The Internet is filled with useful information, but it can also be a goldmine for writers who know how to mine it correctly. The Internet makes it easy to find what you need, when you need it, in a variety of formats that are easily accessible. If you want to write an e-book, you can use the Internet to search for the topics that will most likely interest potential readers, compile the information into a useful and informative e-book and then distribute it for free to interested parties via websites or social media.
To demonstrate how easy it is to do this, this blog post will walk you through the process of creating a basic e-book that you can use as a template to which you can add content and make more useful and interesting.
Pick A Few Keywords
When you use the Internet to search for information, you’ll most likely see a list of search results with keywords or terms highlighted in red. These are called search keywords or search terms and they are quite useful because they make it much easier for others to find your content by matching the terms you’ve used in your search queries.
For example, let’s say you’re writing a blog post about the best hiking gear. If you search for hiking gear, you’ll see a number of results that match that query, with the most useful and informative result at the top of the page. If you click on that result, you’ll be taken to a page that has all the information you need about hiking gear and the website’s owner has used some of the keywords you searched for, making your search more specific and leading you directly to that page.
As you can see, search keywords can really help drive traffic to your content and increase its discoverability. If you want to write a book, you can use the information you uncover through research to write about in your book. Or, if you prefer, you can use the information to create content for your blog. The choice is up to you!
Create An Outline
You’ll want to create an outline for your book, blog post or any significant informational piece you’re creating. An outline is simply a short list of chapters with some basic information about each, including any sub-topics or examples you might want to include to illustrate a point. When you have your outline complete, you can start to flesh it out with more detail and make it as comprehensive as possible. You can also add some additional information about the topic that you didn’t have room for in your outline.
Outlines make it much easier to plan your content and ensure you don’t get lost in the details, which is all too common with writers who attempt to write a book with no outline or plan, just jumping in and creating content as they go along. Outlines also make it much easier to follow content creation guidelines for books and blogs alike. If you want to write an e-book on information retrieval, you can use the Sitemap Maker tool to create an index that maps out all the URLs of relevant content easily and quickly. You can use the same tool to create a table of contents for your completed e-book.
Use An Online Dictionary
If you’re not sure what a word means, it’s often useful to look it up in an online dictionary. You can use many such dictionaries to look up the meaning of a word or phrase, with the advantage of an online dictionary being that you can look up the meaning of a word or phrase as you’re typing it, without having to stop what you’re doing to look up a word.
If you’re writing a book and come across a word or phrase that you don’t know what it means, you can look it up quickly in an online dictionary and then continue writing, confident that you know what it means. This can save you a lot of time and eliminate a lot of errors.
Use An Online Research Tool
If you want to do some research into a particular topic, you can use an online tool that specializes in research. These tools typically have a huge database of information that you can use to search for exactly what you need. If you type in the first few letters of a topic, you can often find the exact information you need without having to go through a bunch of unneeded results.
For example, if you’re writing a book about fashion and you want to know what is the most popular fashion style among teens, you can use a tool like Google Trends to easily find this information. All you have to do is type in your topic, fashion, and then select the years you want to review. Trending Topics will then give you a list of popular searches associated with your topic, along with their search values. You can use these values to find the most popular fashion style among teens, as you can see in the screenshot below:
From here, you can filter the data to find the information you need. Alternatively, you can download the entire database in a CSV file and then use Excel or another tool to analyze the data.
Join A Society
If you’re really motivated to write a book, you might consider joining a society of some sort, whether it’s a writing one or a historical one. Joining a society will give you access to a group of people with shared interests, which can help you get inspired and make valuable connections that will further your career, no matter what you choose.
There are a number of historical societies that focus on different time periods and you can choose which one you want to join based on the writing style you want to emulate or the historical era you want to study.
Set A Date For Completion
Writing a book is quite a large undertaking and it’s not uncommon for writers to put off starting the process, sometimes waiting years before finally committing. Setting a date for completion can help you avoid this situation by keeping you motivated to continue writing. Setting a date will also ensure you meet the requirements set by your publisher or financial backers, should you have any, so there are tangible benefits to setting a date for completion.
If you decide not to set a date for completion, you run the risk of never finishing the book, which is quite a common problem for many authors. Setting a date ensures you have a goal in sight and keeps you from getting distracted by the unnecessary details that can otherwise fill up your head, making it harder for you to concentrate on the bigger picture. While there is certainly no need to rush the process, setting a date can help you avoid the most common causes of Writers’ Block, which have nothing to do with the actual writing process and everything to do with the writer’s mind, especially when it comes to outlining.
Use An Outline To Get Inspired
If you love to write but feel somewhat blocked, you can use your outline to get inspired. Rather than going through the motions of writing or researching, you can use your outline to find the main points you need to make and then get some creative juices flowing, getting inspiration for new content, concepts or even complete stories. In the words of Stephen King, “Sometimes, if you’re stuck, it’s best to stop and restart. You can’t write well if you don’t get any ideas.”
Once you’ve got your outline finished and you’ve got some inspiration, it’s time to sit down and write. Remember: writing is a journey, not a destination. The more you put in it, the more you’ll get back. Writing is a process, not a product. Enjoy the journey and don’t be afraid to go back and change things if you feel something is missing or if the story isn’t flowing as smoothly as you’d like it to.
Make Sure You Have Everything You Need
When you’re writing a book or other long-form content, it’s quite common to run into problems with your source materials. You’ll most likely find that you need to go back and research certain facts or figures to confirm your assumptions or to add more detail to what you’ve written. This can be quite the hassle when you’re trying to streamline the writing process and avoid having to go back and revise everything you’ve written. It’s not always easy to find the source materials you need in the first place and if you do happen to get them, it can be even more cumbersome to go back and find the places where you’ve incorrectly stated or understated something important. Errors like these can really throw off your overall presentation and make you wonder if anyone will actually be able to understand your content. If this sounds like something that might happen to you, it’s a good idea to have a backup plan in case something goes wrong.
Getting everything you need can be a painless process if you prepare ahead of time. There are a variety of places you can get all the books, articles and other sources you might need, including online libraries and research firms that provide these materials for scholarship or for free.