If you don’t have a blog and don’t intend to make one, this product isn’t for you. I mean, sure, it’s full of solid advice on designing a professional-looking document, excellent examples of good Technical Writing in practice, and easy guides to do the same thing in your own writing.
Still, some of the chapters discuss reusing existing blog posts, which you don’t have. So you can leave now.
Before you go, though, ask yourself why you don’t have a blog. Even casual blogging can make your life better, but with the birth of the content-based economy, you really should have a professional blog.
If you do have a blog, you should have an e-Book. You’ve heard it before. For many bloggers, that message hits home but still leaves them asking the question, “How?”
I know from experience. A good friend of mine, Carlos Velez of ConsciousMe.com, found himself in precisely that position when he ran the stunningly successful First Annual Pre-Writing Challenge last February. By the time it was done, he knew he had something people needed, and he knew he needed to make it available somehow.
Here’s his own account:
After I had the idea to write an e-book on the Pre-Writing Challenge I thought “How on Earth am I going to fill a whole book on the subject of pre-writing?” My enthusiasm for the project waned as I became more and more daunted by the prospect of writing a whole book in an area that isn’t my normal stomping grounds. Then I visited Aaron for a weekend so he could flex his technical writing skills by teaching me how to create an e-Book out of a bunch of words and vague ideas. We went chapter by chapter through How to Build an e-Book and one of the first things required of me was writing an outline/table of contents for the book. I was amazed at how he could make a chapter detailing something as boring as how and why to write an outline so easily readable and interesting. Writing an outline made more sense than it ever had before.
Less than one hour later I had a healthy table of contents and a heaping mound of confidence. This book was going to be awesome.
Now, almost two weeks later, I am still pumped in spite of occasional doubts and worries. I sit down to write and I just look up the next section of my e-book and get to it. As I write, more ideas for content come and I know exactly where to put them – Part 1, Chapter 3, Section 2…easy.
That outline was the turning point for this book. It’s not done yet, but finishing – finishing strong – is now a certainty.
That’s the benefit I got out of one chapter in How to Build an e-Book. It is masterfully thought-out, organized and written. Plain and simple, if you read this book and do the exercises you will have a high quality e-Book by the end.
Carlos Velez, ConsciousMe.com
About the Author
How was I able to take Carlos from anxiety and doubt to “a heaping mound of confidence”? The answer is simple: Technical Writing.
Technical writing is a method of researching and creating information about technical processes or products. That’s what I do. I’ve been working as a Technical Writer for eight years, and I’ve been studying writing principles for nearly two decades.
When Carlos first admitted he was stressing out about his new e-Book, I understood that. Good writing is a lot of work, and if you don’t have a good plan to follow, it can be extremely aggravating.
As a professional Technical Writer, I’ve learned to deal with that by getting to know the most important tools in my word processor, by developing reliable processes for every stage of writing, and by constantly looking for good examples that I can model my own work on.
When you do those things, writing isn’t scary. More importantly, it’s not hard to learn those things. I figured that out when I was invited to teach a college-level Technical Writing class last year. I taught a dozen kids who weren’t English Majors how to write well, without the stress and aggravation so many people encounter.
That was the inspiration for my blog, Unstressed Syllables, and it was the inspiration for this e-Book, too. I knew, right from the start, that I could make writing an e-Book painless and stress-free for my friend. I can do the same thing for you.
What You’ll Find in the Book
I made this book a complete guide, to walk a reader through the whole process. You’ll start by choosing a topic, develop that topic into a detailed structure, and then build a rough draft on that framework.
It doesn’t end there, though. I’ll help you find efficient and effective methods to review your book, polishing it until it shines. All of this information is packed into simple lessons that work as building blocks, to create an amazing e-Book out of your blog’s archive. You’ll find chapters like these:
- Getting Started: What Should You Write About?
- Describing Your Idea
- Outlining Your Document
- Building a Stylesheet
- Picking your Content
- Filling in the Gaps
- Finding the Value of Your Book
- Tying it All Together
- Making it Better and Keeping it Yours
I’m not going to tell you what to say – that’s your job – but I will help you figure out what to talk about. I’m also not going to provide a software manual, crammed with page after page of menu commands and screen shots showing you how to embed an image in a Word doc, or how to add header text in Open Office.
Why? Because that information is easy to find on the internet. If you know what you need to do, it’s simple to find out how. This book is packed with what you need to do. I’ll guide you through it all, step-by-step, and explain why each step is so important while I’m at it. That’s my specialty, and that’s what sets this book apart.
More importantly, you’ll be able to see those principles in action. How to Build an e-Book describes precisely the process I used to build it, so you’ll see it in practice on every page of the book. You can learn from those examples, build on them, and use them as models for your own book.
And that process works! Just using the methods in this book, I built a 100-page e-Book packed with valuable information in three short weeks.
Of course, I’m a Technical Writer, so maybe that’s not so impressive. Carlos isn’t, though, and you’ve already heard his story. By the end of the fourth chapter he had a whole new outlook, and after two days (and about half of the book), he felt ready to move mountains.
Money-back Guarantee
Will my process work for you? It should. I wouldn’t be selling this product if I doubted its effectiveness.
I know it can be hard to believe internet sales pitches, though. If you’d like to know more, you can check out the introduction for free (PDF), which includes a detailed Table of Contents and a Checklist showing you everything you’ll accomplish over the course of the book.
In case that’s not enough, though, I’m also offering a money-back guarantee. If you buy this book and decide it’s not everything you wanted, send it back.
Contact me within thirty days of your purchase, and I’ll refund the full purchase price, no questions asked.
I’m not trying to trick anybody into buying something they don’t want. Everything I do at Unstressed Syllables is meant to help my readers become better writers, with less stress. If this book doesn’t do that for you, I’ll be happy to buy it back.
What You’ll Get out of It
If you read the book, you’ll know exactly what it takes to make one of your own. You’ll know what you need to do, in what order, and how to get the most impact from the least work.
If you pay attention to the book, you’ll know what a professional-quality product looks like, and you’ll be able to follow that example with your own books. Establish yourself and create a strong visual brand with effective document style.
If you follow the steps in the book, you’ll not only have a product to promote your own blog, you’ll also have all the understanding and experience you need to keep making more. Every book you write makes the next one a little bit easier, and a little bit better.
Buy it Now
Would you prefer to get started with Part 1, Prewriting? You can get that one (as well as Part 2 and Part 3) for just $1.99 each. Each volume offers a focused development plan and more than thirty pages of detailed advice.
Or would you prefer to save the hassle and go ahead and get the Complete Guide? The Complete Guide offers all three volumes in one book, with everything you need to know to build your e-Book from start to finish. At just $2.99, the Complete Guide also gives you a 50% discount!
Prefer to have it in paperback? No problem! We’ve got you covered. Get the Complete Guide shipped to your door for a mere $7.99.
Look for all four options at Amazon.com (coming soon!).
