How to Write and Market E-books That Generate Leads (Part 2: Beginning the Writing Process)

Now that you have a topic and target audience in mind (covered in Part 1: Getting Started), it’s time to begin the writing process. This can oftentimes be a daunting task, but it’ll become simple once you follow these easy steps that will help you break down your ideas into manageable chunks and get you on your way to publishing your own e-book in no time.

Create an Outline

The easiest place to start is by creating an outline or table of contents that breaks down your big idea into smaller parts. Once you have your topic broken down into smaller chunks, you can begin to delve deeper into those smaller ideas and break them down even further. By creating an outline, you’ll be able to get a better sense of where your book is going and whether or not you have enough information on the topic to create something that is a decent length, say, 20-40 pages. Your outline will also serve as your guide during the writing process.

Summarize Your Chapters

The next thing you want to do after determining your main chapter headings is to write short summaries of each chapter (1-2 sentences) to remind yourself of the main ideas you want to cover in each section. Limiting these summaries to two sentences will force you to come up with main ideas that are both concise and can easily be explained. Think of these as your thesis statements in the larger context of your overall chapters.

Start Writing Your E-book!

Now that you’ve come up with an outline, it’s time to sit down and begin writing. Pick a chapter that you feel the most comfortable writing on and go from there. There’s no need to feel like you need to follow a certain order. In the beginning, it’s important to just get your thoughts out on paper, so write whatever comes to mind and don’t worry about whether or not it sounds perfect—you’ll be able to cut it down and change things later on during the editing and revision processes.

Important writing tips to remember:

1. Avoid long, run-on sentences. Get to the point and do it fast.
2. Break long paragraphs into smaller parts. This will make them a lot easier to read.
3.  Use images throughout to add visual elements and break up large sections of text.
4.  Use lists wherever possible. People like to see processes broken down into smaller steps.
5. Insert hyperlinks into your text to re-direct readers to your site for additional information.

Speaking of Hyperlinks…

The great thing about e-books is that they give you the added ability to embed hyperlinks that can link readers to different landing pages on your site that provide other content that the reader may be interested in. It can also be helpful to add links to other sites you referenced while doing your own research. By linking readers to where you got your facts, it will lend more credibility to your argument and work as a whole.

It’s also a good idea to enhance your content by adding calls to action that will convince your reader that they need to take advantage of the services you have to offer. Linking to webinars or other free products you offer within your e-book is a great way to incite interest and maximize your lead generation.

Editing and Proofreading 

People always say that the editing stage is the most important part of writing a book. Believe it or not, this is the stage where your book becomes the polished product you imagined even before you began writing. Editing your work is important because it helps shape the large amount of information you started out with into something you can present to your readers. Proofreading your work will give you the chance to correct grammatical and spelling errors and make sure that what you’ve written is clear and approachable.

Helpful tip: after you write your first draft, step back from it for a few days and then go back to it with a set of fresh eyes. It may help you see mistakes you may have missed the first time.

Design

Once you have your content ready to go, you need to also consider the element of design. It should be your goal to make your e-book appear professional—if you spend time carefully designing your e-book, it will only enhance the content that you already have. One good design tip is to mimic the look-and-feel that your brand represents online and transfer that over to your e-book to create a sense of branding unity.

Another important element is the title of your e-book. You want to make sure that it pops out at the reader and makes them want to read on. Titles that begin with “How to” or offer “tips” and “tricks” of the trade tend to be really popular. Most importantly, you want your title to convey the gist of your topic and how it can provide value to your prospects.

Now that you have your content and design complete, you’re ready to publish your e-book! Still lost? To get more information on any step of the process mentioned above, visit www.perfectpublishingsystem.com.

Don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for Part 3: Marketing Your E-book.

By: Sabina Muslimovic