This is part five in a series on How To Write An eBook: From Idea to Launch. You can read part one here, part two here, part three here and part four here.
If you’ve been following along with this series, you’ll know that we’re finally to the most important part of the eBook creation process: writing the book! This is both the easiest and the hardest part.
It’s easiest because if you’ve brainstormed and then created an outline, you already pretty much have your eBook written. Now you just have to go back, fill in the details and add more info.
Unfortunately, the writing is also the hardest part because it’s the part where most people get “stuck” due to self-sabotaging behavior. All of a sudden your eBook won’t seem good enough to you. The topic won’t be strong enough or you won’t believe you’re really the expert you thought you were, etc.
Just know that all the stuff that’s coming up around you writing your eBook is nothing more than your internal fear and comfort zone. Those two things will keep you procrastinating forever, just so you never have to do anything “scary” or take a risk of any kind.
You can fight the fear and comfort zone very easily, by sitting down and writing anyhow. Write in spite of the fear!
Truth be told, the fear will always be there. It’s not going to magically go away overnight. Or ever. Even bestselling authors still have the fear inside them.
But they feel the fear and do it anyways.
That’s what you need to do to write your eBook. You gotta feel that fear inside; that deep, nagging fear that says you can’t do this, and you have to tell it, “Thanks for sharing your opinion, which I am now choosing to ignore.”
Moving Past The Fear
Once you’ve worked through the fear that holds you back from doing your writing, then you can finally jump in and start writing. Grab your eBook outline and use it as a guide to write.
Aim to work on your eBook for at least 30 minutes to an hour every day.
Since you have an outline ready to go, you don’t have to write it from top-to-bottom. You can jump in and write at any point that strikes you.
So maybe, for example, today you’re not really in the mood to write the detailed information stuff. Rather than skip writing altogether, instead work on your Introduction or your Table of Contents. Work on something that doesn’t require a ton of “information” to be put together.
The next day you may be more ready to work on another more information-packed part of your eBook. And if not, continue with stuff like your Conclusion or your chapter titles.
Just focus on doing some eBook writing every day. If you do this consistently, your eBook will be done before you know it. Then you can move on to step 6, which I’ll tell you more about next week.
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What stops you/holds you back during the “writing” part of the process?
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I feel like this post was written just for me! I can outline, brainstorm, make a zillion notes…then when it’s time for the actual writing…ta da! Here comes the fear. And the sudden need to clean the refrigerator. Or check my email. Or…
But you make a great point when you say that even best selling authors feel this fear…but they go ahead and write anyway. It’s hard to wrap my head around someone who has churned out (and sold) a ton of books freaking out that they may have lost their mojo. But it’s weirdly comforting to know that even the best of the best have their moments of “Can I do this??”. And like you said, that fear is going to be there no matter what, so what’s the alternative? For me, it’s something actually scarier than doing the writing: giving it up altogether and envisioning how crappy I’ll feel years down the road when I still don’t have any books written.
Great post, Jen…thanks for giving me lots to think about!
Great series! But, I’ve been teaching people to write ebooks for 8 years now and while fear can stop people who have all the basics down, many people don’t know how to brainstorm and turn their ideas into an outline, or pick the right topic for them, or write a killer title that will make sales both from their site and from Kindle.
Some people just need to know I’m available if they get stuck, and other’s really do need help getting unstuck and it’s not just fear, but bad writing habits like judging while writing, editing while writing, and many others. For other’s, you’re right, they have everything they need and it’s time to just take the plunge and DO IT!
If people want to learn more about the mistakes people make authoring an ebook and how to avoid them, they can listen to a free webinar at http://www.7ebookmistakes.com/webinar.
You’re right–most people don’t. Which is why I’m running this series. Part 1-8 will tell them everything they need to know to come up with an idea, brainstorm it, outline it, etc. you can read the additional posts via the links at the top of the article.
[...] Idea to Launch. You can read part one here, part two here, part three here, part four here, part five here and part six [...]