Earlier this year I ghost-wrote a book for a client in 23 days; each day I posted tips on how I did it:. Thanks Diana! Thanks for breaking down the process. You really simplified creating an Ebook on a step by step level. I was trying to figure out the best way to tackle everything and your outline makes perfect sense!! Thanks a million for it! My book will be out next month in both digital formats and print. I cannot wait. Tying up all of the loose ends these past couple of months prior to launch has been pretty miserable.
The only point I would add to this post is to have someone else read your work and give feedback. Someone with fresh eyes who will be brutally honest. In fact, I had several people read and give feedback and a lot of it was very valuable to the end product.
Keep up the great work. Congrats on the book, Jennifer! Great idea. Great minds think alike! Writing 1, words per days for 2 months 60days produces 90, words: a proud length. A plan, if not a plot, just a good story as Stephen King might say helps you get those 1, written every day. Once you start, it actually gets easier as you go along. Momentum seems to keeps the Block down. Ignore the banging on the cupdoor and pleas to be let loose.
You can write all 60 days of them later — unless to have software that writes while you speak. That is a good thing. A democracy in action. As ever the point made by Ali Luke to write what readers want to read is a good one. Depending on your topic area, a paper book could well be a fantastic addition.
Great job on making the writing process more accessible by putting it on a timeline. People often ask me how they can improve their own skills. My favorite trick to help with this is to suggest they actually take a printout of the document away from their normal writing environment and then read it out loud.
Not to mention a good reason to stop for a minute, make a great cup of coffee or tea, and spend a few minutes simply enjoying the process of writing and creating! Amen to that Lauren — back in the early 90s I met an editor from Simon and Schuster. This was the early days of word processors being used — and she said she could read a manuscript and tell immediately if it had been edited on a computer screen or it had been printed out.
So can double-spacing the lines — it creates more white space around the words, making it easy to focus on each individual one. Thanks for the detailed guidance for making an eBook happen in a month! Good luck with the novel, Jennifer! December can be a great month for ebook-writing, as the blogosphere tends to slow down a bit around Christmas time.
Boy, do I ever need a motivational schedule to abide by like this one. I have to imagine that your tips here work for general writing projects — not just eBooks. They absolutely do, Emma! Any big writing project can be broken down in a similar way though some will need a fair bit longer than 30 days….
This post came at just the right time. I have decided on a topic for my free ebook so this will really help me get on and get the job done. Many thanks. Best of luck, Sharon, hope the writing goes well and that the free ebook brings you lots of great traffic.
Love your process and the way you chunk it down. I can do this! Quality is crucial — and achievable in a realistic time-frame. This post is epic. I love that it breaks down all the tasks from idea to outline to writing to editing. I was expecting a formula for 30 days of writing, but this is even better. Improved my blog writing as well as helping me to write this ebook.
I learned that its not so much to just write 10, words but to write that keeps the engagement of the reader as well as teaches or tells that story. Wow, that sounds really easy, but am sure the days 5 — 25 will be a killer and will easily take a toll on anyone. Hopefully I will get the courage to start thinking about it one of these days. Great post, Ali. I like the way you break down the process of writing an e-book.
Thanks for complicating my life. It will be fun sorting it all out. Thanks Chris! I have learned that one way to promote your site is to write an e-book. Your post gives me the push and tips to come up with my first e-book ever. More power to you Ali! Thanks Jonan! I happened to read this at just the right time, writing a book is definitely in my bucket list,starting with an e-book seems like a brilliant idea, really grateful for the way in which you have shared yourself so freely, am daring myself to write an ebook in a month, come 1st December, will be talking a different story.
Knowing that a bunch of people will also be doing it in November might keep me going. Slay the dragon of Resistance. And, like Rex said, if you really want help. Absolutely not. And great point about writing less. If this is your first time writing one, a 5, word free ebook could be a fantastic project to spend 30 days on.
But yes as you mentioned I think I need an internet blocker. Interesting article. Where would be the best place to look if I wanted to outsource the preparation of an ebook using content I have created over a series of articles?
How much would it likely cost. Good question, Dane! Simple and concise tips Ali. This is great advice. Having even one whole day to work single-mindedly on a writing project makes a massive difference. Thanks Ali, Your tips were inspiring and also straight to the point. What a powerful post yours was! I wonder how many new eBooks will be the result of your helpful guidance? Definitely a great piece of article as this is my single biggest problem, procrastination on putting out content because of the overwhelming task of writing a full blown ebook.
But if I break it down like what you advice, it is suddenly manageable and writing a few pages each day seems like a minute task all of a sudden. Thanks Ted! Anyone have any examples of successful ebook site designs? Here are a couple of quite different! Love all the tips in this post, Ali. This is an excellent post. I wrote an eBook once in fewer than 30 days, and I followed the same course though not on purpose, but what you outline is a really natural and realistic approach.
This is really great formula to write an e-book in 30 days. The best thing is that we can be organized without losing our attention. I have used some of the parts especially mind maps, but never put such a goal to write words daily with such a discipline. Thanks, Dragan! This is really great information. I envy people who can create such logical plans and plot them out. I have been stuck on moving forward with my e-book. It starts and stops and I am not really sure what is currently stopping me.
Thanks for this post. I often get stuck if I try to write without a clear plan! Even a list of several key points that you want to cover in the next chapter could help.
These are the questions which you need to ask yourself to get back into action for your ebook and get writing again. Answering these questions will help you set out the plan Ali talks about.
Remember, your ebook should be a tool; an employee even, with a specific role. I have been thinking on this response from Ali and from Tom. Because this is exactly what the topic of my e-book is about. My e-book is targeted towards artists, writers, seekers and daydreamers in general.
Some mistakenly diagnosed with attention deficit. The point of my response is that plans do not pan out for some. It comes down to routines not plans. This e-book has to be part of my daily routine. It is not really the content that has me stuck, but working it into my day.
I can take the plans and outlines passed my way and pick parts here and there to use and implement, but for someone like me to work through a 90 day plan or an outline or what-not is almost impossible. There is nothing wrong with this. Our minds are wired differently and it is always good to hook up with others who are more logically wired.
The e-book is about the possibility of this. How we can stay true to our daydreamer tendencies and move forward with our lives and our businesses. How do the unfocused find their focus and get things done. If you say the word plan or rules to a daydreamer they will run the other way. I just happened to be reading the post.
But thank-you both for your responses because it got me thinking about how to make this e-book part of my daily routine. Maybe you could try setting aside a whole day just for writing — I know Catherine Caine awesome gal does that, and her work is amazingly full of energy.
Your ebook sounds great and probably much-needed! This is good advice. I think I will pick a day and actually leave the house. Go to the library or something. I bookmarked this post a few weeks ago while I tested out a few ways to make money. Welcome back, Rose! I am excited about this challenge. But, I am still going to create the E-Book for my future client. I save them for the weekend or when I have time..
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Phentermine mg. Norvasc-history of drug. Lotensin and ibuprofen. Diovan Download the entire book mb here. I may have to remove this if there are too many downloads. Please note that these were taken before the scanner and software were complete.
Scans from the final system are much nicer. We have written some open-source, free software to convert the images from your scanner into PDFs. It's currently in a rough alpha stage, and needs a pretty fast computer to get things done. It works on Macs and PCs. Help us improve it! This software is covered on step EDIT: Many people have commented that an automatic page flipper would be faster. I think this system is pretty fast. I made a comparison video if you'd like to see how this compares to an automatic scanning system.
And you can watch a movie while you work on my system. Let's get to it! Step 1 now contains a beta-quality printable PDF materials list. Let's start with getting the things you need. This book scanner employs recycled, found, and salvaged materials at every step. I think it's important to note that this is not only because it is the right thing to do, environmentally speaking, when prototyping and building things, but also because the major thrust of this project is to make it affordable for almost anyone.
Affordability often means getting creative with what you have and what you can find. It's currently in beta. Please help me perfect it! One of the problems of building this way is that there is a strong stigma against recovering things from the trash.
I'll admit that this affects even me on occasion. With that in mind, I want to show you a little dumpster diving trick that's socially acceptable. It's terribly simple. Take your camera, and hold it over the edge of any dumpster you find interesting.
When you get home, see if there's anything that will help you. Later, return under cover of darkness and recover whatever it is you needed. I spent almost a month thinking about this second book scanner and where to find stuff.
During this month, I was vigilant about noting the locations of various construction dumpsters, and I also kept an eye on trashcans whenever I passed them. Whenever I saw something interesting, I made a simple decision. Should I grab it now, or simply photograph it? If it was a dumpster, I photographed it. If it was something useful, I grabbed it right away. It's good to keep a fabric shopping bag or backpack on you to transport all the stuff you will inevitably find.
Often construction dumpsters have objects that are awkward to grab or even too large to fit in a car. For this reason it is good practice to bring some tools. I have a drill and a "sawzall" that come with me when I'm dumpster diving. With these tools, I can remove interesting parts of things, salvage screws and hardware, etc, as well as cut boards in half if they are too big to fit in my car.
You should also have a flashlight and heavy gloves to protect your hands. In terms of this project, I would argue that using recycled materials is actually only a secondary benefit because the environmental benefits of using digital books really add up over time.
Using recycled junk isn't just a challenge, it makes walks and watching purposeful, lightens the load on landfills and trucks, and makes up for other areas where you may not be as conscious as you'd like to be. It also sets the precedent that while finding everything at the Home Depot or hardware store is fine, finding the stuff out of the ether is far better.
Finally, dumpsters are far from the only place to find things. This project requires some things that you will never find in dumpsters -- like working light bulbs. For this, look to places which explicitly work in recycling. In my community, Habitat for Humanity ReStore is a fantastic resource.
They had the paint I wanted, the halogen light bulbs I needed, and even a light fixture that worked to hold my lightbulbs, all for profoundly reduced prices. You can find the HDPE you need in the form of cutting boards at thrift stores. And you can also ask friends and family if they have extras. Chances are, they do or they know someone who does. Another great spot are hazardous waste recycling facilities.
Mine has a "materials exchange" where you can get paint and glue for free. To make the frame, you will need to acquire some materials.
I was able to get almost everything from the trash. You need an 8' 2x4 or the equivalent in smaller pieces. You need at least one piece that is about 4' long. You can make almost the entire base from this single board. I was able to find one 8' piece in the dumpster of a construction site near my house See: Material Acquisition Recommendations. Later, I found a few more short scraps of much nicer stuff.
You need 4 bolts at least 4 inches long , 4 nuts and a handful of woodscrews. I was able to find bolts in the trash during Fargo's famous Spring Cleaning Week , but all the screws I found were too short.
My friend Wolfgang loaned me some deck screws because he had a lot of them left over from building his workshop. You need large-ish piece 20x22 or larger of either countertop material, coated MDF, melamine, or plastic. I chose countertop material because I was able to find it in a local dumpster.
Often you can get such cutoff pieces at no cost simply by asking. Additionally, if you wait until the end of the month when people are moving from apartment to apartment, there will be pieces of furniture like desks, coffeetables, and bookshelves that have the right finish.
The important thing is that the surface be a little slippery. You need a power strip. This will be the control center for your lighting.
You can get away without it if they are hard to come by or expensive. I found mine in the trash on moving day. Cut your board into appropriately sized pieces. Because it is easier to cut 2x4's than countertop material, I simply measured my piece of countertop and sized the boards to it. I was not particularly careful about this and you do not need to be careful about it, either.
Just get things close. Pulling nails takes all of a couple minutes and means you get to save money on new materials. It prevents you from unnecessarily dulling or ruining tools. It is worth it. Make a little template to drill pilot holes for your woodscrews. I used this piece of plastic angle, but you can use anything, even a folded piece of cardboard.
Simply measure and mark the distance to halfway across the short side of a 2x4. I marked two holes. Using this template, all my pilot holes lined up neatly and it saved time and headscratching. If you're paranoid, like I am, check the fit of your materials. I did this simply by setting the countertop on my boards to make sure everything lined up. Screw it together!
Here is the assembled base. For fun and to check the fit of my work, I rested the countertop on it again. Now we need to attach the column. In this design, the base is attached to the column with four bolts so that the scanner can be torn down and moved easily. I simply measured 4 holes and drilled them. It was necessary to countersink the holes for my bolts because my bolts were too short.
If I had purchased the bolts new instead of pulling them from the trash, this would have been unnecessary. Since I have already collected tons of bolts, it was worth the small amout of effort to countersink, and it saved me ANOTHER trip to the hardware store.
I used the Harbor Freight Tools clamps to hold the column on the base and used the holes in the base as a template for drilling. This assures that everything lines up neatly and that the column is straight. Measure the distance between the two mounting holes and drill two screws into the side of the base. Stick it on the screws. Congratulations on making the base for your book scanner. One of the nastier problems in scanning books is that the "center" of the book shifts as you flip through the pages.
I have a couple pictures with a very thick book that demonstrate this problem. Essentially, with books that have any thickness, the center "V" shape of the book moves left to right as you flip pages. However, the platen of our book scanner does not move. That means that we need whatever is holding the book to slide freely, to center it below the platen. This is the main reason why the base of the book scanner must have a smooth surface, like melamine, plastic, or counter top.
Things have to slide. There are many ways you can make the book holder. In fact, my first book holder was made entirely of cardboard, and it worked well enough to digitize my first book. I used this same principle in buying clamps. You use the clamps to assemble the device and to operate it.
In other words, the tools become the machine. A hot glue gun is a good tool to have. The hotter, the better. Miter box, 14" Harbor Freight Part Number I also found it in the dumpster of a plastics shop.
HDPE is used to make custom cutting boards, so there are often surplus cutoffs available for very little money. You can also simply buy a cutting board -- thrift stores are full of them. Cut it into two strips. I chose to cut mine into two strips, which are 1x16" and 2x16".
These just happened to be convenient sizes. Set your miter box in place. This miter box is Set the next strip of plastic in front of it and push it against the miter box so that it becomes a kind of guide rail for miter box motion left and right. Give it a dab of hot glue to hold it in place while you adjust it. While the glue is still hot, gently push the plastic against the miter box while moving the miter box back and forth.
The idea is to get the miter box to move freely, but not to have much "play" if you try to rotate it. The smoothness of this mechanism can really make scanning more or less fun, so spend a little time on placing it right. The next part of the book holder assembly is where the book actually rests. As with the other parts of this instructable, you can and should substitute other materials.
You could probably make it more easily from wood, MDF, or perhaps even heavy cardboard. Materials pictures will be in the next steps if you need them : Coroplast, wood or MDF. Two angle brackets. Hot glue gun or other kind of glue. Tool box liner material. Spray glue or stapler. Cut two pieces of coroplast wood, MDF, etc at 11x15". This is one of the few hard recommendations in this instructable.
I have found that this size holds almost every book I've been interested in scanning. And all of the classics are available either as free e-books or extremely cheap paperbacks.
If anything it has done the opposite. Screw the industry! Let me try something else. He writes novels under another name, has helped thousands of authors build a readership with his books, blogs, workshops, and courses, and has created marketing campaigns for some of the biggest self-publishers on the planet. Friend to all dogs. A tasty stew indeed. From Wikipedia: Economic value is not the same as market price. Are you seeking to maximize income? But maximizing income is just one potential goal to consider when pricing ebooks.
But… but… what about the industry? Determine your goals. Experiment with different prices. Evaluate the change in income.
It really is that simple. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits.
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