writing an e-book . . at least trying to!

Yes, easy solution - disconnect from the Internet

The best thing you can do is create yourself a very strong and detailed outline. If you can do that, writing something like this really becomes writing by numbers, or fill in the blanks.

A simple approach to take is to split your book into 8 or 10 of the biggest questions your market has about this subject you're writing about.

Each of those questions will become a chapter.

Now find a way to make each of your prospects' 10 biggest questions into 5 or 10 steps they need to take.

If you now write a page for each step you'll be able to churn that book out in no time.

First, how do you know it's going to be a 50-page book? You set yourself up for anxiety and even failure by seeing the project that way. There is no right or wrong number of pages. If you have valid information that people want and need then the book might only be several pages or many more.

Too many people think they have to knock out lots of pages for their work to be accepted in the marketplace. That's true to a degree but it doesn't have to be. Most folks can spot an ebook miles away that has been padded with all kinds of fluff just to make it seem more valuable.

Write your book with the goal of communicating useful information to people that need it. Blend in your thoughts and experiences. I think if you take this approach you won't hate writing so much and you'll find the pages just piling up.

You might consider first making an outline of the points you want to make in the book. Then take one point at a time and write about it. That way, you're not writing a 50-page book. It's more like writing a bunch of related essays or even articles.

There's a simple formula for writing just about any info piece. It goes like this:

· Tell 'em you're going to tell them. This is the introduction where you explain and summarize your background, your qualifications, and exactly what the reader can expect in reading your stuff.

· Tell 'em. This is where you explain everything from A to Z.

· Tell 'em you've told them. This is where you summarize what you've written and tie it all together.

This process is almost like using a writing template and it makes the task much easier. All kinds of information is delivered this way.

Good Luck!

People have given you great ideas.

For what it's worth jelder1, I "reverse engineer" my books. The very last thing I do is write the book. Here are some steps I have found useful.

Design your website before you write your book. Now, you don't have to fire up Dreamweaver or anything like that. You just want the copy. Do it in Word or whatever. But write a killer copy first. The idea is that you design the world's best sales copy for a book like yours, and then you write the book using your sales copy as the blueprint. Kind of like working backwards on the thing.

Second. Someday you will want testimonials. Sit down, right now, today and write three testimonials like you would one day like to receive. No--you obviously won't ever use these, but doing this makes you focus on how you want your future customers to feel after reading your book. Then, when you write your book make sure you include material in your book that will guarantee you get testimonials like those. Again--working backwards!

A final idea. Some of my books are traditional paper and ink type books and I sell them through catalogs of book distributors. The books will end up having an image and about a 60-word description in teh catalogs. When I submit new books I always include my own suggested description.

So what I do, before I write my book, is to sit down and write a 60-word description of it first. This forces me to distill the essence of the book into a few short lines. Anyone can describe their book in a long web page, but describing it in a 60 word description really forces you to distill out all of the crud and think about the most essential key points.

Doing these things is sort of working ass-backwards. But it also provides you with a blueprint for developing your book. Most people write a book and then say, "Ok, it's done--now how can I sell it?" What you are doing here is sort of developing a little marketing plan first, and then developing your book around it. If you do this, then writing your book becomes almost an automatic response to the sales materials you have created.

Another idea I have used is to get on the Interstate, drive 50 miles, pull off and get a motel for the weekend. Get away from the distractions of everyday life. Crib up with some food for 48 hours and don't leave the room. You can get a 50 page ebook done in that amount of time.

Good Luck!

visit: they.misled.us/dark-room

this is exactly what it says, a darkroom online with zero distractions.

Its a free tool to help people just like you. I am sure the other responses will also help greatly.

Martin Boyd
The-Entrepreneur-Club.com

wow you guys are amazing thanks for all your input I'll get going!! Very very good information to help me concentrate on the topic at hand

Great suggestions here. Thanks!

If you ever get stuck writing, or trying to come up with some content for your book...this works well, especially in niches besides IM:

PRIVATE LABEL RIGHTS CONTENT

That is all...

Another idea is to set up a work/reward system. For example, after:

*one hour work
*5 written pages
*1000 words

you get xx numer of minutes to "play". Then back to work. This works for me.

Love,
Shannon

write bulletpoints on what you want
go to rentacoder.com or elance.com
advertise in content writing category
deal with responses from bidders
look at writer's previous work
select the writer(s) you like
you will get the ebook done quick

you need to value your time. understand that some people are more skilled at some things than others

Don't set out to write a 50 page book.

What I do is set out to write a book. Once I have the topic in mind I think of a possible title which will get edited when finished.

Then I write a list of what I want to include - these are the starting points for the chapters.

For each item on the list I open a new word doc and start making notes. As ideas come to mind I can add them to each chapter. Before you know it you can have far more than you originally intended to write

Bit by bit I piece it all together by copying and pasting each chapter into the main book.

Then add the intro, conclusion, contents, disclaimers and links.

It may be a clumsy way of writing but it suits me. and gets the job done.

Mary

Just spend an hour and come out with an outline. Break it down into topics that you need to write about. Take one topic a day and do it. You'll be bound to finish it. I know what you mean about writing though. Sometimes you feel like you want to bang your head against the wall when you're writing a lot. Just one day at a time and you'll get it done.

Hi Fran

Yes, sure, by all means send me a PM.

Mary

Write a chapter a day without any interuptions. If you get distracted think of the profits you could gain from completing the task

I have just finished my third small book and found that a trick I learned from working with ADD/ADHD kids really helped when I had trouble focusing. First of all put on music with a strong 60 or 120 beats to the minute (the ideal frequency for the two sides of the brain to coordinate) with headphones. Then use Powerpoint or a similar program to organize your thoughts. I put each main point on a slide and then write copy in the notes section. It means that at any one time you are only looking at one point. When you have thoughts down, then you can use the slide sorter view to arrange things in order and then cut and paste to a document. The beauty of doing it this way is that the outline view gives you the basics for sales pages and the powerpoint is ready with just a little bit of graphic help to create a video presentation.

I found this very useful when I had the blank page thought blockage. I could come up with 1 point I wanted to get across. It fills up half the screen on powerpoint, 1 line on a document. It is also the tool that made me realize that I had two seperate books about thriving in unemployement rather than one. When a section is consistantly giving you a blockage, it usually means that it either isn't supposed to be in there, or it is supposed to have a different angle.

Katie..Author of Holiday Grand Plans

Hi Jelder

you still can outsource and still have all your thoughts in the ebook. Just write down everything you want to have in the ebook and the writer will integrate it.

We are doing a lot of such ebooks for customers. See my signature.

Thanks

Gunter

Well it's obvious that it's a task that you are dreading so that is why you are avoiding it. I want to ask you... Have you written an eBook before? Would you say that your copywriting skills are good?

Depending on your answers you should definitely look into outsourcing. Also, just because you are outsourcing does not mean that your ideas will not be in the eBook. You need to share your ideas with the writer, and even submit your notes.

To your success,

Giselle