First, before we get into my approach, let me make one thing clear.
I'm still talking about creating an eBook from your own unique content. This isn't a post about how you can buy other people's content and shove it (or gently place it, however you prefer) into an eBook that you call your own.
I'm talking about process here. I'm just one of those people who stares at a blank page long enough to stop myself from ever wanting to create an eBook.
Yet the process I talk about here is really simple and easy to do. And you can take as little or as long as you like.
The Lema Approach
(i.e. How I create an eBook)
In this ten-minute walk thru, I'll share with you my insider secret.
You can do this too!
Note that this approach isn't only for me. You can use it too. Even if you're not exactly like me. Even if you don't want to only take a day or two.
The real power in what I do is that I leverage what I'm good at—and a technology that helps me.
Obviously, when I talked about it (above), I skipped the pre-pre-steps of writing.
- Pick a topic.
- Break it down into smaller topics.
- Collect stories for those topics.
Once I've collected my stories, I'm ready to step into the process I talked about in the video.
- Test my stories with people.
- Collect feedback.
- Tweak stories and the story order.
- Talk to my iPhone (using Rev).
And from there, I can collect the Word documents sent back to me (normally within an hour or two) and combine them into a single document that others can edit and/or layout.
Note: you don't have to hire an editor or person to lay out your content.
From there, it's just a matter of getting someone (or myself) to create a cover. So far I've done them myself. But if you're going to create one yourself, then you need to read everything you can from Rafal & Nathan.
Seriously, buy their stuff. They're amazing folks and fantastic designers.
And here's the link to my favorite secret weapon: