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Need Advice: First E-book Endeavor

by seriousmny
3 replies
Hi,

I have found a niche that I'm not an authority of, but I am a consumer in the beauty industry. There is a serious need for this information in a condensed form and I believe an e-book would sell very well and have researched that. I have found forums chuck full of years of information that I can use to author an e-book with. What is the best way to go about this? I thought about approaching the authors of the best entries in the forums and ask them to rewrite their content and pay them a fee for it or would it be wrong for me to just read the entries and take the best nuggets from that and rewrite it with my own personal additions.

I know when you do research, you will find information on lots of sites and other places. Would it be the correct thing to do to have a reference section or something to at least acknowledge where I researched my information?

I do article writing for others and research when I write articles, but that's different in my mind. I'm actually putting my name on this content and saying it's from me, so I want to be ethical as well.

I hope I'm not over thinking this. Please help a girl out.

Thanks.
#advice #ebook #endeavor
  • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
    People spend millions of dollars every day on compiled research.

    Researching and organizing information is pretty much what most
    non-fiction authors do. They often acknowledge their source
    material.

    See, time has value, and when you research and compile information
    and publish it you are investing your time. The person who purchases
    the book from you will invest considerably less of his or her time,
    because you've sorted-out the information that person really wants.

    At a higher level in authorship (and marketing) you do want to give
    the impression that you've created or discovered something new,
    but at the basic level people are looking to get the information
    they want in a pleasant, non-time-wasting way.

    So the answer is yes, you may compile and rewrite information you've
    read elsewhere. If you quote directly from other writers you should
    get permission and give attribution.
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    • Profile picture of the author sanhal
      I agree with Loren.

      I think it's ethical to gather information from forums and put it into your own words to compile your ebook. That's what they tell you to do in ebook writing courses.

      Good luck with it and let us know when it's finished.

      Sandy
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  • Profile picture of the author Big Al
    They're both great ideas.

    You could have every expert on a variety of different forums answer a question or re-write a post that fit together into an ebook. I think that has a really nice, original idea to it. Not a guarantee it would sell better.

    And as for compiling the information - probably slower but nothing unethical about it. Especially if you add to it and improve what's already there. Even if it's just making it easier to understand for the 'lay man'.

    Sounds great and good luck!
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