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So, your interested
in creating an ebook but you don't have a clue about the subject
matter - yet!
If you want to write
an ebook you first of all have to brainstorm your way to an appropriate
topic - so what techniques are there for doing this?
Grab a friend or relative
(note taker), take some paper and a couple of pencils and go into
a quite room.
Answer the following
questions:
- What are you experienced
in? (family matters; child behaviour; running clubs)
- What are you passionate
about? (politics; religion; hobbies etc.)
- What do you do or
have you done for a living?
You do not need a list
as long as your arm, 5-10 items will do.
Now put you list in
order of your knowledge and rate each item as high, medium or
low. Just put a circled H, M or L next to the item.
So for example, if
I was doing it my list would look as follows:
- Ebook
Software - (H) (as you would expect!)
- Golf (M)
- Cooking
(M)
- Marketing
(M)
- DIY or
Do-It-Yourself (L)
- Football
(L)
I,ve been in computer
software since 1969 and whilst I would not say I was passionate
about it I have undoubtedly a huge amount of experience and knowledge
on the subject - so I would choose software as the subject of
my ebook.
Whatever you do choose
a high or medium item - and only a medium over a high if you are
passionate about it !
Now what! - well your
going to DUMP your ideas. This is where your friend or relative
comes in, to take notes. So, yes you are going to say your thoughts
out loud. You could of course record it.
Now, say out loud everything
you can think of relative to your subject matter - yes, that's
absolutely everything no matter how insignificant. Initially,
it should all come out as a gush so your recorder will need to
keep up. If your lucky, they'll know shorthand. If your really
lucky they'll have the memory of The Great Suprendo.
Ultimately, the gush
will reduce to a trickle and then stop altogether. At this point,
grab a coffee and relax - the recorder has still to catch up.
Now, my list would
look something like this:
- ebook
software
- ebook
compiler
- ebook
creator
- ebook
maker
- make
ebook
- html
ebook
- resale
rights
Bear with me, your
nearly finished!
Next put a circle around
similar entries and give them all the same unique number. For
example, if the next unique number was 5 then put a 5 next to
all of the entries you circled on that occasion.
Write down a list
of your unique numbers. If you have 10 of them write a list 1-10.
Back to high, medium and low. Review the string of thoughts that
were circled for number 1 and mark on your new list whether you
view it as a must mention in my book item i.e. a high or is it
a medium (include depending on the length of my book) or a low
(only if I am stuck for things to say). Continue doing this for
the rest of your unique numbers.
Congratulations, you
now have the subject of your ebook and a whole load of sub topics
to discuss. There are of course other techniques to extract relevant
content - such as posing questions. Pose this question to yourself
: "I like SUBJECT MATTER because.? (dump away) Think up a
few more.
Send me a copy of your
new ebook.
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