10-step guide to writing an ebook easily

Do you know what an ebook is? An electronic book or ebook is an effective way to offer your customers valuable content and at the same time educate potential customers about your products or services. However, if you are not familiar with this format, it can be a real challenge!

Would you like to write an ebook but don’t know where to start? Then you are in the right place.

Here is an authentic guide to writing an ebook quickly, easily and for free. Learn about the 10 steps you need to follow and get all the knowledge you need to get started as well as tools and tips that will help you facilitate the process:

Benefits of writing an ebook

An ebook, whether you are an independent professional (freelance) or a company, is of great benefit, since it not only increases the number of subscribers and people interested in your services by requesting data in exchange for this resource, but also increases traffic and distribution of your brand and content.

If your ebook turns out to be successful, you can be certain that many, many people will be sharing it by word of mouth.

So if you were wondering whether or not you should do it, the answer is probably yes. As long as you can identify a useful topic that helps your audience and you decide to talk about something that you have experience of to give it a personal touch, to write an ebook is an excellent option for you.

What are you waiting for? With the 10 steps that we will share with you in this post, you will be able to facilitate your writing and publication process, and write an ebook in a reduced time, less than you expect. Get to know them!

Step 1: Goals and buyer persona

Like any process that requires planning, before beginning to write it is important that you identify why it is that you are writing your book. Some questions that can help you orient yourself are:

• What am I looking for when writing my book?
• What response do I seek from the public?
• What do I want to offer?

Also, you cannot forget to define your buyer persona, that is, the audience or target audience. Defining your reader to the maximum and knowing their concerns and interests, you will be able to write a text closer to them that can generate a real connection that ends up falling in love with them.

A tool that can help you is MakeMyPersona, a free application that will make it easier for you to define every detail of your buyer reader.

Step 2: Benchmarking

By this we mean doing research and informing you about what other people or companies related to your industry have done. Perform an analysis of the competition and read other texts with similar themes to find out what they are talking about and, above all, what they lack.

Carry out a SWOT analysis if necessary and identify its weaknesses with it, to find the most effective way to maximize your advantages.

Some tips to find useful data are:

• Subscribe to related blogs
• Read books that may be your competition
• Look for reliable references

And remember that it is not only reading, but analyzing. Identify what results other professionals have had by taking the same action that you want to implement. Look at the number of downloads, visits, shares, etc. Every number counts.

Step 3: Initial structuring

A very simple way to organize all the information and have a work scheme is by creating a small structure, where you set themes and make it clear how you are going to organize the ideas in relation to the main theme.

The basic structure of an ebook is as follows:

Do not forget to write in each of the points what information you are going to write, to make sure that your ebook is complete and you do not miss anything.

Step 4: Planning

Since you have managed to determine a work structure, the next step is to set specific deadlines and tasks so that you can have in mind what you have to do and get to work on it without distractions.

Some things you can clarify in this step are:

• Deadlines for writing each chapter
• Maximum hours to dedicate per day
• Revision and edition dates
• Dates in which time will be devoted to design
• Deadline to post
• Dates to promote

Step 5: Content curation

Content curation involves reading and looking for quality information, that is, researching before you can write an ebook. This step is very important, since filtering the information is a determining factor of how good content our ebook will have.

As a recommendation, dedicate at least 60% of your total time to this content curation, and use various tools and sources of information.

This may interest you: Top 6 Tools For Content Curation

Step 6: Redaction

It’s time to finally write and let the words flow. When you go to write, mentalize yourself to be at peace and calm and be able to exploit your creativity to the maximum to create an original ebook.

To boost your motivation, you can set goals such as writing X number of words and get a reward in return. Also, it is important to determine the approximate number of words you want to write in total or per chapter, so that you do not extend yourself too much.

Later we will be talking about the standard lengths of an ebook in case you don’t know where to start.

And remember: no distractions and negative thoughts. This blog talks about recommendations to work effectively, here we leave it for you: 10 tips to work home office mode successfully.

Extensions of an ebook

Actually an ebook can take any length, the most important thing is to offer concise information on the right number of pages. However, there are two predominant extensions and they are the following:

• 20 to 40 pages (6000–8000) words. Of the most used to offer free ebooks. These work as long as the information doesn’t seem too short.
• 41 to 100 pages. These are more professional and offer more data, tips, and tools.

Step 7: Correction and editing

At the time of writing, don’t worry too much about mistakes, as stopping to correct can cut off inspiration. Once the writing process is finished, the proofreading process follows. This encompasses correcting basic errors at the end of each page: spelling, grammar, and punctuation, as well as changes in writing and order.

This proofreading / editing process facilitates the inclusion of relevant information by completing the text already written. A final editing of the text is also recommended, after corrections and content changes.

Step 8: Design

Since you have all the content written, the next step is to work on giving it an attractive format and a good visual design that attracts attention and motivates readers to keep reading.

The elements that you should take into account are:

• Eye-catching cover
• Attractive titles
• Images
• Easy to read typography
• Bold and underlined
• Colors that relate to the company
• Lists and bullets

Tip: Add visual content every 6–8 paragraphs to make reading more enjoyable. Here you can use different resources such as infographics or image banks. On the internet there are numerous quality image banks, both free and paid.

Find 10 free image banks to use in your ebooks: 10 best sites with free stock images for your page

Step 9: Final review

Like any content creator, there comes a point where from reading your own work so much, you can get tired and get to avoid mistakes. That is why it is advisable to take a few days off before doing the final review or ask for help from someone outside who can give recommendations.

Step 10: Publish and promote

You’ve got it! You already have your e-book, now is the time to offer it to others.

There are different ways to publish an ebook. One of the most effective strategies is in conjunction with a specific Call To Action within your website.

Do you want your ebook to be successful? Then you must create a promotional strategy and give it the highest possible visibility.

Some actions you can take are:

• Create a landing page to offer the book
• Send a newsletter to your subscribers
• Publish the ebook on social networks
• Share it in your groups and communities

Conclusion

You have reached the end! Having already read this 10-step guide, you have no excuse to start writing your ebook. Once you have written the first one and assimilated a work methodology that works for you, this process will become easier and easier and you will be able to continue creating ebooks and make the most of this tool.

Originally published at https://wordstylers.com on August 31, 2021.