Do I need to put references in my ebook?

Yes, quotes need to be referenced. However, if you start out with "Ghandi once said (and give his quote) that is ok because you have given the credit to Ghandi. The important thing is to not take on quotes of others as if they are yours. That is plaigerism.

You might find this helpful:

When to Cite Sources - Academic Integrity at Princeton University

The level of citation depends on the accepted norms within whatever area of published content you happen to be working. The above will give you some more insight.

- Tom

Just cite the references to put the matter to rest in your mind.

Hello there!

It may not be necessary, but if you want high conversion and attract people you need to put a reference.

As it is one way for people to know the quality of your ebook. It helps a lot because it sometimes became the factor for others to choose your ebook.

Make it just brief but precise, make it accurate and true. You also need a unique reference and showcase to them why your ebook is better than others.

Thanks

Legality aside, there's a very pragmatic reason to include citations.

They let you "borrow" the authority of the source.

Unless you are already one of the leading subject masters, and recognized as such, people tend to doubt unknowns. There's a trust barrier.

Let's say I do a book about some medical topic, maybe the ever-popular "weight loss" market. In that market, no one has ever heard of me. But they have heard of the Center for Disease Control. They have heard of the New England Journal of Medicine. Heck, they've heard of Web MD.

If I offer a blanket statement with no backup, most of my audience will doubt me. If I back it up by citing an article from the CDC website, or from the NEJM, then they don't have to trust me, just my source.

And if they trust my source, and they recognize my ability to choose trustworthy sources, they start to assume that I must know what I'm talking about. Some of their authority rubs off on me.

I actually teach a course on creating best selling non fiction books by simply leveraging other people's work.

Let's use the weight loss market mentioned by John as an example. I've taken the liberty to progress it further into the burn belly fat niche.

So to start this book we need to brainstorm everything you can think of around burning belly fat. There are no daft suggestions just throw everything at it.

So what to eat
When to eat
How to eat
What not to eat
How to cook
Weight training
Cardiovascular exercise
When to exercise
How to exercise
Avoid injuries
What to eat when you go out
What supplements to take
How to monitor your weight loss
Goal setting
Positive mental attitude

And so on.

Then search for reputible information on these subjects and gather as much supporting information as you can. Take not of books that keep coming up.

Now I recommend that you actually buy the books that look to be the best but you don't have to. Often top authors will have interviews on you tube and you can gain information from Google books and Amazon.

I aim to get between 10 and 20 resources for each point in the brainstorm.

Now because I'm constructing a book to sell I do research on each to decide who I am going to quote.

This research is simply looking at their ranking in Amazon, seeing how many search results appear on google, how many followers they have on social media and what their website is like.

I then construct a book that has between 20 and 50 chapters. Each chapter deals with an aspect related to the main theme but there is no narrative to the book. Each chapter has about 12 sources that are quoted. Each chapter is about 3000 words in length.

Now's the time to pull all this together into a book.

Once this is done I contact everyone that's been citated in the book and let them know I've citated them. Hey everyone loves an ego boost. For some reason people tend to retweet and share this information.

Oh and they just happen to be sharing it with your target audience.

Now when you also add in some social media marketing and crowdsourcing you have a quality book that sells from launch.

When people open the book its a quality read. Also because you are quoting other people you are building your authority (as John mentioned).

There are a few other little steps that's a good start

Eric

It better hide the references of quotes

whenever you use some body's work you have to refer on author otherwise it would considered as a IP violation.