E-Books - Tips and Techniques

Seasoned writers know it is not only important to choose a subject you are passionate about writing, but also to be successful you want to choose a subject for which there is an audience. Finding your audience on the Net can be a lot easier than you think, particularly as people grow more familiar with search engines and how they work. Choosing a subject may not be quite as easy. Here are a few tips which may help.

• Opportunity magazines, or other publications that cover the field you are interested in, is a good place to start looking for ideas.
• Advertisements in magazines, newspapers, and mass media are a good indicator of what concerns mass markets. Let's face it, marketers spend millions (billions?) of dollars deciding how to present their ads for mass appeal. Sometimes it's not the content of the ad itself, but the way in which it is presented that will give you a good indicator of what concerns people today. Watch and analyze them, then choose your subject based on these current interests and concerns.
• See what popular topics and subjects are being written about in books, manuals, reports and newsletters. Then ask yourself if you can come up with a better way, or have equally interesting information you can present from a new angle, or with a different twist that would be of interest to readers in that market.
• Visit message board forums. Get to know what people are talking about most. What subjects are being discussed? What types of people are participating? What are their main interests? What are the hot topics in chat rooms?

If you are ready with your idea, save time before typing it all out. Decide - are you planning to submit it to publishers for them to compile and produce it in e-Book format, or will you be selling it yourself from your own web site?

In the former case, submitting to publishers, first be sure to visit the publishers site to whom you plan on submitting your work. Some will want to receive your documents in a specific format (ie, Wordperfect or Microsoft Word as a couple examples).

In the latter case, self-publishing, be sure to review our section on "E-Book Tools" before typing. For example, you will need to choose your format (.html, .pdf, or other) and once chosen, you will want a good E-Book compiler software program that is compatable with your chosen format.

Writing for the electronic reader is a bit different than writing for the printed page. A full length novel in e-Book form may be condensed somewhat. This is where you will really have to sharpen your writing skills. Choose your words well remembering less is best for delivering your message, but this doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your writer's "voice". Don't worry about it in the first draft - but pay close attention to it in the final draft (which may be draft number 7, or 8, or 9, or...)

While editing your book, always keep in the back of your mind the Multimedia Advantage. (Check this out under Pros and Cons.) For most seasoned authors it will take some time getting used to this ability for our written work. Maybe you won't want to add any to your first eBook but you may think at a certain point during your writing how great it would be to add a moving picture here, or a sound clip there. Keep your mind open to the possibilities.