If you’ve been asked to write an ebook, I’m going to assume that you’re an experienced writer. Some of the information covered in other Crowd Content University lessons is covered here as well, but I don’t want to repeat everything, so I encourage you to review any lessons that you’re rusty on before writing your ebook.
Why are you writing an ebook? Before you write a single letter, you need to answer this question. If you’re writing it because that’s what your client told you to do, you need to know his purpose.
If you mess up, you’ve got an awful lot of rewriting to do, so make sure you’re totally clear about what your client wants.
Now it’s time to go back to your high school English class. Remember thesis statements? You certainly don’t use them in product descriptions, Twitter, or Facebook, and even blog posts are often short enough that you’re fine without them.
An ebook is much longer. To keep your writing on track, you need a thesis statement: a sentence that describes your purpose. Every sentence in your ebook must relate to your thesis statement.
If that sounds daunting, don’t worry. Having a thesis statement is actually helpful, since it keeps your writing on track and helps you present strong arguments.
A thesis statement also tells your readers what your writing is about, since they won’t otherwise know your purpose.
Brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm. Write down what your purpose is. You can use as many sentences as necessary. Once you’ve described your purpose, rewrite it in a condensed version.
Continue rewriting until you can explain your purpose in one sentence. This is a thesis statement. Now rewrite that sentence several times. You’re unlikely to achieve the perfect thesis statement on your first try , so keep revising it until you’re happy.
You can also edit your thesis statement while you write your ebook, as long as you don’t change the whole meaning. As you revise your thesis statement, make your language as specific as possible. There are links to thesis statement writing resources in the “Learn More” section below.
Remember how I said that every sentence must relate to your thesis? Creating an outline is the best way to do this. Each of the points in your outline must relate to your thesis. Then, when you write, each of your sentences should relate to your outline.
Learn More: