The Main Reason Why You’re 100% Ready to Write an Ebook Right Now

Odds are I don’t know who you are. I don’t know where you went to school. I don’t know what type of work experience you have. Don’t know if you’re married, single, with kids or without.

What I do know… what I’m 100% sure of… is that you’ve got everything you need to write an ebook today. Not ‘just’ because I’ve written a kick-ass guide to writing ebooks (though that will give you the rocket booster you need to figure it all out).

I know you’re ready to write an ebook because you’ve lived a life. You most likely have a blog going or an affiliate website. Perhaps you’ve got an Amazon review site that you’re working on. Maybe you’re a freelance writer or you’ve been inspired to become one because you’ve caught a glimpse of How to Become the Freelance Writer Everybody Wants to Hire.

So what does your experience have to do with writing an ebook?

People buy ebooks for two different reasons

Actually it’s the same reason with different wording. In one instance they want to educate themselves on a process. For example, if I want to learn how to sew dresses, I’ll pick up a book on that very topic.

In the second instance, readers want to solve a problem. I might want traffic from YouTube, but I don’t know what kind of videos to create.

The disconnect from Starting Point A – me wanting to get traffic from YouTube, to Ending Point Z – me knowing how to get traffic from YouTube, is the reason why I’ll set out to buy an ebook.

You – and every other person reading this article – have experience doing something. Perhaps you’re not an expert on getting traffic from YouTube or teaching others how to sew dresses, but you’ve got experience doing something that other people want to know how to do.

And it’s experience that makes you fully equipped to sit down and write an ebook starting today. If you can verbalize your accumulated experience, you’ve got an ebook.

And if you’ve got an ebook, you’ve got a passive income source that’s going to put some cash in your pocket today, tomorrow and for years to come.

Questions to help you find an ebook idea from your experiences

I was talking to a girlfriend of mine who’s building a women’s shoe website. Although she understood the basic steps involved with building a website, there are many nuances she’s discovering on her own that weren’t in any of the books she read or the college classes she took.

She didn’t anticipate having to write SEO’d descriptions for dozens of shoes. She didn’t know the bank providing her merchant account would require her website to have an SSL certificate, which cost her an extra $80.

This is EXACTLY how ebooks are born — from petty little details you learn by actually going through the fire.

The questions below will hopefully help you see that your experiences are a lot more valuable than you imagine them to be.

1) What types of websites have you built or helped maintain? Are you a blogger? An affiliate? A review site builder? A directory owner? A forum moderator? Do you sell physical goods via eBay or Amazon?

2) What have you learned from the experience of building/maintaining that site? What were the most difficult problems you had to overcome? What were your methods/strategies for overcoming those problems? What research did you have to do? What did you have to learn that you didn’t know ahead of time? Was it harder or easier than you expected? Were there any surprise experiences? Were there any financial costs that you didn’t anticipate?

3) What misconceptions do people have that you want to clear up? In How to Become the Freelance Writer Everybody Wants to Hire I discovered that sometimes IT DOES pay to take on low-paying clients. This totally goes against the grain of many freelance writing experts who charge market rates. But I believe I provide a valid reason why a writer would want to buck the trend.

“But Dahlia, my experiences are NO DIFFERENT than other people’s experiences!”

I love reading business books, but for the life of me I can’t get through a Harvard Business Press title.

I LOVE the titles and the ideas, but the way they’re written… it’s too dry and blah-blah academic for my tastes. (No offense to any of the Harvard Business Press authors, of course. I take the blame for being the idiot here.)

But if you give me the exact same concepts by an AMACOM author (American Management Association publishing company), I can eat it up. I get it. It’s understandable and usable. Same ideas and experiences, different presentation.

This past weekend I started reading Engagement from Scratch: How Super-Community Builders Create a Loyal Audience and How You Can Do the Same! by Danny Inny over at Firepole Marketing. The book is basically a compilation of articles from several different entrepreneurs and bloggers who give their take on building a base of devoted fans.

All of the contributors have varying opinions. As Danny explains, this book isn’t a roadmap, it’s a compass. You take what works for you and go in that direction. If an author’s style doesn’t resonate with you, don’t follow their advice!

That’s exactly why I can sell a freelance writing ebook even though there are dozens of other freelance writing ebooks out there. My beliefs, words and style of explanation are different than other peoples.

And that’s precisely why you’re ready to write an ebook. The big question is why are you sitting on the fence? If you are, I’d be curious to know the reason why. Leave a comment below.