I came across a Website which sells a course on how to write a book in
14 days or less. The site is at

http://www.writeabooknow.com

Seeing as the course costs US$597, I don’t see myself ordering it
anytime soon.

There’s also an ebook that supposedly teaches this skill, which can be
bought for a more reasonable US$49 at

http://www.ebooksecretsexposed.com/7dayspecial.shtml

I want to know what other resources there are on the Internet, as well
as books, magazines, etc. I’m looking for proven material, rather than
the fly-by-nighters that seem to make up so much of the Internet
market.

Stuff on how to market the book/ebook would also be most useful.

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Request for Question Clarification by acorn-ga on 30 Apr 2003 08:55 PDT

Do you already have a topic/subject in mind or have you just been
reading the "write your own eBook and make tons of money on the
Internet" stuff and want to see if it will work for you?

Also, are you wanting to write fiction or non-fiction?

Dear Markabe,

You're right, there's a lot of junk out there.
But there are some good tools, too. 

The two best books I know?
(I have and use both.)

Both are by really reputable people. Neither is 
expensive. Both have money-back guarantees:

Ken Evoy's Make Your Words Sell  $29.95
http://myws.sitesell.com/

Dennis Gaskill's (Boogie Jack) E-Book Farming $27.00
http://ebookfarming.com/

Save money by joining their affiliate programs first:

SiteSell's will save you about 25%
http://www.sitesell.com/affiliateprogram.html

Boogie Jack's will save you 33%
http://ebookfarming.com/affiliate.html


Both books will help you organize your thoughts, 
find and develop your topic - and provide resources
to help you publish, sell and market your book. 

Not bad for about 5% of the price you started with. ;~)

Best wishes, 

Your TaxMama-ga

---

Request for Answer Clarification by markabe-ga on 21 May 2003 02:14 PDT

taxmama-ga,

I just ordered eBook Farming, so time will tell.

Wouldn't there be plenty of other resources on this wonderful internet thing?

---

Clarification of Answer by taxmama-ga on 21 May 2003 07:00 PDT

Dear Markabe,

Oh  my goodness, yes. Lots of resources. 

But Dennis will list dozens more in the book. 

One of the things I've learned about the Internet, 
you can find hundreds, even thousands of resources,
and spend all your time researching - and never 
doing what you start out to do.

(Engineers' Heaven!)

OR, you can ask around and have someone who's already
done the research narrow it down to a couple of choices,
make a decision - and get to work. 


Don't worry, Dennis will include references to many
other e-book tools, lists, resources and books. 

This guy has totally done his homework. Let's face it, 
he literally climbed out of a coal mine to learn how
to use and program for the Internet - and Boogie
Jack is now one of the most popular Internet 
personalities - because his readers can rely on him. 

Oh yes, and he's accessible if you need guidance. 

Best wishes

Your TaxMama-ga

HI markabe~

As the author of a dozen books, I'd advise you to stay clear of *any*
book, website, etc. that promised to teach you a way to write a book
"quickly and easily." Writing books is never easy (unless you aren't
concerned about quality), and the process from writer's mind to
published book is never very quick. Period.

If you're serious about writing, whether it be for print or the
Internet, the very best advice I can give you is to read recent books
in the genre you're interested in writing for. Then you should pick of
several "how to get published" books; again, make sure they are
recent. Writer's Digest Books offers some excellent resources for
would-be-published writers; you'll find their website at:
www.writersdigest.com

Writing is a lot of work, and you're not likely to get rich doing it,
but with patience and persistence, it can a rewarding career, indeed.

Good luck!
kriswrite

To quote Canadian writer Pierre Burton in his book, "The Joy of
Writing," --

"So you're a writer," an examining physician remarked jovially to the
late great novelist Margaret Laurence. "When I retire, I intend to
become a writer."

To which Margaret replied, cheerfully, "Yes, and when I retire I
intend to become a brain surgeon."

Markabe, if you're serious about writing, don't waste your money of
too-good-to-be-true promises. Read everything you can get your hands
on. Learn to tell the difference between good writing and bad. If you
want to take a class, take REAL university level courses. And most of
all, write! write! write!

Oh, and buy this book:  

The Elements of Style 
by William Strunk Jr., E.B. White, Roger Angell (Foreword) 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/020530902X/qid=1051582983/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/103-7040678-0635862?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Even though you'll probably buy a zillion books on writing, it's
really the only one you'll ever need.

Good luck -K~

Do you believe in ghosts?
http://www.ghostwords.com/ghost-writing-ghost-writers-rates.html

Hi, I've just written (and deleted) stuff on How to Write Quickly and
Easily... but looked at your question again: you really have three
questions:
(1) how to write quickly and easily, 
(2) how to write a book and 
(3) how to promote an ebook.


(1) In my experience it was: learn by doing it. As a working
journalist, I had to learn to write fast in order to meet deadlines,
get published and get paid.
    "Hammer it out," as they used to say in the newspaper where I
worked.
    It also helps to be working in conjunction with other writers, and
that's why networking can be useful.


(2) If I have an idea for a book, I make up a list of all the headings
and subjects I want to discuss, write a list of objectives, and
describe my intended audience; and from these three documents, I can
begin a draft Table of Contents. (That's the way I wrote courses for a
financial courseware company.)


(3) Promoting an ebook is similar to promoting a website. 

Jill Whalen is a good source of info for promoting  a site with search
engines: www.highrankings.com

It's also possible to promote your ebook without having a website ...
for example, you can have affiliates to sell your ebooks. Here are
some links from this site on the subject of affiliates:
http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=145182 
http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=27078 

There are some good links on ebooks and websites on this page:
http://www.selling-it.com/Pub_Articles/Articles_Ezine_Advice/Art5.htm

best wishes, intotravel.