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    Step By Step
    Step By Step
    Step By Step
    Ebook46 pages40 minutes

    Step By Step

    By Mike Laughrey

    ()

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    About this ebook

    In theory, practically anyone can write a book on their computer in their spare time and put it out there for the whole world to see. In practice, both making and promoting any book, regardless of what it's about, is a daunting task. This is especially true for somebody new to the ebook medium, or writing in general. Step By Step is meant to fill in those gaps in the novice author's knowledge, exploring everything from creative exercises and working conditions to the psychology behind advertising.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMike Laughrey
    Release dateMar 2, 2019
    ISBN9780463027585
    Step By Step
    Author

    Mike Laughrey

    Mike Laughrey is an author, bibliophile, home workshop tinkerer, and self-proclaimed mad scientist. He writes both fiction and nonfiction, but prefers fictional reference works - nonfictional information that expands the knowledge of a fictional setting. He reads technical how-to and DIY books, military science and history, some high fantasy, and science fiction - good science fiction, not that scaremongering dystopian stuff that predicts a new and uniquely terrible future every other day. According to legend, anyone who can properly pronounce Mike's last name just from reading it is destined to lead the mole people in their conquest of the surface world.

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      Book preview

      Step By Step - Mike Laughrey

      Step By Step:

      A Beginner’s Guide To Writing and Publishing Ebooks

      by Mike Laughrey

      Copyright 2019 Mike Laughrey

      Smashwords Edition

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

      Table Of Contents

      Introduction

      Part One: Preparation

      Goals And Methods

      Choosing What To Write

      Tools And Resources

      Working Environment

      Part Two: Marketing And Distribution

      Online Advertising

      Blogging

      Online Publishing And Distribution Systems

      There Is No Stopping Fandom

      Conclusion

      Introduction

      Ebooks are everywhere these days, and for good reason. They can be delivered instantly, almost anywhere in the world with an internet connection, and without paying for shipping. They are never out of stock. They don’t have the same overhead as print books, which lowers their costs. And the explosion of portable electronics in the forms of smartphones and tablets means they can be read anywhere, too.

      Despite all these advantages, writing and publishing an ebook is still a huge challenge. This book is intended to shepherd new ebook authors through a number of common bottlenecks and pitfalls when it comes to writing, marketing, and distributing their work.

      Part One: Preparation

      It’s one thing to jump into a project head first, driven by passion or obsession or anger, shrugging off all distractions and discouragements until the work is done. It’s a completely different thing to do that over and over again. More than one author has tried to build a career on a book that almost wrote itself, only to stumble and get bogged down in delays once the Honeymoon Period was over. Passion and enthusiasm is excellent when it’s available, but when your livelihood relies on producing a certain volume of work consistently, what you really need is a system. And exactly what kind of system you need depends on what you’re writing and why as much as your own preferences.

      Goals And Methods

      Not every author writes the same way, about the same subject, or for the same reason. But all authors can save a lot of time and frustration by figuring out what they want to write and why they want to write it ahead of time. This is especially important for big projects and long series, which are particularly vulnerable to something called Scope Creep, which can eat up a huge amount of an author’s time and energy without adding anything useful to the book itself.

      Storytellers: For authors who already have a day job, a trust fund, university tenure, or are otherwise independently wealthy, marketability is only important to them in that it leads to more people reading their story. Some authors will even put their work out there for free, to remove any any possible obstacle between their story and the people who might enjoy it. Not everyone is so fortunate; most authors have to balance their creative vision with their financial obligations.

      Fortunately, storytelling authors who choose ebooks have a major advantage

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