This is the fifth article in the series Publishing Your Own eBook series.
We are finally at that the stage of writing. We know what the book will cover, we know the chapters’ topics, and how to write the best posts we can. The next several days, weeks, or months are going to be intensive and we need to keep on task to get through this process. Below are a few helpful hints to make the process smoother and easier.
- How Will Your Chapter Look? We are not formatting here, that is tomorrow’s job. Today we simply want to decide how a chapter will be structured. Some people start off each chapter with a quote that sets the stage for what is to come. Others have a list of questions to challenge and evaluate the reader at the end over what they just read. Finally, some may come up with an exercise to have the readers enact on what they have learned and push forward with a cause or actually practice what they have learned. If you are writing a programming eBook, offer the reader to write some code as an exercise to practice the chapter’s lesson.
- Do Not Edit Yourself Some people will want to write the perfect first draft that comes out great. At this time, you need to simply focus on the content at hand, focusing on the flow of the material, ensuring you have enough facts and illustrations, and figuring out how to cover the content fully. Worry about grammar and spelling later or even better find a college English major that needs to earn an extra few bucks by really fixing up your document. If you are quoting facts for your document, look them up before you write so that you can have a good flow on the conversation. For youth workers writing about a specific topic, simply draw from the stories you have experienced, the facts that you know, and the cool concepts you have come up with for this eBook.
- Give The Process Time Rome was not built in a day and this eBook should not be written in one either. Give the document its due time. Write for a while and then put it away for a bit. Let the topics marinate in your mind and try to find inspiration through out your regular routine. If you are drawing for professional experience, putting yourself in the environment may be exactly what you need to do. When we wrote our eBook on blogging, I did not actually start writing until after I had written an article for the day. That way I had parts of the process fresh in my mind.
How is the process going for you so far?
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