When I wrote and published my book, BE STILL: The Power of Biblical Meditation, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment not only because I finally had the courage to write what God put on my heart to write three years prior, but also because writing a book is no easy feat. It’s one thing to write, but to write about the same topic and include quality content in all the pages is something to be celebrated.
Since then, I’ve been wanting to write another book, but it doesn’t seem to be the right time to do that at this time. There are a few reasons why I chose to hold off on writing more books: I’m in the middle of doing all the prep work to launch my podcast (6/1/21), teaching virtual yoga and fitness classes (click here to see my teaching schedule), homeschooling my daughter, co-leading a small group at church with my husband, and we’re helping out with the teen ministry at church. Although I love what I do, I knew I needed to continue expressing myself through written words in the form of a book somehow… And this is where my decision to write an e-book came about.
E-books can be as long as the author desires, or they can be as short as just 8 pages (which are called “e-booklets”). I talk to people about the importance of proper breathing pretty much on a regular basis. If you spend a week with me, you’ll hear me talk about “the benefits of diaphragmatic breathing” and “activating the parasympathetic nervous system” at least a handful of times. I heard someone say that whenever he gets asked the same question over and over again, he writes a book about it. I’m sure I can write a whole book about the importance of breathing, but for now, I’m writing an e-booklet about 12-15 pages long with information, illustrations and instructions. I’m sure there are many ways to go about writing an e-book start to finish, but I wanted to share the way I go about it with you:
- Pick a topic – This seems like a no-brainer, but it’s important to pick one topic to write about because you’d be surprised at how easy it is to go off on tangents and lose sight of the main point you’re trying to make.
- Write out all the content on a Word doc (or any word processing programs) before you start editing and formatting.
- Once you’re done writing the content, have someone edit the content. As a writer and editor, I generally edit my own work but still ask a couple colleagues to proof-read my work. They may find a typo or misplaced punctuation that my eyes might have missed.
- Lay-out and Format: If you have graphic design experience, you can always do this on your own; if you don’t, consider contracting this task to a professional. You can find some great professionals on Fiverr.com.
- Decide on whether you want to offer it as a free product to promote your brand or if you want to publish it for purchase. The easiest site to publish for purchase is Amazon, through KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). If you’re offering it as a free product (like me), you can keep it as simple as creating a pdf file for distribution or create a flipbook using one of the many flipbook sites.
Remember, if you can write a sentence, you can write a paragraph; If you can write a paragraph, you can write a page; And if you could write a page, you can write a book!
Happy Writing!
With Gratitude,
Jheni Solis Wellness 