14-Day E-book Writing Challenge

By on January 7th, 2008

This is the official 14-Day E-book Writing Challenge post. This post will be updated before and throughout the challenge to feature new articles on e-book publishing, updates on the challenge, and more.

Challenge Details

The 14-Day E-book Writing Challenge will begin on Friday, January 18, 2008, and run through January 31st.

You don’t have to have experience writing e-books to take part in the challenge. It’s meant to be a (hopefully enjoyable) networking opportunity, where e-book writers (old and new) can offer their advice, encouragement, and support to each other.

There aren’t any prizes. This is a challenge; not a competition. By completing the challenge, your reward is the fact that you’ve created either a new income stream or a new marketing tool in just two weeks, and hopefully made a few new friends or professional contacts along the way.

During the 14 days of the challenge, I’ll be offering tips to guide you through the e-book writing, publishing, and marketing process step-by-step.

Pre-Challenge Reading

Prior to the challenge, I’m publishing several articles aimed at e-book publishers (especially first-time e-book writers). You can find the running list below (I’ll add to it as more articles are published). These articles are designed to get you thinking about various aspects of the e-book writing and publishing process.

  1. Is E-book Publishing Right for You?
  2. Should You Write a Free E-book?
  3. Finding E-book Ideas: Choosing a Niche for Your E-book
  4. Planning and Outlining an E-book
  5. Choosing the Best E-book Format
  6. Benefits of PDF E-books
  7. The Best E-book Software for the First Time Author
  8. How Long Should an E-book Be?
  9. Should You Offer E-book Resell Rights?
  10. 5 Factors to Consider in Pricing Your E-book
  11. E-book Delivery Options
  12. E-book Marketing Basics
  13. Should You Use Affiliate Marketing to Sell Your E-book?
  14. How to Design an E-book Cover
  15. Using Testimonials to Sell an E-book

Join the 14-Day E-book Writing Challenge

If you think you have it in you to write an e-book in just 14 days (or if you’d like to simply give it a try), leave a comment on this post. Let us know why you want to write an e-book during the challenge (are you hoping to sell it, create a free e-book to give away, etc.?), and whether or not you’ve written e-books in the past.

I hope at least a few of the regular readers here will jump on board and help each other out in writing our next e-books.

I’ll be taking part in the challenge myself… not only writing here about the e-book writing process, but putting together a new e-book of my own! :)

Challenge Post Archive

Here you can find links to all of the 14 days in the e-book writing challenge (they’ll be added as they occur). These are being listed to help you better follow along with the challenge, or to refer back to later if you plan to challenge yourself independently at a later time:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen

If you would like a more compact version of the 14 day e-book challenge material, you can download a free copy of How to Write an E-book in Just 14 Days – based on these posts.

http://3bm.co/qSBRq3

About Jennifer Mattern

Jenn is a professional blogger and freelance business writer. She has worked as a writer since 1999, and began blogging in 2004. She owns All Freelance Writing as well as several other sites and blogs covering indie publishing, social media, and small business. She expects to release her first book for freelance writers, The Query-Free Freelancer, in 2012 and she is the author of the Web Writer's Guide e-book series.

Posted 1598 days ago by Jennifer Mattern
This entry was posted in E-books and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

63 Responses to 14-Day E-book Writing Challenge

← Older Comments

  1. 14 Day E-book Writing Challenge - Day Twelve : All Freelance Writing

  2. Shay says:
    January 30, 2008 at 11:08 am

    I’m in! I just found this post, so I will have to play “catch up!” ;)

  3. 14 Day E-book Writing Challenge - Day Thirteen : All Freelance Writing

  4. 14 Day E-book Writing Challenge - Day Fourteen : All Freelance Writing

  5. Jennifer Mattern says:
    January 31, 2008 at 1:43 pm

    Well, the challenge ends today. Did anyone stick with it?

    Confession time: I didn’t follow the challenge exactly myself. I wrote the e-book for two days, edited it, prepared a few articles, and then I took several days off because I was out of town dealing with moving things (and it was tough enough finding time to do the posts). So overall, it will have taken me a little over a week… just fragmented. I’ll be setting my e-book up on E-junkie on Monday, and putting the sales letter live (on this site) with the order link then also (and taking care of launch marketing).

    If you’d like to share your e-book done during the challenge (or any e-book you’ve written in less than 14 days), please leave a comment, and I’ll include them in a list next week (assuming we have at least five or so) for people to see what you can do in a short amount of time. I’ll also include those links in the free report I’ll be doing a little later on the process, so don’t include the link if you don’t want it there.

    Overall, did you feel like 14 days was enough time? Too much time? How long did your e-book end up being. Did it take you the full four days of writing time, or did you get it done quicker? Did you extend your writing into other days as well? I just want to get a feel for how people did, where they struggled a bit, and where they excelled. :)

  6. Anne Moss says:
    February 4, 2008 at 1:47 pm

    I did but I really was taking one platform and putting it into pdf format. So I don’t know that it counts but I used your challenge to force me to meet a deadline for doing it. And it is done!

    Here’s mine:

    http://webpreppro.com

    There is also a free document for defining a target audience that I think would help writers here get the information they need from clients.

  7. Tina Rowe says:
    February 9, 2008 at 2:48 pm

    I’m still writing! I think I should have started the writing part sooner in the Challenge. Like many other writers likely find, I would do everything else first, then be at the end of the day trying to write, when my brain was exhausted from 14 hours of writing and training. However, I’m over half way through the book and have all the framework around it. “All” I have to do is finish it.

    There is certainly something compelling about the 14 day concept, as opposed to a 21 day concept. I was following the scheduled tasks, which at first takes very little time, if those fundamental issues are not too laborious. THEN the writing days hit and I didn’t have enough time. I should have started writing on Day One, since I was ready to do so. I’ll do that next time.

    As it is, I’m 25 pages closer than I would have been without the 14 Day Challenge, and I’ll be finished soon. So, I’m happy! Thank you for providing the incentive. I’ll let you know when it’s completed.

  8. All Freelance Writing: Your Freelance Writing Resource: » Web Writer’s Guide Launched

  9. All Freelance Writing: Your Freelance Writing Resource: » Using Your Writing to Market Your Writing

  10. eWritingJobs.com » Blog Archive » 100+ Blog Posts and Resources for Writers

  11. Kathryn says:
    February 5, 2009 at 6:15 pm

    Hey – would LOVE to see another challenge for this year!

  12. Yolanda Morris says:
    April 28, 2009 at 4:01 am

    I’m putting this on my list, right up there with getting into article marketing. I have a great idea for an eBook and it’s just my luck that I don’t even need to hire a ghostwriter…ahh one of the many benefits of being a freelance writer.

  13. Jennifer Mattern says:
    April 28, 2009 at 6:50 am

    If you would like to download a portable e-book version of this challenge, you can do that at my business site through the following link:

    http://probusinesswriter.com/downloads/ebookin14days.htm

    And check back this summer, as we’ll be holding another challenge here on the blog. :)

← Older Comments