Tag: create an ebook

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How to Gather Testimonials For Your EBook

You need testimonials for your eBook to promote sales. After all, most people who get to your sales page do not know you. They need to feel that the product is real and has value and testimonials can help build trust. They are interested in what other customers have to say about your eBook. This holds true for digital informational products, as well

If you have written a how-to eBook, testimonials about how others have succeeded by using the information provided in the eBook will help you to look like an expert in your field. If interested buyers can hear of other people’s positive results they will feel more comfortable purchasing your product.

One of the easiest ways to get a testimonial is to give a few of you eBooks away to friends or people in your niche or selected topic of the book. You will need a few people to look at your eBook and check it for errors and how well it looks as a finished product. Ask these people for a testimonial. If you know of someone who is interested in your ebook topic, let him or her read the book.

You may also have other friend with websites or who are planning to write an eBook and they would more than likely be willing to proof or read your work.

And if you offered a mini e-course for your product you may get interest in a sale or for a testimonial.

Find a testimonial or two and leave some additional space in your sales page. This will be for your first customers. Ask them to give you a review on the eBook. Your first few days at selling your eBook may be slower than you thought but by adding testimonials and tweaking your sales page your conversion rate should improve. Just remember this is a new adventure. As long as you eBook has quality information it should sell. It’s just finding the pattern for sales and success.

Ask all your customers for feedback. Surprisingly enough, people like to be asked what they think. They really like for their opinion to be sought after and they will usually give you testimonials if you will only ask and most especially if you have a terrific product. You may find from their comments a way to improve your sales page, eBook or even get another ideas for a new eBook project.

Testimonials from high-powered, well-known people are great. Get them if you can, especially if they are in your niche. Just don’t expend too much time and energy seeking them out.

In time testimonials will come and positive comments from happy customers are the best.

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Ebook Motivation

All good ideas run into roadblocks or a time when you just don’t feel like working. Normally I do well in keeping motivated but as you can see I have been quiet in all my sites. And it’s been difficult to get inspired to post again on a regular schedule.

Part of this lull is an extensive time consuming job that I have taken on and the other part is related to family issues. The job is done and the family issues continue but its time to get back to working my sites and creating these eBooks that has been sitting in a file, aging to perfection ;).

So, how do you keep motivated and get over a lull or technical problems that could affect your work or website?

I find three areas of action that will get me going again.

Inspiration

Inspiration may come from a trip, friends, reflection, change or many other areas. My inspiration usually comes from friends. Sometimes a new look to your website or information you have read will give you a new idea or area to research.

This time it was reading inspirational thoughts from a friend who helped me learn to build a website and conquer many of the technical aspects of an online business. Thanks Mark for all your help over the last few years!

Appreciation

Take time to appreciate life and all the small things. It’s pouring out and dreary today but that’s the weather that is great for writing, working on art projects and taking on all the projects that sit on a sunny day – like cleaning the house. House cleaning? I feel a writing marathon coming on!

One of the thoughts I read today is “Beauty surrounds me, just waiting to be enjoyed.” Even on a rainy day the creek is beautiful and outdoors takes on that clean fresh feel. Life is so short so take the time to call a friend, say thank you and enjoy the small pleasures in any day.

Goals

And most important in any project or undertaking is setting goals. You may have goals in your mind but writing them on paper reminds you of what you would like to accomplish and what you already achieved. Here is a post I wrote on setting goals. It’s a fast outline that may help you with goals.

One tip I will give you on setting goals is to set them in small steps and celebrate each step. There may be a day when one goal is more difficult to reach so remember the success you have had and use that as motivation to finish your project.

There are two valuable pieces of advice I was given in my life that usually apply to almost any situation.

1.My parents always said there was no such thing as failure. If you try – you have achieved. The outcome may be different than you expected but it is the ground to build on for another step or journey.

2. “Do it now.” Life is short so don’t put things off.

Enjoy the day!

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Create your eBook Plan

If you have decided you want to make and distribute an ebook you have to have a plan and set goals to have a successful selling campaign. And if it’s just for friends or as a promotion you still need a plan.

photo credit: JustinLowery.com

Depending on the size of the project and your technical skills the time and goals may vary. By setting a daily task or journal you can meet your timeline and get that eBook out.

If you pick up an eBook with a rebrander and only make a few changes you can have an eBook out in a few hours. But you should also consider how to distribute the book. Will it have its own website. I highly recommend your own site to promote the book.

Many people have made an eBook and put it online but they don’t have sales. With your own site and traffic you can create a bond with your readers and easily promote the eBook.

Your eBook could be entirely your own work. This type of eBook takes longer and you may fall into the trap of not getting it out as fast as you wanted. (This is experience talking here 😉 ) So a plan is twice as important for you.

With you own eBook you need to assemble the information, have it proofed, have graphics to match the book and a way to sell the finished project.

So to create an ebook plan you need to:

  • Select your ebook topic
  • See if your topic has demand
  • Set up a website or have someone promote your eBook
  • Create a plan for sales set goals for its day of completion and public launch.
  • Have a friend, mentor or look for help online for the areas you need assistance in.

I have an eBook project called Easy Backyard Oasis Projects. This is the site I have set for information on the books, for sales and to help create traffic: Backyard Oasis Projects. And in the next several days I will be launching my eCourse that relates to the book. It’s my hope the eCourse will create interest in my eBooks that relate to creating a backyard oasis easily and at a reasonable price.

This plan will work for any niche.

So my eBook plan so far has been:
1.  Select my eBook topics
2.  Get the books assembled.
3.  Set up my website to promote the eBook
4.  Start to create traffic and a buzz for the book
5.  Set up a form of delivery for the eBook
6.  Work on my sales page. It’s not done yet! So this is my top priority right now.
7.  Promote the eBook with my website and my other relates sites, ezine articles and forums.
8.  And most important for me, ask my friends many questions! They have done these projects before and their advice is invaluable.

Check back at Create an eBook now to see the progress and steps taken to get an ebook created and out for people to read.

NOTE: in the next few days there will be a free mini eBook that will help you with your eBook project.

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Using a PLR to create an eBook

Many people use a Private label rights eBook (PRL) to create their own eBook. They are readily available and are a great start for research or the beginner who wants to create an eBook as quickly as possible.

photo credit: ademc

PLR’s can be picked up for free or just a few dollars.

If you decide to use a ready made PRL eBook here are a few suggestion to help make it more successful.

1.  Check the quality of the work.

  • Is it complete?
  • Are there typing or grammar errors?
  • Would it benefit from photos and graphics?
  • Check the files that come with for covers, images and sources. Are they easy to understand and work with or do they need redone?

2.  Will the rights to the eBook work for what you are planning to do? This is very important to make sure you check and understand.

3.  Add more to the work. Make it your own. Otherwise the product is already out there and you are just selling or promoting old information. Add new chapters or take some out. Add an interview. Put in your own experiences. These are just a few ideas to brand the PLR as yours.

4.  Create a new eCover. You can use several free programs out there if you feel you have the technical skills needed or hire someone to create you one.

5.  Have the finished product proofed! This is very important. You can not see you own typos! Have the work checked for typos, grammer, graphic and if hyperlinks work.

Once you eBook is ready you will need to set up a great sales letter. And change the sales letter once in a while to give it a new look and feel. Once the sales letter is set up it doesn’t take much time to change a few buttons or colors.

6.  The ebook has to have a landing page where people can order the book. This means you need a website or a rebrander program to help with this step. Some eBooks come with a rebrander.You will need a way to deliver the product. You can use an auto responder to deliver it.

7.  Promote your eBook! It can be the greatest work out there but if no one sees it its will not sell or be read.

By working with a ready made PLR you can get an eBook set up in no time, often in a few hours or a day, depending on what you change and your technical skills.

But the bottom line in creating an eBook is to create a product that someone will want to read. If you keep that in mind whiled working on the supplied information you should be able to make a product that people will enjoy. And once you have made one eBook, the next will be faster and easier!

If some of these steps sound confusing you can get most of the help you need at Blogging Beginners. It’s where I learned how to set up websites, get traffic and learn the steps I needed to make an eBook. And best of all, its free!

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Questions to ask when Creating an EBook

When you start to create an eBook there are a few questions to ask yourself. These questions will help you decide a plan and course of action to take to get the eBook finished.

Books
photo credit: $holydevil

  • What will be the title of your eBook and will it have a subtitle? The title and keywords are a very important step if you want to get your Ebook off on to the right start.
  • Who will be your eBooks’ target audience and is there enough interest in your topic or niche?
  • What benefits does your eBook supply to your target audience?
  • Will you set up a website to promote the eBook?
  • Will you be the only author or will there be other co-authors? Some eBooks have been assembled by asking other authors to contribute related articles to the ebook project. This is a good option if you have limited time or are using the eBook as a promotional tool.
  • How many pages will your ebook be and will you include an appendix and index? An index will make finding chapters easier, which is good if the book is technical or instructional.
  • Will your ebook contain graphics, pictures or charts? This is also the time to consider the eBook cover and its graphics. Will you do the work yourself or hire the work to be done? At this point make sure any graphic, artwork or photos are royalty free or that you have a user license.
  • What file formats will your eBook be available in; text, pdf, exe, html, CD or video?

Crisis on the desktop
photo credit: alancleaver_2000

  • Will your eBook be sold as a product or will your eBook be used as a promotional tool for a website or business?
  • Will you include an eCourse to entice people to look at your eBook? An eCourse will create interest, buzz about the book and also will build up a mailing list.
  • Will you offer  a guarantee and testimonials to read? This is an important step in creating the sales page.
  • Will you let your protential buyers read free sample chapters or excerpts to entice them to purchase the eBook?
  • What type of payment options will you accept for the ebook? Click Bank and PayPal seem to be the easiest to set up for the new eBook publisher.
  • Do you have an auto responder for delivery of the product?
  • Will you be selling the reprint rights to your eBook? And if so, will it be a PLR or MRR? What will you use to create your own PDF? I recommend Open Office for making PDF’s. It’s easy to use and free.
  • And for me one of the most important questions I asked myself is why I wanted to create an ebook. The answer to this will help direct your entire project.

These questions are just a starting point and more will come up as you work on your project. For help there are several places you can turn to and if you have a mentor that is even better.