We review ebooks, courses and tools for writers, so you can make good decisions about how to invest in your writing career.
Course: Write Your Manifesto
About the creator: Dana Sitar is an author, blogger and e-publishing coach. She blogs at A Writer’s Bucket List and co-hosts the This Is Temporary podcast.
Price: $45. The course comes with lifetime access and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Who It’s For: Anyone who wants to write a nonfiction, message-driven ebook (or, as Sitar calls it, a manifesto). It’s a perfect fit for people who know they want to write an ebook, but aren’t sure what they want to say or how to get started.
What It Will Help You Do: This course will walk you through each step of writing your ebook — everything from carving out the time to write to defining your audience and finding your voice.
What’s Included: An online course with 10 modules:
- Commit to Your Writing Routine: How can you fit writing into your life?
- Clarify Your Message: What do you want to be known for? What do you have to offer?
- Define Your Audience: Who are you writing for?
- Describe Your Offer: How are you going to solve problems for your readers?
- Determine Your Action Steps: What actions do you want your readers to take?
- Create Your Outline: What is your book going to say?
- Know Your Unique Voice: What is your genuine voice?
- Consider the FAQs: What questions will your readers have?
- Write!: Finish your first draft!
- Review What You’ve Written: Who can you ask for feedback?
Each module is further segmented into information and tips, writing prompts, worksheets and assignments. Some modules have an “additional resources” section with helpful links for further reading.
The Best Part: This course breaks down the monumental task of writing an ebook into bite-sized chunks. The truth is that you probably don’t need help with the writing itself; you need help figuring out what to write, who to write it for and how to manage your time.
That’s where this course comes in. Sitar helps you determine your message and your offer through helpful writing prompts, questions and exercises. As shown above, you don’t even start writing an outline until Module 6 — and you don’t start drafting until Module 9. To top it off, she even includes an ebook publishing timeline for spreading your message to the world.
What Would Make It Even Better: There’s a private Google+ group for people taking the course, but it isn’t active. As evidenced by events like #NaNoWriMo, writers thrive when they have a support network, so a lively Google+ community would give this course a huge boost. Almost all of the assignments are “community challenges” that encourage you to post in the group, but without anyone else posting there, it’s a bit intimidating.
Our Recommendation: The hardest part of writing is starting, which is why this course is worth the money. It guides you through every step of the creation process, making completing an ebook much more manageable. If you take this course, you’ll have zero excuses for not starting — or finishing — your project.
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Are you planning to write an ebook in 2015?