Starting Your First eBook — Have You?
Have you explored the possibility of creating your own ebook to sell or giveaway online?
I know this may sound like a daunting task for a lot of people, but I would like to give you some basic ideas on how you can get out of the starting gate and start taking action on it.
The first thing you must do is to research. What is going to be the topic of your ebook? In this post, I will touch briefly on research, but am going to be working on the assumption that you have done that and have found the topic you would like to write about. I will cover researching your topic more in depth in another post.
So, it’s time to start organizing and creating your ebook. In other words, you are going to be:
Starting Your First eBook
This process can be frustrating and seem like you are swimming upstream in a flood of new processes. Don’t worry, that’s completely normal and almost every new ebook author has faced this feeling when they started out.
One way to get a good start on your ebook is to make an outline. It doesn’t have to be formal, like you were taught in school, but it should have a simple format.
Major topics or ideas written down, with contributing thoughts listed under each one is simple enough and will give you a focus that you will need as you begin to write.
Next, do some research on each topic or major point in your outline. Any good search engine will help you find more than enough material
for your purposes.
Understand that this research process is ongoing and is not just a one-time shot. As you have new thoughts and ideas created by the research material you are using, add them to your outline or revise it.
Download and read other ebooks on the same subject you are writing on. Do not plagiarize these ebooks, but use them to see how someone else did it and learn from that.
Perhaps you can think of a way to improve on what they included in their ebook, or how to say it or format it better.
If you noticed some material that was left out and, in your opinion, should have been included, you just found some good new content for your ebook. If reading those other ebooks leaves you with questions that they didn’t answer, you have the focus for your own project.
While you’re at it, visit several article sites and search for articles on your subject. Read them for ideas.
Remember that ideas cannot be copyrighted. If reading someone else’s ebook or article gives you an idea for your own ebook, go for it. You can also get ideas in the library or the magazine rack at the supermarket.
Try browsing the web pages for major bookstore chains, like Borders or Barnes & Noble. The titles they are heavily pushing are popular subjects and could give you an idea for a hot ebook. Be a frequent visitor to Amazon.com and check out their front page titles.
You can be sure that they will be the current popular subjects–what people are buying right now. Search for books on your selected subject to see what is already out there. Think of other related search terms (keywords) to search on.
Ebay is another goldmine of information on what people currently want. Search on your subject and then generically on “ebooks.”
Usually the ebooks can be found in the “Everything Else” category. Read the sales pages for each one you found interesting. With ebay, if you are going to purchase one of these, be aware that you will be getting the ebook as a ‘physical product’, on a CD. eBay changed their rules last year and sellers can no longer offer direct downloads of ebooks.
Get your information and ideas anywhere your eyes land. Now, if you want some great material on a very hot topic, my friend and one of my mentors, Doug Champigny, has just released a PLR package in the aromatherapy niche. This niche is hot and his package also includes audio files that you can add your name to and it includes all of the graphics you will need for the sales page. The price? Well, Doug typically prices his products well within the reach of ALL people who want to get his products and 99% of the time, he under prices. Check his aromatherapy package out here.
I would recommend getting over there rather quickly though, he is only making 100 copies of the aromatherapy plr package available, so you have the opportunity to be one of the first to get this ebook and audio files on the market.
Til next time,
Here’s to YOUR Successes,
Ron
March 30th, 2009 at 8:46 am
To elaborate on one of your ideas. Once you have your topic go to Amazon and find a related book. Amazon will show a portion of the contents of many of its listings. When they do, it almost always includes the table of contents. This is a great way to gather ideas for your basic outline. Search and find the table of contents from three or four related books and then mix and match to your unique approach. Now write chapters one by one on each of the topics. These could even be blog posts during the writing project, and articles to the article directories driving traffic to your blog. That way you can even build a list of possible buyers before you are even done writing your book.
Earl Netwal’s last blog post..Squidoo – Rank on Top Twice!
March 30th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Yes I like to use my blog for creating writing projects then reuse the content after people have commented and fill it out even more knowing what questions people had on the content.
I also use mind maps rather than an outline because they are easier to add to and they usually grow way beyond my initial outline.
Mike Paetzold’s last blog post..Aromatherapy PLR released today from Doug Champigny
March 30th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Great Post Ron,
No I haven’t ever started my own e-Book. I’m not a good writer. That is why I love PLR producta such as Doug Champigny is offering. I’m becoming an expert in remodeling them, change some text, most of the time add some text from another PLR. But some day I will make my outline and try it…. until then I keep loving Doug’s products….
Fred
Fred Lotgering’s last blog post..Niche Audio Spectacular: Aromatherapy – The Nose Knows!
March 30th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Ron, good post for anyone just starting or considering writing an ebook. I agree that the “process can be frustrating”. Not only the writing of the ebook, but also the process of creating the web sites that are necessary to market the ebook, getting your autoresponder set up, getting your payment process setup, etc.
The thing is that you just have to keep at it until the process is completed. You just have to work through the frustration.
Good transition to Doug’s PLR package on the aromatherapy niche.
Lonnie Minton’s last blog post..Have You Lost Your Enthusiasm For Making Money Online?
March 30th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
You give some great ideas which should help anyone start creating their first ebook.
One other tip would be that they do not have to make it perfect the first time in order to start selling it. Many people I think get stuck thinking that it has to be perfect before they put it for sale… but they can get a lot of the content together and make it “good”, then put it up for sale. At that time, continue to make it perfect and add new content, giving previous buyers the new updates.
This will allow you to get some sales coming in while you are still perfecting the ebook.
Joel Osborne’s last blog post..New Aromatherapy PLR
March 30th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Hi, Ron!
First up, thanks for the shout out on the Aromatherapy bundle – it has launched to great reviews!
As to writing books, I’d like to share two more tips if I may… First, when writing a post on my blog, often I feel like I have more to say on a subject but the post is already getting longish. At times like that I post to the blog, then copy what I’ve written so far into Word and go on writing til I’ve said everything I want to on the subject. Then, based on the length of what’s there, I either polish it up into a report or a full-fledged e-book.
Writing this way removes the stigma of ‘writing a book’, so it should make it much easier for newer marketers as there’s no pressure to reach any set length.
If the marketer already has a bit of experience with writing, here’s a power tip: To write an e-book you want to sell, write the salespage first. Put in all the selling points you think it needs to be a big seller, listing the issues it deals with. When the salespage reflects an e-book you’d buy and read yourself, you now have a guideline of what has to go in it, so just write it to fulfill the promises you made on the salespage!
Doug Champigny’s last blog post..New Aromatherapy PLR Bundle Just Launched
March 30th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Hey Ron!
You have posted some fantastic tips here today. I personally like to get away from the computer for awhile and actually go to the bookstore and just browse around. You can get some fantastic ideas that way on subjects that you would have never thought of before.
I make sure that I either have my notepad or take notes on the notepad in my cell phone.
Looks like everybody has some great tips when it comes to your first ebook, whether you write it yourself or just use the fantastic PLR products that Doug puts out.
BTW: I picked this package up myself today and can vouch that this is a top notch product. I have paid a lot more for PLR that was nowhere near the quality that this product is.
Thanks for this post Ron. It really got the creative juices flowing.
Brett McEllhiney’s last blog post..Niche Site Traffic Case Study – The Beginning