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Self-publishing an ebook

by NBSEO
10 replies
I've really been toying with the idea of self-publishing an ebook.

I had originally thought of publishing through Kindle, but after some research have decided it might be best to self-publish.

I have a few questions about promotion.

Should I establish a website which would include a blog for the ebook with the book title being the domain?

I've created copy for landing pages and sales pages, but am not sure how they are typically set up. Would they have a completely separate domain?

How do you drive traffic to these pages? I'm not very familiar with list-building.

Any pointers in the right direction would be very helpful!
#ebook #selfpublishing
  • Profile picture of the author jurojin
    Hi there! Basically when publishing an ebook the main domain should point directly to the sales/landing page. For a better understanding of how it should be done, you can go to clickbank marketplace and watch how your competitors are doing. If your ebook is good, and has a decent quality design and sales copy, all you have to do is add it to cb, it only costs about $50. This will give you the chance to be promoted by hundred of thousand of active affiliates. Finding these affiliates it's not that hard. A lot of them can be found on this forum, as they are always looking for new stuff to promote. This should be your main focus in terms of driving traffic to your ebook (finding new affiliates to promote it). Let me know if you need more help, I am in the process of launching a revolutionary ebook myself
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  • Profile picture of the author sabatek
    You should work on branding yourself first. Create a website around you with a link to your up and coming book. It will create a buzz around your book before putting it out.

    Use social media and SEO for traffic.

    Kindle has a program called KDP Select that will promote your book if you exclusivley publish with them. This program help my book become a best seller. So that is another route to go.
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    Originally Posted by NBSEO View Post

    I've really been toying with the idea of self-publishing an ebook.

    I had originally thought of publishing through Kindle, but after some research have decided it might be best to self-publish.

    I have a few questions about promotion.

    Should I establish a website which would include a blog for the ebook with the book title being the domain?

    I've created copy for landing pages and sales pages, but am not sure how they are typically set up. Would they have a completely separate domain?

    How do you drive traffic to these pages? I'm not very familiar with list-building.

    Any pointers in the right direction would be very helpful!
    Putting your book on Amazon is self publishing. You simply agree to write and publish according to Amazon's guidelines but YOU are the publisher. One of the many advantages to publishing on Amazon is that your book is potentially in front of millions of readers at any given moment. You might want to take a second look.
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    • Profile picture of the author NBSEO
      Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

      Putting your book on Amazon is self publishing. You simply agree to write and publish according to Amazon's guidelines but YOU are the publisher. One of the many advantages to publishing on Amazon is that your book is potentially in front of millions of readers at any given moment. You might want to take a second look.
      The audience part is true, however the book I'm going to write is going to be a fairly long, thorough blueprint and I'd like to price it at a decent amount. From what I gather, the cost of ebooks on Amazon/Kindle are fairly low?
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    • Profile picture of the author Joan Altz
      Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

      Putting your book on Amazon is self publishing. You simply agree to write and publish according to Amazon's guidelines but YOU are the publisher. One of the many advantages to publishing on Amazon is that your book is potentially in front of millions of readers at any given moment. You might want to take a second look.
      It depends on her purpose for the ebook, however. That it is potentially in front of millions of readers - well, let's be realistic. Unless she is an established author, her chance of making thousands of sales anytime soon as a Kindle book is a bit like hoping to win the lottery.

      Outside of Kindle, she can:
      • Price it higher and get that with the right traffic (hard to demand much as a Kindle book)
      • Give it away (you only get what - 5 days giveaway with Kindle?)
      • Sell it as a WSO
      • Sell it as an original product as part of a website sale on Flippa
      • Bundle it with other books or products later
      • Offer it as a bonus to other books or products later
      • Sell the ebook outright for a lump sum of cash
      • Promote it however she likes - ppc, affliates, marketplaces
      Self-publishing also means you have full control of the distribution. Do you have that with Amazon Kindle? No.
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      • Profile picture of the author clever7
        Originally Posted by Joan Altz View Post

        It depends on her purpose for the ebook, however. That it is potentially in front of millions of readers - well, let's be realistic. Unless she is an established author, her chance of making thousands of sales anytime soon as a Kindle book is a bit like hoping to win the lottery.

        Outside of Kindle, she can:
        • Price it higher and get that with the right traffic (hard to demand much as a Kindle book)
        • Give it away (you only get what - 5 days giveaway with Kindle?)
        • Sell it as a WSO
        • Sell it as an original product as part of a website sale on Flippa
        • Bundle it with other books or products later
        • Offer it as a bonus to other books or products later
        • Sell the ebook outright for a lump sum of cash
        • Promote it however she likes - ppc, affliates, marketplaces
        Self-publishing also means you have full control of the distribution. Do you have that with Amazon Kindle? No.
        Yes, you have full control of the distribution if you don't follow Amazon’s KDP Select program. You can sell your Kindle ebook at many other stores, besides Amazon.

        I believe that the best solution for the OP would be to write a short Kindle ebook about her main topic, and drive readers from Amazon to her website, so that she may sell her long PDF.

        I agree that only one ebook won't help her make sales, but she can write a few short Kindle ebooks to promote her work this way.

        The prices in the Kindle marketplace really are low…

        So, it’s a good idea to write short ebooks for Kindle that won't be too hard to be written, will help her become known, and get traffic from Amazon - where so many readers are looking for books.
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      • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
        Originally Posted by Joan Altz View Post

        It depends on her purpose for the ebook, however. That it is potentially in front of millions of readers - well, let's be realistic. Unless she is an established author, her chance of making thousands of sales anytime soon as a Kindle book is a bit like hoping to win the lottery.

        Outside of Kindle, she can:
        • Price it higher and get that with the right traffic (hard to demand much as a Kindle book)
        • Give it away (you only get what - 5 days giveaway with Kindle?)
        • Sell it as a WSO
        • Sell it as an original product as part of a website sale on Flippa
        • Bundle it with other books or products later
        • Offer it as a bonus to other books or products later
        • Sell the ebook outright for a lump sum of cash
        • Promote it however she likes - ppc, affliates, marketplaces
        Self-publishing also means you have full control of the distribution. Do you have that with Amazon Kindle? No.
        I got a laugh at your comment about having a success anytime soon being likened to hitting the lottery. Where do you get such stuff? I personally know at least a dozen authors who have done extremely well right from the start and are now making their living as Kindle authors.

        Oh, and let's be realistic. Amazon is the largest book marketplace in the world and authors that know how to produce good books and promote them participate in an enormous, dedicated marketplace that ain't going anywhere anytime soon.

        The very nature of publishing, whether self, or traditional, means giving up some measure of control. Having personally published and marketed four physical books, your statement about having full control of distribution is far from correct. It's true that you decide how your books distributed. However, once you reach a distribution agreement with Ingram or Baker and Taylor, the two dominant distributors, and hand your books over to the distributor, an absolute necessity if you want the title in the stores, you give up control.

        Of course, you can still sell them yourself but getting mainstream distribution, by definition, means giving up control. You're also looking at a 45% fee for a distributor's participation.

        I think your negativity and grossly erroneous portrayal of Amazon and Kindle does a great disservice to people looking to participate in one of the most robust markets in the world with a company that is bending over backwards making it easy to be successful.
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  • Profile picture of the author srumsley
    The suggestions made already are definitely worth pursuing. I have another suggestion also - how about placing a very "trimmed down" but still useful version of your ebook on the many free ebook sites online, as well as Scribd. You can then include a link to the full version which you are (obviously) selling, but hose who have read and liked your "teaser" copy will have confidence to buy.
    All the best,
    Sue
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  • Profile picture of the author NBSEO
    Also, can anyone recommend if it would be beneficial/profitable to publish a hard-copy version as well? If so, how to do so?
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  • Profile picture of the author dengkane
    You can take your sales page as your main page of the domain, and add a seperate folder as the squeeze page folder, then the url should be like:

    Sales page: http://www.yourdomain.com/
    Squeeze page: http://www.yourdomain.com/sqz/
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