A Book Can Make You a Bundle!
In the past 6 months, a new form of Books has grown in
popularity on the Internet: EBooks. An EBook is simply an
Electronic Book distributed via download in Windows, Macintosh,
or Palm Pilot file formats. With the widespread acceptance of
EBooks, savvy marketers are finding that there is even more
opportunity in this area than was first thought.
Creating your own EBooks is not time consuming or expensive but
they must be well thought out before they are put on the market
for sale or download.
First, decide what the purpose of your EBook is. 1. Will it be
in an advetorial format? The editorial feel of this approach is
beneficial for drawing more attention and traffic to a specific
website, product or service.
2. Will it be a how-to manual that teaches the reader about
something specific? This approach is flexible because you can
give it away free as a traffic generator, or if it is
comprehensive enough you can actually sell it as a product.
3. Will it be a full fledged book that you will sell? This is
becoming more and more popular in the online publishing world
because it is relatively quick to create and there is very
little cost. We suggest that you also make a free advetorial to
promote the full EBook if you go this route.
Once you have decided how your EBook fits into your business
plans, you then must decide on the topic. The topic should
always relate to your website content or business area of
expertise. This will make your EBook more credible and will
enhance the chances of generating site traffic or sales from
those that read your EBook.
Almost any area of expertise can be utilized successfully in an
EBook. If your area of expertise is Real Estate, your EBook
could contain information on hidden finance secrets, or things
to beware of when looking for a new home. If your website is
about Japanese tourism, your EBook could contain the best and
worst night clubs to visit while in Japan. The list of ideas can
go on for pages, but you get the general idea. Write what you
know and your EBook will be downloaded by people that want that
information. This gives you a very targeted audience and
increases your chances of selling products or services to them.
The next thing you must consider, is what format you would like
to offer your EBook in. As with anything web based, the more
audiences you can reach the better, so keep this in mind when
creating your EBook. If you are able to offer it in multiple
formats then by all means do so! Most EBooks are offered in
Windows file format. Some are usable on Macintosh and some are
made for the Palm Pilot handheld computer.
With each of these mediums, there also comes a wide range of
software options. The most widely used of course is simple HTML.
When using HTML for an EBook, you must still keep things such as
screen resolution and browser version in mind. Some people
prefer to use Adobe PDF files for their EBook distribution,
however be aware that this file format is very difficult to read
for long periods of time on a computer screen. PDF files are
most appropriate for EBooks that you intend to have the reader
actually print out and read on paper.
Palm Pilot Handheld computers also have a variety of software to
choose from when it comes to reading an EBook. The good news
however is that almost all of the software for that platform can
read an EBook regardless of the software program it was created
for. This makes the Palm Pilot EBooks much more versatile in
addition to being portable.
Once your EBook is ready for distribution, then you must market
it. Marketing an EBook online is similiar to marketing anything
else. Put it up for download if it is free, give it away to your
survey respondants or as a contest prize. Send it to your
newsletter subscribers or post it in free EBook directories.
Continue creating EBooks! Once you have created your first
EBook, be sure to create additional ones as you have the time.
EBooks are getting very popular and should provide the perfect
additional boost to your current online marketing efforts.
Additional Resources:
EBook Libraries http://carver.bizland.com/submit.htm
http://www.the-ebook-directory.com
Professional EBook Creation Software:
http://www.webcompiler.com/product.html http://www.html2exe.com/