So you Wrote an E-book...Now What?
E-books are one hot marketing tool. For those of you
who don't get out much, an e-book is basically a
collection of HTML documents that have been compiled
into an executable (.exe) file. The concept is that of
an electronic book that can be downloaded, read page
by page, and passed around easily online.
Some e-books are sold where as others are given
away freely. Those who download free e-books are
encouraged to give them away to their friends or
business associates. The "give away" part is what
makes e-books such a powerful marketing tool. Also
known as viral marketing, when done right your book
can be passed around to thousands of people all
over the world.
For this reason it is my opinion that e-books
work best when there is no charge involved.
Think about it: Who doesn't like getting
something for free? So if you've been thinking of jumping
on the "e-book bandwagon" my advice
is to give it away and let it do what it does
best: Generate traffic to your website.
Once your book is written, it has to get out into
the mainstream of the Internet. You need to heavily
market and promote the book yourself to get the ball rolling
so it can do its magic. This is where a lot of folks get stumped.
I have written two e-books myself, so I've done a
lot of research and have found out what works
and what doesn't. If you have included any
other websites in the book, your first step
is to contact their owners and let them know about it.
Also, tell them it would be great if they offer the
book from their site or mention it in their newsletter.
Most will be happy to comply; since their names are in the
book, they benefit from promoting it as well.
If you have sold banner ads in the e-book (which
is a great idea), make sure you supply your
advertisers with text link ads and/or graphics they
can use to help get the word out. Your job is to make it
as easy as possible for them "to pass the word."
This is viral marketing at its finest.
Your next step should be to add a page on your
site where visitors can download the book. If
you have any graphic skills at all, whip up
a book cover to add along with a description
that stresses the benefits they'll receive from
reading it. If the book's content is good (and it
should for all of this to work right!), you
will soon receive feedback in the form of compliments.
Make sure you put them on this page as well.
Testimonials are very powerful.
If you publish an ezine you can use the book
as a bonus for your subscribers.
There are many other ways to promote your new
book. Contact ezine publishers that you think
would be interested in your subject matter
and send them an e-mail stating how nice it
would be if they mentioned it to their readers.
Most publishers are always looking for content
and will be happy to help out.
Some websites do e-book reviews and then publish
them online or in their newsletters. Here are a
few to get you started:
ZD Net 4 Star Review
http://www.upload.com/public/default.htm
For reviews of e-books that relate to Net
marketing send them to Lee Benson
mailto:lee@c...
E-book Junction- Linda does reviews for her
ezine send to mailto:linda@a...
There are also sites on the Net that house
e-books of all types and function as e-book
libraries. Your book can be submitted to any
of the following;
E-book Net
http://www.ebooknet.com/
Carver's E-book Library
http://carver.bizland.com/submit.htm
Success Library
http://allaboutsuccess.com/successlibrary.htm
EbooksNBytes
http://www.ebooksnbytes.com/submit_ebook.html
Ebook Palace
http://www.ebookpalace.com/newlink.shtml
Stealth Promotions
http://www.stealthpromotions.com/e-library.htm
The E-book Directory
http://www.ebookdirectory.com/addebook.html
If you do a search on the major search engines
you're sure to find many more e-book libraries
you can submit to.
E-book discussion lists are two way communication
where you can announce your book once you
subscribe. Some are;
E-book Chat
mailto:anebookchat-subscribe@onelist.com
E-book News
mailto:ebook-news-subscribe@onelist.com
E-book Talk
mailto:ebook_talk-subscribe@onelist.com
Another tip is to visit any of the websites
that house free software and submit your book
to them. Most include e-books, since they
are .exe files. Do a search and you'll find these
sites by the thousands. There is free software
that can submit your e-book to 50 sites
in one shot: Go to
http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/program/ssubmit.htm
and download "Soft Submit" which will upload
your book to 50 sites at once.
Don't forget about including the download URL
in your signature file. You are using one,
right? I thought so. You could always write
a press release about your e-book and e-mail
it to the media. Discussion boards are another
great outlet but don't post inappropriately.
If you have the book in your sig file you could
just post a comment or answer a question and
your signature line will do the rest.
Use your imagination and you'll find hundreds
of ways to utilize your e-book in your marketing
campaign. After all, this is one viral infection
you want everyone to catch!
About the Author
Merle's Cyber Promotions (MC)
http://www.mcpromotions.com
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