Ebook Marketing Uncovered
Ebook Marketing Uncovered
Ebooks are part of the new frontier of
cyberspace. They are an entirely new medium for sharing marketing information,
ideas, techniques, and expert knowledge. Each day the number of people
accessing the Internet grows, causing the exposure of your Ebook to increase
incrementally. It's obvious why electronic self-publishing has become so
popular so quickly.
The publishing industry, I hope, does not
intend to forever banish the printed word to the dustbin of history. Books in
print have their own special qualities and merits, and the world would be
diminished by their disappearance.
Having said that, let's look at what makes
Ebooks so important and so unique.
• Ebooks have certain
abilities and qualities that other mediums do not possess.
For example, Ebooks are fairly easy to
produce, and their production cost is inexpensive. Just think about it: you
don't need a publisher, an agent, a printing press, offset film, ink, paper, or
even a distributor. You just need a great concept, the ability to write it or
to hire a writer, and the right software.
• Additionally, Ebooks are
easily and rapidly distributed online. They are also easily updated; they
do not require a second print run. All you need is to go into your original
creation and modify the text or graphics. Because of this flexibility, Ebooks
can change and grow as fast as you can type.
• Ebooks are also immediately
obtainable. You don't have to go to a bookstore or
search through endless titles at an online bookstore. All you have to do is
download it from a website, and presto! It's on your computer, ready to be
read.
• Ebooks are interactive. This is one of the most unique and specific qualities that Ebooks
offer.
You can add surveys that need to be
filled out, order forms for customers to purchase your products or goods, sound
and video that draw your reader into the virtual world of your Ebook, even
direct links to relevant sites that will expand your Ebook outward. The
potential is virtually limitless.
• Ebooks have a particular
kind of permanence that other mediums do not possess. Television shows and radio shows air once, and then may rerun a
few times. Ebooks remain on your computer for as long as your choose, and they
can be read and reread whenever you choose to. They can even be printed out and
stored on the shelves of your traditional home library.
• Another wonderful quality is that Ebooks have no barriers in terms of publishing. You don't need to
go through the endless process of submitting your manuscript over and over
again, and then once you land an agent, having the agent submit your manuscript
over and over again. Nor do you have to shell out thousands of dollars for
printing a selfpublished book. All Ebooks require is a writer and appropriate
software.
Figure out your market, write your book,
post it on your website, and with the right business savvy, your audience will
come to you.
Finally, you have creative control over your Ebook. You don’t have to compromise with an editor or the publishing trends of the time. You don't have to haggle with a designer or wait for copy edited galleys to arrive by snail mail. You are in complete control of the design and the text.
There are innumerable ways to use Ebooks
to promote your business and drive quality traffic to your website. Once posted
on your site, you can turn them into a daily course, which brings your customer
back to read the next chapter. You can use them as a free gift for making a
purchase or for filling out a survey. Put your Ebook on a disc, and you will
have an innovative brochure. Blow your competition away by inserting the disc
into your sales packages.
The most effective marketing products are
those that are unique. Copyright your Ebook, and immediately, you have a
powerful tool that you, and you alone, can offer to the public. People will
have to visit your site to acquire your Ebook, which increases the flow of
quality traffic and the potential of sales and affiliate contacts. Make sure
that you keep your Ebook current. Update it frequently as the market and trends
change.
Add new advice and techniques to show your
prospects how your goods or services can enrich their lives. By constantly
keeping abreast of new trends and techniques, you can continue to see profits
from your Ebook for years after your original creation.
Another phenomenal advantage of Ebooks is
that you can test their marketing
potential without putting out hardly
any cash at all. You can even produce an Ebook one copy at a time, each time
you receive an order, eliminating the need for storage and inventory. By this
method, you can gauge the scalability of your Ebook, and make adjustments as
necessary until the orders start pouring in. Ebooks allow you to learn about
your market and customer habits and motivation over a period of time, without
risking your precious financial resources. They also provide you with an
invaluable way to gather marketing information, which you can use in many
different facets of your business.
Use your Ebook to discover what the
specific goals and problems are in your specific industry. Then figure out how
to solve these problems, and publish an Ebook with this invaluable information.
This will increase the value of your business, upgrade your reputation, and get
you known as an expert in your field.
You can extend the value of single Ebook
by breaking the book down into chapters for a serial course, into special
reports available on your website, or into audio or visual tapes. Ebooks can be
broken down into several different promotional materials by accepting some of
the articles and using them to promote your product. You can include a catalog
in your Ebook to promote all the products or services you sell. You can include
a thank-you note for reading your book and an invitation to download a trial
version of your product. Or you can include a form for your audience to contact
you for further information or with questions, thereby building your business
relationships and your mailing list.
Using Ebooks in this manner helps to cut
the cost of individually producing separate promotional materials. You can use
a single Ebook to entice new prospects and to sell new products to your current
customers.
No other medium has this kind of
flexibility and ability for expansion. Think of your Ebook like a spider
spinning a beautiful and intricate web. Now go and create that web, and see how
many customers and prospects you can catch!
It's not true that everything that has
been said has already been written. Since that unfortunate axiom came into use,
the whole universe has changed. Technology has changed, ideas have changed, and
the mindsets of entire nations have changed.
The fact is that this is the perfect time
to write an Ebook. What the publishing industry needs are people who can tap
into the world as it is today – innovative thinkers who can make the leap into
the new millennium and figure out how to solve old problems in a new way.
Ebooks are a new and powerful tool for
original thinkers with fresh ideas to disseminate information to the millions
of people who are struggling to figure out how to do a plethora of different
things.
Let's say you already have a brilliant idea,
and the knowledge to back it up that will enable you to write an exceptional
Ebook.
You may be
sitting at your computer staring at a blank screen wondering, "Why? Why should I go through all the trouble
of writing my Ebook when it's so impossible to get anything published these
days?”
Well, let me assure you that publishing an
Ebook is entirely different than publishing a book in print. Let's look at the
specifics of how the print and cyber publishing industry differ, and the many
reasons why you should take the plunge and get your fingers tapping across
those keyboards!
Submitting a print book to conventional
publishing houses or to agents is similar to wearing a hair shirt 24/7. No matter how good your book
actually is, or how many critique services and mentor writers have told you that
"you've got what it takes,"
your submitted manuscript keeps coming back to you as if it is a boomerang
instead of a valuable mine of information.
Perhaps, in desperation, you've checked
out selfpublishing and found out just how expensive a venture it can be. Most
"vanity presses" require minimal print runs of at least 500 copies,
and even that amount will cost you thousands of dollars.
Some presses' minimal run starts at 1,000
to 2,000 copies. And that's just for the printing and binding. Add in distribution,
shipping, and promotional costs and - well, you do the math. Even if you wanted
to go this route, you may not have that kind of money to risk.
Let's say you already have an Internet
business with a quality website and a quality product. An Ebook is one of the
most powerful ways to promote your business while educating people with the
knowledge you already possess as a business owner of a specific product or
service.
For example, let's say that you've spent
the last twentyfive years growing and training bonsai trees, and now you're
ready to share your knowledge and experience. An Ebook is the perfect way to
reach the largest audience of bonsai enthusiasts.
Ebooks will not only promote your business
- they will help you make a name for yourself and your company, and establish
you as an expert in your field. You may even find that you have enough to say
to warrant a series of Ebooks. Specific businesses are complicated and often
require the different aspects to be divided in order for the reader to get the
full story.
Perhaps your goals are more finely tuned
in terms of the Ebook scene. You may want to build a whole business around
writing and publishing Ebooks. Essentially, you want to start an e-business.
You are thinking of setting up a website to promote and market your Ebooks.
Maybe you're even thinking of producing an E-zine.
One of the most prevalent reasons people
read Ebooks is to find information about how to turn their Internet businesses
into a profit-making machine. And these people are looking to the writers of
Ebooks to provide them with new ideas and strategies because writers of Ebooks
are usually people who understand the new cyberspace world we now live in.
Ebook writers are experts in Internet
marketing campaigns and the strategies of promoting and distributing Ebooks.
The cyberspace community needs its Ebooks to be successful so that more and
more Ebooks will be written.
You may want to create affiliate programs
that will also market your Ebook. Affiliates can be people or businesses
worldwide that will all be working to sell your Ebooks.
Think about this. Do you see a formula for
success here?
Figure out what your subject matter is,
and then narrow it down. Your goal
is to aim for specificity. Research what's out there already, and try to find a
void that your Ebook might fill.
What about an Ebook about a wedding cake
business? Or an Ebook about caring for elderly pets? How about the fine points
of collecting ancient pottery?
You don't have to have three masters
degrees to write about your subject. People need advice that is easy to read
and easily understood. Parents need advice for dealing with their teenagers.
College students need to learn good study skills - quickly. The possibilities
are endless.
After you've written your Ebook…
Getting your Ebook out is going to be your
focus once you've finished writing it, just as it is with print books. People
will hesitate to buy any book from an author they've never heard of. Wouldn't
you?
The answer is simple: give it away! You will see profits in the form of promoting your own
business and getting your name out.
You will find affiliates who will ask you
to place their links within your Ebook, and these affiliates will in turn go
out and make your name known. Almost every
single famous Ebook author has started
out this way.
This doesn’t mean you should stop here.
Eventually, you will move into where most of the wealth mountains are – selling
them, and then maybe their Resell Rights, Master Resell Rights and Private
Label licenses!
Another powerful tool to attract people to
your Ebook is to make it interactive.
Invent something for them to do within the book rather than just producing
pages that contain static text. Let your readers fill out questionnaires,
forms, even crossword puzzles geared to testing their knowledge on a particular
subject.
Have your readers hit a link that will
allow them to recommend your book to their friends and associates. Or include
an actual order form so at the end of their reading journey, they can eagerly
buy your product.
When people interact with books, they
become a part of the world of that book. The fact is just as true for books in
print as it is for Ebooks.
That's why Ebooks are so essential. Not only do they provide a forum for people to learn and make sense of their own thoughts, but they can also serve to promote your business at the same time.
The hardest part of writing is the first sentence. When you look at the whole project, it seems like an impossible task. That's why you have to break it down into manageable tasks. Think of climbing a mountain. You are standing at the foot of it and looking up at its summit vanishing into the clouds. How can you possibly scale such an immense and dangerous mountain?
There is only one way to climb a mountain: step by step.
Now think of writing your Ebook in the
same light. You must create it step by step, and one day, you will take that
last step and find yourself standing on the summit with your head in the
clouds.
The first thing you have to do, as if you
actually were a mountain climber, is to get organized. Instead of climbing
gear, however, you must organize your thoughts. There are some steps you should
take before you begin.
Once you've gone through the following
list, you will be ready to actually begin writing your Ebook.
Beginning Steps to Writing an Ebook
First, figure out your Ebook's working
title. Jot down a few different titles, and eventually, you'll find that one
that will grow on you. Titles help you to focus your writing on your topic;
they guide you in anticipating and answering your reader's queries. Many
non-fiction books also have subtitles. Aim for clarity in your titles, but
cleverness always helps to sell books as
long as it's not too cute.
Next, write out a thesis statement. Your
thesis is a sentence or two stating exactly what problem you are addressing and
how your book will solve that problem. All chapters spring forth from your
thesis statement. Once you've got your thesis statement fine-tuned, you've
built your foundation. From that foundation, your book will grow, chapter by
chapter.
Your thesis will keep you focused while
you write your Ebook. Remember: all chapters must support your thesis
statement. If they don't, they don't belong in your book.
For example, your thesis statement could
read: We've all experienced insomnia at times in our lives, but there are
twenty proven techniques and methods to give you back a good night's sleep.
Once you have your thesis, before you
start to write, make sure there is a good reason to write your book. Ask
yourself some questions:
ü Does your book present useful information and is that information
currently relevant?
ü Will you book positively affect the lives of your readers?
ü Is your book dynamic and will it keep the reader's attention?
ü Does you book answer questions that are meaningful and significant?
If you can answer yes to these questions,
you can feel confident about the potential of your Ebook.
Another important step is to figure out
who your target audience is. It is this group of people you will be writing to,
and this group will dictate many elements of your book, such as style, tone,
diction, and even length. Figure out the age range of your readers, their general
gender, what they are most interested in, and even the socio-economic group
they primarily come from. Are they people who read fashion magazines or book
reviews? Do they write letters in longhand or spend hours every day online. The
more you can pin down your target audience, the easier it will be to write your
book for them.
Next, make
a list of the reasons you are writing your
Ebook. Do you want to promote your business? Do you want to bring quality
traffic to your website? Do you want to enhance your reputation?
Then
write down your goals in terms of publishing. Do you want to sell it as a product on your website, or do you
want to offer it as a free gift for filling out a survey or for ordering a
product? Do you want to use the chapters to create an e-course, or use your
Ebook to attract affiliates around the world? The more you know upfront, the
easier the actual writing will be.
Decide
on the format of your chapters. In non-fiction,
keep the format from chapter to chapter fairly consistent. Perhaps you plan to
use an introduction to your chapter topic, and then divide it into four subhead
topics. Or you may plan to divide it into five parts, each one beginning with a
relevant anecdote.
How to make your Ebook "user friendly"
You must figure out how to keep your
writing engaging. Often anecdotes, testimonials, little stories, photos,
graphs, advice, and tips will keep the reader turning the pages. Sidebars are
useful for quick, accessible information, and they break up the density of the
page.
Write with a casual, conversational tone
rather than a formal tone such as textbook diction. Reader's respond to the
feeling that you are having a conversation with them. Break up the length and
structure of your sentences so you don’t hypnotize your readers into sleep.
Sentences that are all the same length and structure tend to be a good aid for
insomnia!
Good writing takes practice. It takes lots
and lots of practice. Make a schedule to write at least a page a day.
Read books and magazines about the process
of writing, and jot down tips that jump out at you. The art of writing is a
lifetime process; the more you write (and read), the better your writing will
become. The better your writing becomes, the bigger your sales figures.
In an Ebook that is read on the screen, be
aware that you must give your reader's eye a break. You can do this by
utilizing white space. In art classes, white space is usually referred to as
"negative space." Reader's eyes need to rest in the cool white oasis
you create on your page. If your page is too dense, your reader will quit out
of it as soon as their eyes begin to tear.
Make use of lists, both bulleted and
numbered. This makes your information easy to absorb, and gives the reader a
mental break from dissecting your paragraphs one after the other.
Finally, decide on an easy-to-read design.
Find a font that's easy on the eyes, and stick to that font family. Using
dozens of fonts will only tire your readers out before they've gotten past your
introduction.
Use at least one and a half line spacing,
and text large enough to be read easily on the screen, but small enough so that
the whole page can be seen on a computer screen. You will have to experiment
with this to find the right combination.
Of course, don't forget to run a spell and
grammar check. You are judged by something as minor as correct punctuation, so
don’t mess up a great book by tossing out semicolons randomly, or stringing
sentences together with commas. (By the way, that's called a "comma
splice.")
Last of all: create an index and a bibliography. That's it! You've written a book! Now all you have to do is compile and publish your Ebook online, and wait for download request from your website visitors!
You've written and compiled an Ebook. Now
you have to decide how much to charge for it. Finding the right price is
essential to the success of your product. If you charge too little, people will
think it's of little value, and they won't purchase it, or even it they do buy
your book, you will have to sell thousands of copies to get to the point where
you can begin to see a profit.
If you price it too high when compared
with your competition, you will find yourself steadily lowering the price,
which will cause you all kinds of new problems in the future. For example, if
you sell your Ebook at first for $39.99, and later reduce it to $24.95, don't
you think the people who bought it for $39.99 are going to be PISSED?
Choosing the right price for your Ebook is
one of the most critical parts of the marketing process. The first rule of
pricing Ebooks is to never underprice.
Determine the highest price your audience
can afford, and then if you find your book isn’t selling, you can always reduce
the price. Before you take that step, make sure you are promoting your book
like crazy on the Internet and on websites. The price should be aimed at
bringing in profits, but you should never forget that price is one of the
factors that people use in judging the value of your Ebook ? before they buy
it. So always start with the highest price, and then launch a mega-marketing
campaign.
Pricing an Ebook is particularly difficult
because Ebooks are a fairly new commodity. Since they are digital, the value of
an Ebook is as confusing as the understanding of what digital actually is to
the average layperson. This means that we must look at Ebooks in a different
light in order to determine their actual worth in this brave, new cyber world.
Let's look at the difference between a
book in print and an Ebook. A printed book is an object you can hold in your
hand, store on your bookshelf, even hand down to the next generation. It is
priced on factors such as paper stock, design and production costs, and
marketing.
But the fact that unites Ebooks and print
books is that they are composed of ideas. It is the ideas in these books that
have the ability to change, or possibly transform, people's lives.
What do you think an idea is worth when
evaluated against the cost of paper and ink?
It
is the IDEAS that are valuable! That is how you
determine the cost of your Ebook.
What should I charge for my ideas?
There are all different formulas and
methods for determining the correct price for your Ebook. Let's begin with
honing in on your ultimate goals.
Decide if your goal is to get wide
distribution and maximum exposure.
This goal is aimed at drawing customers to your business or service, or to
establishing the credibility of your reputation. If this is your main goal, you
should aim to keep your price on the low side. Some authors have even priced
their Ebooks at a profit loss to draw a high number of new customers.
The key is to find a price that maximizes
your profits and the number of books you sell.
This is an excellent pricing strategy if
you are looking to acquire long-term customers. Long-term customers are
extremely likely to buy from you again and again as long as the first Ebook
they buy is of exceptional quality and beneficial to the customer.
However, if your book contains valuable
and more importantly NEW information, references, or techniques then you should
aim to price it on the high end.
After you figure out your goal, you must
figure out what your audience's need is for your Ebook. For example, does your
book solve a particular problem? If it does, and solves it in a way that hasn't
been written about in one hundred other Ebooks, you will be able to achieve
high sales at a high price. If your book solves a problem or answers questions
in a new and unique way, you should price your book as high as you can go. You
will achieve larger profits this way, but bring in fewer customers. Just make
sure the question or problem that your book solves is one that is important and
relevant to the majority of your market audience.
If your ideas are not common knowledge, or
you are presenting a brand new technique, you will be able to sell books at a
high price. Just be prepared for your competition to undercut you on price as
soon as they hear about your book.
Keep in mind that the above pricing
strategy is temporary. Eventually, you will cease to sell books at this high
price. So figure out in advance how long you plan to offer your Ebook at this
high price, and when that time is up, change your pricing strategy.
If you want to see large profits over
customer draw, aim for an audience that is looking for easy solutions to their
problems at a low price. If your book is aimed at solving one particular
problem rather than general advice, then you can charge more. Start at the
highest price the market will bear to bring in the largest profits, and plan to
discount the book a number of times throughout the year.
Marketing Strategies
The key that unlocks the sales potential
of your Ebook is to find a single sentence that becomes your selling
handle.
This sentence states what question or
problem your book answers and the benefits your Ebook can provide. Then be sure
to use that sentence in every piece of sales and promotional material, and
every time anyone asks you about your Ebook.
Besides promoting your books assiduously
online, there are several other strategies that can help you sell more books.
One is to give something away for free
with your book, such as a valuable bonus item. Or bundle several Ebooks under
one price, which lowers the price for each Ebook if they were sold separately.
An effective technique for figuring out a
price is to send out a survey to your current customers. If these customers
have already bought an Ebook from you, ask for their opinion in terms of price.
Do this by creating a sales page for the new book, but don't include a price on
that page. Instead, add a number of links to survey questions that ask pointed
questions to aid you in assigning a price to your Ebook.
Another strategy is to test out prices by
creating a number of duplicate sales pages with different prices on each page.
Make sure your sales copy is exactly the same on every page, and includes your
selling-handle sentence. Then figure out for each page the conversion ratio
between visitors to your site and sales of your book. This will tell you what
your optimum price is.
Ultimately, if you've written a book that
solves a problem or presents a new technique, your book will bring in both
traffic and profits. So be sure to write that selling-handle sentence that sums
up what problem your book solves and what the benefits of your book will be to
the customers who purchase it. And then watch your market come to you!
Even if your best friend owns a top
publishing company, giving you an immediate "in," this does not
guarantee publishing success.
First, you have to write a quality book that has a clear
target audience. And your book must answer a common problem or need that
audience shares. Then you have to develop a marketing plan, and stick to it for
at least two years.
Let's begin with the process that should
commence before you write your first word. Begin
by reading A LOT. Read both books you passionately love and books you can't
seem to make it past page five. Then figure out what the author did in the book
you loved, and what was wrong with in the book you couldn't finish. Write down
these points so they are crystal clear to you. Read other people's books for
inspiration and to discover what you should avoid as a writer.
The
next step is to plan out your book. Narrow down
your subject, and then divide it into chapters. Each chapter should address a
specific aspect of the problem your book is going to solve. In each chapter,
break the specific aspect down into several parts. This will help your readers
take in your information a bit at a time instead of overwhelming them with
every bit of information clogging up the pages until they feel like they're
about to go blind. It's not quite spoon-feeding the information to your
readers, but it's close.
The next two steps are obvious. Write your book and then revise it. And then revise it again. And perhaps again.
Of course, writing is extremely hard, and writing a book can seem like an
impossible task. There are many books out there that give you guidelines to
help you become familiar - and even love - the process of writing and revision.
Find a number of books about writing. Better yet, find a number of books about
writing the specific type of book you aspire to write. These can serve as
roadmaps on your writing journey.
Once you've written your Ebook and revised
it at least twice, show it to someone
else whose opinion you respect.
If you're lucky enough to know a good
editor, see if you have something to barter for him or her to go through your
manuscript. Or join a writing group and let the other members critique your
work.
Then take all these ideas from other
people, and revise your manuscript one last time. And then stop! Put down that
pen! Get your hands off the keyboard!
One of the most important steps to
actually producing a book is to know when to stop writing and tinkering with
it.
You've finally written your Ebook! Pop
open the bubbly!
Give yourself a night out on the town!
Okay, now that this necessary celebration
is out of your system, what do you do next?
How to turn your Ebook into Profits
Ebooks are a revolutionary way to publish
your book without incurring the costs of print production. All you need is a
relevant and targeted subject and some inexpensive software, and you can
transform your manuscript into a book.
The problem, in terms of actually seeing
any profits from your Ebook, is that the market is overwhelmed with Ebooks, and
many of them are not worth the time it takes to download them. Just because the
ability exists to easily produce an Ebook, doesn't make it good writing.
Make sure your book does not simply rehash
old material. You will injure your credibility as an author by claiming to
offer valuable new insights and disappointing your audience with material
they've read a zillion times before. So spend enough time writing and revising
your book to make sure it's of the highest quality and presents the most
current information. A good book will eventually sell itself; false claims
about your book will make it extremely difficult to sell any future books you
may write.
Assuming you have determined that you do
indeed have a quality product that answers some question or need of your target
audience with NEW information, how do you know how much to charge for it? Rule
number 1: Set a price for your book equal to its value. An under-priced book
will only give the impression that your book isn't worth very much.
To figure out a fair price, estimate how
much time you put into creating it and how difficult it was to transform the
necessary information into understandable and engaging writing. Figure out how
much your time and effort is worth, and then price it accordingly. The goal is
for you to be adequately compensated for your talent, your time, and your
effort.
Once you've figured out a price that is
high enough to convey the value of the book, but not so high as to be out of
the reach of your target audience's mean budget, then it's time to offer it for
sale on your website. To attract sales, you will need to develop a promotional
campaign, particularly if you are an unknown author.
There are multitudes of books about
self-promotion that will guide you in your efforts. Choose a plan that is both
creative and professional. Learn how to write a catchy yet informative press
release, and send copies of your Ebook to sites that specialize in Ebook
reviews.
Learn how to write powerful sales copy, or
hire someone to write it for you. This is an essential. You absolutely need
excellent sales copy to sell your book.
Make sure the copy includes all the
reasons your target audience needs your book, and the benefits they will derive
from buying it.
Use graphics in your promotional
materials. Beautiful graphics have the power to instantly convey the quality
and value of your Ebook. Graphics can also convey the amount of valuable
information the book contains, and your careful attention to detail.
Professional graphics sell professional books. They reassure the customer that
the product is what it claims to be.
Consider excerpting chapters for articles.
You can offer these tidbits for free on your website as a sort of demo of your
book. Include an order form for your Ebook at the end of the excerpted
articles.
Finally, when you set-up your download
link, make sure to simplify the process. It's a good idea to offer a few bonuses
that make your book even more enticing to purchase, but make sure the bonuses
are valuable and high quality. Too many bonuses that are basically a load of
useless stuff will compromise the impression your audience has of your Ebook.
The goal is to convey to your audience
that they are getting a quality product for a good deal. That means applying
restraint, especially when it comes to adding bonus items. Too much free stuff
offered diminishes your credibility.
Make sure your book is a quality product.
Make sure it is relevant and current. Develop an effective marketing plan that
includes excellent sales copy and excerpted articles. Then offer your book for sale, and wait
for your audience to discover you!
