Become an E-Book Author - Part I
... Selling your knowledge!

by Edward B. Toupin

"E-Book" is short for Electronic Book---an organized set of content delivered in an electronic format. There are many different types of e-books including packaged executables, PDF, and formats for the handheld computer.

As with so many of the original e-books, your e-book doesn't have to be about Making Money or Internet Marketing---people are interested in many other things. What makes an e-book valuable to a wide audience is that it provides information that people cannot easily find elsewhere.

Over the years, I've had the pleasure of writing numerous printed books and working on several electronic publications. From what I've seen, the e-book medium supports the greatest creative flexibility. Images can come alive, you can provide interactive forms and content, the user can access remote databases, and you can support dynamic updates whenever the content changes. There are, however, several steps involved in the process to properly develop and promote an e-book to your audience.

The Process

When developing an e-book, you have to perform several important steps to create quality content. Each step allows you to fine-tune your idea and the end-product so that readers will learn from and enjoy the content you provide.

* Brainstorm an Idea
Ideas are cheap, but good ideas take time to develop. To develop a good idea, you have to jot down as many ideas as possible, then go through the list to make sure that:

- you're interested in the idea;
- you're knowledgeable on the topic;
- you're hitting the greatest, potential market;
- people will purchase the information; and
- you can market to those interested.

Once you reduce the list to a few solid choices, go back through and examine the remaining topics to determine which topics you can write, by:

- determining what you know about the topic;
- performing market research to ensure that you have a market and an angle for that market; and
- performing competitive research to find your competition's products, successes, failures, and target markets.

While fine-tuning your product, remember that people will buy the product if it:

- solves a problem;
- improves an existing product;
- hits on a hot trend;
- creates a new niche; or
- fills a current need.

* Develop an Outline
Once you come up with the idea, you'll have to create an outline or table of contents to develop the idea. The best way I've found to do this is to break the idea down into blocks of contiguous information---similar to assembling a pyramid. At the top is the IDEA with each successive level providing a more detailed sequence of points that ultimately explain the top-level IDEA.

The outline itself should be at least four levels deep so that you can understand what you'll say for each section or chapter. Research each section and collect pertinent information so that you can develop a coherent outline and understand the depths of what it is you are writing.

* Develop the First Draft
The first draft is merely a "brain dump." Follow your outline and write as much as possible about each section. Don't worry about format, spelling, or grammar at this point, as you'll focus on resolving those issues later.

* Substantive Edit
A substantive edit is a review of the manuscript where you fine-tune the content. You have to make sure that the content is complete, contains pertinent information for the topic, and provides enough relevant information to explain the topic. At this point, you can perform additional research to verify the content or enhance the information for the reader.

* Content/Technical Review
Find some experts in your manuscript's topic area and have them review it for accuracy and readability. This type of review ensures that the information is correct and that the target audience will be able to understand the content. Many times, experts will take credit in the acknowledgements as opposed to a fee, but this is something you'll have to work out with them.

* Second Draft
The second draft takes into account the information from your reviewers as well as changes you need to make based on your own review of the content. Once this draft is complete, take a day or two off to give your brain a break. This way, when you return to the manuscript, you'll be fresh and able to catch any mistakes that you would've otherwise missed.

* Copy Edit
The copy edit allows you to check the grammar, spelling, and readability of the content. Make sure that everything is formatted appropriately and that your manuscript provides a professional presentation.

* Proof
In a publishing house, proofreaders will go through the product and check for any final production issues, wording, and problems with content. Do a pre-package of the product and send it out to a few people to have them read through the product. Ask them to check for any mistakes or errors that might have been missed.

What's next?

Once your manuscript is ready, you have to package it and prepare for marketing. There are several different steps involved in the packaging process and each of these is important to providing a professional presentation for your work. Part II of this series discusses the intricacies of packaging and provides references to assist you.