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4步教你写本精良的电子书 You’ve got a great idea. You’re going to write an ebook – perhaps your first! It’ll grow your business, bring in money, and help establish your expertise. 你想到了一个好点子。你想写本电子书——也许你是第一个想到的呢！这会大大的增加你的业务，为你带来名利。重要的还是能帮你树立“作家”的专业性。 And to keep yourself accountable, you tell all your readers to expect the ebook by the end of the month. Sure, that might mean a few caffeine-fuelled, late-night sessions … but your ebook will be done, dusted, and out the door. 为了保证你自己的作品质量，你告诉所有的读者他们期待的电子书本月末会出版。确实，这可能意味着你不得不用咖啡补充能量，漫长的深夜回忆。。。但是你的电子书一定会完成出版的！ Heck, if you really knuckle down, perhaps you can knock out a short ebook in a single week. 哎呀呀！如果你对这事真的这么认真的话，也许你一周的时间就能做出一本电子书了。 Maybe you can. 恩。。也许你可以吧！ But that doesn’t mean you should. 但这不意味着你必须这么做 Writing an Ebook isn’t a Race 写本电子书又不是比赛 It’s easy to feel pressured to knock this out fast. Maybe you wish you’d written your ebook a year ago. Perhaps everyone else in your field seems to have an ebook – or several. You might feel like you’re already behind. 如果短时间内写本电子书那么压力可就不小了。也许你想的是用一年的时间完成一本书呢。也许你周围的人都有一本或者基本书了。你想你也不应该太落后了是不？ But writing your ebook isn’t a race. 但写本书并不是竞赛。 Yes, at some point, you need to ship it out. Taking an extra few weeks (or even just an extra few days) isn’t going to kill your business, though. In fact, it might well be the best decision you make. Your Ebook Should be Your Best Work 当然，某些时候，你需要尽快的出版，但是就算多花几周时间（或者只是多花几天）也不会损害你的业务的。实际上，这可能是你做的最好的决定了。你的电子书应该是你最优秀的作品。 Whether your ebook is a paid product or a freebie, it needs to show you at your best. 不管你的电子书是付费阅读还是免费阅读，它都应该展示你最好的一面 If customers need to pay for it, they’ll expect an ebook that’s complete, carefully structured, and well-written. If buyers get an ebook that’s error-ridden, badly structured, and obviously rushed, they’re never going to buy from you again. 如果你的客户是付费阅读用户的话，他们期待的是一本完整的（而不是“太监”的）、结构严谨的（而不是逻辑混乱、结构不清）、文笔流畅的、认真斟酌的（而不是胡编乱造）电子书，否则他们下次就会再也不会买你的书了。 And if your ebook is a freebie, you still need to make it as good as you can. Those readers are potential customers, but if they download your free ebook only to find that it’s full of typos, badly formatted, and confusing, they’re not even likely to buy once. 至于你的电子书如果是免费阅读的话，你仍然应该尽力而为。那些免费读者可能就是你的潜在客户，如果他们下载的你的电子书发现是一对垃圾货的话，他们也不会掏钱买你的电子书 So what should you do? Here are 4 simple ways to create a well-written ebook: 1: Follow the Writing Process 那么你该怎么做呢？下面是4种简单的方法教你制作一本好的电子书：第一，遵照增长的写作过程 Every writing project goes through the same stages: 每个写作项目都差不多有类似的步骤： Idea Generation 构思 Research 调研 Planning 策划 Writing 写作 Editing 编辑校对 Publishing 出版 Sometimes the stages overlap; you might do some research while sorting through ideas or revise your plan during the writing stage. Sometimes the stages take next to no time at all, and you might come up with an idea within a couple of minutes. 有时上面的步骤可能是同时进行的；你可以在产生几个想法的时候做一些调研工作，或者在写作的阶段重新策划写作的结构。有时候某些步骤也不需要花费时间，比如，你可能几分钟就会有好几个想法了。 But when you rush through the stages with an ebook, though, you waste time. 但是，如果你试图省略它们当中的几个步骤，那你是纯粹的浪费时间了。 If you don’t have a strong idea of what readers would love, then you’ll wonder what to write.. If you don’t take enough time to plan, you’re going to get stuck partway through. If you rush the writing, you’ll spend extra time going back to fix it up later. 2: Set Aside Time on a Regular Basis 如果你对读者们喜欢那种类型没有了解，然后就开始写作。。。如果你没有足够的时间做策划，你发现你可能在某个地方就卡壳了。如果你在写作的时候毛毛草草的话，你会发现你还会回来返工的。第二：制定合理的日程表。按计划行事 You might have great intentions for your ebook, but if you don’t get into the habit of spending time working on it regularly, you’ll end up rushing things to meet your launch deadline. 你可能对你的电子书自信满满，但是如果你没有坚持写作的习惯的话，你会为最后的截稿日期发愁的。 Big chunks of free time aren’t just going to magically appear. You need to carve them out of your schedule. 大块大块的写作时间不会凭空出现，你需要将自己要做的事情写在日程表上啦。 Put ebook-writing appointments into your calendar at regular intervals. That might mean spending the first hour of every day on your ebook (yep, before you check emails) or it could mean blocking out a couple of afternoons each week. 3: Involve Readers during the Process 定期的吧你写作的进度记在你的记事本和备忘录里。这意味着每天你必须要花一个小时在你的电子书上（当然了，你可以在检查完邮件在做这些）或者意味着你必须拿出每周的几个下午来做这些事。而不是去喝茶泡妞。第三：写作过程中读者的参与 The good news is that you don’t have to tackle every stage of writing your ebook alone. If you have a blog, email list, Twitter account or Facebook page, you’ve already got at least a few readers or potential customers. 好消息是，整个写作过程你并不是一个人在战斗。如果你有博客、邮件列表、新浪微博或者“非死不可”（facebook）的话，你至少有了一批读者和潜在的客户。 Get them involved from the start. 从写作之初就让他们参与其中 When you’re coming up with ideas, look at the questions your existing readers typically ask. Do any topics come up again and again? Or if you’re not sure, you could run a survey to find out what readers want or need. 当你有了一个想法的时候，你可以问问读者对这个想法有没有什么好的建议。这是不是又一次的炒冷饭呢？或者你不确定的话，你也可以在感兴趣的读者种做些调查。了解他们的想法和需求。 When you’ve finished the first or second draft of your ebook, ask if any readers would be willing to take a look and give you some feedback. (In return, you’ll give them a copy of the finished ebook in due course.) 如果你完成了初稿或者二稿的话，如果有读者愿意先睹为快并把自己的意见反馈给你那就太好了。（作为回报，你可以在电子书出版以后免费赠送他一本） They might not be expert writers, but they can tell you when you haven’t explained something clearly enough or when you’ve gone off on an unnecessary tangent. 4: Get Help from Professionals 他们或许不是专业的作家，但是他们可以告诉你你那些地方没有叙述清楚，或者那些地方完全是画蛇添足。第四：从专家那里得到帮助 If you’re short on time but have a bit of money to spare, then consider paying for help. You could hire an editor to improve your rough draft, for instance, or you could even hire a ghostwriter to do the bulk of the work for you. And when you get to the publishing stage, you might want to involve a paid ebook designer. 如果你的时间比较紧张但是还有闲钱的话，考虑付费的方式得到帮助。例如：你可以雇佣一个编辑润色你的手稿，或者你可以雇佣一个枪手为你完成写作。当我们进行到出版的阶段的话，你也许会花钱找个封面设计什么的 Not only will you save time but you’ll also end up with a higher-quality finished product – which helps make the time you invest more worthwhile. 这不仅能帮你节省时间，更重要的是你会有一本高质量的作品出现——这完全值得你对其进行投资。 An ebook can be a huge asset to your business. If it’s a freebie, it can bring in lots of new customers; if it’s a paid-for product, it can become a very nice income stream. But you can’t just sit down and rattle off ten thousand words in a spare afternoon or two. 一本电子书为你的业务带来的收入不菲。如果它是免费阅读的话，也能给你带来大量的新客户；如果是付费产品的话，它是一个很好的收入来源和现金奶牛。但是你不能指望你花了一个下午就坐在电脑前码出的那几千字达到这个目的。 You need to put time and effort into your ebook if you want it to be a success. 如果你想要自己的电子书成功的话，那么你就得花费时间和精力在这上面。 Don’t let that put you off, though. Right now, take out your schedule and look ahead a week or two. Find some time that you can block out to work on your new ebook. 别让这些把你打倒，现在赶快把你未来一周和两周要做的事情安排在你的日程表上吧。赶快找到时间创作你的新电子书吧！ |
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