Ebooks - Four Steps for Success in Writing Your First Ebook

by angela.booth on September 13, 2008

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Want to write a successful ebook? You can, just follow the four simple steps in this article.

Firstly, let’s look at what we mean by “successful”. In our terms, a successful ebook is one which sells well, year after year. This is because you’ve chosen your topic carefully, and people not only need your information, but they’re also prepared to pay for it in ebook form.

1. Choose a Popular Topic - Check Forums

Your first step in writing your ebook is to decide on a topic. In general “niche” topics work best in ebooks, rather than general topics. For example, if “weight loss” is a general topic, then “weight loss for teens” is a niche within that topic.

Make a list of five topics you could cover, and then check to see whether there are forums for that topic. If there are no forums, it means that people are not discussing this topic online, and you may want to discard that idea.

Read any forums you find, and take notes. Your aim is to see what challenges these people have and what information they need.

2. Make a Promise in Your Title

Once you’ve decided on a topic, it’s time to focus and decide what you’ll promise your readers. If you’ve decided that your topic will be dog training, for example, your promise might be: “Stop Your Dog Nuisance-barking in Two Days.”

The title you choose at this early stage of the project is just for you. You can change the title later. However, if you ensure that your working title contains a promise, it will help you to focus on that topic in your writing. I’ve read many ebooks which sank without a trace, and invariably the reason the ebook failed was because it didn’t keep the promises made to the reader.

Keep your promises!

3. Write an Outline

Your next step is to write an outline. No, not the kind of outline you learned in school. This is for your information only. I create my outlines as lists, including the number of words I need for each section. You can create your outlines in any way you choose, but do create one.

4. Keep the Promise You Made in the Headline

As you write your ebook, ensure that keep the promise you made in the headline. This ensures that you don’t waffle: you stick to the point. If you were writing “Stop Your Dog Nuisance-barking in Two Days” for example, you wouldn’t talk about dog health care, unless it related directly to stopping nuisance barking.

The above four-step process will ensure that you write an ebook people want to read and which sells this year, next year, and for years to come.

Read our Top Ebook Write Blog for more information on writing top-selling ebooks.

Write It Once And Sell It Forever

Get A Constant Flow Of Cash By Writing And Selling Ebooks… It’s Much, Much Easier Than You Think

Ebooks are BIG online. Most ebooks contain from five to 100 pages, and sell anywhere from $10 to $100 dollars, and over, depending on the information. Clever writers are realizing that there’s gold in ebooks, and that they’re well-placed to mine that gold…

Discover how you can self-publish online, and make a great income, writing and selling ebooks with “Write and Sell an eBook: Every Writer’s Quick-Action Guide To Writing Ebooks”..

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