Writing e-Books For Pleasure & Profit

When you look at the whole project, it seems like an impossible task. That's why you have to break it down into convenient tasks. Think of climbing a mountain. You are standing at the foot of it and looking up at its summit vanishing into the clouds. How can you possibly scale such an gigantic and dangerous mountain?

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

Now think of writing your e-book 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 worked through the following list, you will be ready to actually begin writing your e-book.

Getting started is the hardest part so here is my best idea to help you get those first thoughts down "on paper":

If your story is going to be a feature or review, what conclusion are you drawing? What do you want the reader to conclude? Now, what should your first sentence be?

Take a leaf out of Steven Covey's book and start with the end in mind. Therefore, start with your conclusion first, then build the rest of the story to support it.

For example:

Building a new website can be extremely exciting.

Why do I say that? Because....
Here are the things you may need to consider...
How you can quickly find...
These are the sources that are easiest to....
When you have done that...

And that is why building a new website can be extremely exciting.

You could visit my Article Writing Lens for more ideas to write about or go over to Direct Articles and read the articles that other people are writing.

What am I going to write about?

Don't beat yourself up, one of the very best ways to start writing is to think of an experience of yours. It could be any experience, good or bad, on any subject.

First, figure out your e-book'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.

Which topic is the best?

Hobbies and Crafts e-books and information about hobbies or crafts.
Technology and Gadgets e-books such as 'How To Master Your Digital Camera'
Making or Saving Money tips could be a hot topic this year.
Remedies for Insomnia: seventeen different ways to count sheep.
Get off that couch: fifteen exercise plans to whip you into shape.

I write ebooks mainly about careers or job finding...

Think about what's important to you and you'll probably find others are interested too!

Who is going to be interested in my writing?

You can ask yourself endless questions on 'what' is going to be the subject of your ebook. Quite honestly almost any topic will do, and a lot of people will read your information so long as it is both interesting and informative.

This is the reason why people read articles and e-books.That's why you are reading this 'Writing e-Books For Pleasure & Profit' isn't it?

If you have already written your book and you have hit the rejection stonewall, don't give up, you have produced something from your heart and many people will like it enough to buy it. All you need to do is find another way to introduce your writing to your audience by another means: The Internet!

Let me tell you what I do and show you the tools I use.

I didn't choose writing as a career, it chose me! But writing is what I do, whether it's in the writing of the content on these web-pages or because I am a Career Coach as well, in the production and publishing of e-books on mainly career-based subjects such as this one: Business Networking or this one: Job Sniper's System

So this is what you need to make a success of writing e-books:

1. Your writing ability (which we will take as read);
2. Pride in the value of your work;
3. A willingness to learn and try another approach;
4. The right tools to produce your work;
5. Persistence and determination;
6. Readiness to follow marketing guidance

With all of that you will soon be able to say that writing e-books for a living was a sound decision - you will not only have written and produced your own e-book, but you will have published it and what's more actually sold some copies!!

Then, if you still want to go down the traditional route of producing a physical book or novel, it's so much easier when you know the market is ready for you because you tested its popularity online first.

All that stands between you and your success as a published writer is the lack of the required tools. If you take a look at the examples of my own e-books above you will note they are in Portable Document Format (.pdf).

This is the most popular format for e-books because it can be viewed on any PC or Apple Mac and the e-book will always look the same. Other forms of presentation used by ebook compilers are often executable files (.exe) which can only be viewed on Windows based systems i.e. PCs and cannot be viewed on Macs so you limit the audience.

The software to produce .exe based e-books is also usually fairly expensive for example Ebook Gold which is one of the best professional e-book compilers on the market and costs $97.00 which is quite an expense when you are setting out.

Equally the top rated PDF creator Adobe Acrobat will cost at least $129.00 but you can get the reader free if you don't already have it by clicking here

However what you need when starting out is to keep the costs down so I recommend you download the free version of PDF Suite 995 which is the one I used to use all the time. It won't cost you anything and if you don't mind viewing some of their 'sponsor ads' for 30 seconds you don't need to pay for the upgrade.

You simply download and install it to your PC as a 'printer' and when you have prepared your document in MS Word you just select 'Print' and your PDF is produced.

As simple as that!

Making things even easier and less complicated than the PDF Suite 995 are these two free tools you can use to convert your text or Word document into the PDF format.

Open Office Suite - Designed as a single piece of software, OpenOffice was created to help you. This complete All-in-One Office Suite contains all that is needed for a productive day at the office, from word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. OpenOffice is the best overall solution to create your e-books in text form the simply press a button to convert it into a PDF.

Google Docs - If you already have a Google account, then just add Google Docs to your account. This enables you to word-process your documents, save them online and export them simply as a PDF e-book. Even better it also allows you to use security settings to prevent unauthorized copying of your finished e-books.

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 a textbook. Readers respond to the feeling that you are having a conversation with them so break up the length and structure of your sentences so you don't hypnotize them to sleep. Sentences that are all the same length and structure become very boring!

Good writing 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 eventual e-book sales figures.

In an e-book 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 oases you create on your page. If your page is too dense, your reader will quit as soon as their eyes begin to tire.

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 gone 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.

Last of all; create an index and a bibliography.

That's it! You've written an e-book! Now all you have to do is publish your e-book online, and wait for download requests from your website visitors.

You must have heard about Twitter. Everyone seems to be talking about it.

It's quite a phenomenon - social networking and micro-blogging in one. But did you know that you can actually make money from it? My e-book 'Twitter For The Tweeple' explains everything about Twitter

What is Twitter?

Well, where have you been.. LOL? Twitter would have to be the fastest growing site on the web today. It is taking the internet by storm and there are around 10,000 new users per day signing up to participate in this internet revolution.

Twitter is best described as a micro blogging platform. You are limited to 140 characters each time you do an update, which initially, may seem a small amount.

However, as you become more experienced, it's just amazing what you can fit into 140 characters.

That said, Twitter is much, much more than that. It is like one huge global
chat room, but then again, it doesn't have to be. It all depends on how many people you follow on Twitter. If it's in the thousands, then your "Tweetstream" will be running fast and furious with everything that's coming in. If you are only following a few hundred, or even less, then things are much easier to keep up with.

Twitter is also a great way to meet new people online, particularly those with similar interests to you. You will learn how to do this more as you progress through this free e-book.

Download a FREE copy here

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Nick Daws is the author of over 70 best-selling books. He wrote the hugely popular Write Any Book in 28 Days! course and knows the writing industry better than anybody else. And in his latest course, Quick Cash Writing, Nick wants to personally show you EVERYTHING you need to make a GREAT living as a freelance writer.

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Information publishing and e-book writing is big business, it's a growing market and if you get it right you can make incredible profits.

However 90% of ebook authors will never make it. If you believe the hype surrounding information publishing I'm sure half the planet would be millionaires by now - but they're not, and only a limited number of people who create ebooks will ever make those massive profits you read about.

WHY? Most reports / ebooks / ecourses on 'how to sell e-books' only give you a single piece of the puzzle. If you search online you'll find thousands of 'How To's' mostly written by people that don't really know how themselves or those that do but really don't want to share all the facts with you.

Well it's time for something a little different. . . .

I'm going to tell you about my own book - "Easy Ebook Money" which takes you through every step to selling information products you'll ever need to know in detail.

You get the whole picture - everything you need to know, and just to make sure...

I'm going to give you with it every other ebook on information publishing there is worth reading - YOU GET THE LOT: Click Here For "Easy Ebook Money" - it only costs $11.00 AND you get resell rights, so if you sell it to your clients, YOU keep all the profits!

Did you know that you can easily get freelance writing jobs that pay tens of thousands of dollars every month? As long as you can write and express your thoughts clearly, you can become a high-earning writer!

With freelance writing jobs, you can...

There are vital things you have to know before you jump on the freelance writing bandwagon. As with any type of business or earning opportunity, you have to learn the ropes first so that you'll get everything right the first time.

To help you easily and quickly succeed as a freelance writing specialist, I'd like to introduce you to a step-by-step manual that will guide you towards earning 5 figures per month.

It's entitled How to Earn a Full-Time Income through Freelance Writing - it only costs $17.00 and comes with a 100% money back guarantee.

This course is designed to help you jump-start your freelance writing career, find your first clients, get paid with your projects, manage your time and writing team, and create an endless stream of freelance writing job opportunities.

Visit my e-books website for more information sources and e-books to download (some are free!)

You'll find it at eBookDownloads.biz