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Bite-Size Information

Bite-Size Information

Scannability

Even though an ebook has “book” in it’s name, the “e” is the most important feature when it comes to formatting.

Because your writing is electronic, it must be scannable. Subheaders, bolding, lists, and whitespace are just as important for ebooks as they are for blogs.

In fact, since ebooks are long, your readers are especially likely to get tired of reading and need help from good formatting.

Snacks

As I said, don’t forget the “e” in “ebook”. While an ebook is a long piece of content, you need to focus on its small components.

Think about your ebook as a collection of snacks rather than a meal that must be eaten in one go. Those snacks must all relate to your thesis, but they come in enjoyable bite-sized chunks like lists and short paragraphs.

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Engaging Writing

Engaging Writing

Have you ever fallen asleep while reading? Unless you were incredibly exhausted, I bet the book you were reading was boring.

So instead of paying attention, your brain decided, “There’s nothing interesting here. I think I’ll go to sleep instead”.

You don’t want anyone falling asleep while reading your ebook, so you need engaging writing. Here’s how.

1. Tone

In general, you should write your ebook the same way you blog — conversationally. Be humorous. Keep your sentences short and use informal language.

As always, you must know your audience before you pick your tone. If you’re writing a specialized ebook for experts, your language will be different than if you’re writing an general introductory ebook.

2. Examples and Anecdotes

Facts show that you’ve done your research and give you credibility, but they lack personality. Peppering your writing with examples and anecdotes combats the tedium of plain facts.

Maybe you want to start each chapter with a story that hooks your readers. No matter what format you choose, be sure to distribute your examples evenly.

It’s fine if one chapter has two stories and another has one, but don’t put three examples in one chapter and none in another.

3. Exercises

The best way to engage your readers is by making them active participants. Give them something to do other than just read. If you’re writing a how-to guide, this step should be easy.

If your book is informational, think about how you could turn it into a how-to. What steps will help your readers digest the information? If you’ve got enough exercises, include on per chapter.

If you don’t have enough for that, put them in an appendix at the end of your book and reference them in your text.

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Finish with a Bang

Finish with a Bang

Your conclusion is likely the last section that you write (although you can, of course, write it whenever you want).

You’re probably feeling accomplished, excited, and relieved. You’re almost done!

But wait.

The conclusion is an essential section of your ebook, and you don’t want to short change it.

Take a deep breath and follow these steps.

1. Recap

You should have covered all the ideas in your outline, so recap them now. Your readers might not have read your whole ebook, or they might have forgotten some of your points, so remind them here.

2. Persuade

Conclusions that simply summarize are boring. While a brief summary is helpful, you have to assume that your readers have read most of your ebook. Now they’re looking for more. Persuade your readers about the importance of your arguments.

Why does it matter that they’ve read your ebook?

The most persuasive arguments aren’t extreme. Your ebook probably isn’t the most life-changing book your readers have ever read, so don’t claim that it is.

3. Call

Your persuasive conclusion leads to your call to action. Your readers are done reading, but you don’t want them to go away, so you need to tell them the next step.

Are they supposed to visit your client’s website? Start their own blog? Send you feedback? State your call to action clearly so that no one can mistake what you want them to do.

Also be sure that you only have one call to action. Multiple calls are overwhelming, so you risk having your readers do nothing. And never ever ever forget to write a call to action. If there’s one thing that your ebook must have, it’s call.

Seriously.

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Purpose and Thesis

Purpose and Thesis

If you’ve been asked to write an ebook, I’m going to assume that you’re an experienced writer. Some of the information covered in other Stellar University lessons is covered here as well, but I don’t want to repeat everything, so I encourage you to review any lessons that you’re rusty on before writing your ebook.

What’s Your Purpose?

Why are you writing an ebook? Before you write a single letter, you need to answer this question. If you’re writing it because that’s what your client told you to do, you need to know his purpose.

If you mess up, you’ve got an awful lot of rewriting to do, so make sure you’re totally clear about what your client wants.

What’s Your Thesis?

Now it’s time to go back to your high school English class. Remember thesis statements? You certainly don’t use them in product descriptions, Twitter, or Facebook, and even blog posts are often short enough that you’re fine without them.

An ebook is much longer. To keep your writing on track, you need a thesis statement: a sentence that describes your purpose. Every sentence in your ebook must relate to your thesis statement.

If that sounds daunting, don’t worry. Having a thesis statement is actually helpful, since it keeps your writing on track and helps you present strong arguments.

A thesis statement also tells your readers what your writing is about, since they won’t otherwise know your purpose.

How Do You Write a Thesis Statement?

Brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm. Write down what your purpose is. You can use as many sentences as necessary. Once you’ve described your purpose, rewrite it in a condensed version.

Continue rewriting until you can explain your purpose in one sentence. This is a thesis statement. Now rewrite that sentence several times. You’re unlikely to achieve the perfect thesis statement on your first try , so keep revising it until you’re happy.

You can also edit your thesis statement while you write your ebook, as long as you don’t change the whole meaning. As you revise your thesis statement, make your language as specific as possible. There are links to thesis statement writing resources in the “Learn More” section below.

How Do You Stick to a Thesis Statement?

Remember how I said that every sentence must relate to your thesis? Creating an outline is the best way to do this. Each of the points in your outline must relate to your thesis. Then, when you write, each of your sentences should relate to your outline.

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Research

Research

If you’re a blogger, you’re already familiar with research. You probably hyperlink to your source when you cite a fact, and you might do a quick Google search before you start writing to see if there’s any relevant info that you should include.

The same principles apply with ebooks, but are even more important.

Reputable Research

The problem with researching on the web, where you’ll probably do most of your research, is that there is so much content. And while I’m sure that all your content is great, not everyone’s is.

Using academic research tools such as Google Scholar, JSTOR, and EBSCO will help you find peer-reviewed papers. Doing a regular Google search is fine too as long as you check your sources. Research the websites that you want to cite.

Who owns them? What are their credentials? How well written is the content? Are they well-respected by others in their field?

For example, Copyblogger isn’t scholarly, but I frequently link to it in these lessons because it’s one of the most respected content marketing sites.

Needed Notes

As you research, take notes. Your notes should include the information that you found useful, where you found it (the specific URL or page number), and when you found it.

If you’re using a direct quote, place quotation marks in your notes so that you know you’re quoting word-for-word and not paraphrasing.

When you quote or give evidence in your writing you need to cite your sources, so you’ll be glad that you kept track of them in your notes while researching.

Since websites are always changing, your citation must include the date that you accessed a website.

The More the Merrier

How much research should you do?

Unless you’re writing a highly specialized ebook, you probably don’t want lots of footnotes and a lengthy works cited page. But you also don’t want readers to question whether your basic facts are true.

Statistics, quotes, facts that aren’t commonly known, and ideas that aren’t your own must be cited.

A common fact, such as “Canada is in North America” or “Steve Jobs lived from 1955-2011” doesn’t need a citation, but a more obscure or surprising fact, like “Amazon sells more ebooks than print books”, should have a source.

Your ideas are yours, so they don’t need a citation, but give credit to the people who inspired your ideas by citing them.

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