Chapter 3

The Minimum You Must Do to Write an E-Book

In This Chapter

Understanding what your readers want

Drawing up a plan for your e-book

Staying motivated while you write

Overcoming writing roadblocks

Writing an e-book can be a daunting task. Your e-book may be the most challenging writing project you’ve ever embarked on — and you probably have concerns about whether you’ll ever finish it. All writers feel this way (even experienced ones) when they start a major, new project. Worries, doubts, and the occasional crisis of confidence are completely normal. It’s also normal to feel unsure about where to start or how best to move forward.

The good news is that whatever your circumstances, you can complete your e-book — and it will be worth the journey. Take a moment to imagine your finished e-book (with your name on it) on the virtual shelves at the Amazon site (www.amazon.com ), with readers posting glowing reviews, money coming into your bank account, and the phrase The author of . . . as a highlight in your e-mail signature. All this is well worth working for.

In this chapter, I walk you through the crucial tasks you need to complete in order to write an e-book. My tips apply whether you’re working on fiction or nonfiction and whether your e-book is a short, snappy read or a huge, complex tome. I explain how to find out what your audience wants — and how to deliver it to them. I also tell you how to make time to finish your e-book and how to overcome common writing problems (also touched on in Chapter 19).