Newbie Tips: How To Write An Ebook Or Book

Dear newbies,

I see that most newbies start out by trying to make their first dollar online through affiliate marketing (on Clickbank in particular).

Yes, affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online and most of the "guru systems" teach newbies to start that way. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.

However, as a newbie you could be in for quite a bit of disappointment. Clickbank is where all the savvy top-name internet marketers are and the competition is extremely fierce. It can take a while before you see that first dollar appear in your account.

I believe a better alternative is just to create your own product. Yes, newbies- you heard me right.

The easiest way is write a physical book and publish it on Amazon (through services like CreateSpace.com or Lulu.com). You could also write an ebook and publish it on Kindle.

Here are some tips for how to do that:

1. Find Your Passion

Write about a subject that interests you. This way it's much easier to get ideas and have lots of things to say.

2. Find A Hot Topic

Research Amazon and see what's hot and what's not. It's better to write about evergreen topics that will always be popular rather than a passing fad which is here and gone tomorrow.

Popular topics usually revolve around Health, Wealth and Love.

3. Use An Ebook Template

You don't have to worry about formatting and all those technical stuff by using a good template to paste in your text. Your book will still come out looking extremely nice and professional.

I like all the ebook templates by Tracy Yates (a fellow warrior here).

This works even for books that you want to publish as a physical book.

4. Create A Clickable Table Of Contents For Ebooks

I've read so many ebooks that don't have this feature even though it is very easy to do and will help your readers tremendously to navigate through the pages.

Just use the heading styles such as H1, H2, H3, Body Text for all your headings and sub-headings when you are editing in Word or OpenOffice Writer.

Then when you publish it as a PDF, you will automatically get this Table Of Contents (also called Bookmarks).

5. Add Pictures And Clipart

"A picture paints a thousand words" so always add in lots of relevant pictures, clipart or diagrams to explain your ideas clearly.

6. Add A Resource Area

Add a resource area at the end of your book to help your readers further. If you are publishing a physical book, you can set up a companion website where the readers can register for free stuff, downloads, etc. (Hint: build a list).

For ebooks, you can even put links to suitable affiliate programs or your squeeze page. However, be careful not to overdo this. You don't want your book to be just a showcase of affiliate links.

7. Make A Professional Book Cover/ Ecover

People do judge a book by its cover... so make sure you make it a killer cover! Get a professional designer to do it if you're not good with design. Don't skimp on this because just this alone can make or break your book's success.

8. Have Fun!

Don't treat this as a chore or think it's difficult. It's not rocket science. Writing is a big part of internet marketing so you might as well practise and get good at it.

Once you publish your first book, you'll be looking forward to writing your second one.

Okay, that's it for my tips. Sorry that this has turned into a super long post.

Writing a book or ebook is a great first project because it can generate continuous residual income. "Write once- earn forever".

To Your Success,
Alex