How to write your ebook (part 3)
This is the third post in my How to Write Your ebook series. In case you’ve missed the previous posts you can catch up here.
In this post we look at getting started and writing your first chapters.
Getting Started
For many, getting started is the most difficult thing to do when writing their first ebook, but it doesn’t need to be.
Most books (ebooks or real) start with some kind of introduction or preface. So you can start with that or in fact any section that you feel most comfortable with. Start with the section you find easiest. The more difficult chapters or ones requiring more work can be written later, when you’ve got more confidence from writing the easier chapters.
Top tip: write each chapter or section as a separate file based on the outline you created in part 2. As you complete each section, don’t forget to tick it off your ebook outline. That way you’ll see exactly how much you have left and you’ll have a real sense of achievement from ticking things off.
This way all you’re ever doing is writing a series of blog posts. Think of it like that and it will become a whole lot easier (promise!).
When you’ve finished them all you can easily pull them together into a single master file. (oh yes, and don’t forget to save them all in the same file folder. You don’t want to be searching all over your hard drive for the wackly titled introduction which you can’t for the life of you remember what you called it)
To make the files easier to find save the file name with the prefix of the section number. For example 01_introduction.doc, 02_firstchaptertitle.doc
What do you write them in?
Chances are you won’t have some fancy desktop publishing software (I don’t) so that leaves you with your wordprocessing software. I personally use Microsoft Word for the Mac because I’m familiar with it and it has some really good features, but you could use Pages, Open Office or even Google Docs. (the later has the advantage of you can work with it anywhere and you don’t have to worry about loosing it on a USB stick!
Know your audience – the 3 biggest mistakes to avoid
#3 not knowing who your audience is
You can’t solve someone’s problem if you don’t know who your someone is!
A great tip I found on problogger.net is to write a profile of your typical reader.
You can create an imaginary person, but I picked an actual reader called Tom:
Tom is a mid 30′s Internet entrepeneur, who works for himself but has limited experience in running a business. His typical problems are growing his business and making the business less reliant on himself.
In fact I actually picked 2 readers because they have different types of businesses, here’s Ali:
Ali is early 30′s who runs and owns his own letting agency. His business has grown massively in the last year going from a team of 3 to a team of 10. He operates out of high street premises, but markets extensively on the Internet, his problems are typically managing his team, growing the business and managing his expenses.
When I’m writing a post, I think of both Tom and Ali and think how would this post benefit them?
You should do exactly the same with the ebook.
But don’t guess who you think it is. I thought my typical reader was male mid 30′s own business or aspiring entrepeneur. According to Alexa i discovered it’s actually an 18-24 year old female!
#2 assuming Everyone’s an expert
Have you ever been on holiday and switched on the TV and had a local TV programme on? Really difficult to follow if you don’t know what they are saying isn’t it? It’s the same with writing your ebook. You need to talk in a language the reade will understand.
Spend time on not only what the audience wants, but how best to present it to them.
#1 it’s about you
The single biggest mistake. The reader is everything, you don’t matter.
My ebook project
Now, where am I am with my ebook? Well most of the chapters are now written in draft and I’m in the process of editing to ensure the sections flow and contain no obvious errors, this week I’m working on the launch plan. Launch date 19th May…oh boy.
So what do you think?
Th point about assuming that everyone is an expert is critical. each day there is a pile of new blood that will enter your niche. There are things that may seem completely second nature to you, but are brand new terms for this other group of people.
Never assume a certain level of knowledge from your radership. It’s imoportant to explain whatever topic that you are using, all the way through, so that you can engage as many people as possible. If you assume a lot of knowledge on the reader, you may get a lot of product returns, because they just don’t get what you are saying.
-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
.-= Joshua Black | The Underdog Millionaire´s last blog ..5 Confidence-Building Tips to Increase the Closing Rate of Your Sales Letters =-.
Matthew Needham Reply:
May 11th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
thanks Joshua, you’re absolutely right, you need to assume that you’re explaining things to a 10 year old. That’s not to say you patronise, you make it easy for people to understand. Good point about product returns, you don’t want any of that!
You make it sound easy. Looking forward to seeing the end product!
Matthew Needham Reply:
May 11th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Hi Ami, well the proof will be in the end product. Thanks very much for your supportive comments. When I’ve done this, I’ll be doing an ebook on writing an ebook….!
How long have you been working on your book? I want to tackle this soon with a new concept I have.
.-= Mike Roosa´s last blog ..I’m Giving Away The Farm — Read This If You Like Free Stuff =-.
Matthew Needham Reply:
May 11th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Mike, to say months is accurate only in the sense that I started it in February. However, it gets written in fits and starts a page or two at a time. All told it could probably have been written in a few days with solid work. Thanks for the comment.
Nice tips.. I wrote and re-wrote my ebook over a month time about 3 times..lol
I would also add.. once you have what you feel is informative then just stop.
My mistakes was each day I would add more info..till I just had to walk away and be happy with what I had.
.-= John Paul´s last blog ..Breaking Into The Top 20 Internet Marketers Online With No List =-.
Matthew Needham Reply:
May 11th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
John Paul, that really is excellent advice. To know you’ve done enough is enough. Thanks for the comment!
I will read the entire post in a moment, but I was so excited by the first paragraph that I just had to comment. Your advice on ‘ just start writing’ is wiser than Confucius and I just wanted to thankyou for the inspiration. I have been wanting to write an ebook as a free gift to promote my blog and my brand but have not started because there is so much to do and its such a big job. But now I have a title and an opening index page and this is thanks to your post here (which I have not even read through yet! OMG)
I look forward to following these posts more and more.
Ill ketchup soon Matthew
.-= Alex´s last blog ..How to Write A Review that Sells! =-.
Matthew Needham Reply:
May 14th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Alex, I’m really glad this has inspired you! Hope you’ve made progress now!
Another useful post on writing an ebook, Matthew.
I agree that we can’t assume that our readers are experts. I have this problem where I think everyone knows what I know and so it’s not useful. I have to take a step back from that attitude and realize that yes, some people already know what I know, but there are A LOT of people who don’t know what I know. Those people are the people that need my ebook.
Good luck on your ebook. Looking forward to it.
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..How to Stop Thinking and Start Doing – Guest Post =-.
Matthew Needham Reply:
May 14th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Thanks Karen. I’m glad you’ve found it of use.
It’s really difficult to do, especially when you work in a technical subject area like yours. I read that you should aim to explain something as if you were explaining it to a 10 year old. That’s good advice, but difficult not to make it sound patronising.
Better late than never
I’ve been seeing/reading a lot of tips on writing ebooks lately. There’s an ebook launch here and there. It’s actually perfect for me as I try to learn from you guys. Surely I’ll come back to this post (bookmarked!) and the other 2 posts when my time comes.
Have a good one.
.-= Gines´s last blog ..Don’t You Have Time to Think? =-.
Matthew Needham Reply:
May 14th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
Yeah I know, tell me about it!
Glad you’ve book marked it. Hope it spurs you on to write one!
Hi Matthew – great stuff. I’m pushing through the summer to have at least two e-book products ready for the start of the 2010-11 hockey season. Your series has been a big help.
.-= Tom´s last blog ..OHL Grad, Neal Martin, Playing in Denmark =-.
Matthew Needham Reply:
May 19th, 2010 at 7:24 am
That’s really great news Tom. I wish you every success. I hope you find the forthcoming posts equally useful.
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