CAPTAIN’S LOG: I’m in the throws of deciding whether to spend the next 31 days writing an ebook and offering it for sale … or … simply creating article content to submit around the web.
It’s not like either option is better than the other. And doing both simultaneously would be the best approach.
Probably, as I write the ebook, each chapter will spawn ideas for article writing. And the articles will direct targeted traffic back to the site to read about my ebook – which in turn could generate extra sales.
All this raises an interesting question: What’s the fastest way to come up with ideas for articles or ebook chapters?
For me the answer lies in something I read (can’t remember where though) about being a “title writer” before you become an “article writer”.
This idea is based on two facts:
- The title of your article accounts for 80% – 90% of the success of your article or ebook. (And therefore, it better be good.) And …
- Once you’ve nailed down your title, the research and writing of the rest of the article is easy.
So how do you come up with a good title idea?
For me I like to use a simple technique talked about in a book titled “A Technique For Producing Ideas” by Advertising man, James Webb Young.
In a nutshell, James suggests searching out existing ideas and combining them in new and unique ways.
Here’s one way to do it.
- Check out the covers of a few of your favorite magazines and write down a list of the headlines that grab your attention.
- Pick a handful of the very best headlines and try combining and adapting them to create fresh new headlines for your area of interest.
Here’s an example.
I just visited a magazine subscription website to browse the covers of half a dozen or so magazines, most of which I have no interest in whatsoever.
I simply clicked the magazine title, clicked the image of the magazine, then wrote down any teaser-headlines that grabbed my attention.
Here are the first eight headlines I locked eyes on:
- Why Yadier Molina is the best backstop in baseball.
- How to beat an educated player
- When is it ok to call the clock on an opponent?
- Pitfalls of slow-playing
- The 30 best album covers
- Dr. Katz’s Top ten food rules (tape ‘em to the fridge)
- A ones-stop graphic guide to how a new plan would effect you
- The 77 meals to try before you die
Next, You examine each headline and think about ways it can be adapted for your niche topic.
For example, if you are writing travel related articles you could adapt each of the headlines in this way:
- Why Sandals Resort is the best honeymoon spot in the Caribbean
- How to beat high travel costs when traveling on a budget
- When is it ok to lie when checking in your luggage?
- Pitfalls of first-time visitors to Fiji
- The 30 best Australian holiday destinations
- A seasoned traveler’s Top ten vacation rules (tape ‘em to the inside of your hand-luggage)
- A one-stop visual guide of Hawaii’s holiday hot-spots
- The 17 sea-side resorts to stay in before you die
I think you get the idea.
Another way to do it is to take two or more headlines and combine them together. For instance, I can combine headline 2, 4 and 5 and get a 9th headline or article idea titled: “How to avoid the top 30 pitfalls of first time visitors to Fiji during peak holiday season.”
Or, combining headline ideas 1 and 7 I get: “A visual guide to Fiji’s hottest honeymoon escapes.”
How does this apply to ebook writing?
You simply take the most inspiring article title and use it as the title for your ebook.
For instance, if you choose “A visual guide to Fiji’s hottest honeymoon escapes” as your ebook title … then … each chapter could take the reader on a visual tour of the top-10 Fiji honeymoon sites.
After studying each of the top-10 destinations you can repeat the steps here to come up with a title for each chapter.
Sounds simple enough, right?
Anyway, that’s enough for now. I’ve got work to do. I’ll write more on this topic in future posts.
[Ed. Note: For more simple web writing secrets, visit web writing expert Michael Low’s simple web writing blog at http://simple-web-writing.com
