Improve Ebook Sales Using Viral Marketing

How would you like the news of your new ebook to spread like wildfire? Ebook authors typically try all sorts of techniques to spread the word about their ebooks but one of the best ways I have discovered involves viral marketing.

Viral marketing is advertising that propagates itself. It is built on the concept of a message spreading by ‘word of mouth’. Two common examples of viral marketing online are “Recommend a Friend” forms, and viral ebooks.

The idea with viral marketing is to induce visitors or readers to pass along your message to other sites or people, creating a potentially exponential growth in your message’s visibility and response.

So in reality if you use this technique you will most likely have two ebooks. The first is your main ebook, which you are selling. The second is your viral ebook to “spread the word”.

The viral ebook will probably be much smaller than your main ebook. It may be a related special report, or perhaps a sample ebook containing the first few chapters. Whatever content you put in your viral ebook MUST be very useful, related information, so that people will want to read it AND so they will be very eager to pass it on to their friends and associates.

Normally with a viral ebook you use special software to make the ebook “rebrandable”. In a rebrandable ebook, certain parts of your ebook are set up for customization. By doing this you enable your partners to insert their own business name, web site links, or even their own affiliate ID into your ebook. This gives them an additional incentive to pass on copies of it, since they can earn money by passing it on and YOU can ultimately promote your ebook get more visitors to your sales page.

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Writing an Ebook – How to Shorten the Time Between Writing and Publishing Your Ebook Online

Writing an eBook can be a long and tedious process. It doesn’t have to be this way, but I find that many of my students get bogged down in the writing and researching that goes into writing an eBook that will be a quality product to sell on the internet.

With my newer students I have found that it is much easier to start by purchasing a private label rights (PLR) eBook and then editing and rewriting it until it is the best it can be. You then have a product you can sell, but you did not have to start from scratch.

Private label rights products are written by an author who was paid for their writing. They are then sold to people like you and I who are looking for products to sell online. The best thing about a PLR product is that it is completely written and also includes a sales letter.

You can rewrite as much as you want to, but that is completely up to you. I like to read the eBook completely and then add chapters that would make it much more interesting and informative. I also edit and remove parts that are not very well written. If I change it more than about fifty percent I will then put my name on it and sell it as my own.

The entire process only takes a couple of weeks, depending on how much time you spend with it. The good part is that once you know how to set this all up, you can repeat the process over and over again to make even more passive income.

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How to Write Your First Ebook

Writing your first ebook may seem like a daunting task. But like many projects, it won’t seem so bad when it’s broken down into manageable chunks. Not all projects are successful, so don’t be too disappointed if your first ebook isn’t a best seller. Whatever the outcome of your first ebook, you can at least say ‘You did it’.

Like many things in life, what often seems impossible can be attained with the right attitude and the right equipment. It could be a marathon run, climbing a mountain or finding parking space at the supermarket.

If you want to play golf, you will need clubs, balls and some practice. There’s no guarantee you will become another Tiger Woods but you will become a golfer.

If you want to write an ebook, you will need a computer, software and some directions. Assuming you have a computer and software or access to them, here are some directions.

Establish Your Reasons

Your reasons for wanting to write an ebook will have a major impact on your success. It may be for financial gain, promoting a business, advancing your career, education, self satisfaction or something entirely different. Whatever your reasons, write them down. It will help to motivate you if the going gets tough.

Choose Your Subject

There are countless subjects that you can write about. It’s wise to choose something you have an interest in or knowledge of. It is worthwhile spending time on this. The more you know about your subject, the easier it will be to write about.

Choose Your Title

After you’ve chosen your subject, you’ll need a title for the ebook. It’s worth writing down a few different ones before deciding on the one you’ll use. This will help to keep your focus and may give you some other ideas. The title should give a clear indication of the content in your book. A catchy title may help to sell it, but remember to balance this with clarity to keep it in context. I’ve written down two examples. Feel free to use them if you have a sense of humor.

A Clubbers Paradise – Golfing in Ibiza

20 Minutes Late – The Future of Trains

Choose Your Audience

The subject and style of your writing will determine your audience. Decide who your desired audience will be. Age, gender, culture, social background and education are factors you may want to consider. What you write should be targeted at your desired audience.

Write Your Thesis Statement

Although it’s possible to write your ebook without a ‘thesis statement’, it is not recommended. If you are unfamiliar with this term, there are many sources available that will provide you with all the details you need. Unfortunately, there are some differences of opinion that may lead to confusion.

The ‘thesis statement’ deserves a separate article of its own but for now I have written a general definition of a thesis statement for ebooks. This may leave the door open for criticism but is a small price to pay if it removes some of the confusion. More importantly, it will give you a base on which to start. Only use it as a guideline. If you want a more specific definition, Google is a good place to start your search.

A thesis statement is a sentence or two written to clearly show the reason(s) for your ebook and what you expect to write about.

Although I have referred to this as a general definition, keep in mind that your actual statement should be as specific as possible.

Think of it as the foundation for your ebook. It should contain the following:

1) Your subject

2) Your opinion on the subject

3) A supporting reason for your opinion

4) The significance of 1), 2) and 3)

Create Your Document

Now that you have the foundation, you can begin writing.
A standard application like MS Word is a good choice.
While you are writing your document you can revise your thesis statement at any time up until it is published. This provides a good degree of flexibility.

Choose the format and layout of your document, including chapters, headings and introductions. Dependent on your subject, you may wish to add photographs, anecdotes or testimonials that keep the reader’s attention.

Since an ebook is generally read from a screen, you may want to break up the text more than in a printed book. Experiment with a few different fonts and look at other ebooks for ideas you can use. Spell check and save your document regularly. MS Word has an auto recovery feature. This is useful if you don’t save the document on a regular basis and later experience a system crash. Always backup your document. As a precaution you should also keep a copy on another media such as CD.

Choose Your Ebook Format

This is a personal choice. You may decide to create an executable (.exe) file or a Portable Document Format (.pdf) file. By no means an exhaustive list, here are some points to consider before you choose.

EXE files are compiled using an ebook compiler

EXE files may offer features that are not available with PDFs

EXE files can only be read on a PC

EXE files don’t require any other software to be read

EXE files are easy to open, easily branded, and good viral marketing tools

EXE files may be susceptible to viruses although some compilers offer virus protection

More information on the better compilers can be found at

http://www.ebook-site.com/ebook-compilers.html

PDF files can be created using Adobe Acrobat

PDF files can be created with several other 3rd party applications

PDF files are an industry standard

PDF files can be read by both PC and MAC

PDF files require Adobe Reader to be read

PDF files are highly unlikely to become infected

More information on PDFs can be found on the Adobe website

Create Your Ebook

Create your ebook in your chosen format.

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Writing Your Own Ebook Versus Buying Private Label Rights?

Whilst we are amidst this dire economic climate, there are many people who are seeking to make their money any way they can. In a vast majority of these cases, many of the individuals, endeavoring to make money, are looking for ways that will allow them to work at their own pace or to be their own boss. It may be that you are one of these individuals and it may also be possible that you have thought about creating and selling ebooks yourself.

Over the past few years, the popularity of ebooks has increased rapidly. Many of the top book stores now have the facility to deliver ebooks. This is great news for the consumer since they can now read their books on their portable devices. From classic ebook novels to romance ebooks and fiction ebooks, the subjects for an ebook library are almost endless.

Because more and more consumers have shown an interest in purchasing ebooks – for the convenience, and, in many cases, because of the cheaper purchase cost – many individuals are now looking to make money from creating their own ebooks. If you are able to do this, you may find success. However, to find success in creating ebooks, it will not come without hard work.

Unless you have created an ebook before, you will find it difficult to understand how much work it actually does entail. You may want to write guides, reports or how-to’s, but unless you are an expert in your field, you will have to do research, and this will take a fair amount of time. On the other hand, you may want to write a novel, but to be worth the buy, most ebooks are at least one hundred pages long – with many being longer. Your ebook could take months to complete going down the ebook creation route.

In addition to the hard work of researching and preparing your ebook, you must have writing experience. It is a fact that customers do not, and will not, purchase poor quality work.

As well as writing a quality ebook, you will have to think about ways of selling it. Combining the writing and the marketing, both these aspects could take a very large amount of time. This is, perhaps, why so many budding ebook writers are put off the idea of creating their own ebook, no matter how rewarding creating your own product will be.

If you have your heart set on selling ebooks as a means of income and do not want to trouble yourself with the work involved in creating your own product, there is an alternative. You do not necessarily have to create your own, you can purchase the private label rights to somebody else’s creation.

By purchasing the private label rights you will be able – in many cases – to edit the content, assume the work as your own and profit from the sale of each ebook.

Obviously, there are downsides to obtaining Private Label Rights and the biggest of these is the cost required to purchase those rights. Depending on who you are doing business with to purchase your private label rights ebook, this could turn out to be fairly expensive. The more exclusive your supplier is, the higher the cost is going to be also. This is simply because the freelance writers, who will spend a large amount of time creating their ebooks, are going to seek adequate compensation for their time.

Another huge downside to obtaining private label rights to ebooks is the availability. The more available it is, then the more chance that every man and his dog will have also purchased those rights too, thus making it harder to make any sales.

Some say that the higher prices charged by the exclusive freelance writers could be considered a disadvantage to their business opportunity, but others may say that it is a distinct advantage because the freelance writers who charge more for their work will have typically produced better content in their ebooks and the better the content, the easier it will be to sell.

Whether you have decided to create your own ebook or have decided to obtain the private label rights to anothers’ ebook, you will still have to find ways to market the ebook to the general public. In either case, marketing your ebook is going to take time. Purchasing Private Label Rights is preferred by many individuals because they can devote more time to marketing the product, which will obviously create more sales.

As you read through this article, I expect you are wondering whether you should write your own ebook or obtain the private label rights to another. Don’t worry, you are not alone. There are many who are wondering the same thing. Writing your own ebook brings many rewards, the main one being the satisfaction of creating your very own product all by yourself. Private label rights are an amazing commodity which can bring amazing business opportunities for some, but remember, this is not for everyone.

There can be great opportunities to obtaining Private Label Rights ebooks, however, after obtaining these rights, you may find that this is not really for you. No worries here! The beauty of trying to make money from this sort of business venture and it not working out, means you can stop whenever you want. Buying the Private Label Rights means they are yours to do with as you wish. You are then free to move on to something else if you so desire.

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How Can You Get the Most From Your Free Ebook Marketing Campaign

First, your eBook needs to have an attractive title. The title should grab the attention of your intended target audience. The more appealing the title, the more your eBook will be downloaded. Your eBook needs to have quality content. You can contact other business owners and ask them if they would like to include their ad in your eBook. Just ask them in return to advertise your free eBook on their web site or in their e-zine for a set period of time. This method will get your free eBook marketing campaign off to a fast start. You can write your own content or ask permission to use another author’s content. Your eBook will be read more if the content is original.

You will want to put your ad on the title page or on the table of contents. It’s important to put your eBook in as many formats as possible. Most eBook software only allows the eBook to be read by certain brewers and software. People may not take the time to download a new software program in order to read your eBook. Other versions of your eBook could be in HTML, auto responder and downloadable text format. This will give the most exposure for your web site or the products you’re selling.

It’s important to put your eBook in as many formats as possible. Most eBook software only allows the eBook to be read by certain brewers and software. People may not take the time to download a new software program in order to read your eBook. Other versions of your eBook could be in HTML, auto responder and downloadable text format.

You can contact other business owners and ask them if they would like to include their ad in your eBook. Just ask them in return to advertise your free eBook on their web site or in their e-zine for a set period of time. This method will get your free eBook marketing campaign off to a fast start.

Allow the people who download your eBook to give it away to their visitors. This will multiply your free eBooks’ exposure. You can contact other business owners and ask them if they would like to include their ad in your eBook. Just ask them in return to advertise your free eBook on their web site or in their e-zine for a set period of time. This method will get your free eBook marketing campaign off to a fast start. Submit your eBook to the growing number of free eBook directories on the internet.

These web sites also offer more information about eBook marketing. It’s important to put your eBook in as many formats as possible. Most eBook software only allows the eBook to be read by certain brewers and software. People may not take the time to download a new software program in order to read your eBook. Other versions of your eBook could be in HTML, auto responder and downloadable text format. Some of them also have eBook discussion forums where you can ask questions and learn more about eBook marketing.

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The Best Ebook Writing Skills to Promote Your Business

The eBook is very important for your existing business promotions in a way that it is one of the most sought after and powerful online promotional tools that you can use to promote your business to attract lots of visitors to your website and find potential customers. It is not important to have great writing skills to create promotional eBooks.

It is important to know your products well and draw attention to the benefits that customers will get from your products, so that you can start publishing the same as content in your book. Always write useful information related to your business to make the book effective. Use these books to gather valuable marketing information, which can help you improve the different areas of your business.

Find people who are looking for products similar to what your business has to offer and try to answer their queries by providing a small questionnaire in your book. Use these books in such a manner that helps reduce the costs with undertaking individual promotional activities. Learn about your customer’s needs and demands over a period of time by sending out new sets of free books to strengthen the customer-business relationship. Show new product range to customers by sending out free books from time to time.

In addition to this build an email list for the marketing and advertising efforts that you will undertake to promote your business. Write pre-sales and informational content in the book and give away these free eBooks as promotional activity. This book will increase your direct sales figures and also guide you customers into making a proper choice for purchasing your products.

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The Solution to be a Professional Writer

Writing is a hobby that can be developed. Each student who studied at his/her school must be taught basic writing and reading, because writing and reading are 2 basic skills that can be developed. Starting from writing hobby, you can become a famous writer and produced many books containing knowledge that will be useful for many people. In addition, the book sold will be an advantage for you.

However, what you need to remember is to write well requires certain skills that must be focused. To write a book for example must have a lot of knowledge that must be written. If you ever write a book, but you write the book that got criticism from certain parties then do not despair. Keep trying until you get the results as expected. If you are accustomed to using online services, then you can learn to find the best solution to help you in improving the quality of your writing skills. Like the book critique and editing that will provide solutions for writing and editing. You also can train yourself to be able to write well. So you can try to be a professionalism writer. Thus, you will become a professional writer in accordance with your dreams.

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Article Alley

As the world of internet is expanding to new realms, businesses are increasingly deploying internet marketing tools to create a space in minds of the customers. One such tool is article marketing and social book marking. Article marketing is submission of articles about the business or the product to online article directories. These article directories are scouted by internet users for information, and this helps in increasing the awareness about the business or the product. Another powerful internet marketing tool is social book marking. Social book marking is creating back links to the business’s or product’s website on social book marking websites. These back links on the social book marking websites help in attracting customers to the business’s or product’s website. Owing to several benefits that accrue via using article marketing and social book marking increasing number of business are using this as their mainstream marketing tool.

Article marketing and social book marking are not only one of the best ways to create a buzz about your offering but also these endeavors are mostly free of cost. One such good avenue for article marketing is submission of articles to article alley.com. Article alley is one of the fastest growing article directories that contain thousands of articles on variety of subjects for benefit of the internet users and businesses seeking to promote their online presence who can submit informative articles about their product or service free of cost. www.articlealley.com get close to two million hits per month and has over 90,000 active authors regularly contributing to the article pool.

Article marketing is highly strategic tool which can yield maximum return only if it is properly used. To enable the online businesses to make most out of their article marketing efforts, Article Alley is offering guidance via articlealley.com ebook: Article marketing and Social book marking. The book unravels the secret of article marketing strategies that have led several online businesses to success.

This ebook is excellent sources of information for first time article marketers which enables them to understand the concept of Article marketing and implement it in best possible way to promote their business. At a nominal price of $39.99 the book gives you a complete package of information about how to make best out of article marketing efforts? How to write good articles? Article writing techniques that would fetch you right traffic. With this brilliantly written, easy to understand book you can master all the strategies required to launch a successful article marketing campaign.

And that is not all; the book also enlists the best article directories to submit the articles so that your articles catch the attention of your potential customers.

If you have a business that you want to promote over the internet, this e-Book is the right starting point for you. Delaying your decision to buy this book may mean that you are loosing the market share unknowingly because your competitors might be applying these strategies when you are not. Get this ebook now at www.articlealley.com and promote your business over internet.

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Ebook Creation – How Do I Know What to Write About?

So many people have the wrong concept when it comes to writing ebooks. They write an ebook and then try to find customers to buy it. That is exactly backwards. If you want to make money writing and selling ebooks, you must find customers and then write what they want to buy. Want to know how to do this? Here is how.

1. Find a niche subject

There are tons of subjects that you can write about. Millions and millions of books are written on all types of things. Since there are already books on just about every subject, you as an ebook author need to write in-depth ebooks on specialized subjects. Your ebook should provide your readers information that they can’t easily find in the library.

For example, I recently bought an ebook on making money through buying and leasing mobile homes under $2,000. The reason I bought this ebook was because I could not find this information anywhere else. I found books on real estate, mobile homes, buying and selling mobile homes, and even leasing mobile homes. But the ebook that I bought was so specialized that very few people had ever written on it before. This author had a corner on the market and sold his ebook dozens of times a month.

2. Find out what your people want to know about your niche subject

There are many ways to find out what people want to know. Below are just a few:

• Online discussion groups
• Blogs
• Forums
• Keyword research
• Amazon’s top sellers
• Magazine covers

Another great way to find out what people are interested in is to buy your competition’s popular ebooks. See what they wrote about and what they are selling. Of course, you can’t copy their ebook, but you will find out in a hurry what people are looking for.

3. Write what they want to know

You have done your market research. Now it is time for you to brush up on your knowledge. Do some research. Perhaps interview someone that knows a lot about your subject. Compile popular articles on the subject into your ebook (with permission, of course). Hire someone to write your ebook. Once you know that people will buy what you are writing, it makes it a whole lot easier to stay committed to completing your ebook.

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Understanding the eBook Evolution

Maybe you have seen offers for them on various websites. Maybe you attended a book fair and noticed some authors selling CD-ROMs alongside paperbacks. Maybe you sat next to somebody at a coffee shop as he read a document on his laptop or personal digital assistant. You might think such things are limited to business some other type of work, but the electronic book, or eBook, is fast becoming a mainstream industry. While eBooks may never achieve the popularity or demand of the printed word, eBook readership is definitely growing and will prove a viable form of media in the future.

What is an eBook?

Before one can delve into specifics about electronic publishing, it is important to note exactly what an eBook is and what purpose an eBook serves. Simply put, the term “electronic book” is self-explanatory: an eBook can be a novel, collection of stories and/or poetry, self-help manual, a treatise, or any document of book length. eBooks may be as short as five thousand words or well over a hundred thousand. Some eBooks may have illustrations and charts embedded within the pages, and others may prove to be more interactive and feature audio and/or video capability.

Some eBooks are registered with Books in Print and made available as downloadable files or on CD-ROMs. Some eBook publishers assign ISBN numbers to their titles, while others may register the works with the US Copyright Office. Many publishers consider eBook production a subsidiary right in their contracts, and may option those rights from an author during negotiations.

The fundamental difference between an eBook and a print book, of course, is that the eBook is an electronic document devised to be read on a computer or special handheld device. eBooks are easy to produce and can be made available in a variety of formats, including but not limited to:

HTML – presented as a simple Web page

Adobe PDF – presented to look like an actual document onscreen, read with Adobe Reader

Microsoft LIT – a special format for the Microsoft Reader and Pocket PC

Mobipocket (.PRC) – a special format compatible handheld PDAs like the Palm or old Handspring devices.

EXE – popular among non-fiction eBooks, this self-extracting format presents the book in a unique form that allows the reader to “turn pages”

However an eBook is produced, special reading software may be required to read the document. While a simple HTML document needs only a web browser, others with different extension may not open in certain readers. It is best to always check with a vendor before purchasing an eBook to make sure you can open the file.

What is the purpose of an eBook?

Electronic books are used for the same purposes as print books, namely for entertainment, business, or news.

Entertainment: these are generally novels and short story/poetry collections. Such eBooks are primarily found through specific websites by top NYC publishers that offer electronic downloads, or through smaller publishers who offer books in electronic and print on demand formats. eBooks from smaller companies may be priced according to length and genre, from two dollars to as high as eight for longer works. eBooks from established publishers may cost more, priced to match their print companions. Popular genres for leisure reads in electronic format include romance, science fiction, and erotica.

Works in the public domain, including novels from the nineteenth century, may be presented in eBook format to download for free. The Gutenberg Library online houses thousands of such works for personal and educational use.

Business: Look around the Internet and you may find a number of sales websites offering eBooks that reveal “secrets to success.” Online entrepreneurs use the eBook format for its simplicity and low-cost production to market ideas and products to customers. In this realm you may find books on how to open a successful online business or how to lose weight. Books of this sort may be distributed free to attract return business or may be sold for as much as thirty dollars for a self-extracting document.

News: Companies or organizations may employ the eBook format to distribute white papers or other important documents. Government reports, business trends, and other information in the public domain may be available in this format.

How are eBooks distributed?

The most common forms of eBook distribution are through the individual publisher’s website and third-party retailers.

The Publisher: Whether it is an established NYC house, a small eBook press or a self-publishing author, chances are high there is a website created to tout the book. A quick Internet search for eBook publishers will land many leads. Such websites offer either immediate download of an eBook through a weblink, or delivery via e-mail as an attachment. Other publishers may burn eBooks to CD-ROM and ship them to customers.

The Third-Party Store: Online retailers like Amazon.com, BN.com, and Fictionwise are good examples of eBook retailers. Such sites offer eBooks for immediate download and may even keep your information on account and make recommendations on future purchases. Such retailers, like eBook publishers, will accept payment through electronic transfer to expedite the sale.

The Future of eBooks

Given the ease of production and distribution, it is likely eBooks may become an important medium in the future. As technology evolves and reading devices become more sophisticated, sales of eBook fiction may rise in the years to come. Handheld eBook readers have the advantage of being able to store several books at once, and offer backlighting for reading in dark places. Cost prohibition on devices and certain eBooks may be the only factor preventing a boom right now, but in time as prices become competitive that may change.

For authors, eBook publication represents the opportunity to polish writing skills and test readership. For entrepreneurs, eBook publication offers a new avenue to product promotion and increasing sales. Whatever your plans for the eBook are, it can be said that electronic books are here to stay.

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