Publishing Your Own eBook
“Everyone has a book inside them,” is a comment heard often. At some point in our lives we recognize we have something we can offer to many other people. One of the ways we can share this valuable information with others is to write it out and distribute it. This seems easy enough on the surface. If you’re just writing for your family and/or a few friends you can easily do so. Whether you use pen, pencil, paper, or a word processing program, your publishing capacity is somewhat limited by making copies and distributing them. On the other hand, if you have broader hopes of distributing to a much larger audience you need to take advantage of the most current technology to produce and distribute your finished product. Authoring and producing an eBook (electronic book) could well be the answer to your needs.
Sharing or selling your knowledge over the Internet via the eBook is a low cost method to meet this need–we refer to this process as “self-publishing.” Once your work is completed you have an inexhaustible supply of material that can be shipped off to willing buyers. The Internet is the perfect medium to be able to reach a broad based group of individuals seeking information and knowledge. We live in a “I want it now” society; an eBook is the solution to meet many of these impatient visitors needs. Being able to download your eBook quickly is a big advantage.
You need to create your eBook for the group with which you want most to share your information and knowledge with; your book could be for family, friends or potential customers. IF your efforts are directed at selling to potential customers, you’ll need to identify who those people are. This will require some research on your part. You’ll want to ascertain what your targeted group’s needs or wants are. Areas of research should include perusing online discussion group sites–from which you’ll want to review as many postings and articles as possible. Look for questions being asked several times–this shows a need and interest for particular subjects. Other areas you should research could include message boards, subscribing to email discussion lists, forums and news groups. Don’t overlook checking out what are some of the top selling books of the time–check Amazon.com for starters.
From your research in defining what is being read and researched, you can create a list of possible subjects to write about–given your own interest and knowledge base. You can also identify the specific elements or chapter topics you should include in your book. Start your lists with broad subject groupings. Chapter creation should be directed at more definitive aspects of the broad category you’ve chosen. As a for instance, if you were writing about investments your chapters might look something like this:
Investing Basics
Building a Portfolio
Stocks (buying and selling)
Bonds (types [government, corporate and municipal] – buying and selling)
MutualFunds
Closed End Mutual Funds
ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds)
Asset Allocation
Rebalance a Portfolio
Tax Implications
Philanthropic Benefits
You should write each chapter separately. You may have a desire to compose or draft a certain chapter first, even if it will become the concluding chapter, and then move on to other chapters in a random order. You can sort the various chapters later, placing them in their appropriate place, to make the book flow smoothly and with continuity.
Each chapter should be filled with ample information to provide your readers with relevant subject matter. The chapter should contain as much viable information, and be as complete and enlightening as possible. Readers are looking for answers and solutions to their questions and needs. If you don’t provide the information they seek, your book will not be of value or have significance; if you’re selling your eBook, sales could drop off drastically. Honest and properly presented information is king.
Your eBook needs good valuable information first and foremost. Frilly and colorful elements make the book’s appearance better, but that isn’t what people are looking for. Make the information you provide earnest, relevant and readable.
Always take the time to proof your material several times. Be sure spelling, punctuation and grammar are as complete and accurate as possible. Have others read it too to ensure you have a flowing easy to read book; they should be willing and capable of providing critique about spelling, punctuation and grammar in-addition to comments about content and it’s read ability.
Your book should be constructed with small blocks or paragraphs filled with relevant information. Leave a space between each paragraph. Indenting is a personal option, but totally not necessary. Use a font that is easy to read like Arial or Verdana (which are used by most all computers); you don’t have to be fancy here. Open, or white space, is helpful to readers; that is why you want spaces between paragraphs. Short paragraphs help with reading the material too. Adding headers to specify key information for important elements or paragraphs is also helpful. These additions will help keep the reader’s interest.
For more specifics on creating and publishing your eBook you need to read these additional articles:
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