To those of you that have experience writing an e-book, do you know of any FREE resources that aid in the process? I am looking for formatting ideas, or just any general tips. Also, how do you organize the project? Do you write an outline prior or just go with what you feel works best? I think I would enjoy writing e-books compared to just articles alone. I have a lot to say regarding certain subjects that I am an expert on! I want to share that knowledge in one place, instead of everywhere and anywhere. Thanks!
Writing an e-book need not necessarily be any different from writing articles except that you write an ebook in a continuous fashion -- much like a report or a book. The best way to get started is to make a TOC (Table of contents); this gives you a good starting point. The key here is to write well and keep the content top notch. Write it all in Microsoft word or any other word processor and use a free web-based PDF converter to make it a PDF file which can then be used a digital file.
How to Write an E-book in Just 14 Days The link above is to a free e-book I released a while ago that will guide you through the process of writing, formatting, publishing, and beginning to market your e-book over the course of 2 weeks. It's based on the 14 day e-book writing challenge we ran at my freelance writing blog last year.
Oh! Awesome! I saw that somewhere in the forums, I will DEFINITELY be checking it out and using it to my benefit! Thank you!
I'd recommend organising your structure for the e-Book first. Laying out key elements and getting an idea in your head of the order you'd like to put them in will benefit you a lot later on. It's a lot easier to get where you're going when you know where you're headed.
ElusiveStudios is right, it's crucial to get everything sorted out before you start to write. Also, try carrying a notebook with you. It can help you to make schemes and drawings when you suddenly have the greatest idea ever.
I'll usually do a rough outline of what I want to cover and then begin writing it. While doing that I design it as well (I use Pages on Mac). While I have design/layout experience, you can come up with great ideas by just checking out other e-books, magazines, etc. When that's done, I export to a PDF and if required, I use Adobe Acrobat Pro for finishing details. Of course, you could just do a plain e-book without many/any design elements and presentation. Check out Jenn's link. I'm sure she has good starter info there for you. Good luck!
Uniquification - Generating Good Unique Content Quickly and Easily The above is a free ebook that I released that also might help you. It helps you brainstorm topics, research them, collect content, and 'uniquify' it so that it really is yours. You can do that for an ebook or for articles (or blog posts, etc.). Here is a structural tip that might help you. Consider a Question/Answer format for your eBook. Collect a bunch of questions that people ask related to your niche, and answer them. Then arrange them into an order that makes sense. You could do the same thing with 'topics', but answering questions makes for a great, readable eBook. It's also helpful if you have a natural ability to 'cluster' topics. If you can jot down 30 or so topics related to your niche, create 3 major groups, and 3 subgroups within each group, you have a natural outline under which you can start creating your actual content. I hope that helps!
I always make a rough outline, too. I don't like a lot of formatting, even in ebooks that I buy. I'd rather just get straight to the information. Some bold headers are nice, and a table of contents, but I just like the information. Pictures are nice too, especially for how-to books. In fact, they can take up a large part of the book, if done well, IMO.
I've got an ebook on writing fast coming out this summer, and the big thing I recommend (the book's not available yet, this is free advice ) is basically what everyone else has said about the outline, but I thought I'd add to that. Write a quick outline BEFORE you do any research or start any real "writing." I used to do tons of research and then start writing, and I ended up wasting a lot of time because I had looked up stuff I didn't even need. So do a rough outline, then sketch out your ideas a little more fully, then research. Hope this helps. Angie Dixon
LOL. What you just said would be nice is formating. Basically, you want the information to flow well for the reader. S/he shouldn't be fighting mind fatigue to get through the content and there should be a constant unbreakable connection from the start of the reader's session until its conclusion.