointless exercise. Do it right from the off and you’ll set yourself up for success.
Try and tie all the articles together into one sub niche. For example a sub niche of gardening might be composting. So you could find articles on composting left over food, what plants not to compost that kind of thing. Use a bit of imagination when using this method.
Email Article Authors
You don’t want to use any articles without the author’s permission. Remember the majority of articles will have been submitted so the author can get visitors to their site without spending a dime. However you never want to breach any copyright laws. To avoid this email the authors of each article. Explain to them that you are creating an e-book aimed at their niche market. You’d love to include their article in your book and you’ll include a link back to their site and information about them. Also ask them if they have any other articles you could include.
You can expect around seventy percent of authors you contact to be delighted you’re going to include their article in your book. Then all you need to do is discard the articles from authors who you haven’t heard from or who won’t let you use their article.
Put the articles in an order that makes sense and create a contents page. Use the titles of the articles as contents topics. You could even create chapters aimed at solving certain problems people in your niche have. So for example if you were creating an e-book on golf you could create a section on improving your golf swing, a section on the mind game of golf and so on. All articles would make up separate chapters.
Finally write a short introduction and conclusion. These only need to be a few paragraphs each. Tell people what they can expect to learn and make sure you sign off using your name. Instantly you will establish yourself as an expert. You can also link to your back end products at the end of the book to increase your sales.
Finally you need to turn it into an e-book to sell. Go to www.primopdf.com and download the software. Don’t worry it’s free. Once downloaded all you need to do is in your word software hit ” file”and then “print” and then select “primo PDF” as your printer. Voila. You’ve just created an e- book using other people’s hard work. This whole process can be done in just a few hours. Obviously you may need to wait a day or two for the article authors to get back to you but apart from that you’re all set! Anyone can use this method to create more e-books than you’d ever be able to sell.
That’s a great method right? I mean it won’t cost you anything to create a product yet you could sell hundreds if not thousands of copies and keep all the profits using other people’s hard work!
About The Author
Tony Evans a publisher specializing in helping people start their own home based business. Now you know how to create a product in one day learn how to market it by getting a free 2 hour video on niche e-books at http://www.lighteninghomeincome.com
My fantastic daughter!
I have a wonderful daughter, and I really want to write a book about her but I just don’t know where to start???
How do you find the words to describe someone so fantastic?
I’m certainly lost for words, but I’m sure I’ll think of something one day….
By Susan Denny