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Writing a free ebook: need your advice

by StevieT
14 replies
Hi fellow Warriors!

First post here, looking forward to help each other out!

I'm writing an ebook that people will get when they sign up for my newsletter.
Many material that is in the ebook is already on my blog. This ebook wraps many of the articles together. So I've been copy/pasting quite some things from my website.

Would you recommend doing this? I mean, I'm confident of the quality of the material but I don't know if people will find it insincere if I use content from my blog. What is your experience here and what advice can you give on it?

Looking forward to your answers!
StevieT
#advice #ebook #free #writing
  • Profile picture of the author Mark Tandan
    Hey Stevie. I don't see an issue as it's all YOUR content. I do believe people have a slightly higher expectation of an eBook than blog posts, however, so would suggest going above and beyond just copy pasting articles from your blog.

    Add more content, round it out a bit, other insights, maybe some guest articles or something. If you make an awesome 'Freemium' you'll attract a better quality subscriber.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Gilbert
    Stevie people do this ALL the time, no shame in this, as long as you do it the right way. The term for this is called curation. Below is a link that can get you started in the right path. But if you do a search for "curating content from your blog", you will get a lot of info.

    http://weblogs.about.com/od/writinga...-Your-Blog.htm

    But just do it in reverse. Use your own content to write the book.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      If I were in your shoes I would also include some great content that is not in your blog. You can then say in your freebie offer that you are "giving away valuable information you won't even find on my blog." So that even if someone has seen the content on your blog, there is still something fresh and unique about your freebie.

      Go "over the top" with the value of your freebie. It could make the difference between a lot of sign-ups or just a very few.

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author artflair
        Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

        If I were in your shoes I would also include some great content that is not in your blog. You can then say in your freebie offer that you are "giving away valuable information you won't even find on my blog." So that even if someone has seen the content on your blog, there is still something fresh and unique about your freebie.

        Go "over the top" with the value of your freebie. It could make the difference between a lot of sign-ups or just a very few.

        Steve
        I agree plus you can also make the eBook look great and organize all the content in a way so that your readers can find the things they are looking for easily.
        You've done the 90% of the work by writing the blog posts, now you just have to make it look amazing, organize it and add some new content.
        Good luck
        Art
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  • Profile picture of the author Marked09
    Well a free e-book in my opinion should be short and straight to the point and will save them a lot of time.

    Since you'r'e summarizing your blog, then it is a good free report. The only cons is people will just sign up and will not be reading your blog since there is already a summary.

    If you're good with that then give it a go. Or you can also give a report that is short and will give them instant results and 5 - 15 page report. Once example in the dating niche is the "Fail proof kiss test method, know when she is ready to be kissed".

    That report is summarized in 2 - 4 sentence and people who optin are happy about it because they can use them immediately without reading a lengthy report. (Most people won't read long reports anyway)
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  • Profile picture of the author thisisraz65
    the focal point may be whether or not can you provide value to your subscriber. I think if you focus on delivering value to your subscriber, the problem is solved
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  • Profile picture of the author buzilla
    Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income has stated on numerous occasions that one of the ebooks he sold was simply blog posts curated into book form and people didn't complain as they were happy with their purchase.
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  • Profile picture of the author StevieT
    Hey everyone, thanks a lot, those answers help me in the right direction!

    Do you think it'd be working if I write new stuff in the ebook and then refer people to my blog posts? It will be a shorter ebook.. the question is if people will click through the links then. Does anyone have experience with sending people from your ebook to your website?

    Cheers!
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    • Profile picture of the author warriorandy
      Originally Posted by StevieT View Post

      Hey everyone, thanks a lot, those answers help me in the right direction!

      Do you think it'd be working if I write new stuff in the ebook and then refer people to my blog posts? It will be a shorter ebook.. the question is if people will click through the links then. Does anyone have experience with sending people from your ebook to your website?

      Cheers!
      Hi Stevie,

      as a customer if I read your product and it had links to your site, if the content was good I would then head to your site and then see the same information as posts....I wold be thinking...Hey, this guys has just rehashed everything from his site!

      What about turning your content into a basic video course using screen capture on powerpoint and your narration expanding on the powerpoint slides...Will have more perceived value for not much more work.
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  • Profile picture of the author ATAC
    Hey Steve, It's your content ..Why not...
    I would mix it with other valuable content that is not available on your blog that is related to
    what you are doing it on .
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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    Hi Stevie,

    Originally Posted by StevieT View Post

    Would you recommend doing this?
    No!

    I'd strongly recommend avoiding it.

    The "free ebook" that you give people for signing up is the primary determinant of the open-rate for the emails you subsequently send your subscribers. It's the single most important long-term income-determining factor in the process of listbuilding.

    Your future income will be directly proportional to the extent to which your subscribers trust, value and respect you.

    Giving them content that's already on your website is (to put it very tactfully and to understate it) a "second-best" approach. You'll be shooting yourself in the foot before you've even started.

    These are the purposes which your "freebie" needs to serve. <--- click the link: these are the things your money depends on!

    Your "free report" (or whatever you call it) needs to contain information that people can't easily find anywhere else (and in order to get them to sign up for it, you need to tell them that it does, and very clearly, too! Hardly anyone signs up just for "newsletters".).

    Good luck!

    By the way: email marketing questions live here, in the Email Marketing forum: Email Marketing
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      I can think of only one circumstance where using a collection of blog posts as an opt-in incentive has worked for me.

      That's when a blog has been around long enough that some of the best material is buried in the archives. There's so much emphasis on a constant stream of new content that older posts tend to get buried. That's fine for the regular visitors who are looking for something they haven't already seen, but someone brand new might be very happy getting a "best of my best" collection.

      Just make sure it really is "the best of your best" because, as Alexa pointed out, your subscriber's impression of your incentive contributes a lot to their expectations for your future emails.

      "You never get a second chance to make a good first impression."

      It's a cliche for a reason.
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  • Profile picture of the author Trey Morgan
    I don't see a problem here. Basically what you're doing is taking your best content from your website and organizing into a ebook which you're giving away for free. If you were to sell the ebook then maybe some people might find a problem with that, but since you're aren't selling it I say go ahead.
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  • Profile picture of the author TimothyTorrents
    I would do it but throw in some additional "never before seen" content as well. Oh, and also try to make sure that the articles flow from one to the next...
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