Effective E-books
by Alyice Edrich

Turning Rejections Into E-books

As Christian writers it can sometimes be daunting to find markets for what we believe God puts on our hearts to write. Rejection after rejection has us wondering if we "misheard" God or if our writing is really "that bad."

But the rejection may not be a result of what we heard or our writing skills. It might simply be that our work doesn't match up with the needs of the publication. Christian publishers desire to share God's word, but they must also appease their readers and advertisers: the ones who pay to keep their companies afloat financially.

Therefore, the first thing Christian publishers ask isn't, "Is this what God wants me to share?" It's "Will this idea sell the magazine (or the book) while still meeting God's plan for our company?"

So what do we do with all those ideas, stories, articles, or thoughts we believe God wants us to share with the world? Do we keep them in our computer files, collecting dust until the right publication comes along? Do we hand them out to every stranger we meet on the street or forward them to friends and family members hoping it reaches the right person? Or do we post them on our personal blogs and websites?
 

We could do one or all of those things, but what if we could still share the news God wants us to share and make a few dollars in the process? What if we could start our own publishing house with very minimal dollars and only a little more time than it takes to query traditional publications?

If you're ready to take all those "rejections" and turn them into something profitable, then you're going to enjoy this column.

With a little creativity, a little more research, and a few more hours of your time, you can take your rejections and turn them into viable, selling electronic downloadable books (a.k.a. e-books).

Sort Your Rejections

The first step in turning your rejections into viable, selling e-books is to take all your rejections and sort them into categories—one category per e-book.

For instance, if you wrote an essay, an article, and a poem about your personal struggle with alcohol, that would be one category. If you wrote three essays on how God used you to minister to a stranger that would be another category. If you wrote five articles on how your neighbors used different methods of reaching out to the local community and saved a life, that would be another category.

Pick A Theme

Once your rejections are broken down and sorted into categories, it's time to pick one category and come up with a theme for your e-book.

When picking a theme, it's important to pick a topic that you can expand on. If you can't imagine writing anything more than what you've already shared in your articles, essays, or poems, choose another category and pick another theme.

Make Your Theme Saleable

In order to turn your rejected works into a saleable e-book, you must think outside your original mission to "share your story and God's triumph" and think about what your readers will get out of your e-book.
 

E-Book Basics

Basically, an e-book works like this:

• A writer researches a specific topic, interviews experts for background information and quotes, and puts together a small report or book designed to educate, inform, and entertain the reader.
   
• The book is saved as a MS Word® document with or without illustrations.
   
• When the book is complete, the writer hires a proofreader or copyeditor to make sure it's free of grammar and style errors, the pages are aligned and numbered properly, each chapter stays on task, and any confusing information is cleared up.
   
• Once the corrections and changes have been made, the writer then saves the MS Word® document as a .pdf file.
   
• The .pdf file is then loaded to a website, such as Marketers Choice.com, to be accessed by a shopping cart and a merchant account is attached to the shopping cart, such as PayPal Pro.
   
• Once the "bookstore" is in place, the writer must promote and advertise the book.
   
• When a customer buys the book, he (or she) selects the book of choice, enters the credit card information, clicks the pay button, and gets redirected to a webpage that allows the buyer to instantly download the book. Now all he has to do is print it out and read it.

The difference between print books and e-books isn't just how they're distributed. People who buy e-books want to be told how to do something in the most direct way possible. They want to be told how to accomplish something in a way that isn't told in traditional bookstores or on websites. They want it all: to be educated, informed, and entertained. They want your book to help them complete a certain task without having to do more research. In essence, they want you to mentor them without having to visit you in person or pay high priced consulting fees.

Let's assume that you really feel God calling you to write about your struggles with alcoholism. If you're not a celebrity, very few people are going to care about your struggles and triumphs, let alone want to read a daily account of your days as an alcoholic, though you might be able to take your personal experiences and write a novel using those experiences.

They will, however, want to hear about how they can break free from alcoholism. So as you prepare your book on alcoholism, ask yourself questions like:

• Is there a common theme in your road to recovery?
   
• Were there certain key elements that stood out?
   
• Why do you feel they stood out?
   
• What do experts say about your thoughts?
   
• What statistics, surveys, and other data can you find to back up your claims?

Develop Your Outline

Now that you've broken your rejections down into categories and have come up with what appears to be a viable e-book idea, it's time to develop a basic outline. Based on what you've already written, and the answers to the questions you asked yourself, what do you need to do to turn your ideas into an e-book? That's the basis of your outline.

Your outline; however, isn't set in stone. Once you've researched your competition, interviewed a few sources, and completed more background information, your outline may change. And that's okay.

Study Your Competition

Once you have a better understanding of where you want to go with your book, and how you can expand on your rejected works, it's time to check out the competition. Understanding your competition is vital to the success of your book. You not only want to know who your competition is, but you want to know what makes that book so popular. Then you want to figure out what your competition is missing and elaborate on those missing pieces in your e-book.

Writing an e-book that's already on the market as another e-book or as a print book isn't going to help your sales. If you want to work smarter, and not harder, you won't duplicate what's already being sold. You'll figure out what's missing and meet those needs.

In the end, your e-book is only as good as the content you have to share so make sure you write with the right reasons.