How to Write an eBook that Your Readers Can’t Put Down.
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7 Helpful Tips to Bring You eBook Writing Success
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” ~Lao Tzu The hardest part of writing an eBook is creating an attention grabbing first sentence. The first sentence of your book should grab your reader’s attention, and intrigue them enough to continue reading, if not they will stop before they even give it a chance. The first thing you have to do, if you endeavor to climb Mount Everest, is to get organized with your climbing gear and proper clothing to complete the adventure. If your adventure is to write an eBook, however, instead of climbing gear, you must organize your thoughts, and be ready to create through your writing. Your thesis statement will keep your mind focused while you write your eBook. Remember, all of your chapters must be congruent with your thesis statement.
“The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.” ~Stephen King
The best classic books of all time have the most well-known opening lines. You may have heard of many of them, even if you don’t know the books they came from.
Here are three opening lines from classic books to get your creative juices flowing.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
“It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” George Orwell, 1984 (1949)
”In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925)
Your opening line is the second most important thing, next to your title to grab your reader’s attention and ensnare them into your web of imagination.
When you look at your writing project, it seems like an impossible and daunting task. That’s why you must break it down into bite-sized manageable tasks to keep from feeling overwhelmed.
Think of your writing task as similar to climbing Mount Everest. Imagine yourself in Nepal, and standing at the foot of this majestic mountain range looking up at its summit, vanishing into the clouds far above what your naked eyes can focus on. How can you possibly scale such an immense and dangerous mountain?
There is only one way to climb an enormous mountain. You do it by moving forward and upward, one step at a time, until you reach the peak.
Now think of writing your eBook with the same mentality.
Write your eBook with the pride and perseverance of a mountaineer step by step, and one day, you will take that last step and stand on the summit with your head in the clouds, or a published eBook in your case to be proud of.
There are some steps you should take before you begin your writing adventure. Once you’ve gone through the following list, you will be ready to begin writing an eBook that will stand the tests of time, and leave your name in the history books.
Your writing journey begins with these Simple Steps to Writing an eBook.
1: Create an Intriguing title for your eBook.
The first step as alluded to earlier is, you need to contemplate the title of your eBook. Write a few original ideas for titles for your eBook, and eventually, you’ll find one that grabs ahold of you, and won’t let go like an octopus. Not that I had an experience with that on a diving trip several years back.
Moving right along…
eBook titles will help you focus on writing about your topic. They will guide you in anticipating and answering your reader’s questions, or keeping them entertained and intrigued if you are writing fiction.
Many non-fiction books also have subtitles. Make clarity your goal when creating your eBook titles, but cleverness will always help to sell eBooks as long as your title is not too cheesy.
For example, The Step-By-Step guide to Astral-Projection: Learn to leave the confines of your physical body in 10 days, or 20 Ways to Cure Insomnia: get the restful sleep your body deserves.
2: Write Your Thesis Statement.
Next, write out a thesis statement. Your thesis statement is a sentence or two stating exactly what problem you are addressing and how your eBook will solve that problem. Your thesis statement will help you focus on the subject of your eBook, and avoid writer’s block.
All the chapters of your eBook will be brought to fruition through your writing skills based on your thesis statement. Once you’ve got your thesis statement written and revised, you will have built the foundation of your eBook.
From that foundation, your eBook will grow, word by word, chapter by chapter, as you let the ideas inside of your head find their way into written form for others to read.
If your writing is not aligned with your thesis statement, it doesn’t belong in your eBook. For example, your thesis statement may be, We’ve all experienced insomnia in our lives. Here are twenty proven techniques that will give you back a good night’s sleep.
Once you have your thesis statement written, make sure there is a good reason to write your eBook. Ask yourself some questions before you begin writing:
3: Who Is Your Target Audience?
The next important step is to figure out who your target audience is. Your target audience is the group of inquisitive readers you will write your eBook for, and this group will dictate what elements of your eBook will contain, such as writing style, tone, diction, and even length.Research to find out the average age of your readers, their gender, what they are most interested in, and even the socio-economic group they primarily come from. These are important to know before you write your eBook.
You are going to write differently if your target audience is young men in their 20s who love gaming, and fast cars than you would an audience of educated middle-aged women who enjoy reading classic novels and drinking fine wine.
4: Why Are You Writing Your eBook?
Next, do some soul-searching and write out a list of the reasons why you are writing your eBook. Do you want to help your readers solve their problems? Are you writing an eBook intending to drive quality traffic to your website? Do you want to make a name for yourself as a skilled writer, up-and-coming author?
Write down your goals in terms of getting your eBook published. (A dream not written down, is just a dream. Write your dreams down to make them goals.)
Do you want to sell your eBook as a product available for sale, or as a free gift on your website?
Do you want to use the chapters of your eBook to create an e-course to sell your helpful information, or do you want to use your eBook to attract affiliates to help you market your unique brand?
The more of these questions you answer ahead of time, the easier the actual writing, and creating of your eBook will be.
5: Will your eBook be Fiction or Non-Fiction?
If you are writing non-fiction make sure your information is well researched and correct, if you make an honest mistake or a typo your readers will call you out, and feast upon you like hungry Piranhas. Never underestimate the number of internet trolls out there with nothing better to do. Sad, but true.
Keep the format of your non-fiction eBook flowing smoothly from chapter to chapter, the purpose of every word should be to intrigue your reader to read the next one.
You could start writing with an introduction to your chapter topic and then divide it into several subheading topics. You could also divide your content into several parts, each one beginning with a relevant amusing anecdote.
If your eBook is fiction, you must first decide if you are a Plotter or a Pantser writer.
The plotter outlines everything ahead of time down to the last detail. The Pantser writer has a basic idea for a story and just starts writing by the seat of their pants.
Let your creative mind take your readers on an adventure of your choosing. Make them laugh, cry, or afraid to go to sleep at night. The choice is yours.
6: Is Your Writing Style Engaging, or Entertaining Your Readers.
You must figure out how to keep your writing engaging. Often anecdotes, amusing brief stories, helpful advice, and useful tips will keep the reader turning the pages.
Use a casual, conversational writing style rather than a formal one such as someone would use when writing a scientific research report. Readers respond better when you create within them the feeling that you are having a conversation with them.
Break up the length and structure of your sentences so you don’t cause eye strain for your readers. Sentences that are all the same length and structure are boring and sleep-inducing.
Although this will help cure insomnia.
Writing well takes practice. Make a commitment to writing at least one page a day. Author Stephen King sets a writing quota of 2000 words a day. This may be a bit much for you, but if you make daily writing a habit, your writing skills will improve.
Read books by your favorite authors, and pay attention to their writing style to help you develop your writing voice.
There are many books available about writing. Take the time to read a few and write down the helpful tips and advice that grab your attention.
The art of writing is a skill you will develop over time. The more you write and the more you read and learn, the better your writing will become. The better your writing becomes, the bigger your sales figures and customer base will be.
7: Write Your eBook For eBook Readers.
Reading an eBook on a screen is different from a paperback book. You need to give your reader’s eyes a break. You can do this by utilizing white space.
Don’t make your paragraphs too long, keep them short and sweet.
If your readers look at your writing and just see a gigantic wall of text, it will look like too much work to read, and they will quit before they even give your helpful eBook a chance.
Write using a font that’s easy on the eyes of your readers. Amazon allows readers to change the font on their Kindle eBook reading devices to make the content easier to read. The different options include Georgia, Helvetica, Lucida, and Palatino to name a few.
If the experts at Amazon have decided these are the easiest font faces to read, you would do well to pick one of them to write your eBook.
You want to separate your text within your paragraphs as well by using a line-height of one and a half line spacing to add extra white space and make your writing easier to read.
Don’t forget to run a spell and grammar check after you are finished writing. Microsoft Word will do a basic job of this, but there are other programs that do a better job such as Grammarly, and Pro-Writing Aid.
If you made it this far, Congratulations, you are ready to write an eBook your readers can’t stop reading.
Keep Writing!
R.G. Ramsey
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