Writing E-books: How to choose a topic

The biggest problem facing e-book authors is in knowing what to write about. It is also a problem that perplexes most newbie e-book authors when it comes to launching their writing career.

The ability to write well is one thing, but to write with authority on a given topic is something else. Simply plucking a topic from thin air and writing about it is not an option if you want to be a successful e-book author.

Knowledge is the key when it comes to choosing a topic for your e-book. As my old professor once told me many years ago, if you want to write well, then write about what you know. Writing from a depth of knowledge allows the words to flow from your finger tips onto the screen in the same way that water flows from an open tap.

For example, you might be a keen gardener who specializes in growing roses in an urban setting. If this is the case, then you should write about your experience of growing roses in confined spaces. Your e-book may not reach the New York Best Sellers List, but you can be assured there will be plenty of gardeners willing to buy your e-book just for the information you can impart on the topic of growing roses in an urban setting.

Alternatively, you could be an experienced DIY motor mechanic with a penchant for doing up old cars. There are plenty of DIY motor enthusiasts who would love to read about your experience of breathing new life into an old Chevy 57.

Whatever your specialty, there are plenty of potential customers ready to buy your ‘KNOW HOW’.

Once you have identified your chosen specialty, you will need to define the extent of your knowledge so that you can transfer it into print. Mind mapping is a simple but useful aid for revealing your strengths and weaknesses on any given topic relative to your specialty.

To mind map, you simply take a large piece of paper and write in the center of it, in big bold letters, your specialty. Working from the center out, you fill your page with what you know or do not know about the specialty you are going to write about. The secret to a good mind map is to use single descriptive words or short phrases to describe the extent of your knowledge. You can even use pencil drawings if you are so inclined. The idea behind the mind map is to create a set of reference points for generating ideas for your e-book.

You can further enhance your mind map by carrying out research. Research will not only plug the gaps in your knowledge, it will also lend credibility to your work. Moreover, research will help you to define your e-book topic when it comes to writing on your specialty.

When writing your e-book you should always bear in mind that people want answers to questions and not generalizations. E-books filled with generalizations hold little value for readers and will not sell. In short, there is no market for generalizations. Markets are broken down into demographics of age, interests, income and, more importantly, needs. Answer your market's needs in relation to your specialty and you will quickly find a demand for your e-book offerings.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Writing E-books for Profit

There is a multitude of online opportunities open to the wannabe e-entrepreneur. From building membership websites, selling products on e-bay, blogging, publishing your own e-books and affiliate marketing, it is all a question of choosing the right opportunity that matches your demeanor and interest.

Perhaps the most open of all the opportunities available to wannabe e-entrepreneurs is the world of e-book writing and publishing. If you are passionate about a particular topic and you can write about it with some authority, then writing and publishing e-books might just be for you.

Writing and publishing your own e-books has several advantages over other areas of Internet marketing. The most notable of these advantages is the control that you have over the revenues you receive on the sale of your e-book product. In most cases you will be able to keep 100% of the profit.

E-books also have a sense of immediacy about them, which makes them the ideal e-commerce product for Internet marketing. Buyers of e-books can download their chosen e-book within seconds of paying for it, thus satisfying their need for instant gratification.

The other advantage of e-book authorship is the relatively low cost of production and distribution. Once written, you can reproduce and sell unlimited copies of your e-book at no further cost to yourself or your business.

Moreover, unlike affiliate marketing, you do not need a blog or a website to host or promote youre-book product. You can simply upload your e-book to an e-book publishing platform/host.

E-book publishing platforms are the Internet’s equivalent of a book store. Visitors can browse e-books much in the same way visitors browse books at the local bookstore.

E-book publishing platforms handle the payment transactions related to the sale of your e-book. When your total sales reach a certain threshold, say $100, you get paid. E-book publishing platforms normally charge a 20% handling fee for the use of their facilities.

Reliable statistics on how much e-book authors actually make from writing and publishing e-books are relatively hard to come by. But if you write your own e-book and sell one hundred copies of your work for $10 each, you do not need to be Einstein to know that $1000 is a sizable chunk of pocket change. Considering your e-book might have only taken you a day or perhaps even a week to write, $1000 is not a bad return on your effort.

The downside to writing e-books is the fact that the Internet is awash with e-book publications. These publications vary in size and quality but they are all, nonetheless, vying for the same dollars as your e-book. Your problem as an e-book author is one of differentiation. You need to differentiate your e-book offering from the rest of the market.

The key to differentiating your e-book from the rest of the market rests on your ability to identify a niche that is not saturated by competitors. So be prepared to do market research before you dive into your e-book writing project. Market research will save you time and energy and will help you to produce a better e-book product.

In the final analysis, whatever your e-book niche, you should always bear in mind that it is the quality of your product that will deliver on going sales. There is no point in having good sales copy if your e-book does not live up to the hype. E-book buyers can be extremely fickle. If they feel short changed by your initial e-book offering, then they are unlikely to buy your next publication.

If you want to learn more about how to succeed as an e-book author, then click on the following link: http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=63918