There's masses of free information on Web - all you have to do is gather it together and package it, and you have an E-Book that people will pay for.

"But if there's so much free information on Web, why would anyone pay for my E-Book?", you may be wondering.

The answer? Convenience!

They'd rather buy your E-Book and save themselves hours, days and weeks that you spent researching it and putting it all together.

------------------------------ STEP 1: Writing Your E-Book ------------------------------

Pick a Topic. It could be 'How to accept Credit Cards on Web without having a Merchant Account'. Or it could be '25 Free Resources For Getting More Traffic', or it could be about Cooking, Gardening, Dog Breeding, etc.

Write down Title of your E-Book in center of a blank page and circle it. If you can't think of a title yet, just write down subject that your E-Book will be about (e.g. Dog Breeding).

Then jot down 8 or 10 Basic Ordering Ideas (BOIs) in a radius around your E-Book title or concept.

If you're having trouble coming up with BOIs, hold in your mind title or concept of your E-Book and then ask yourself these questions: WHO, WHAT, WHERE, HOW and WHEN.

Now connect Basic Ordering Ideas to E-Book title with outward-pointing arrows, like spokes of a wheel.

Under each BOI, draw a vertical line and against that line, jot down sub-ideas that belong under that Basic Ordering Idea.

Now turn your Mind Map into an outline. Take Basic Ordering Ideas from your Mind Map and order them, 1 to 10 (or 1 to 8, 1 to 12 etc); These are your Chapter headings. Now take sub-ideas and write them down under each BOI; these are your Chapter sections.

I recommend you write text of your E-Book as a single Microsoft Word document. This allows you to get a feel for overall structure of your E-Book, and it also makes spell-checking much easier.

------------------------------ STEP 2: Creating Your E-Book ------------------------------

Now divide your Word document into single pages; these will become HTML pages of your E-Book.

There are well over a dozen different E-Book compilers on market.

Here are two compilers that are free:

- SbookBuilder: http://www.jansfreeware.com/jftools.htm#sbookbuilder

- eBookIt: http://www.cottagemicro.com/ebooks/

However, if you want to make a good impression with your customers, I highly recommend that you use a commercial E-Book compiler.

Here is a list of commercial E-Book compilers:

- Activ EBook Compiler: http://www.ebookcompiler.com

- Document Publisher: http://www.fuguesoftware.com

- EBook Pro Compiler: http://www.ebookpro.com

- E-Book Publishing Wizard: http://www.successarsenal.com/

- EbookPaper: http://www.ebookpaper.com

- E-Publisher Gold: http://www.ebook-software.com

- ePublish Now: http://www.ebookgraphics.com

- FlipBrowser V. 1.0: http://www.flipbrowser.com

- ExeBook: http://www.exebook.com

- HTML2EXE: http://www.html2exe.com

- HyperMaker HTML 2000: http://www.bersoft.com

- Illuminatus v4.51: http://www.digitalworkshop.co.uk

- Infinite Ink: http://www.infiniteink.com

- NeoBook V. 4.0: http://www.neosoftware.com

- WebCompiler: http://www.webcompiler.com

- WebExe 1.3: http://www.aw-soft.com/webexe.html

- WinEbook: http://superwin.com/

However, your eBook doesn't have to be 100 pages. In fact, Joe Vitale's best selling eBook 'Turbo Charge Your Writing' is only 22 pages (and 2 of those pages are order forms). And authors give example of someone who wrote a book just 7 pages long that sells for between $30 and $50. The fact is that people are swamped with information. So shorter your book, better.

Vitale and Edwards both have impressive track records in online publishing. Joe Vitale (also known as 'Mr. Fire') is something of a legend in world of marketing. He has written over 12 successful books and has helped more than 200 authors to write, publish and promote their books.

Jim Edwards writes a syndicated newspaper column called 'NetReporter.com' and is a frequent guest speaker at national conferences on topics such as search engine traffic generation and 'shoestring' online marketing. He's also author of '33 Days To Online Profits' and 'The Lazy Man's Guide To Online Business'.

If you're like many aspiring authors, you may have urge to write your book first and then find out if there's a market for it. But as Edwards and Vitale point out, that's a formula for eBook failure.

In chapter 2 ('Setting Yourself Up for Success') authors show you how to identify your niche market, how to analyze their wants, needs and problems, and how to write a book that satisfies those wants, needs and problems.