This is a partnered post
They say that we all have a book in us. However, as it turns out, in the age of the internet, we all have a lot of eBooks too. But what happens if you don’t know where to start or what you can do to make your dreams of writing an eBook. Well, in this article, we will take a look at how you can prepare and start your eBook.
Ideas
Write down as many ideas as possible. Some won’t work out, the others will be plucked from thin air. Eventually, though you will settle on the perfect one for you to start. It might be tempting to follow the money and jump on the bandwagon of what other people are doing, but that is not an eBook born from passion but rather ‘just because’.
Think about what you read. What kind of blogs, what podcasts do you listen to – what do you find interesting? How do they manage to keep you interested and what could you implement in your own eBook to make people enjoy reading it?Â
Research
Before you write anything, you should make sure that any advice, information, or facts that you are sharing, you can back up with some links and references. It makes what your saying appear much more professional and in the ‘expert’ remit.
Spend as much time as you can read eBooks that are in the same field as the one you intend to write. You aren’t looking to steal ideas here. Instead, you are looking at how they have been presented, where you can improve, and where you might fit in the current climate.Â
It is vital that if you are writing from the point of view of a person of a different background, or ethnicity than you – that you spend a lot of time verifying what you think against reality.Â
Software
Decide what software you’d like to write to you eBook on. Many computers come with programs that will work perfectly well for what you need. But, you might still need to do some research as to what is best. Publisher is a really common starter program, but if you have a Mac, you might need to read https://setapp.com/how-to/alternatives-to-microsoft-publisher-for-mac to get you on the way.Â
Before you start writing, make sure that you are able to move your work, and to save it in different file types. This will matter when it comes to publishing time.Â
Source
You will probably want to accompany what you write with a range of images. You can take your own, hire a photographer to capture what you are looking for, or use a website that offers images with a CC0 license (meaning you can use them for whatever you want, including publishing).Â
Publishing Options
You are probably going to be self-publishing. Which means that you should look into how much each platform will charge for the sale of each book, test out their uploading system, and ask as many questions as you can from the writing community.Â
Take your time. Although they say that if the first thing you released was perfect, you released it too late – the truth is, publishing anything is daunting and sometimes you need that time.Â
8 Comments
Excellent tips! I’ll have to do some research about the different platforms to sell e-books. So far, I was simply thinking of putting it up on my website. But it may be a good idea to spread it around to multiple places.
Great tips. The publishing side seems so hard and overwhelming the first time you do it, but it soon becomes second nature and you wonder why you put off doing it for so long lol
Debbie
P.S Thanks for hosting #ablogginggoodtime
Really good advice here. I think I have at least 6 books waiting to jump out of me, but I never seem to have the time to actually get the words down. Maybe I should start with an Ebook and see how that goes?
#ablogginggoodtime
Some great tips here Katie, thanks a million! I’m in the process of writing my first book. Only thing is I’m not sure if I should publish it as an ebook or not?! Decisions decisions!! But I’ll defo check out the links you’ve included above. Thanks again. Ross (TSP) #ablogginggoodtime
Thanks for the good advice. I have never thought about writing a book, but maybe I should. I have a lot of posts I could build on. Great article!
Excellent tips to get you thinking X
#ablogginggoodtime
These are very useful tips. I have a few first drafts of stories waiting for me to have the time to look over them. One day I might try doing something with them! #ablogginggoodtime
I guess our blogs are all ebooks aren’t they! Perhaps there is a book in all of us afterall! #ablogginggoodtime