Monday, March 18, 2013

Ebook experience



Of late I have been exploring how to write and publish an ebook. I even flew all the way to Hamilton for a one-day course on the subject that was being run by the principal of my old proofreading establishment, New Zealand Institute of Business Studies. It was also an excellent opportunity to see Hamilton, a place I’d never been to before, and to sample the education establishments of the Waikato.

Ebooking is becoming extremely popular in the face of how difficult it is to break into conventional publishing. No wonder – a computer, an Amazon Kindle and a Word manuscript and a few clicks to upload are so much easier and cheaper than the rigmarole of going through book agents, publishers, and more often than not, piles of rejection letters.

Ebooker and ebook tutor Brian Morris specialises in "how to" ebooks. You don’t even need to be a J.K. Rowling or a Charles Dickens to get an ebook published; all you need is a bit of know-how on a subject – preferably on the 48 hot topics for ebooks, which range from how to raise money to how to write a wedding speech. (For the full list, download How to Write an Ebook by Brian Morris onto your Kindle.) You don’t need to upload a big book either – a book that is only twelve pages long can do just as nicely. Nor do you need to have an encyclopedia of knowledge and research. A few pearls of wisdom on a subject, a bit of extra research, and you have enough for a short ebook.

But why write an ebook at all? There are all sorts of reasons. Here are just a few:
·         You want to write a book
·         For the fun and experience
·         Make some money
·         You want to share your know-how
·         Something to do in your retirement/spare time
·         Expand your portfolio and profile
·         Expand your business

Oh yes, if you’re in business, ebooking can really help you to expand. Your business experience can help you to sell your ebooks because business-related topics are one of the hottest of the 48 hot ebook topics. And when you retire, you can keep on sharing your business experience and knowledge with ebooking.
But, you ask, what if I can’t write? Well, I have noticed that ghost writing is becoming more and more popular on the Internet. I have seen plenty of jobs on freelance sites advertising for writers to ghost-write ebooks, guidebooks, manuals, blogs, and other documents. Naturally, "how to become a ghost writer" is an ebook too.

I myself have just written an ebook under my pen name, D.V. Newling, about a Tibetan meditation called Tummo. My first experience and practice in writing an ebook. My next books are to be on my Toastmasters speechcraft wisdom, and I hope, my first novel.

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