Why is writing a book so hard?
January 8th, 2009 by KenricSeriously, the problem I think I’m running into is that writing a book is easy. But writing a good book is very hard. When I first decided to do this, I was planning on going through the steps I took with my online store in sort of a step by step method. However, I feel like I’m writing a reference book on ecommerce now.
So I think I’m going to take a step back and reconfigure this ebook. I’m not going to rewrite it, I’m just going to go a different direction. What I am thinking of doing now is a writing a decent but not too in-depth book on ecommerce strategies including how to get traffic and convert sales. But I’m going to skip over all the explanations of SEO, webhosting, ecommerce software and payment processors. Then, on my sales page for the ebook I will include a forums section where people can ask questions about anything in the book that they didn’t understand. What do you think?
Posted in Making Money Online | 6 Comments »
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Just my 2 cents, but I think what’s great about your website is that you’re usually pretty specific about what you do/have done for your ecommerce sites. A general, non-specific overview of ecommerce strategies (if that’s what you’re thinking of doing) would not be that interesting to me. The step-by-step book would have a lot more value (for me).
By Jen on Jan 8, 2009
I’ve ordered a few e-books on the topic and always found them lacking in information. I usually find myself wishing the author went into more detail the topics.
I feel the same way as Jen. The e-book as described in this post probably wouldn’t catch my interest.
By Steve on Jan 8, 2009
It depends who your audience will be. Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced. It sounds like this book is geared to Beginner, so it would require step by step. Which is usually lacking in the self help books. Also since it’s a ebook you may be able to create a special examples and test site only for your buyers with a phrase from a paragraph. This will cut down on how big the book has to be showing examples.
By Mott on Jan 8, 2009
I do agree with the other two commentators: being specific is critical. People like to see specifics and examples. This is the heart of the “How To” book. If you do a bit of research, you’ll find the number one complaint of “How To” books is that they are too vague and don’t provide specifics. If you want your book to really shine, you need to write with that in mind.
With that being said, you may want to rethink your strategy a bit. You don’t have to go into long, boring detail regarding these other topics. But you should address them.
Introduce the theory, followed by an explanation, then an example.
My two cents.
By Clifford on Jan 8, 2009
Thanks for the responses. I am still providing a step by step method. But I think my ebook should be targeted at the strategies of getting sales and traffic.
The step by step or too in-depth portions that I am going to try to avoid is what platform to make your store from, which hosting to choose, how to set up hosting, etc. and explaining SEO.
For example I’m writing about PPC right now. Do I have to explain everything about PPC or should I go into the strategies of using it? I have to assume that my reader understands that they bid and pay per click. They should know how to set up an account and input keywords. I don’t want to explain that.
What I do want to explain is how to pay less for keywords, how to spend less per day and get the same return. Basically I want to explain PPC strategies and not how to set up a PPC account.
By Kenric on Jan 8, 2009
Honestly, for me, the more information the better, even if it gets a little dry to read in some areas. (Which, with your writing style, I doubt it will.)
I’d perfer to have more information than necessary that I could skim through if I already felt I had a handle on that area, rather than not enough information and left with a feeling of uncertainty or emptiness about an area.
I know you think it’s going to be like the size of a dictionary after you’ve finished everything, but I think the thing that seperates you from everyone else IS your attention to detail – and it’s much appreciated.
In turn, that makes your book more VALUABLE which means you may either get more referral sales or that you can charge more for your book than your competitors that offer a less comprehensive product.
By K Werner on Jan 10, 2009