Secrets Revealed: How To Successfully Create Huge Amount Of Money Creating, Selling And Publishing Your Ebook
By Elider Desir
Copyright © 2011 Elider Desir
All rights reserved.
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DEDICATION
A special dedication goes out to my daughter Daliyah. You have given me the strength, motivation and the passion to continue every day. Daddy loves you!
CONTENTS
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Acknowledgments |
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Terms Of Use |
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Why Create And Sell An eBook |
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How Do I Create An eBook What Could I Do With An eBook |
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Where To Publish Your eBook |
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How To Distribute Your eBook |
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Marketing Your eBook Using SEO & Social Media |
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to thank his business partner Marie Edmond and Stephania Evens and also my mentors, Julian Franco, Than Merrill and Preston Ely.
terms of use
While all of the information in this document is believed to be correct at the time of production, the author and Liyah Solutions do not accept any responsibility for any inaccuracies that may be present.
Your use of this document indicates your agreement that you have read and understood these terms of use and you agree not to hold the author or Liyah Solutions responsible for any inaccuracies that may be present, or for any losses that may occur, whether direct or indirect, as a result of your use of this ebook.
Copyright Information
© Copyright 2011 Liyah Solutions. All Rights Reserved.
You do not have any giveaway rights
Or resale rights to this ebook.
1 WHy create and sell ebooks?
Create ebooks that solves problems is the key. The good news for people interested in making money from ebooks is that the ones that sell best are nowhere near 200 pages. In fact, you can often turn a sweet profit from a document that is only 10, 20 and up to 50 pages long, as long as those pages solve a problem that people will pay to have the solution to.
Contrary to what you might think, it doesn’t matter if the solution to a problem can be found by even simple online research. “Normal” people don’t like to do in-depth research online and are often skeptical of free information sources. Do the work for them and demonstrate that you are a credible person (or partner on the ebook with someone who has the necessary credentials), and as long as the problem is real, you’ll make sales.
There are so many ebooks out there that try to tell you that the key to successful ebook creation is “write what you love” and the money will come. They use that angle because that’s what people want to hear, and it sells a lot of ebooks about ebooks. It doesn’t work for some people and it works for others. But that doesn’t make it true.
Ebooks are books or pamphlets in a digital format. They’re a unique form of web content because they’re inherently portable. An ebook can be shared and spread for beyond your web presence.
There are a number of ways bloggers, webmasters or any web user can leverage an eBook to achieve a variety of outcomes, from building a brand to attracting traffic, and everything in between.
I want to present a guide to creating your own eBooks from the idea stage right up until distribution. I’ll also describe various ways you can use the eBooks you create to build buzz and achieve individual outcomes. Best of all, all the process can be completed without spending a cent.
2 how do i create an ebook
The best format for an eBook is PDF. These files best re-create the effect of reading the pages of a book on screen. You can create PDF files directly with Adobe Acrobat if you’re lucky enough to have access to the program. This is a $0 budget guide, however, so I want to suggest some free resources we can use to achieve the same effect.
If you have Microsoft Word I’d recommend creating your eBook in .doc format. If you use a different Word processor you can create your eBooks in .rtf format. These can be converted to PDFs with the help of some free online programs, but first, let’s discuss formatting.
Number and link
Ideally,
the footer of each page in your eBook should be numbered and contain
a link to your web presence, your logo or your name. Your choice will
depend on what your eBook is designed to promote.
Make it visually interesting
One
advantage to the eBook format is that printing costs aren’t an
issue. You can use slick fonts, colored headings, photographs, and
other items to add visual interest, but keep in mind that detailed
elements like images will increase the download size of your eBook.
Read a little
Download
good eBooks and look at paperback copies of books you think look
good. Write down what you like best about the formatting and try to
emulate that in your own work. Don’t be afraid to use chapters,
sub-headings, introductions, and so on.
Craft it
Most of us
like the idea of publishing a best-selling book, if only in the realm
of fantasy. I’d recommend taking the presentation of your eBook as
seriously as you would a potential best-seller. Readers will notice
(and appreciate) the care you’ve put into what you create.
If you’re not a Word Processing genius…
If you’re not sure how to translate your vision into reality it’s worth gathering the skills required to do so. Try to locate specific sources of information as you need them, rather than wasting time learning about features you may not need.
If you want to know how to add a footer to each page, for example, Google what you want to do and the Word Processor you’re using (ex: “add footer to each page in Open Office”). In most cases this will be enough to answer your question. If not, try searching for a general guide/tutorial directory for your Word Processor of choice. Here are some example tutorials for Microsoft Word.
Edit, edit, edit
Unlike a blog post or web-page you can’t re-edit an eBook to your heart’s content. Once people begin to download and share copies of your eBook you can’t exactly ask them to give it back in exchange for a fixed copy. It’s essential that you get it right the first time.
Rigorously edit what you’ve written. Draft, re-draft, check spelling, check grammar. Let your eBook sit for a week and come back to it with fresh eyes. Print it out and carefully go over the paper copy. Sometimes things you missed on screen will be glaringly obvious on paper.
Enlist the help of others. Give it to family and friends to read through. They will likely notice some errors you missed. They can also tell you which bits were unclear to them. If your eBook isn’t targeted at the average person you could instead share it with some trusted friends or readers who are within the target demographic for your book.
Convert your document to .PDF
Once you’re confident that you’ve created a solid final draft you can start to think about converting that into the finished product. There are a myriad of online converters and freeware programs you can use to quickly change document files into PDFs. It’s worth experimenting with a few to see which one works best for you.
Adobe, the creator of the .PDF format, allows you to convert 5 documents to PDF for free viathis page. Another free program I like is PrimoPDF, which allows you to create PDFs directly from your source document via the ‘Print’ option.
If you’re not satisfied with either of these options you’ll be able to locate many others by Googling “document to .pdf converters”. A good strategy is to copy some of your eBook into a sample document of three or four pages and use that to test how different converters will present your eBook.
What you’re looking for
Clarity. You want the PDF file you create to display your text clearly and crisply. Some converters will blur your text — avoid them.
Retention of formatting. Your PDF should look as much like your source document as possible. Check that fonts, colors, images and columns are displaying correctly.
Small size. The smaller your PDF is the easier it will be for people to attach it to e-mails, host it on their own site, or spread it through other viral methods. An ideal size is below 1 megabyte, but anything below 5 megabytes is acceptable. I would hesitate before releasing a PDF larger than that size. Consider cutting out unnecessary images or decreasing their quality.
Write An eBook In 4 Steps
You've decided to write an ebook. You have the knowledge and you know what it is. But whenever you start writing, you write too much, escaping the subject line you've chosen. You can't decide what to write. Are these the symptoms you're facing? If yes, you can solve your problem in 4 easy steps!
Writing an ebook is easy. Your writing skills would develop with time, but you can get a jumpstart for future success. Lets get started!
Step 1 : Prepare a list of all the things you like doing, or do everyday. Things that you find easy to do. You might hate doing something, but that would still be easy for you to do than others. So you do know about that subject more than many! Keep the list going. All the list items may not come up at first. It can take a whole day to brainstorm, but don't give up!
Step 2 : Try to recall events in which you were praised. Be it anyone, your uncle, your father or even your child or school teacher. It doesn't matter whom! List the things why you were praised for. Did you complete a project that stood out? Let it be anything!
Step 3 : A friend in need is a friend indeed. You might have helped a lot of your friends do something. Maybe how to study for good grades? Or even giving them some good advice. Whatever it might be, put everything down on the paper.
Step 4 : The above lists sound simple, but it can take hours to brainstorm them. But once its done, you might find something surprising. There can be things which are interrelated in all of the 3 lists. Maybe you like playing soccer, you were awarded with prizes in your High School for outstanding performance in soccer and you help many of your friends learn soccer.
Pick one such topic. You were praised for something. How did you prepare for it? What did you do for practicing? How did you make yourself ready? While teaching your friends, what mistakes did they make the most? What were the various approaches you used to train them? What did you find in-common for all of them?
There you have it! You know what kind of mistakes people can make on a subject. You can address all those problems from your own experience. You know how to prepare for certain situations. You know the techniques you used to climb the ladder of success. So what are you waiting for? Start writing everything in detail. It doesn't matter what goes where, as you can even edit your ebook later.
3 what could i do with an ebook
Encourage RSS subscriptions — you could use the Feedburner FeedFlare service (accessible via the ‘Optimize’ tab inside your Feedburner control panel) to add a link to your eBook at the bottom of each feed you publish. Let your readers know that each feed subscription comes with a bonus eBook. You can see this method in action at ChrisG.com. Here are instructions on how to do it.
Package archives — you could celebrate each year by offering your blog or website’s archives in eBook format. This is a great way to get new visitors up to speed on what you do. You can see this method in action at Boing Boing.
Publicize your brand — encourage those who download your eBook to share it however they like. As long as it clearly features what you want to promote (yourself, your site, or your products) you will be benefiting from the free advertising.
Go viral – Seth Godin’s eBooks have been instrumental to his success. If your ideas are interesting enough they could go viral — an incredibly powerful promotion of both yourself and your product. Seth’s most famous eBook, Unleashing the Ideavirus, was later published in both paperback and hardcover.
And more — take some time to think about how you could best leverage your eBook. What are you trying to do with it? What will be the best method to achieve your goal?
What form could my eBook take?
What you include in your eBook will depend on what you’re trying to achieve with it. I’ll list some broad approaches and describe how they could be useful.
Digital book — the most traditional form of eBook, the digital book, is usually upwards of a hundred pages and presents itself as the kind of book you might buy at a bookstore.Unleashing the Ideavirus, for example, is 197 pages. This type of eBook is your best bet at going viral or being widely circulated because it packs a lot of value. This type of eBook will typically be broken into chapters on particular topics and contain more than one idea. While it has the potential for the greatest gains, it is also obviously the most time consuming option.
Manifesto — this type of eBook is less time consuming to create but also retains the potential to go viral because it focuses on communicating one idea in 1 to 25 pages. A great example of a manifesto-style eBook is Tim Ferriss’ The Low Information Diet, at 16 pages. What is your best idea? Your number one tip? It may just be the perfect idea for a manifesto. Here’s another example, this time written for bloggers: Killer Flagship Content. That one is 17 pages.
Bonus or archived content — if you’re a blogger or webmaster you could create a bonus content eBook. This simply involves packaging a quantity of new content in an eBook rather than publishing it on your site. You could use this as an incentive to subscribe or encourage readers to distribute it freely.
4 where to publish your ebook
How many places are there to sell your eBooks? How may ways are there to promote them?
Certainly there are more than 10. That’s for sure. But the purpose of this book is simply to open your eyes to seven of the places online where you can sell your own eBooks.
This is really a brief glimpse at some of the many possibilities for marketing and selling your eBooks.
Amazon’s Kindle Store
Amazon’s new Kindle 3 is an incredible ebook reading device. Not only does it have a sleek design, but it can hold around 3,500 eBooks.
And the Kindle Store now stocks over 900,000 of the most popular books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs.
So how do you get your book into the Kindle Store?