Your first step in writing your ebook is to decide on a topic. In general "niche" topics work best in ebooks, rather than general topics. For example, if "weight loss" is a general topic, then "weight loss for teens" is a niche within that topic.

Make a list of five topics you could cover, and then check to see whether there are forums for that topic. If there are no forums, it means that people are not discussing this topic online, and you may want to discard that idea.

Read any forums you find, and take notes. Your aim is to see what challenges these people have and what information they need.

2. Make a Promise in Your Title

Once you've decided on a topic, it's time to focus and decide what you'll promise your readers. If you've decided that your topic will be dog training, for example, your promise might be: "Stop Your Dog Nuisance-barking in Two Days."

The title you choose at this early stage of the project is just for you. You can change the title later. However, if you ensure that your working title contains a promise, it will help you to focus on that topic in your writing. I've read many ebooks which sank without a trace, and invariably the reason the ebook failed was because it didn't keep the promises made to the reader.

Keep your promises!

3. Write an Outline

Your next step is to write an outline. No, not the kind of outline you learned in school. This is for your information only. I create my outlines as lists, including the number of words I need for each section. You can create your outlines in any way you choose, but do create one.

4. Keep the Promise You Made in the Headline

As you write your ebook, ensure that keep the promise you made in the headline. This ensures that you don't waffle: you stick to the point. If you were writing "Stop Your Dog Nuisance-barking in Two Days" for example, you wouldn't talk about dog health care, unless it related directly to stopping nuisance barking.

The above four-step process will ensure that you write an ebook people want to read and which sells this year, next year, and for years to come.