Tag: ebook

 
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Should EBooks be Part of Your Internet Marketing Strategy

Ebooks seem to have become a stable on the Internet. They’re given away, they’re sold and they’re used as promotion material. Isn’t time you considered whether ebooks should be part of your marketing strategy?

Ebooks have become and inseparable part of the new frontier of cyberspace. They are a great medium for sharing marketing information, ideas, techniques, and expert knowledge. Each day the number of people accessing the Internet grows, causing the exposure of your ebooks to increase incrementally. It’s obvious why electronic self-publishing has become so popular so quickly.

Ebooks can assist small business website owners market their sites and in some cases even become a source of revenue. Having said that, let’s look at what makes ebooks so important and so unique.

“Ebooks have unique characteristics that printed books can’t match. For example, ebooks are relatively easy to produce and they can be inexpensive to produce. Just think about it: you don’t need a publisher, an agent, a printing press, offset film, ink, paper, or even a distributor. You just need a great concept, the ability to write it or to hire a writer, and the right software.

“Ebooks can be easily updated. As information changes, ebooks can be updated without a second print run. All you need is to go into your original creation and modify the text or graphics. Because of this flexibility, ebooks can change and grow as fast as you can type.

“Ebooks are convenient. You don’t have to go to a bookstore or search through endless titles at an online bookstore. All you have to do is download it from a website, and presto! It’s on your computer, ready to be read.

“Ebooks are interactive. This is one of the most unique and specific qualities that ebooks offer. You can add surveys that need to be filled out, order forms for customers to purchase your products or goods, sound and video that draw your reader into the virtual world of your ebook, even direct links to relevant sites that will expand your ebook outward. The potential is virtually limitless.

“Ebooks have a particular kind of permanence that other mediums do not possess. Television shows and radio shows air once, and then may rerun a few times. Ebooks remain on your computer for as long as your choose, and they can be read and reread whenever you choose to. They can even be printed out and stored on the shelves of your traditional home library.

“Ebooks have very low entrance barriers. You don’t need to go through the endless process of submitting your manuscript over and over again, and then once you land an agent, having the agent submit your manuscript over and over again. Nor do you have to shell out thousands of dollars for printing a self-published book. All ebooks require is a writer and appropriate software.

“Ebooks are great for Niche content. Ever wanted to find a book on a highly specific or niche product? Looking for tips on mouse killing? Good luck finding that in print. The costs are prohibitive and bookstores can’t afford the shelf space. But with an ebook, no shelf space is needed so even the most niche content can find a place on the Internet.

“You have creative control over your ebook. You don’t have to compromise with an editor or the publishing trends of the time. You don’t have to haggle with a designer or wait for copyedited galleys to arrive by snail mail. You are in complete control of the design and the text.

If you’re not convinced that ebooks are something you should consider click over to Google and search for ebooks. At last count there were over 70 million search results. Something with that kind of Internet presence is not something you want to miss.

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Make Money Selling E-books on EBay

To create a demand for your e-book at eBay, the easiest way would be to bundle it with another small physical product like a hard copy book or a DVD. You can do this by making a printed version of the e-book and binding it in a presentable folder.

Selling informative E-books on eBay could be very rewarding financially. However, many a people have tried to take advantage of this by selling other peopleís e-books or some other free e-books and have got into problems.

Many a people are also of the opinion that e-books should be freely available since many of them are already available for free. This situation has given rise to difficulties in selling e-books; however, this can be overcome easily.

Copyright issues associated with e-books have also been a center of discussion and scandal, as a result of which, eBay has taken some bold and relevant steps and modified its VERO (Verified Rights Owner) policy, making it more stringent. A copy of this can be found at https://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/ia/protecting_intellectual_property.html.

Instead of getting into all the rigmarole of getting an e-book and trying to circumvent eBayís VERO policy to suit yourself, it is much easier to create your own information product of e-book. This can bring you better rewards by way of being
1. made for a particular niche
2. can have only required information
3. can be edited and tailor made as and when needed
4. no copyright violations
5. no competition (probably)

To create a demand for your e-book at eBay, the easiest way would be to bundle it with another small physical product like a hard copy book or a DVD. You can do this by making a printed version of the e-book and binding it in a presentable folder. The next step would be to take a digital photograph of the cover of the printed e-book along with the DVD and use it as the gallery picture in the Purchase-it-NOW auction page. Please include information in the sales page that the whole package can be downloaded if so required.

Another technique would be to get someone convert your e-book into an Audio-CD. This would enhance sales since both the digital and audio versions are being sold as a bundle.

These techniques are rarely used by e-book sellers on eBay and it is very powerful. Use it for better results. At the onset, this may seem to be complicated, but it is actually very easy to do, once you get the hang of it.

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Information for sale

Every day millions of people worldwide search for answers to certain questions, search for various information that will help them make their lives better. It is the same need as the need for food. It means that if there is such a need, a person will satisfy it once it becomes possible. If you can answer some questions or know how to improve people’s lives, why not take money for it? Actually, what is money? It is a form of gratitude from people for something useful they acquired. Once you do something useful for people ñ get gratitude in return.

What will people pay money for? For getting all the necessary information and answers to their questions here and now. They will not have to spend time on searching ñ everything they need will be offered in one information file. That is why when you create an information product, you should keep in mind that since a person uses a product, he or she must get all answers to all questions the solution for which the product offers.
It will be better if the product is focused on answering some big question. For example, ´how to lose extra weight?ª, ´how to feel confident in any situation?ª, ´how to achieve your goals?ª, ´how to become a leader?ª, ´how to find or create your own business?ª, ´how to start your business on the Internet?ª, ´how to write a book?ª etc. Of course, you should write about what you understand, what you are successful in and what you are interested in. So, when you choose a subject you are going to write about, take your own abilities and interests as a basis. Otherwise the reader will feel that the author is not competent and the product will most probably be a failure.

How to turn information into a commercial product? Of course, it is better to make all information in the form of an electronic book. In this case, a book is nothing, but a metaphor. It can be either a set of text pages with pictures or an interactive course with questionnaires and tests. For the potential buyer not to be afraid of cheating and to have no doubts about what he is paying money for, it is better to let him read a couple of chapters from the book for free, but ask him to pay for the rest of the book. Free chapters should help the reader in his question at once because it is by these chapters that the buyer will determine how useful the book is and consequently whether it is worth buying. As a result, it will be only one file available to be downloaded for free from the website. And you will only have to attract visitors who will download the book and pay for the registration key and access to the entire contents of the book. And remember about statistics: a satisfied client will on average recommend the product to seven other people, while an unsatisfied client will recommend that they not use it.

So, we get the following system:
– a visitor visits a website.
– the website describes questions/problems and explains that the solution is in the book that can be downloaded for evaluation free of charge
– the visitor downloads the book and looks through its free part
– the reader finds the book useful and makes a purchase

So, we need the following for the system to function:
– the website should attract the visitor and help him download the book
– the free part of the book should start solving the problem and involve the reader into the solution process to continue which he will have to pay money

It is recommended to create commercial books with the program eBook Maestro PRO. It has a lot of advantages. First, it creates books right out of HTML pages. Second, the final book is a standalone application that does not require any additional programs. Third, the program can set limitations for unregistered users. Forth, it supports the system of online activation that prevents registration keys from being distributed. Fifth, it protects information from being stolen and modified. Sixth, it allows you to customize any part of the book interface the way you want it. And much more.

Good luck to you and lots of sales!

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Steal this Ebook

An ebook can be useful for those with an interest for decent search engine ranking. In order to please the search engines and acquire deep indexing, high relevance and top ranking, a lot of relevant content must be written (or copied)…

The hippie bible “Steal this book” was an anti-capitalism manifesto, widely remembered because of its creative and aggressive title plus its subvertive message.

Paper books like that one were not easy to steal, because of the guards in the bookstores and the costly effort of retyping, mastering, printing, binding and distributing. In the digital era you can get an ebook, crack or OCR it if protected, and copy-pasting it.

The main client for ebook-stealing tools are webmasters, in particular those with an interest for decent search engine ranking. In order to please the search engines and acquire deep indexing, high relevance and top ranking, a lot of relevant content must be written (or copied).

When I was into science there was a phrase “Publish or perish”, that expressed more or less the same. Quantity instead of quality. I guess most of us would like to have time to write short and juicy articles instead of Goog-friendly mumbo-jumbo.

Machine-writing is a relatively new activity. And I am not talking of simple copy-pasting, but a more sophisticated text-generation breed of specialized software. Some simple programs take a number of words and just mix them, like Ktumbler. Others can generate random English-like phrases, like the “Web Economy Bullshit Generator”, or sensible good English phrases by the thousand, like Phrase Generator in Synonymizer.

But phrases are not substitute for longer text, and many lazy or greedy webmasters are tempted to copy-paste from the web, which is easier and faster than thinking. A much criticized brand of website ranking systems, Cloaking, copies large amounts of relevant, well ranked text from the web, and shows it to the search engine spiders. In this way, they pretend to have more and better content than any other site. And the best of it, when the visitor is a human, they hide the stolen goods and show some innocent words. Cloaking refers to that ability, and it is achieved by IP detection and comparison with known spider data.

Finally, the synonymizing and text-mixing tools modify the original texts beyond recognition. Like facial surgery after committing a crime.

However, I am afraid that there is a little copyright issue… The problem is that nobody knows exactly what are the limits for automated text surgery.

To synonymize or otherwise disguise a source text is morally wrong, most of us would agree. But it has limits. If I say “My Kingdom for an equine”, or “After me, the big rain”, or “Let’s there be illumination”, you will understand that synonyms cannot be forbiden. There are also many situations in which overprotective legislation blocks creativity and innovation.

I am tempted to emulate Abbie Hoffman and discuss the morality of copyright and the whole issue of intellectual property. However, those are deep waters.

My point is that there is no established parameter to define plagiarism in texts. What if I substitute “2” for “two” and Goog for Google, as I do to avoid being noticed by them? And Yah for Yahoo, not to forget the pioneer?. Or if I change just one word in a phrase? What if I just mix the phrases in a text? Goog will probably still consider that the keyword density is correct for top ranking, minus a correction to account for the fact than the start of a file is more important than the end.

Many Plagiarism Detection services can compare any submitted text with a large library (mostly, the WWW) and decide if there is enough similarity with a certain source. They usually do not disclose their algorithm, but assure ìit comprises proprietary technologyî and ìdetects digital signature of the authorsî. A leader in this field says “Copyscape looks for pages containing sizeable chunks of identical text”. Nobody knows how that translates into numbers.

Google and the other search engines are against “duplicated content”, but they do not define it.

The availability of “text de-authoring tools” makes the intellectual property issue very blurry to any attorney willing to evaluate the existence of a crime. And as a collateral effect, the modified text will not be detected by the anti-plagiarism tools, which mostly search for exact text coincidences.

I started to examine some Plagiarism Detection sites, and I noticed that the better ones require some kind of a fee. Of course, it is not easy to compare a student term paper with the whole Library of Congress and the whole Web, plus the old Web Archives in the Wayback Machine. Others like Ferret are free and let you compare your file with another, but you need to provide BOTH files.

So, without hiding my condition of SEO Tool maker, I declare the need for a public algorithm that will establish if a text is the un-ethical or immoral or illegal derivative of a web source. It is necessary either for nailing plagiarists or to help writers and webmasters to define the limits for near-plagiarism and near-plagiarism devices

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— How to Write an Ebook —

The hardest part of writing is the first sentence. When you look at the whole project, it seems like an impossible task. That’s why you have to break it down into manageable tasks. Think of climbing a mountain. You are standing at the foot of it and looking up at its summit vanishing into the clouds. How can you possibly scale such an immense and dangerous mountain?
There is only one way to climb a mountain ? step by step.

Now think of writing your ebook in the same light. You must create it step by step, and one day, you will take that last step and find yourself standing on the summit with your head in the clouds.

The first thing you have to do, as if you actually were a mountain climber, is to get organized. Instead of climbing gear, however, you must organize your thoughts. There are some steps you should take before you begin. Once you’ve gone through the following list, you will be ready to actually begin writing your ebook.

Beginning Steps to Writing an ebook

First, figure out your ebook’s working title. Jot down a few different titles, and eventually, you’ll find that one that will grow on you. Titles help you to focus your writing on your topic; they guide you in anticipating and answering your reader’s queries. Many non-fiction books also have subtitles. Aim for clarity in your titles, but cleverness always helps to sell books ? as long as it’s not too cute. For example, Remedies for Insomnia: twenty different ways to count sheep. Or: Get off that couch: fifteen exercise plans to whip you into shape.

Next, write out a thesis statement. Your thesis is a sentence or two stating exactly what problem you are addressing and how your book will solve that problem. All chapters spring forth from your thesis statement. Once you’ve got your thesis statement fine-tuned, you’ve built your foundation. From that foundation, your book will grow, chapter by chapter.

Your thesis will keep you focused while you write your ebook. Remember: all chapters must support your thesis statement. If they don’t, they don’t belong in your book. For example, your thesis statement could read: We’ve all experienced insomnia at times in our lives, but there are twenty proven techniques and methods to give you back a good night’s sleep.

Once you have your thesis, before you start to write, make sure there is a good reason to write your book. Ask yourself some questions:

* Does your book present useful information and is that information currently relevant?

* Will your book positively affect the lives of your readers?

* Is your book dynamic and will it keep the reader’s attention?

* Does your book answer questions that are meaningful and significant?

If you can answer yes to these questions, you can feel confident about the potential of your ebook.

Another important step is to figure out who your target audience is. It is this group of people you will be writing to, and this group will dictate many elements of your book, such as style, tone, diction, and even length. Figure out the age range of your readers, their general gender, what they are most interested in, and even the socio-economic group they primarily come from. Are they people who read fashion magazines or book reviews? Do they write letters in longhand or spend hours every day online. The more you can pin down your target audience, the easier it will be to write your book for them.

Next, make a list of the reasons you are writing your ebook. Do you want to promote your business? Do you want to bring quality traffic to your website? Do you want to enhance your reputation?

Then write down your goals in terms of publishing. Do you want to sell it as a product on your website, or do you want to offer it as a free gift for filling out a survey or for ordering a product? Do you want to use the chapters to create an e-course, or use your ebook to attract affiliates around the world? The more you know upfront, the easier the actual writing will be.

Decide on the format of your chapters. In non-fiction, keep the format from chapter to chapter fairly consistent. Perhaps you plan to use an introduction to your chapter topic, and then divide it into four subhead topics. Or you may plan to divide it into five parts, each one beginning with a relevant anecdote.

How to make your ebook “user friendly”

You must figure out how to keep your writing engaging. Often anecdotes, testimonials, little stories, photos, graphs, advice, and tips will keep the reader turning the pages. Sidebars are useful for quick, accessible information, and they break up the density of the page.

Write with a casual, conversational tone rather than a formal tone such as textbook diction. Reader’s respond to the feeling that you are having a conversation with them. Break up the length and structure of your sentences so you don?t hypnotize your readers into sleep. Sentences that are all the same length and structure tend to be a good aid for insomnia!

Good writing takes practice. It takes lots and lots of practice. Make a schedule to write at least a page a day. Read books and magazines about the process of writing, and jot down tips that jump out at you. The art of writing is a lifetime process; the more you write (and read), the better your writing will become. The better your writing becomes, the bigger your sales figures.

In an ebook that is read on the screen, be aware that you must give your reader’s eye a break. You can do this by utilizing white space. In art classes, white space is usually referred to as “negative space.” Reader’s eyes need to rest in the cool white oasises you create on your page. If your page is too dense, your reader will quit out of it as soon as their eyes begin to tear.

Make use of lists, both bulleted and numbered. This makes your information easy to absorb, and gives the reader a mental break from dissecting your paragraphs one after the other.

Finally, decide on an easy-to-read design. Find a font that’s easy on the eyes, and stick to that font family. Using dozens of fonts will only tire your readers out before they’ve gotten past your introduction. Use at least one and a half line spacing, and text large enough to be read easily on the screen, but small enough so that the whole page can be seen on a computer screen. You will have to experiment with this to find the right combination.

Of course, don’t forget to run a spell and grammar check. You are judged by something as minor as correct punctuation, so don?t mess up a great book by tossing out semicolons randomly, or stringing sentences together with commas. (By the way, that’s called a “comma splice.”)

Last of all, create an index and a bibliography. That’s it! You’ve written a book! Now all you have to do is publish your ebook online, and wait for download request from your website visitors.

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The magic price to market your ebook.

Have you ever wondered why all those products on TV all cost $19.95? How about why used car dealers…excuse me, “preowned” car dealers offer $199 down $199 a month?

It’s an often used and very successful marketing concept. The idea is that certain numbers set off alarm bells in a buyers mind and by shaving a penny or two off the price we can avoid these alarm bells. A person will wrinkle his brow and wonder if that fancy kitchen gadget is worth $20, but he will be franticly dialing the phone credit card in hand for the low low price of $19.95. What a bargain.

Believe it or not sales figures seem to support this idea. Shave a few pennies off the round dollar amount and people are more likely to buy from a TV ad, however this doesn’t work in all forms of marketing.

When buying in person people appear to prefer round numbers. For instance. I have a friend who sells knockoff tennis shoes at flea markets. Don’t laugh. He quit his regular job because he makes more in a weekend at the flea market than he did in a 40 hour week.

Anyway he dicovered that the magic price for knockoff tennis shoes at a flea market is $20. Any more and buyers huff and go “I might as well go to the shoe store for these prices.” Any less and they question the quality of the shoes, Look them over again and agian, then walk away without buying.

I won’t make a value judgement about peoples’ behavior. The object is to make sales, not judge your customers right? The simple fact is for every product and service there is a magic price that a customer will readily pay with almost no selling on your part.

I won’t even try to guess why, but for ebooks that price appears to be $7. You have probably by now seen the rash of $7 dollar ebooks everywhere. On marketing web sites and blogs and all over the web. For some unknown reason $5 is too low and 8$ is too high.

Does it really matter why? As marketers we don’t need to question why. We find what sells and stick with it until it doesn’t sell anymore.

If the public will pay $7 without flinching who am I to question them?

Maybe it’s because $5 is not a lot of money these days. So if it cost $5 it must not be any good or it would cost more. But then $10 is double digits. Hold on here $10, I could get two fast food lunches for that.

Okay, I am guessing why, but the point is, $7 is the magic price for an ebook. At least for now it is.

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