E-book, or eBook like I like to type it out, is a great way to publish easily shareable information. eBook is a book readable on personal computers or other devices like mobiles or E-book readers. Easiest way to create and publish an eBook is to convert a document into PDF-file, which can be read with variety of software and devices.
As anyone can write an eBook, it has become a popular method to self-publish a book. Getting a publishing deal for a book is hard, and getting a book printed, delivered and marketed is not only expensive but big effort too. Online, you can write a document, publish it in a downloadable format and you instantly become a published author!
Selling and Promoting eBooks
If you publish the eBook for free, it is a great way to attract new audience, visitors and customers for you, your blog or business. And you can always try and sell the eBook, or promote the eBooks of others as an affiliate. There are millions (my guestimate) of eBooks out there, loads of them sold every day, and people are making a living either publishing themselves or marketing the eBooks as affiliates.
Shopping carts, electronic delivery and affiliate systems like Clickbank or E-junkie (those are affiliate links, so in case you join as a new seller/merchant, I thank you for the coffee!), offer an easy way to sell your own information products, find affiliates to promote your products or find products for yourself to promote as an affiliate.
When looking at information products, meaning a non-fiction eBooks, electronic books work the best when providing information, help and solutions to problems people have. And they work even better if the problem the people have is something they can do online, an "electronic solution" to an "electronic problem".
Why eBooks Do Not Work on Every Market
Of course, not every eBook out there solves a problem, as there are eBooks done just for entertainment, but from marketing perspective it is all problem solving. For non-fiction, the problem might be obvious, like learn how to program in C++. For fiction, the "problem" might be that people are looking to be entertained, or looking for something to read to just enjoy and relax.
But books, electronic or not, are not perfect for every market. Or at least the eBooks themselves are not the solution; it's what the eBook helps people DO. If you're running a business yourself or doing affiliate marketing, be aware of this. And understand what the people really want. They don't want to buy an eBook, they want help to solve their problems.
People who want to lose weight, want to lose weight. People who want to learn to play a guitar, want to learn how to play guitar. They don't WANT to buy an eBook, but they MIGHT buy it, IF they are convinced that the eBook will HELP them to solve their problem.
On the other hand, if someone wants to buy a video game, they probably don't want to buy an eBook about video games instead. Or if someone is looking for new pants, an eBook about pants won't be a big hit.
So eBooks are not perfect, sometimes people really need the hard goods, or some other solution than text (or audio/video for that matter). Lesson? When looking at your current or potential market, offer people what they really want. If an eBook help people get what they want, perfect, if not, look past information products, branch out to other products or services.
Writing Your Own eBook
If you, after evaluating the market, decide that an eBook could work, you should consider writing one. If not for sale, as a free resource you can give away. In certain niches, like the Internet marketing space, we've seen a lot of these. And we've seen a lot of them, because they work, free eBooks bring people to your site and into your mailing list if you're building one.
Personally, I enjoy reading, and eBooks are great way to get information in a format I can easily go back to (have tons of eBooks saved). I'm an information junkie, and just last year alone, I think I read 200+ eBooks, or at least glanced through them and then read the best. Most of the books were free, but some I bought as well, like the Beyond Blogging for example. Reading all those great eBooks, in addition to reading blogs, news and such, I'm keeping myself educated and informed on what happens in the industry and learn a lot while at it. After reading a ton, the next step is probably writing one myself.
If you are interested in writing your own eBook, check out Pat Flynn's eBooks - the Smart Way, a free guide about writing, publishing and marketing eBooks. The eBook is downloadable at his site, SmartPassiveIncome.com, if you Pat's mailing list (the eBooks is free and available for instant download after you join and confirm your subscription).
If you're looking for buying an eBook about launching and selling eBooks, you could take a look at the How to Launch the **** Out of Your Ebook by Dave Navarro & Naomi Dunford. I haven't bought that one myself (although I did use affiliate link there), but based on the authors and what people have said about and looking at how successful the launch of that book was, the stuff in the book seems to work (and it does have a pretty sick 12 months money-back guarantee!).
For "generic" help on writing (not just eBooks), I'd recommend that you add Copyblogger and Write to Done to your reader. WtD is run by Leo Babauta, of ZenHabits.net fame, and he has used eBooks effectively for both branding and making money selling them (check Leo's interview at Problogger.net here, it was done on late 2007, at the time the Zen to Done eBook was published).
And Copyblogger (as I think you think you know already) is hands down the best resource there is for blog writing, copywriting, and heck, writing in general (do sign-up for their newsletter!). Spesifically for eBooks, reading Writing and Selling Ebooks by Sonia Simone will certainly benefit you.
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12 comments.
Good post, Antti.
Information marketing, when done correctly is a really good business model and something that I am working on currently. As you have nicely pointed out, you must somehow be solving a problem that people have or provide some very helpful information.
Pat's guide is a really good one.
I still prefer paper books, but “free” always seduces me into reading ebooks.
I read both electronic and paper books. eBooks are convenient in short bursts, but it's hard to beat the “user interface” of a real book. Both have their uses, and yes, FREE is the key in the electronic ones. And no-one can complain about the free much, apart from “I can't believe this is free” :)
Thanks Jimi. I wrote this partly because for people in the “Internet marketing space”, eBooks are common place, we're used to them, but on other markets it's not the case. And in some markets, marketing information products can be tricky, if the real need is for something more than “just info”.
I spend too much time on the computer as it is. If I'm going to sit down and read a book, I want the real thing.
However, there are times when a short ebook is ok, especially when it's free! :-)
A fantastic article. One thing to add is that there are also on-demand print services, for those who want something solid to hold in their hands. Submitting your e-book to one of these on demand printers might also be a good idea.
Writing the correct e-book at the correct time is a challenge in and of itself.
I hear you on this one Erica. One downside of such a great information available is the time I like to spend absorbing it. I ordered a bunch of books from Amazon and started putting at least an hour aside every day reading, which has been great. When reading an eBook it's easier to get distracted, unless I close everything but the reader.
Good point on the on-demand printing. There are affordable options for self-publishers today. And as the reading devices continue to improve and masses adopt into using them more, publishing eBooks will become even more viable business.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Lucy
http://businesseshome.net
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Lucy
http://businesseshome.net
There is a lot of buzz about ebooks. But finding the right ebooks is the difficult. Most ebooks available are useless.
Hi there,
Cheers for this about to launch a couple of ebooks in June.
Your advice is very helpful indeed. Will report back on my results.
Have loads of free ebooks here.
Cheers
Bob