I’m starting to think about the yummy dessert we had last night at the @HawaiianKing party. It must be time for lunch soon…
This post is a “live blog” of the Success in eBooks session at Bloggy Boot Camp Dallas. Please excuse all typos and format issues. We’re live!
Presenter: Angela England @AngEngland
eBooks are a great way to make money as a blogger. Angela is currently earning a five figure income from her eBooks.
Why create an eBook:
- Reuse conent that you already have.
- Create an additional revenue stream. – will continue to make money while you work on other projects
- Reach a broader audience with your message – offer one for free and encourage your readers to share with friends.
- Builds personal brand and authority building – 10% of Angela’s customers who buy the ebook turn around and hire her to do what she talks about in her ebooks (social media, public speaking). It’s another form of a resume or portfolio.
What to write about:
- Be specific but not too narrow. Example – you can’t just write about knitting. Don’t recreate things that are already out there. You also can’t write about knitting hamster outfits. Not enough people are interested in that. Find something that teaches a specific skill, saves money, or saves time. (or all 3 is even better)
- Brainstorm your main topic areas and work your way down from there. Look at your analytics. What are people already looking to you for? What do they know you already do?
- What are you already talking about?
- What topics are you currently writing or researching? Even if you are not an expert, you can write your process. “100 days to becoming a knitter”
- Give a unique perspective and hook.
- Angela has a free questionaire about your lifestyle and life history that can help you identify your strengths in topics and perspectives.
Getting Started:
- Create a table of contents (outline). This helps create a plan/focus and eliminate distractions.
- The table of contents keeps you motivated to finish.
- Angela pre-sold her book as motivation. She gave people that bought it on the pre-sale a 20 minute constult as a “reward”. This generated income she could use to hire an editor/designer to help her craft her ebook
Finishing touches:
- Use pro images, photos, graphics, and cover art. Don’t go overboard with images because your ebook needs to be short, and you’re sacrificing content with each image.
- Editing – catch mistakes – have it professionally edited. You can barter with an editor to save $$.
- Format – presentation matters to readers.
- If your book is more than 40 pages, add an index.
- Consider font and readability. Make it big enough to read.
Marketing your eBook
- Sell on your website – add a paypal button
- Create an affiliate program and e-store of your own http://bit.ly/ebookplugin. This allows other bloggers to sell your ebook on their site for a % of sales. You are growing your audience this way.
- Ads – you can create an ad for you ebook. If you don’t want to pay for ads, swap ads with another writer.
- Tap into larger networks by becoming a columnist, doing guest posts, or sending the eBook out for review.
- Sell your eBook elsewhere
– Amazon – http://amzn.to/ebookFormat
– TypeAParent.com/ebooks
– Ejunkie and other affiliate programs - Monetize IN the eBook with your own affiliate links.
Audience Q – What format should it be in?
A-Most eBooks are PDFs.
Audience Q – Why would somebody buy my content when they can get it for free?
A-It’s easier and more convenient to have all the information in one place. If you build it properly, the people who need it will buy it. Many buyers are not blog readers and they don’t realize that they can search through your blog to find all the content.
This session is being blogged to you live by Fawn Rechkemmer, who blogs at Instead of the Dishes. Special thanks to Petit Jean Meats for sponsoring Fawn’s attendance at Bloggy Boot Camp. eBooks are a great way to make money, and so are Petit Jean’s school fundraisers!
Other Bloggy Boot Camp Session Posts: