Writing, painting, cooking are very similar in the sense that
they are all skills that most people do not feel confident
practicing unless they have had some teaching or years of
experience. How many times do you hear people say I am not a
writer, or I cannot paint for the life of me, or I can make
toast and boil an egg but that's about it!!
Most of this comes down to confidence and a certain mindset.
Many people like to put themselves in categories and only tackle
things they feel comfortable with. They do not want to be pushed
or challenged for fear of failure and the unknown.
Maybe you have been told that you cannot paint at school or
when you were young your Mum told you to stay out the kitchen.
It could also be social and cultural stigmas like -boys do not
cook, or sportsmen do not paint etc. How many times have you
been surprised when trying a new skill to see it is not as hard
after all or maybe more interesting than you imagined. Your
confidence grows and soon you become an expert and start to show
others how they can also enjoy your new skill and experiences! A
good example of this is the film 'Billy Elliott'.
The great thing about the internet is that it acts as an
equalizer and allows many who would never dream of writing a
book to share their information and ideas in the form of
articles, blog postings, short reports or full ebooks. The
choice is yours and the world are your potential customers
browsing your shop window or checking out your ebook! If you are
not comfortable writing a full ebook why not compile a series of
short reports on a topic and later put them together to form an
ebook?
Everyday an ever-increasing number of people all over the world
surf the Internet looking for information. It may be information
on how to do something, solving a problem, or satisfying a
curiosity about a new subject. Whatever the reason, people are
willing to pay for information they want to know. You might
logically ask, why would anyone pay for something that they
could easily get for free? The answer is simple: finding the
information you want on the Internet is much more difficult than
it seems. There are billions of pages out there and far too many
of them are filled with useless and misleading information.
The service that the ebook writer provides and deserves to get
paid for is the gathering, distilling, and presentation of
useful, desired information. It may be original and entirely
written by you or compiled and revised from other sources into a
unique product. Also many feel if something is free then the
value is limited.
There are basically two approaches to creating an ebook. One is
the do what you love and the money will follow philosophy, and
the other is to research what people want and give it to them.
If you can find a hungry market and meet the demand in a topic
that you already know or are interested in then all the better.
Start with the subjects that interest you or that you have a
good knowledge of and try to find a niche. Most ebooks provide
information. The key here is to find a topic that people need
information on, or, find a subject in which you have a unique
angle, and can sell! The most popular and searched for
categories are Health, Home Business, Travel, Relationships,
Hobbies and Sports.
Once you have chosen your topic based on research and are
confident that you have enough people who will be interested in
reading and buying it, write a sales/squeeze page to promote it.
Yes write this BEFORE you start on the ebook as this will focus
your attention and act as a guideline when organizing the book
ensuring that you fulfill the promises and cover the areas
mentioned in the sales letter!
Get the book written - Whether you write the book yourself, or
find a freelance writer to ghostwrite the book for you, it needs
to get written. Generally speaking, the cost for a freelancer to
write your books is about $10 to $15 per page. This process can
take anywhere from 2 weeks to a couple of months depending on
the writer and the size of the e-book. If you do not feel
confident writing so much use a format to separate the book into
sections and make your index. Examples can include 10 tips on
how to lose weight…….or 6 ways to guarantee your home business
success etc. You get the idea. Use short paras, bullet points,
bold and short sections to break up the book and maintain reader
interest.
Transfer to a PDF file with a table of contents. You can use
Word but I use Acrobat for the security features. Decide on what
kind of restrictions you want to put in place or if you want the
book to have full master resale rights etc. This is a whole
separate subject that needs to be covered in a future posting.
Also decide if you are going to sell the book or give it away
for free. Many give away part of the book or write a special
intro that will entice the reader to buy the complete ebook.
Why would you consider giving away the ebook? Maybe it is your
first one or you feel it is more like a report that also helps
sell some products you offer or leads to your site and possible
sales (in other words also a sales vehicle). Making it free
means that the ebook can GO VIRAL! The goal of this approach is
to have an ever-increasing number of copies of your ebook in
circulation. You profit from this approach, not through ebook
sales, but through sales generated through your affiliate links
which are embedded throughout the text. It also helps to get
your name known so that future ebooks are easier to sell as you
already have a reputation and possible market. Perhaps also you
have been able to build a list of subscribers by offering the
ebook FREE once the visitor OPTS IN on your sales page or site.
Write at least 5 articles to promote your book on the Internet.
Some authors just use parts of each chapter. Make sure you have
a brief profile about YOU and the link to your book or sales
page in the author signature box at the bottom.
An alternative to a full-blown ebook is the special report.
Special reports are generally shorter and more limited in scope
than ebooks. Their purpose is to provide short, quick doses of
desired information. Special reports can be presented in many
forms, such as articles, list, bullet points, and faq. Later you
can assemble a group of similar special reports into a full
ebook.
Getting an e-book up off the ground may take a little bit of
time, but it has great potential as a work-at-home opportunity.
Once the book is finished, all you need to do is market it the
way you want and you will start seeing the sales roll in. If you
are new to ebook writing and promotion I suggest getting started
by writing articles or useful short reports on your chosen
topic. This will give you confidence and can mean you already
have an archive of writings that can be used to help you produce
a full ebook.
Stay tuned for further postings linked to your HOME BUSINESS
success and the use of EBOOKS to help you along the way. The a2z
shop is full of ideas for ebook promotion and writing and also
many selected affiliate products with reviews.
