How much should I expect to pay to get an eBook made?

[Skribblez]

How much should I expect to pay get an eBook made?

Possibly in the health or gaming niche.

I was thinking of getting it made at elance, but if anyone can recommend anything better and/or cheaper, I'm all ears.

I just need an estimate on how much I should expect to pay to get an eBook made. I'm still raising some money.

I don't know how long the eBook will be, but I have an idea, so I guess that's a start. It could be as little as 10 pages long, or even 30 pages long. I don't know.

Any help and guidance would be greatly appreciated, especially from those who have outsourced eBook creation before.

[acrasial]

How To Get An Ebook Made: An Easy and Cost Effective Method....

Step #1: Write out the table of contents/all of the sections for your book onto a notepad.


Step #2: For each section jot down some notes for things you absolutely need covered.


Step #3: Hand ONE section off to an article writer. Get them to write as many words as you feel are sufficient for one chapter. Do this for every section, until all of the sections are finally gone.

You can complete this section by heading over to any of the outsourcing websites such as:

*Elance
*Hireafreelancer
*Odesk
Etc...

Post a project there and get people to bid for it. I will go on a limb here and say that the average ebook is about 10,000-50,000+ words. Let's bank on a book that is around 35,000+ words.


Given how many chapters you have (and also depending on how many words you want it to be), you can divide that to find out how long each chapter will be on average, to get the word count for your articles.


Here on the forum, articles run from 3$ for 300 words to anything beyond, but mostly below 6$ for 300 words. Of course, these articles are NOT 300 words, but you can also arrange it so that each article writer gets an article to write that is about 500-1000 words, if you delegate the book into subsections.


Either way, you can do the math depending on what you want, and can delegate that to writers to write. BUT make sure these writers do extensive research! So that they are not just writing derivative content or are simply rewriting someone else's book.


***It also sounds like you want more of a report size book, rather than an actual ebook. Ebooks themselves may be longer, but your information product can be smaller as well, and the smaller it is, the less work you have to do here too. ***


Step #4: Compile the sections together, and make another project for an editor/proofreader. This person will fill in the blanks, will tie all of the chapters/sections together, will make sure the punctuation, spelling, and grammar are good, and will also make sure that your book makes sense.


You can choose the original bidding value for this project as well, just like with the articles. So don't think that you need to spend a fortune here either. Just head back over to the original sources.


Step #5: Compile that into a PDF file or whatever you want. You can even hire someone to do an audio or video version of your book as well, should you seek it, using the mentioned sources above.


Step #6: Rinse and repeat for up sell products, or virtually anything else you want to create!


================================================== ======================

On a side note? How much would it realistically cost you to make a smaller 10-30 page ebook? If you correctly master the method above, it shouldn't cost you more than $150, according to me.


Remember that the more effective you are, the less this will cost you.


How To Get An Ebook Made: An Easy BUT Costly Method....

Step #1: Use step #1 and #2 from the original method above.

Step #2: When you get to step #3 from the above mentioned ebook creation tips, instead of delegating that out to a bunch of people, find one writer who will agree to do it for a price you list.

If you are unsure what to list. Test it. List a rather low price (below 150$...such as listing 30-50$ as the original bid), if you get a few bids, then it's not too low, and it means that there are people who are willing to write an entire book for that price.

If there are no bids, or the bids are all higher, then you know that you will not get one writer creating this book for that kind of price, and will likely have to pay more.


Step #3: Pay more. Pick a writer, and give them the details, have them write and compile the book, and voila!


Step #4: (Optional) You can once again get someone to proof read the book to make sure it makes sense.

[Skribblez]

Hmm, sorry, I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you say:

Originally Posted by acrasial

Hand ONE section off to an article writer. Get them to write as many words as you feel are sufficient for one chapter.

Could you elaborate on that please? Why should I specifically hand one section?

[acrasial]

Originally Posted by Skribblez

Hmm, sorry, I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you say:



Could you elaborate on that please? Why should I specifically hand one section?

I have added more to my post. The thing is, if you hire just one writer, you may have to pay more, because they are doing more work, and would recognize the fact that you are asking them to write a book.


Unless of course you just hand off the sections to one writer and treat it as an article.


BUT, if you use the other method, where you get different writers to write it, you can save money, and can get it done fast, and also ensure that the tips stay fresh.


As some writers lose their spark when they write on the same thing for an extended period of time, and also handing it off to various writers allows you to get it for the rates of an article writer, rather than being charged the rates of an ebook/copywriter.

[acrasial]

Originally Posted by getbrowser

In my eyes, it is really unnecessary to waste money on buying eBooks. If you can do a detailed research, you will find that there are many free resources on the Internet.
It is good all the time if you can save your pocket.

This is all fine and dandy, except for the following concerns:


#1: It may not solely be your product. Others may have also had access to it and are also marketing it/using it etc etc etc.

This creates issues for anyone who may be trying to create a product with clickbank, or anyone who is trying to make a legitimate product of their own.


#2: These things are free for a reason. Not to bash free things, but the quality may be lower, or the book itself may be extremely vague. If someone knows what they want already, it may be more work to sift through hundreds or thousands of free products just trying to find one which even remotely resembles the product they are trying to make.



**BUT**

What someone CAN do, is they can use your advice here, and find a product in the niche they are looking for, and hire a writer to add more value to the book, for a small fee, so that the book is good.


**HOWEVER, IF the book is originally good, then sure, that's a great idea. BUT, if they are trying to accomplish something solid, I wouldn't suggest as a way to go when trying to create a product.


Those kinds of products are better for giving away in opt in lists, I believe, but that is my own personal opinion there.

[SimonHarrison]

Originally Posted by getbrowser

In my eyes, it is really unnecessary to waste money on buying eBooks. If you can do a detailed research, you will find that there are many free resources on the Internet.
It is good all the time if you can save your pocket.

You win the "I must get my post count up" award for today.

[acrasial]

Originally Posted by Skribblez

Hmm, sorry, I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you say:



Could you elaborate on that please?

Does it make sense yet? Let me know.

[Skribblez]

Originally Posted by acrasial

How To Get An Ebook Made: An Easy and Cost Effective Method....

Step #1: Write out the table of contents/all of the sections for your book onto a notepad.


Step #2: For each section jot down some notes for things you absolutely need covered.


Step #3: Hand ONE section off to an article writer. Get them to write as many words as you feel are sufficient for one chapter. Do this for every section, until all of the sections are finally gone.

You can complete this section by heading over to any of the outsourcing websites such as:

*Elance
*Hireafreelancer
*Odesk
Etc...

Post a project there and get people to bid for it. I will go on a limb here and say that the average ebook is about 10,000-50,000+ words. Let's bank on a book that is around 35,000+ words.


Given how many chapters you have (and also depending on how many words you want it to be), you can divide that to find out how long each chapter will be on average, to get the word count for your articles.


Here on the forum, articles run from 3$ for 300 words to anything beyond, but mostly below 6$ for 300 words. Of course, these articles are NOT 300 words, but you can also arrange it so that each article writer gets an article to write that is about 500-1000 words, if you delegate the book into subsections.


Either way, you can do the math depending on what you want, and can delegate that to writers to write. BUT make sure these writers do extensive research! So that they are not just writing derivative content or are simply rewriting someone else's book.


***It also sounds like you want more of a report size book, rather than an actual ebook. Ebooks themselves may be longer, but your information product can be smaller as well, and the smaller it is, the less work you have to do here too. ***


Step #4: Compile the sections together, and make another project for an editor/proofreader. This person will fill in the blanks, will tie all of the chapters/sections together, will make sure the punctuation, spelling, and grammar are good, and will also make sure that your book makes sense.


You can choose the original bidding value for this project as well, just like with the articles. So don't think that you need to spend a fortune here either. Just head back over to the original sources.


Step #5: Compile that into a PDF file or whatever you want. You can even hire someone to do an audio or video version of your book as well, should you seek it, using the mentioned sources above.


Step #6: Rinse and repeat for up sell products, or virtually anything else you want to create!


================================================== ======================

On a side note? How much would it realistically cost you to make a smaller 10-30 page ebook? If you correctly master the method above, it shouldn't cost you more than $150, according to me.


Remember that the more effective you are, the less this will cost you.


How To Get An Ebook Made: An Easy BUT Costly Method....

Step #1: Use step #1 and #2 from the original method above.

Step #2: When you get to step #3 from the above mentioned ebook creation tips, instead of delegating that out to a bunch of people, find one writer who will agree to do it for a price you list.

If you are unsure what to list. Test it. List a rather low price (below 150$...such as listing 30-50$ as the original bid), if you get a few bids, then it's not too low, and it means that there are people who are willing to write an entire book for that price.

If there are no bids, or the bids are all higher, then you know that you will not get one writer creating this book for that kind of price, and will likely have to pay more.


Step #3: Pay more. Pick a writer, and give them the details, have them write and compile the book, and voila!


Step #4: (Optional) You can once again get someone to proof read the book to make sure it makes sense.

Wow.. thanks heaps for the great advice!

I honestly never thought about doing it that way. Hiring different writers to write different articles based on my specifications, and then basically piecing it together into an eBook/report. I always thought I would just stick to getting only one person to writing and compiling the eBook.

I may very well go for the first option. I guess my next step would be writing up a list of sections. I have the niche, now I need to know what exactly they're after, and what they really want.

Thanks again for the sound advice. It has certainly opened my eyes!

[acrasial]

Originally Posted by Skribblez

Thanks again for the sound advice. It has certainly opened my eyes!

Well it's only sound if it works for you. There are many other ways to create/make an Ebook as well. So yeh, it all depends on your specifications, or what you intend in the first place. And as another warrior said, the more descriptive you get, the better people can aid you there.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by Skribblez

I always thought I would just stick to getting only one person to writing and compiling the eBook.

I certainly would, if I were you.

In addition to producing something far more coherent and consistent, and better structured, that way, the price will normally work out lower, too: with writing, just as with any other product/service you can outsource, it's normal for "bulk orders" to get some kind of discount.

[cashcow]

Sticking with one person will be less work for you. If you piece it out, then you will have to go in and do a bit of tweaking and writing to make it flow as well as merge it into the same style.

The price you pay depends on the quality you want.

You might pay $250 or you might pay $1100 or anything in between.

I wowuld check the warriors for hire section and the WSO section. I know I've seen some really good offers for ebook writing from folks who seem to be good writers.

Lee

[basefunding]

I highly recommend WF member "Kezz" when you are ready. I've worked with a few of the discount writers and ended up with unusable material. Do not shop for a writer on price alone.

[Kezz]

Hey, thanks for the shoutout Sam.

I just dropped in to give some friendly advice.

You *can* get ebooks written for anything from $5 - $10 per page, but that doesn't necessarily mean you *should*. You should consider what your goals are for your book when you decide on your budget.

Quality writers will tend to charge between $15 - $35 per page, and I have seen some self professed uber gurus charging up to $50.

There are two primary reasons you should carefully consider your budget when you select an ebook writer.

One, the quality of your ebook will heavily influence your refund rate. I've had some clients bring me books to edit/rewrite that they'd had done through some of the regular freelancing sites, and to put it bluntly they were god awful. Everything from terrible grammar to a complete lack of grasp on the subject material. I guarantee that these books would have had a high refund rate if not cleaned up. The money you might save on a low quality writer, you might just a soon lose again down the track on refunds.

Two, the quality of your ebook will heavily influence your ability to cross sell and up sell to your customers. If the first thing they buy from you gets right to the heart of the matter they were trying to solve, they will then become very open to buying more of your quality product. One loyal repeat customer can bring you ten or more times the revenue that a single buy customer does. You know yourself, when you find a quality store, you go back, sometimes over and over again. But if you go to a store and get a busted up dirty product, wild horses couldn't drag you back.

So, to get to the point, if you are looking for 10 - 30 pages I would recommend that you budget somewhere from $150 - $1050, depending on the target length you decide on and the provider you choose.

Good luck!

[Barry Unruh]

I love questions like this. Can I counter with just as fair of a question?

How much should I pay for a car with four wheels, doors, and an engine?

If you just want a Kio Rio Ebook you can pay very little for an ebook. You will get the economy class book which may or may not work great. It may get great gas mileage as a give away, but expect not too many people chomping at the bit to buy the next one if you are selling it.

If you want a Bugatti Veyron Ebook, which is going to make your readers mouth water, and be begging to buy more from you, expect to pay a higher price, and to pay for the best writer you can afford. In this case, your Ebook could cost you hundreds, or even thousands of dollars, but could be the best investment, with the best return on investment.

Of course, you could buy the Chevrolet Malibu, or a Ford Fusion Ebook. You'll probably get good mileage, reasonable results, and stay within a reasonable budget. This is probably where you want to end up. You will need to spell out exactly what you are looking for in length, content, whether you need a cover, etc... to get an accurate quote.

Your best bet is to browse through the Warriors for Hire and WSO sections here, find a few people in each price range, and ask to see samples of their writing. You can then compare style, quality, and price, and choose what fits your needs.