Researching for E-Books
By Nicolas Gremion

Writing about cookies, or cocktails, birds or buildings, whatever your topic is, research should be part of the process of writing the e-book. Many authors select a topic based upon their ability to relate their own experiences, and expert knowledge in writing it. Being an expert is a good start in writing an e-book, but proper research is still necessary for even the most seasoned e-book author. There are certain guidelines one should follow while researching for their e-book, make use of these strategies and watch your e-book succeed.

Read what’s already been done on your topic to gain perspective on what areas have yet to be covered. If variety is the spice of life, books are no different. Many books will overlap on general topical issues, but most will offer a unique perspective on a topic. The goal of organizing an e-book is to offer new and compelling information in a clear precise way easy for readers to understand. If we are aware that the goal is to offer new information, the best way to gauge what has already been done is to read a lot of e-books. Think of it this way, not only will you get an idea of what’s been covered, you can also gain perspective on successful styles of writing, or even gain some citations for your own work. Reading other works first will offer a good first step in researching for your sure to be bestselling e-book.

Define your length, and coverage goals of the e-book. Think of when you were little if you ever collected shells on the beach, did you just go on forever? Probably not, if you did you wouldn’t be reading this right now, so chances are you defined how many shells were sufficient to pick before ending the day. The same concept can be applied to researching your project. Come up with a general idea of how long your e-book is going to be, and what it might address, then read sources, and collect information to fill your need. Often people that have to conduct research look at it as a daunting task that isn’t likely to end soon; by giving yourself boundaries research can be as easy as picking up shells off the beach.

Go beyond online resources for your e-book to help achieve the “wow” factor you know you’re capable of achieving. Many that write e-books look at them as they would driving directions, what’s the fastest way from point A to point B? Well folks, it’s not that easy, in fact if you take your time, and think outside the box you would be surprised at what amazing results you might get. Try doing research offline, and make it your foundation for the e-book if at all possible. Some ideas for research could be interviews, surveys, a trip to the local library, and anything that doesn’t include searching terms on Google. Through gathering such information you, as an e-book author, you will be a notch above the others when it comes to research. It also may be easier to describe an interview, or survey that you conducted then to paraphrase old website sources, since your research has climbed into the primary source category, a nice feat for an armature writer.

Nicolas Gremion is President of Paradise Publishers Inc (http://www.ParadisePublishers.com), an online based publishing firm. The company’s flagship website, http://www.Free-eBooks.net, is considered the internet’s top source of free e-books. Through http://www.Free-eBooks.net visitors can instantly download thousands of title at no charge.