Final Steps In Ebook Process

13 years ago

Hi Tyler,

Good luck on finishing the ebook. When it comes time to market your ebook, it helps to have a great looking ebook cover to make it look polished and complete.

It is also good to give away copies in exchange for reviews that you can use to help sell more copies of your ebook.

The great thing about selling a digital book is that it cost very little to reproduce, so that gives you a lot of options to how to distribute it.

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Tylerbennett577

13 years ago

Thank you for your response. I am going to work on designing my ebook cover tomorrow. I am also giving away the ebook right now, it won't be in finished format but instead in a word doc. Im hoping that people who read it will give me feedback and write reviews on it as well.

Thanks

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sscot

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Tylerbennett577

But I want to know how I should format it for distribution, where besides my website should I put it up, and if I were to sell it, how would I do that?

Format: Try to give it a professional looking quality. You can do it via testing with different fonts, colors, images and text positions.

Placing on website: You need an idea that where's the best hot spot? Needless to say, place it there. You'll get excellent results with highly attractive eBook cover and provocative description.

Selling it: You've two options....

i) Without a list.

Create a sales page, choose money transaction service, drive targeted traffic into sales page and sell.

ii) With a list.

Create free product similar to main product, create lead capture page, choose Autoresponder service. Start generating traffic into lead capture page, add Autoresponder into page, and collect their email address through free product. Next, start promoting paid product into the list.

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Tylerbennett577

13 years ago

I guess this would be a good way to build a list, I was going to start building one anyways. Thanks for the info

Thanks

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mhdeaton

13 years ago

Listen Tyler all this is good, but if you want to ramp this up fast ? Do some you tube research and find videos that are getting several hundred hits a day create killer content with squeeze pages in mind and put your best foot forward on video get them to a squeeze give them some4 free goods and put them into an auto-responder. Its easy to get into the top 5 on just about any subject on youtube even fitness. Im number 12 in two weeks on a fitnmess video and #1 with a tock market video ENDLESS GROWING LIST !!!

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WebPen

13 years ago

Yup, Youtube is quite powerful!

As far as your original question- how long is it? Is it something that a large market may be interested in?

You could consider selling it on Clickbank. If you can get a lot of affiliates promoting it you can make some bank.

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Daniel Scott

13 years ago

Let me get this straight...

You wrote an ebook about how to market a business... and you're asking us how to market your business?

Maybe you should just read your own book. I'm sure it'll be full of super-helpful content.

-Daniel

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Tylerbennett577

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Daniel Scott

Let me get this straight...

You wrote an ebook about how to market a business... and you're asking us how to market your business?

Maybe you should just read your own book. I'm sure it'll be full of super-helpful content.

-Daniel

I am not asking on tips on how to market my business at all actually, if your going to comment please actually read the post before being a smart-ass towards me.

I am asking for tips on the formatting and production of my ebook. That is not a business. I am new to the ebook world, not the marketing field.

Mhdeaton- thanks for your input. I have not looked into making Youtube videos, but I may in the future.

AYoungMillionaire- It is 16 pages right now in 14 point font and single spaced. I plan on making the font bigger and adding some extra visual aspects to it as well. I think their will be a large market for it as marketing is a hot topic right now.

Thanks
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Daniel Scott

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Tylerbennett577

...I am not asking on tips on how to market my business at all actually...

Sure. Except for these...

Originally Posted by Tylerbennett577

and if I were to sell it, how would I do that?

This is my first ebook, and I need all the help I can get. I was thinking about giving it away for free on the forum, and then after a little while when all the people on here have gotten it for free, I plan on selling it.

Unless you use some bizarre dictionary I don't know about, you're asking how to sell something. That's marketing advice.

So you are asking for advice on how to market your business.

Hence, I did read the thread... and my comment stands.

Also... giving something away for free then charging for it isn't usually a good strategy... especially for downloadable content of some description. Which leads me to further question your credibility.

There are people on this forum who know how to sell and can see right through you.

-Daniel

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Tylerbennett577

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Daniel Scott

Sure. Except for these...

Unless you use some bizarre dictionary I don't know about, you're asking how to sell something. That's marketing advice.

So you are asking for advice on how to market your business.

Hence, I did read the thread... and my comment stands.

Also... giving something away for free then charging for it isn't usually a good strategy... especially for downloadable content of some description. Which leads me to further question your credibility.

There are people on this forum who know how to sell and can see right through you.

-Daniel

When I said how to sell it, I meant what services are the best to sell a product through. As in a service that will transfer the money to paypal when someone clicks on and downloads the link. That is something I am not informed on how to set up.

And I was offering to give it away exclusively to Warriors, and then sell it after a few months to others on my website. And does that make you question my credibility? What have I done or said that makes you question my credibility? If you are going to comment on my thread then try to at least make the comment somewhat useful instead of trying to make me look bad.

I didn't do anything to you, so why do you have something against me?

Thanks
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Daniel Scott

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Tylerbennett577

When I said how to sell it, I meant what services are the best to sell a product through. As in a service that will transfer the money to paypal when someone clicks on and downloads the link. That is something I am not informed on how to set up.

And I was offering to give it away exclusively to Warriors, and then sell it after a few months to others on my website. And does that make you question my credibility? What have I done or said that makes you question my credibility? If you are going to comment on my thread then try to at least make the comment somewhat useful instead of trying to make me look bad.

I didn't do anything to you, so why do you have something against me?

First of all, this is a written medium. If you're a freelance writer (as your sig file suggests), you need to learn to communicate clearly.

In your replies you've clarified what you said. To me, it reads as trying to weasel out of what you originally meant and spin it. I could be wrong on that front... but my instincts are usually pretty good.

(Aside: I checked out the articles on your site. Far from impressive. The ones I looked at were just rehashed garbage offering nothing new or interesting for your readers. You're talking about how to make $10/hr on Fiverr. I change more than ten times (not on Fivverr, obviously) and I still don't consider myself someone who is able to reveal the secrets of freelance writing.)

What makes me question your credibility? Tons of stuff. You're asking how to format an ebook. Anyone who is mildly knowledgeable in the business world would either know how to do it, have someone who does it for them or know where to get someone who knows.

Same deal with the logistics (plus, a simple Google search would have told you everything you needed to know...)

But instead of dancing around the issue... let's take off the kid gloves. I'll ask you point blank...

What makes you think you're qualified to dispense advice on this subject? What have you done to prove you know what you're talking about on the subject of marketing a business?

Finally, I have nothing against you. I do take issue with people selling "advice" on something they have no idea how to do, whatever... and your posts are displaying the classic signs of a greenhorn.

But hey... prove me wrong and I'll eat every word... and offer you a public apology.

-Daniel

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Tylerbennett577

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Daniel Scott

First of all, this is a written medium. If you're a freelance writer (as your sig file suggests), you need to learn to communicate clearly.

In your replies you've clarified what you said. To me, it reads as trying to weasel out of what you originally meant and spin it. I could be wrong on that front... but my instincts are usually pretty good.

(Aside: I checked out the articles on your site. Far from impressive. The ones I looked at were just rehashed garbage offering nothing new or interesting for your readers. You're talking about how to make $10/hr on Fiverr. I change more than ten times (not on Fivverr, obviously) and I still don't consider myself someone who is able to reveal the secrets of freelance writing.)

What makes me question your credibility? Tons of stuff. You're asking how to format an ebook. Anyone who is mildly knowledgeable in the business world would either know how to do it, have someone who does it for them or know where to get someone who knows.

Same deal with the logistics (plus, a simple Google search would have told you everything you needed to know...)

But instead of dancing around the issue... let's take off the kid gloves. I'll ask you point blank...

What makes you think you're qualified to dispense advice on this subject? What have you done to prove you know what you're talking about on the subject of marketing a business?

Finally, I have nothing against you. I do take issue with people selling "advice" on something they have no idea how to do, whatever... and your posts are displaying the classic signs of a greenhorn.

But hey... prove me wrong and I'll eat every word... and offer you a public apology.

-Daniel

You know Daniel, I thought about it a lot, and you are right. What you said made me really think about how I am doing things. But I did everything with good intentions.

For starters let me clear some things up that may have been miscommunicated,

1. My website is supposed to be a place for entry level freelance writers to go to gain some good insight to specific things that will help them in their venture into the field. I learned that finding information on freelance writing can be hard at first because a lot of the information out there on the subject was directed towards the higher level writers. I think that I need to find a better way to show this fact on my site, and I will work on it.

I will admit, I am somewhat of an intermediate freelance writer. I have always received positive feedback from my employers, and from what people have told me, I am at least a decent writer. So in my eyes, I am not qualified to write content that is directed to help higher level writers. That is not right for me to try and portray that I have anything to offer them. But as I have found out, it is also hard to write content that will really help entry level freelance writers, but I am working on it and I am making process.

I also want to point out that I have only been blogging for a month. Given I have been writing for a whole lot longer, I am still in the process of finding my blogging style and voice. But I think that I am developing it and I will soon have a good hold on it. But the content on my site is all original. I did not intend to "rehash" anyone else's work, I merely posted what I believed entry-level freelance writers may need to know. If the articles are to similar to someone else's, I can assure you that I did not do it intentionally.

2. As far as the ebook goes, yes I am a greenhorn to writing them, but I am not a total greenhorn to marketing. I used to spend my summers with my aunt and uncle who run their own photography and graphic design business, and my aunt taught me a lot on marketing because she could see that it was something I was interested in. I learned a lot from her and I have not forgotten it. I also worked as the Assistant Marketing Manager at Sport Clips (the mens hair place). I am not telling you this as a way to boast I swear. I am saying this because I worked hand-on with the marketing manager, and I personally helped grow one of their stores to the top in my area.

My marketing book is on Online and Offline marketing of a business, and to be honest, it was my way of learning how to better my writing, as well as share some of the information I have learned over the years. It isn't meant to be an ebook that guarantees a business to grow in a month or anything like that.

From what you said and how you reacted, obviously I did something wrong, or you took something I said or did in the wrong way. And for that I am sorry. You made me realize that I need to rethink how I do things, and how I present my products.

But I do believe that you did it in a way that was less than ideal. I think it could have been done in a lot nicer way, or maybe by PMing me personally.

But again, thank you for your input and I am sorry if I did anything that offended you.

Thanks

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Kierkegaard

13 years ago

Unless you are revealing an awesome and little known secret then 16 pages of 14pt type seems very short to sell as an ebook. You could use it to attract visitors to your site by uploading it to doc sharing sites. Alternatively, you could give it away in return for people signing up to your list. Another approach is to use it to build a social network following. You can give it free to people who Like your Facebook page or Follow you on Twitter. In fact, you can do all of the above with the same ebook.

If there are suitable product you can promote that have affiliate schemes you can add these links to the ebook and earn commission on any sales you generate.

As for formatting it. All you really need to do is save it as PDF. You can jazz it up a bit as well as branding it by adding a header and footer image with your URL on.

Thanks
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Tylerbennett577

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Kierkegaard

Unless you are revealing an awesome and little known secret then 16 pages of 14pt type seems very short to sell as an ebook. You could use it to attract visitors to your site by uploading it to doc sharing sites. Alternatively, you could give it away in return for people signing up to your list. Another approach is to use it to build a social network following. You can give it free to people who Like your Facebook page or Follow you on Twitter. In fact, you can do all of the above with the same ebook.

If there are suitable product you can promote that have affiliate schemes you can add these links to the ebook and earn commission on any sales you generate.

As for formatting it. All you really need to do is save it as PDF. You can jazz it up a bit as well as branding it by adding a header and footer image with your URL on.

Thank you for your input. It will probably be 20 pages or more when I am done, and that is without adding fluff to it. And I will promote it through social marketing thats for sure.

I figured that saving it as a PDF would be the best, I just wanted to see if anyone had any input on a new method or program.

Thanks again, your feedback is appreciated.

Thanks

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txconx

13 years ago

Daniel, I think you make some valid points but how is Tyler any different from the legion of unqualified product producers selling on the internet? Or do you have a personal mission to identify, hunt down and expose all of them?

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txconx

13 years ago

Tyler, some tips:

Don't refer to yourself in the third person on your own blog. It's your blog, your portfolio, your work - claim it and own it.

I'm going to go one step further than Daniel: your writing is abysmal. Forget rehashed content - learn some basic grammar and punctuation. I've seen ESL writers who have a better grasp of grammar than what I'm seeing in your portfolio examples.

The bottom line is if what you're selling is crap, you're going to get a lot of returns. Don't let anyone stop you from selling it, though! It's people like you that make it easier for people like me to say "and what did you get for $5? Crap, right?"

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Daniel Scott

13 years ago

txconx,

He might very well be the same... but that doesn't make it okay.

And while I can't root them all out (nor would I want to)... I just happened to stumble across this one post.

I think of it like picking up litter...

No one person can do it all. But if everyone picked up one piece a day, the world would be clean in no time.

Dig?

-Daniel

P.S. Agreed about the $5 thing. Bad writers (and cheap writers) are paying my mortgage, if indirectly.

Thanks
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fluffythewondercat 13 years ago

Tyler's just trying to do what "everyone" tells him he should do: write an eBook.

The people who dispense this oh-so-helpful advice never seem to talk about what that product should contain or indeed mention anything at all about adding to the conversation, making the world a better place or coming up with startling new insights.

I've been spending a lot of time on StumbleUpon recently, in the marketing niche. Wait -- I promise this is relevant. You would not *believe* how many so-called marketers rehash the same old tired topics with the same old lame tips. (If one. more. person. suggests I post flyers at the supermarket to advertise my Internet business, I will scream.)

Tyler doesn't believe it now, but you're actually doing him a big favor by telling him things the dreamers aren't even aware of, without putting it in pretty language.

fLufF
--
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Mark Andrews

Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by Tylerbennett577

Hello all, I am looking for some information on how to go about finishing an ebook. I wrote an ebook on how to market a business, and I am just finishing up the editing and working on the design etc.

But I want to know how I should format it for distribution, where besides my website should I put it up, and if I were to sell it, how would I do that?

This is my first ebook, and I need all the help I can get. I was thinking about giving it away for free on the forum, and then after a little while when all the people on here have gotten it for free, I plan on selling it. So if you are interested in reading it and giving me some feedback on it before I distribute it all over, I would greatly appreciate it. If you are interested just PM me your email and I will send it to you.

Thanks for reading, and I hope some of you will show interest.

P.S I did not put this in the Special Offers section because it is not completed. I will post the finished product there after I get some feedback on how I may better the ebook.

Many inexperienced up and coming marketers leave the copywriting to the last minute. Fatal mistake.

Most highly experienced copywriters are booked up for weeks if not months in advance. All too often we field requests from new product creators writing us and saying their deadline to launch day is less than a week away. A very common error.

Putting the product together, in this case an eBook is just one part of the equation. Selling the eBook is your next big step and you must consider this as far in advance as possible.

It doesn't matter how good your eBook is, if you leave too little time for the copywriter to research your market thoroughly, get to grips with your main benefits - your sales will suffer.

You've obviously written this to make a profit on your time and expertise expended in putting this material together. If you haven't already done so you must get the sales copy organized NOW. Don't leave it to the very last second.

The purpose of copywriting is to show off your eBook in the best light possible to your target audience. Hitting on their (your target audience) emotional hot buying buttons.

Good copywriting, copywriting which converts, isn't something which you can just throw together in a few hours except in exceedingly rare circumstances.

Have you given any thought or consideration yet to how you intend to pitch your eBook at your target audience?

Creating info products is the easy part, selling / marketing your wares is something else altogether. The sooner you can get onto this the more profit you'll make.

Best,

Pete Walker

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anhart23

13 years ago

If your ebook has something amazing in it, then do not worry much about format ( 13 point Times new roman would do good)
As for selling it at other places than your website, check out forum's relevant area for that!

Thanks
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Canuckystan 13 years ago

Ok, 20 pages and you want to charge for it?

Dude, I can get marketing books from ACTUAL marketers that are filled with hundreds of pages of great writing, experience and great advice for $5 (or less) on Kindle.

The ebook business is fierce - you have to have a great product and deep knowledge to make any decent money with them.
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GaryJBloomer

13 years ago

Dear Tyler,

First, congratulations on having created your own product. That's awesome.

The key to success here is value. Sixteen pages in 14 point text? Hmm. Unless you've come up with some kind of dog's bollocks, kick ass new way of marketing, I'd urge you to reduce your point size to 11 or 12 point, and to revise your offering with additional content.

Among other things I'm a graphic designer. I spend great chunks of my day laying out pages of text for books, information panels, leaflets, and design for print.

Trust me, 16 pt type will make your e-book look like an early reading guide for 7 year-olds. I'd urge you to add more content and to AVOID increasing the point size. I'd urge you to invest a little time and money to work with a designer.

Again and again I see e-books set in 14 pt or 16 pt type, normally Times New Roman (or Courier), and clearly put together in Microsoft Word. What this means is that many e-books tend to look the same, with the same, lame-looking "pack shot" of the book on the cover.

Dull, dull, dull. Your customers deserve better. Your competitors will envy you, and your final product will look so much stronger by investing time and effort into adding extra value, and into applying a modest amount of design.

To find a designer, consider using elance.com, guru.com, or 99designs.com. Be specific about your needs. Outline what you don't want, and figure out a modest budget and be up front about this being a small project over which you need to retain all copyrights and content rights. If this means working with a Do Not Disclose contract, so be it.

I hope this helps.

—Gary B

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CoverGraphix 13 years ago

Gary has some excellent advice for you, hope you don't skim it.

16pt font is too large even for a childrens book. IMO

A high quality cover is one of the most important aspects when it comes to selling or even giving away a product online.

People really do judge a book by its cover.

(See sig)

Best of luck on your project.
- Thanks
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Final Steps In Ebook Process

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