I’m writing an eBook

December 13, 2011 Leave a comment

All right friends, it’s time.  I’m going to write my first e-book.  I’m going to do it in 30 days using the process outlined here.  Today is day 1.  I will be posting daily updates to my Facebook and twitter feeds.

I need your help.  I want to write about “teams, work and complexity,” I don’t have a title yet.  But it doesn’t matter what I want to write about if you don’t want to read about it!  The first two days of the process are about asking you for a topic.  See what copyblogger says:

Pick your topic (Days 1–2)

Maybe you’ve got an idea in mind already: a book you’d really love to write.

Go ahead and write that idea down, and then store it in a safe place.

Leave it there for the next 30 days.

Yep, seriously. You’d probably have a great time writing it … but chances are, it’s not what your audience is looking for, so it’s not going to sell.

A great ebook idea needs to be:

  • Specific. Don’t try to write the definitive guide to your topic: it’s overwhelming for your readers, and it doesn’t leave you much room for your next eBook.
  • Useful. If you do consulting or coaching, what problems come up again and again? Do your blog readers always ask for posts dealing with a particular issue?

Ask your audience what they want, and give them a few possibilities to choose from.

You’ve only got two days here, so you won’t have time for a full-blown survey — but you can tweet out a question, or put up a thread on your Facebook page.

Be prepared to be surprised!

Once you’ve got a solid idea, you can …

So this is me asking.   If you are reading this blog post you probably have a sense of what I can contribute.  Give me some feedback!

No Comments

  • Idea: best strategies for teams to hold the tension between working on local vs global level (how do you do it all and still be effective; when you can’t do it all, how do you choose, given the perceived moment of huge need at both levels?)

    Not attached to this idea for your ebook, just offering it to add to your mix! Thank you for writing, Gibran!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *