Who wouldn’t like to be able to earn enough money to pay off their debts, fund their retirement, or even just make enough to make a living? More and more people are answering this question with a resounding “Me!”. eBooks offer a steady stream of income for writers who can master the complex process of putting one together. If you’re looking to dive into the lucrative world of digital publishing, then this step-by-step guide will teach you how to write a successful eBook, capable of generating revenue streams.
Choose a Popular Choc-a-lot
When choosing a book to write, it’s important to consider the marketplace. If you’re lucky enough to already have a large audience of followers who love your work, then consider using that platform to your advantage. You can use a tool like Google Trends to easily find the popularity of any niche topic or keyword. In this instance, let’s say you’re passionate about saving money. You can use the search bar to search for the word “budget” and the chart will tell you all the recent searches compared to the average. Doing a quick search for “Budget” reveals that it’s currently one of the most popular search topics.
Create A Book Around A Popular Topic
The most successful eBooks out there are the ones that combine a popular topic with an authoritative voice. There’s nothing worse than arriving at the climax of a thrilling adventure only to have your eyes pop out of your head from boredom. For that reason, it’s crucial to keep the reader engaged. You can use the information you get from Google Trends to help you figure out the most popular topics in your niche. Once you have an idea of the general direction you want to go in, you can narrow your choice down to a handful of the most popular topics. This will help keep your reader interested.
From there, you can begin researching and developing a comprehensive plan of how to tackle this topic. You need to consider what’ll make your book special compared to all the other books out there on the same subject. You’ll want to take your time with this, because you’ll inevitably run into problems along the way that’ll need fixing. But all that effort will be worth it in the end.
Create A Compelling Introduction
The introduction is the first part of your eBook. It sets the stage for what is to come. For nonfiction books, the introduction should be between 750 and 1,000 words. For fiction books, this part is often between 10 and 12 pages. Regardless of the length, you need to ensure that it contains a strong opening sentence that effortlessly hooks the reader.
Write An In-Depth Analysis Of The Theme You’ve Chosen
Once you’ve decided how you’re gonna tackle your chosen topic, you need to dive into the mechanics of writing an eBook. The first part of this step is to write an in-depth analysis of the topic. This is where you’ll develop your thesis and build your entire book around. You need to consider what makes your book special compared to all the other books on your chosen topic. This won’t be an easy task, as there’ll be a lot of competition, but it’s crucial that you get this right, otherwise your eBook won’t stand out. Make sure to develop a comprehensive plan with lots of sub-points alongside your thesis. You’ll want to include the following:
- An explanation of the thesis statement.
- The main idea of your essay.
- The definition of terms you’ll be using throughout the article.
- The book’s thesis (if you’re writing a non-fiction book)
- The book’s unique selling points.
- What are the key takeaways you hope the reader will learn from your book?
As you can see, this list is quite extensive. It covers everything from the basic introduction to the book, including everything in-between. In order to maintain a consistent style and tone throughout the piece, it is advisable to write the analysis in the third person. You should write the analysis as if it was a case study or a diary. For example:
“On this day, I decided to tackle the matter of budgeting as I’ve always understood it. As you’ll soon learn, I’ve encountered many challenges along the way, but nothing I’ve faced was as arduous as this particular task.”
“In order to write an in-depth analysis of budgeting, one must, of course, examine the problem from every angle. After all, how can one tackle a problem without thoroughly understanding it?”
Curate An Overview Of Related Theories And Concepts
Depending on the complexity of the topic you’ve chosen, it is advisable to curate an overview of related theories and concepts. The goal here is to make sure that your readers have a good understanding of the terminology and are equipped with the necessary tools to tackle your topic. Be as thorough as possible throughout this step. It’s also a good idea to find a handful of experts in your field and ask them for their opinions. This shouldn’t be difficult if you’re writing within a small group of people, but for some topics, it might be tricky to track down the right experts.
Develop A Few Successful Examples
Once you’ve developed an overview of related theories and concepts, you can move on to creating a small number of successful examples. The best way to get started is to think about a time when you’ve successfully tackled a similar topic. Looking for examples of budgeting in practice can help you build an engaging case study. Remember: your goal here is to show how others have successfully applied your chosen theory or concept. If you can pull off a couple of these, then you’ll be able to craft a strong narrative that speaks to the reader.
Outline The Main Points
Your analysis and examples should be easy to follow. Once you’ve crafted an overview of related theories and concepts, you can move on to outlining the main points of your book. As mentioned above, nonfiction books should be no longer than 1,000 words and fiction books should be between 10 and 12 pages. The first part of this step will be to organize your notes into a comprehensive outline. Use the following outline as a guide to form your complete book:
Organization Of An eBook
The organization of an eBook is extremely important. Without good organizational skills, writing an eBook can be a real pain. The worst case scenario is that you’ll end up creating a ton of unconnected notes, with no discernible order. Your readers will thank you for this effort, but you’ll still have to go through the arduous task of putting the book together yourself. This isn’t something that can be easily or quickly done once you’ve written the book. Consider hiring a professional to help you put the final touches on your eBook.
Format Your Book Inline With The Rest
After you’ve written your eBook, you need to format it in line with the rest of your books. Every book should have the same general formatting rules. This includes things like the spine/gutter, font, heading levels, and page numbers. Following the basic guidelines will help ensure that your work looks like the rest of your books.
Edit Your Book For Tastefulness
In the final stage of the eBook writing process, you need to go through your book and edit it for tasteefulness. This includes changing unnecessary words, fixing grammar and spelling errors, and removing unnecessary scenes that don’t advance the story or change the plot.
When editing, you need to keep in mind that this is the part where the vast majority of your profits will come from. As a writer, you’ve had to wade through countless drafts with little to no compensation. This is not the case with editorial editing. For this stage, you’ll be getting paid to fix grammar, spelling, and tasteefulness errors. In fact, the best-selling author, Jon Acuff, suggests that the average payout for this stage is around $5,000. If you’re serious about becoming a professional writer, then this is a stage you need to focus on.