Becoming An Internet Author, What Does It Take

Do You Like to Write? 

by Rick Carbone

Unless writing was a career choice, my guess is that writing is not one of your favorite pastimes.  The main problem with writing is that it takes complete focus, something that may be impossible to do at home or in the office.  There are always constant interruptions and if you have young children, as they say in Brooklyn "forgetaboutit." 

The great part about writing is that it's very fulfilling.  Whatever the topic may be the end result is yours and yours alone.  If you are in the information publishing business it becomes yours.  In the Internet world sole possession is important.

Over the years I have had many jobs in which writing was not a requisite skill but a helpful resource.  As I moved up in rank it became more of a requisite resource that would be defined as "strong written communication skills."  So I learned how to write for business purposes.  Short, bulleted and direct.  It wasn't until I started a business online that I developed a style and was able to write in complete sentences. 

I still do not find writing easy and I don't consider myself a great writer but I can communicate clearly and concisely.  That's really all you need to be able to do when writing an eBook.  Get your message across as clearly as you can.  It's also very important to spell check everything.  Don't leave it up your eyes at 2AM they too will deceive you.  If you are running a good word processor such as MS Word, most of the latest versions will have a grammar check as well.  If you don't have a grammar checker pick up a copy of the bible of writing The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition by Strunk & White.  This is an old standby that has never failed.  It's been around so long that there are numerous paperback copies available.  The link above is for the updated fourth edition of the book.  Even if you have a grammar checker in your software you will probably want a copy of this easy to understand reference.

I have also found that computer spell checkers can err as well.  Before you click the replace button, check to insure that you are correcting something that you want corrected. 

Your Writing Style:

If you have a good sense of humor, use it but don't over use it.  It breaks up the monotony of some of the technical data that you may be writing and brings the reader in as well.  Remember that you didn't just make a sale for one product, you have developed a relationship with your customer that will potentially lead to other sales.

It's also important to communicate to your customers in a consistent style.  If you were straight and factual then continue on the same path.  If you were casual and "story like" then by all means continue on that path as well.  It's what works best for you and your customers.

It took me some time to develop my own style.  I'm still not sure that I'm 100% there yet, but I know where I'm going.  Remember that your customer communication does not end in your eBooks, there are ongoing communications with your customers building relationship on top of relationship all leading to the next product. 

As time goes on your style will become more fluid and your ideas will be easier to articulate.  The most important thing about writing an information based product is layout.  If you write long sentences and paragraphs it becomes unappealing even if the information is good.  Remember you want testimonials for your eBook!

Highlighting:

Another item that comes under style is the use of color to highlight or block text to draw attention to it's importance such as what I am writing right now in this sentence.

The Outline

Most everyone who has written an eBook will tell you that the biggest difficulty in writing is actually the beginning of the eBook.  One way to overcome this problem is to develop an outline for the ebook.  the outline should consist of only the important items that you want to address.  These should be bulleted.  there should also be sub-bullets to the main bulleted items.  Once you have gone through this very simple exercise you will find that information will roll off the keyboard onto your computer.

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