Whether used as marketing tools to boost your business, lead magnets to build your email lists or create a name for yourself in the literary world, eBooks are essentially meant to educate, inspire, and motivate. They are inarguably the most authoritative form of content in the digital world. However, not all eBooks deliver what they are expected to. While some eBook writers fail to deliver quality content, others make mistakes that can easily be avoided.
Since many eBook writers have been going down the self-publishing road lately, attempting to do everything on their own, they often make mistakes that are small but capable of ruining all their hard work. It’s high time we stop making such mistakes. They not only impact your eBook sales but can also tarnish your business’ reputation.
eBook Writing Mistakes You Should Avoid At All Costs
With countless eBooks available out there, readers are not going to put up with low-quality and error-ridden eBooks anymore. Whether you’re writing your first eBook or 10th, make sure that you are not making any of the following mistakes – they are embarrassingly bad:
Choosing a Wrong Topic
Whenever a person decides to write an eBook, the first thing they do is select the topic they want to write on (note that we’re not talking about the title of the eBook here; we are talking about the topic). It may seem like an easy step; the truth of the matter is that it often turns out to be one of the most challenging steps of eBook writing. And I am afraid to tell you that a significantly large number of new eBook writers fail at choosing the right topic.
Wondering what can go wrong with choosing a topic for your eBook?
Since everyone knows how saturated and competitive the eBook market has become, writers often try to come up with unique topics to make their eBooks stand out and attract more people. In doing so, however, many of them end up making the terrible mistake of settling with a topic they don’t know much about. This makes the eBook writing process a lot more difficult and longer and also greatly increases the chances that you’ll end up with low-quality work.
You need to understand that writing an eBook is totally different than other forms of writing – it’s a lot more demanding. Also, eBooks (even if they are short) are much more comprehensive than other forms of digital content. As an (aspiring) author, it is your responsibility to make sure that you have enough knowledge to comprehensively cover a topic. In other words, you need to be self-assured that you can do justice to the topic.
Pro Tip: If you really want to write on a topic that you’re unfamiliar with or lack knowledge about, it’s better to take help from a professional eBook writing service than doing a bad job on your own.
Jumping Into Writing without Research and Planning
So, you have decided to write an eBook on a topic that’s your area of specialization or that you have plenty of knowledge about? Great!
Since you already have enough information about the book, you turn on your computer and start writing – Wrong! Absolutely Wrong!
It’s common for eBook writers to make this mistake when they are working on a topic or idea they are well familiar with and feel confident to work on. But, this is an entirely wrong approach. No matter how much knowledge you have about a topic or how much you have thought about it (in case of fiction eBooks), you need to properly research the topic and prepare a solid plan or outline for the book.
Writing without a plan is like hitting the road without knowing the route to your destination. You will most likely reach your destination, but you are also likely to lose your way. Also, you may take a long, difficult route, which can lead to a bumpy ride, or, at worse, ruin the whole experience. When you write an eBook without planning or creating an outline, you’re likely to get distracted from the main topic. Also, in an attempt to cover the topic comprehensively, many writers end up creating very long books. While this isn’t much of an issue in the traditional book industry, very long eBooks tend to be uninviting. This is where professional eBook publishing services can help!
They know what a good eBook length should be. However, more importantly, they can help writers generate more revenue by breaking down a comprehensive topic (eBook) into a series of smaller eBooks. They know that a series of smaller eBooks have higher sales potential than one big eBook. In other words, a professional eBook publisher can help you create a more profitable product for the market.
Grammatical Errors, Typos, and Misspellings
With so many grammar-checking and editing tools available, there’s no excuse for publishing an eBook with grammatical errors, misspelled words, and typos. These mistakes not only harm your reputation as a writer but also take away the charm from your writing. No matter how great your ideas are, if you haven’t presented them properly to the readers, they won’t make an impact or, worse, create a negative impact.
Here are some of the software that you can use to detect grammatical mistakes, typos, and spelling errors in your eBook:
- Grammarly
- Hemingway Editor
- ProWriitngAid
- WhiteSmoke
- Ginger
- PaperRater
- Slick Write
- Language Tool
- Grade Proof
- Linguix
- Reverso
Thinking You Can Edit Your Work Yourself
It’s high time that writers accept that they simply cannot kill their darlings on their own – they need someone else to do it. If you could edit your own work, why would the greatest writers and best-selling authors hire editors? (They all do!)
Don’t let the confident writer within you overestimate your skills. Hire a professional eBook editor for the task.
Don’t Ruin Your Reputation with These eBook Writing Mistakes!
We are at the end of the second decade of the 21st century, which means we are about to celebrate the golden jubilee of eBooks (yes, eBooks are going to turn 50 in 2021). Readers are getting smart, and so are eBook writers. It’s high time eBook writers stop making the mistakes that make them look amateur, incompetent, and dare I say, downright stupid.
Making any of the mistakes discussed above will only harm your reputation as a writer and may even end your writing career before it starts. Making these easily avoidable mistakes in eBook writing is like signing up for a project that’s predestined to fail.
If there’s anything in the eBook writing process that you’re not confident about, it’s better to take help from an eBook writing service than settling for low-quality work. There are plenty of eBook writing services available out there that can help you write, improve, edit, format, and publish your eBooks.
