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Choosing a topic for your e-Book
Whew! Well you made it through the first chapter! Now you should understand a few basic ideas about e-Books & how they can help you with your writings & entrepreneurial ventures. Now I will start getting in to the mechanics of writing an e-Book. We will get into the real “meat & bones” of actually selling the e-Book in later chapters. First, I would like to cover a few basics of how to get started writing, and tips to help you pick a topic & stay on track.
I assume that since you are viewing this guide, you probably already have an idea for writing an e-Book (or at least have an interest in how it works). But if you do not have an idea, or want a few tips with coming up with an idea for a second or third e-Book, then this section can help you.
You can write an e-Book about any topic in the world that you want to write about. As long as it is not something illegal or you are copying someone else’s work, then the sky is the limit. Do you know how to do something unique? Have you excelled at something? Have you had special experience or training in a certain field? Have you experienced a tragedy or illness in your life & want to help others overcome it? Have you figured out a loophole or business tip that you can write about? Do you have a rare passion about something? How about some delicious home-made recipes?
Any of these things can be a great subject for an e-Book to cover. Of course, you can write a fiction story, poetry, or anything else as well. Again, you can write about anything that you want to write about.
I will offer one suggestion, however. Find something that interests you, but also can help others. Don’t make the mistake of writing a junk e-Book to try & make a quick buck. You may be able to sell a few copies, but I can promise you that it will not turn out to be a huge success. Find something that interests you first, something you can write with passion or interest, and then try & find out how you can put information about that topic into an e-Book so that it can provide value to others. Then proceed to write the e-Book. If you write about the topics thoroughly, and cover what you advertised you would cover, I guarantee your e-Book will be more successful.
When you are trying to come up with an idea for an e-Book, stick to things that you know how to do, enjoy doing, or that at least interest you. That doesn’t necessarily mean you know absolutely everything there is to know about the subject. Does a person writing a history book know everything about the history of the world? No, they do not. I do not know everything, and you will not know everything about the topic you will write about either. The key is to write about something that you know very well, and you can supplement the rest of your writing after doing research.
Another thing you want to consider when choosing your topic is the marketability of your guide. Who is your main target audience? Does it have mass appeal? Is your topic going to be outdated in 6 months from now, or will it still be relevant 30 years from now? Are there other e-Books already on the market that cover the same material? Is there a demand for this kind of information? These are all relevant things you want to consider when choosing a topic.
For example, if you write a guide on how to use Microsoft Excel 2007, that guide will be outdated when the next version of Microsoft Excel is released. That does not mean you should not write about it. It just means that your time will be limited, and you should adjust your expectations according. It may very well be worth your time to write a guide on Microsoft Excel 2007, even if they came out with a new version the next year because you can sell it for that entire year, and you still may sell a few copies for a few years after that to people who use the older version of the software.
Again, even if you have a small market, the guide will be outdated within a year, and there are a ton of e-Books on the market already on the same subject, does not mean that you can’t be successful. I do not want to discourage your ideas in any way. If there is something out there already, you can make it better! Just keep all of those things in mind when coming up with a topic. Obviously, it would be best to pick a topic that has a large market, little or no competition, and it will not be outdated for the next several years. That way, you can enjoy greater success & a passive income for a much longer period of time.
Making Notes & a Rough Outline
After you have chosen a topic to write about, you can start making notes & a rough outline. Outlines & notes can be your best friend when you are writing an e-Book. You don’t have to follow any specific procedures. Here is how I usually do this process. I start jotting down all of the topics I want to cover in a rough outline format. By this I mean I would make a heading (usually the chapter title), and then jot down sub-topics that I could talk about (usually the sub-headings). I try to leave space between each heading & subheading so that I can jot down a few notes & ideas.
This process can take up to an entire day just for the outline. I keep a notebook & pencil on my desk at all times during this process. I will keep reading over the outline & try to think of any other material I need to cover. If I get a new idea, or realize that I missed something, I quickly jot it down on my notebook before I forget.
Making notes & a rough outline can really help. I have noticed from my own personal experience that the more detailed I make my outline & notes, the easier it is to write the e-Book. I can stay focused & I keep my ideas together as I write. This is a great thing for me, because I have a tendency to write a few sentences, then minimize the screen & check my emails, sales accounts, and then go get a drink of water, etc. (I think I may have a touch of attention deficit disorder or something =)). After you have made your detailed outline & jotted down some notes & ideas about your e-Book, you can begin researching any additional information you need to include or talk about.
Researching Information to Include in Your eBook
Adding supplemental research is a great way to fill any gaps of information you do not know about already. For example, let’s say you decide to write a book about how to make a website. Now, you may know how to make a website, but perhaps you have only done it one way & there are several ways it can be done. So to make your guide more complete, you can perform some research & find other methods or techniques of doing it (or at least briefly mention them). You can also find out things such as other website hosting companies that are reliable for website hosting so you can recommend more than just the one you use.
This is something that many authors will do when writing. A good example is someone writing a biography. They will typically gather information from various resources (sometimes even other authors).
So what exactly is “research?” When I am talking about research, I mean browsing online, reviewing books that have information you lack, and consulting people who know about anything you do not know about. You can then make more informed suggestions, or even give some of the steps of how it works in your own words.
I do not mean go & copy someone’s copyrighted work & pretend like it is your own. That is wrong & illegal. Instead, I mean gathering general information so that you can make your e-Book more complete. If you ever need to include very specific information or sources, then you could request permission from the author, or publishing company to paraphrase and include them in your references.
You must be very careful about ever using copyrighted work. It is a serious crime to use someone’s own work without their permission. That is why I recommend you know as much about the topic as possible. If you need to fill in information, you can perform research. However, do not violate a copyright, and make sure the information you are writing about is your original ideas. I will discuss more about copyrights & laws in a later chapter.
Gathering Pictures for Your eBook
Another process in preparing your e-Book is gathering any pictures you may want to use. If you already know that you will use certain pictures, it is a good idea to gather them & put them together for later use. However, you may want to get certain pictures as you write (such as screen shots).
Pictures can be a great way to give your reader a better understanding, especially if it is a “how-to” type of guide. In my first e-Book, I had literally no pictures (except a very basic & amateur looking cover on the first page). As I have learned more & more about writing e-Books, I have learned that pictures really add a great deal of quality. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and a picture is much easier on the eyes than trying to read 1,000 words.
You can include photos of anything relevant to your e-Book. For example, assume you want to write a guide on knitting certain patterns. It would be a great idea to show each stitching pattern in step-by-step pictures. You can include computer screen shots, pictures of specific steps, pictures of you or your family, and anything that can add value to your guide.
Thus far, I have not inserted any pictures in this guide (except for the cover graphic) because I am covering basic information. However, soon you will start to see various screen shots & other pictures as I go into more & more detail. I think you will see how these really help you to understand the material when I am describing a certain process. I will also be describing how I get those screen shots & other pictures & how to insert them into your e-Book quickly & easily. Again, this is a great way to add a more professional look, while giving the reader better insight.
Organizing Your eBook Guide
You can begin to organize & prepare your e-Book for writing after you have assembled an outline, notes, pictures, & research/reference articles. If you have spent adequate time preparing for your e-Book, then writing it is simply a matter of “doing it.” It will go by fairly quickly. It is a good idea to go over the outline, & brainstorm for any additional topics, points, or processes that you wanted to cover.
Again, you do not have to follow my way of doing it. I am merely describing how I do it because it has worked well for me. You are free to choose any method of preparation you wish. I would advise you, however, to spend a good deal of time thinking & scribbling ideas before you jump into the project. A general does not send out his troops without a battle plan, and you shouldn’t tackle an e-Book project without at least gathering ideas & organizing them in an effective way. Even if it takes you an entire day or more to come up with this, it can save time in the long run & help you while you are writing.
Chapter 3: Using Word Processors to Write Your eBook
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Posted under Write an eBook, eBooks
This post was written by Ben on June 4, 2009
