DoAfter coming up with an idea, it’s time for me to do research. My researching process is twofold.

• I do some research before I start writing to have next to me as I write.

• I look up odds and ends as needed while writing the eBook.

I actually don’t spend a lot of time researching. I bring up my outline and use that to find the information that I need. I do all of my research online and bookmark the important sites that I find.

The Steps in More Detail - Preliminary Research

It will be easier to show you the steps I take one at a time. I use this method every single time I need to write an ebook.

1. Use your table of contents to figure out what information I need.
2. Open up a word document that will be devoted to the research. I use this document to paste any source links and take notes.
3. Search for the broad category and paste the links into the document. For example, if your ebook is about fly fishing, search for “fly fishing”.
4. Don’t paste all of the links you find - only the 2-3 that you like the best.
5. Now, go through the table of contents and search for the individual topics. For example, if one chapter is devoted to tying your own flies, you’ll want to search “tying flies for fly fishing” or something along those lines.
6. Do step 5 for each of the topics on the table of contents.
7. Remember to jot down any notes or thoughts you may have.

Don’t Spend Too Long Researching!

You may want to set your timer. I personally don’t stay on the preliminary phase for more than an hour. If I research for more than that, I end up finding too much information and it takes me a long time to write the ebook.

I would over-research in the beginning of my ebook writing career. Books that now take me 10 - 12 hours to write, edit, and finalize used to take me a whole week (roughly 10,000 words). Ideally, I spread these hours over the course of the week because it keeps my mind fresh. In the past, writing a 10,000 word ebook used to take me at least twice as long.

Once I realized that over researching was a huge factor in that, I stopped doing it!

Research the Odds and Ends as You Go Along

I am actively searching online as I write the ebook. I do this to clarify things I don’t understand, check facts, and to look up things I may have forgetten. I also need to do research if I somehow changed the table of contents after I did all my initial research.

However, if you spend an hour or so researching before you start writing, there won’t be much to look up as you go along, just little things.