To close out the month of August, I would like to make a blog post about e-books and what my thoughts are on them. Writing an e-book doesn't require rocket science, but it does require careful planning and strategizing. What do I mean by that? I mean, for starters, you can't just write all sorts of text that don't relate to each other and call it a book. That would be sloppy. You have to plan out what your book is going to be about, and what message you want to send your readers as they go through your book.
You have to decide if your book is going to be a fictional story like Aesop's Fables, or if your book is going to discuss some real life events that will truly matter to people. Any book you make will be a chapter-by-chapter experience, and you have to take your reader through the core points of your book one chapter at a time. Each chapter of a book has its own purpose, for either illustrating a core point, or to serve as a reminder of what was already discussed in an earlier chapter.
Readers appreciate structure in a book. If your e-book doesn't have any structure, I guarantee you that no readers will want to go through your e-book. Readers need time to take in what you discussed in one chapter before they can move on to the next chapter. Whatever you write in a chapter has to come together and make sense. If you are coming across as simply ranting without having any cohesiveness, then readers will be put off.
It is important to stay on topic throughout the entirety of your e-book. I can't put enough emphasis on that. If you are writing a book about how to go fishing, for example, you wouldn't all of a sudden stray away from that topic and then write about lawnmowers. Keep it about fishing. Stay true to your reading audience. Give them the information they need. Give them the right information.
SEO rules don't necessarily need to be followed when writing e-books. If you normally enjoy writing content that relates to SEO standards, then more power to you in that case. If writing for SEO works for you, then it's okay to write an e-book having similar rules in mind. E-books don't follow a specific formula when it comes to SEO, though. If you don't repeat words in multiple chapters, don't worry about it. That won't break your e-book.
If you can manage this, it also helps to have visual representations of your messages in your e-books. Putting in images like graphics that drive home your core points leaves a lasting impression on readers, whether they will agree with you or not. Highlighting text in an appropriate way can also help readers remember where in your book you discussed a specific topic. In other words, you have to make a reader's experience with your book not only enjoyable, but easy enough to follow. Readers should never feel intimidated or bored when they read your book. Give them something to be interested in when they start reading.
E-books can be short or long in word count, but the number of words also don't break your e-book. It's not about how many words you can stuff into your book. It's about the quality of your message. You may write 100,000 words in your book, but if your message falls flat, then you have nothing. You could write only 12,500 words in a small book of yours, but if your message is powerful and meaningful, then you will get the attention of readers.