Help with eBook Creation/Marketing

I'm nearing the end of writing a course on this very topic. Naturally I'm curious if there were any other areas you thought were lacking in the ebooks you bought?

A client that I write books for (I'm a ghostwriter) does the following:

1) Gets a designer and copywriter to make him a Clickbank style sales page.
2) Lists the ebooks on Clickbank.
3) Advertises the sales page through Facebook ads.
4) Sets up cross-promotions and JVs

I assume it is a plan that works, as he has been doing it for years. He has several hundred books running this way, and he wouldn't be doing it unless it was profitable.

Before you ask, I can't comment on any of the niches or anything like that.

Cheers,
Colin Palfrey

I don't know about any book teaching you what to do, but I can give you a few guidelines:

1- To edit your book, you just need a text editor (as Ryan said) such as Office Word. I'm pretty sure that if you are a writter you know how to use it. Convert it to PDF.

2- Create a website with a landing page where to sell your product product and market it (forums, adds, SEO, video...). You can also set an opt-in giving away, for example, a free chapter to build a list.

3- Publish the book on Amazon, both, as a Kindle version (https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin) and as a traditional book (Amazon.com : Self-Publish with Us)

5-Find affiliates to promote your book (Clickbank is a good place to start)

4-Keep sending traffic to your site

Guru.com is a good place to outsource stuff. There's a lot of experts on there.

Hi I have a ebook you can get for free,it mentions how to make a ebook by your self,but perhaps not so much about graphics and such. But it explains what you should think about etc.

Just putting a product up on Clickbank won't do much for you unless you promote it vigorously. Sure, there are 100,000 affiliates signed up there, but you won't get any big affiliates promoting for you unless you go get them.

You need to think in terms of "LEVERAGE". What you want to do is find ways where a small amount of work produces a large result not the other way around. Most newbies do a large amount of work and see little in the way of results. That's why they give up and quit.

Let me give you some specific examples.

If you buy some books on the topic they will tell you things like--go write a dozen articles, or a hundred articles, or 500 articles to drive traffic to your site. And okay, if you enjoy turning your fingers into bloody nubs doing that much writing--go for it. But let me tell you--there are already people who have written hundreds or thousands of articles in your niche. GO FIND THEM. Go to some big article directories and see who has written tons of articles in your niche.

They have likely grown significant subscriber lists. That is an asset your can exploit. Read one of their articles and click on the link in their resource box. Visit their site and opt in to their list. When you get an email from them, record their email address and their name. Now you can contact them about promoting your product to their list. Most big auto-responder services require that mailers with their service include a physical mailing address at the bottom of each email they send. Record that too!!!

Most people will send them an email whining, "Please promote my product to your list!" Most such emails never get opened and even if they do they will get trashed immediately. I would make up a sheet describing your product, giving your sales page, your price, your commission rate, and--have a good affiliate page set up with tools to help them: email files to use, product images, blog posts, keywords, etc.

Then snail mail them asking if they would like to promote your product. If they are big boys I might even send them your pitch by express mail. And I would continue sending them a letter a week for a couple months until they either tell you to buzz off or promote to their list for you. Be persistent, yet polite.

You can do the same thing with people pitching products similar to yours on YouTube, Clickbank, etc. What I have explained involves LEVERAGE: Using the existing assets of others to your benefit.

TO SUCCEED IN IM, YOU NEED TO DO WHAT YOUR COMPETITORS ARE UNWILLING OR UNABLE TO DO.

Most people are unwilling or unable to take the time to do what I mentioned above. That's why they come to forums complaining that they can't make any money. The guys making big cheddar get off their butts and kick ass! They do WHATEVER it takes to succeed. The slaughterhouse of failure is not their destiny! Be like them.

Once you get a few big guys to promote your product to their list you will have gotten a lot of traffic to your sales page. Make sure you have an auto-responder service (AWeber and GetResponse are two good ones) so you can opt visitors to your page into your own list. Rather than putting an opt-in form on your sales page, which some affiliates don't like--you can use something like Dave Guindon's "Exit Splash" to try to capture leads as they leave your page.

I know, I know--people hate those things, but there is one undeniable fact: they work! Once you have a list of your own you can begin email marketing to it with affiliate products. That is important.

Important: Always ask yourself, "Who's got what I want (reputation, subscribers, traffic, etc.) and how could I convince them to let me leverage it to my benefit?" If you do that and you execute well you will make money.

P.S. I am sending you a PM that contains some above-top-secret techniques to use. Read what I give you. Apply it. Take it to the bank.

Good luck!!! --Mike

One thing I haven't seen mentioned on here at all (unless I overlooked it) is having a good sales letter. You can sell just about anything with a great sales letter-even if the product is sub standard. That doesn't mean you won't have a lot of people wanting refunds if it is, but it's important to have a good sales letter.

I see so many people just plastering whatever they "think" is good info about their product online and then wonder why it doesn't sell. If you aren't a copywriter then you need to either learn this skill (yes it is a learned skill) or hire a pro to write your letter for you. Just because you have a finished product doesn't mean it will sell - even if it's good. You need to have excellent sales copy attached to it to get the prospect over the top and buy the product.

Have you check out http://ebookcake.com/? Love this tool to your articles or blog posts into an ebook. Super cool.

One of the best ways to market your ebook is to create a solo ad here at Warrior Forum. You'll be surprised at how easy it is, and you may be pleased with the results you obtain.

I've created a PDF ebook using adobe pdf creator program I downloaded using azurus a bittorrent downloading program I acquired the PDF creator, I then sold and hosted the ebook using e-junkie.com

Creating and publishing an ebook is really not that difficult. In fact, let's first start with graphics. You can hire out the graphics to a crowdsourcing site call design99.com. Just figure out how much you want to pay and the world comes to you with graphics. You decide which one, pay them, and you've got your ebook cover.

Once you've gotten the ebook done then, you have a few choices for distribution - host on Clickbank, host on your own ecommerce site or host / sell through amazon etc. It all depends on how much work you want to do in order to create the commerce, website, social media etc.

The key though is driving traffic to find your book. The best is likely now Facebook and social media in general.

Lots of great advice here about ebooks. If you need help with this process professionally, please let me know. I will be happy to help you. This is definitely worth pursuing. Best wishes to you.

A cover graphic for your ebook isn't mandatory, though it would help give it that pro feel and increase its perceived value. You do not need to do it yourself, you can go to fiverr.com and get someone to do one for you for $5.

I only want to hit on this one tiny portion of your post, since the marketing side of it has been brilliantly answered already.

You can get an ebook cover designed for the crazy price of only $5 on Fiverr. The quality is usually quite good.

For such a ridiculously low price, it would be a good idea to have a cover.

This is true for many other types of graphics you may decide you want to add to your ebook, also.

Then for your marketing graphics, you can head right back to the same source. Fiverr has many talented people offering to do simple banners for $5.

Just make sure you take the time to read reviews and look at their full portfolio of offers before choosing your provider. Some are highly talented, others not so great, and a few others who end up never delivering. But for $5 you can afford a mistake or two.

If you are willing to spend a little more, just jump into the Warriors for Hire section, there are always great offers in there, too.

I would recommend you offer a physical option as well. There are services like Lulu that will publish ebooks as printed bound books, and print them as singletons as orders come in. Its just another way to repurpose your content.

Google ebook cover creator. You can't judge a book by its cover, but I find that really professional covers increase sales, of course content is king but we have to see the cover to get interested in the content. As one of the other Warriors asked - do you create ebooks for clients also?

I wish you the best in your new venture. When you find the ebook cover creators, you will be happy, they are easy to use and create some stunning covers.

Is there a hungry crowd waiting for your ebook?
Does it solve any desperate problem that people face?

If YES is the answers, Congratulations

Go ahead with your project by considering all the above suggestions.