Kindle Publishing Challenge, Part 1: Mindmapping an eBook Outline
Today as part of a Kindle Publishing Challenge started by Tiffany Dow, I created a rough outline for my eBook. Tiffany shared an instructive walk-through video on how she gets ideas and prepares her outlines. She has her method pretty much down to a science, and the video is worth watching. But by the time I saw it, I’d already come up with an outline using a different approach: By mindmapping it on paper first.
What, paper? Why not work out a proper list on the computer?
Because when typing, it’s way, WAY too easy to interrupt the creative process by stopping to edit yourself. When you’re working with a pen and paper, the only way to move is forward. You don’t have the luxury of being able to stop and fiddle with what you wrote. The best you can do is scratch it out and try again. In general, I find that writing on paper muzzles the inner editor who wants to muck with things before the time is right.
The act of mindmapping anything on paper is a rather messy and disorganized… um… I mean, a creative and free-spirited process. It’s like the right side of the brain feels free to play without being self-conscious. The left side of the brain doesn’t interrupt, because it would be like trying to tell a little kid that his drawing of a house looks like a lumpy piece of cheese. It would be just plain mean.
Afterwards, I used the scruffy pieces of paper as a guide to create a tidy outline in a text document. The left side of the brain was appeased.
But before any kind of outlining for a Kindle eBook could even begin, I had to choose a topic. Tiffany’s method involved going into the Amazon Kindle store and digging deep into the categories to see what kind of books are selling (which also led to building the first outline). I just wrote down a list of possible topics, narrowed them down, and decided on blogging–specifically setting up your first blog. Yeah, there are probably 1,001 eBooks like that already, but I’m not fretting, because:
1. I’m using my own voice and experience to make it unique,
2. it’s a topic I’m genuinely knowledgeable about and have plenty of experience with,
3. it’s a topic I have strong opinions about,
4. it’s a topic I believe people I know personally could benefit from learning about,
5. it’s a topic people continue to ask questions about (in forums, Yahoo answers, etc.),
6. and finally, it’s a topic I feel comfortable publishing under my real name (as opposed to, say, trying to establish myself as an expert on how to potty train your kitty).
So what’s the best method for coming up with a topic and writing an outline for your eBook? I’m pretty sure the answer is: The one that works for you and gets the job done!
Love it! I brainstorm much the same way myself. But I had to show others how to use Amazon in case they didn’t have anything in mind. And I too am a pen and paper girl
Have my spiral nestled next to me as I type this. LOL
Hi Tiffany,
Ah! Yes, it probably wouldn’t have been so clear if you’d made a video switching back and forth between Amazon, Google keywords, and your pen and paper as you scribbled away. And if it were me, well, no one would want to see my atrocious handwriting anyway.
Thanks for coming by!
Dear Victoria,
Thanks for your thoughts. How did the mind map turn out for you?
What I often do when outlining a book or document in a mind map is just add thoughts to my paper (or computer screen). I don’t care about branches, lines or relationships. It is just a matter of writing down all the things in my head and the information I see in books and on my screen.
After this is done, I start to connect pieces of information. What happens is that most of the time the ‘central topic’, or the subject of the book, is not what I thought it would be. My research and brainstorm point me in the right direction and determine the subject automatically.
What did your mind map look like?
Hi Arjen,
I tend to do everything with all the groupings, branches and lines from the beginning. Usually I end up moving things around or adding more things anyway, and often I run out of space. I might have to try it your way. The closest thing I did was write down a list of potential topics I might want to write about, then picked one and drew the mind map from there.