NICHE
RICHES PART….2
This one’s gonna be
short and sweet! If you’ve been trying to get an online business started,
but just haven’t had any success yet, have you asked yourself why?
Have you looked around,
done research on the people who ARE being successful in their online
businesses? If you haven’t, you SHOULD!
Take a look at people
like Allen Says, Paul Myers, Anthony Blake, Willie Crawford, Bryan Kumar, Cory
Rudl, John Reese, and others and see if you can find the ONE thing they all
have in common.
Let’s not waste a bunch
of time on that…I’ll just tell you! They all have their own products.
Sure, a lot of them are making some pretty good money telling their subscribers
about other people’s products now and then, but the heart of their business was
originally, and still is, built around their own products.
Does that tell you
something?
Sure, there are plenty
of very successful affiliate marketers out there. People who KNOW how to
make that business work for them…AND…they make some GREAT money! They
don’t have to put in the work to actually create a product, but believe me, the
great affiliate marketers have to put in a LOT of work in order to make that
great living!
But, what happens if the product you’re making
all of those affiliate commissions from suddenly disappears…falls off the face
of the earth? What happens if the company starts having financial
problems and can’t pay affiliate commissions? OR, as happens much more
frequently, you see that $100 product you’ve been getting good commissions from
suddenly show up on e-Bay for $10.00!
We all know this happens, sometimes more
frequently than it should. But, if you’ve built YOUR business on SOMEBODY
ELSE’S product, then what can you do?
IF YOU DON’T OWN THE PRODUCT, YOU DON’T OWN THE
BUSINESS! Conversely, if you DO own the product, you DO control what
happens to YOUR business.
I’m sure you’ve thought
about this…it’s NOT rocket science or brain surgery! I’m just as sure
that you’ve probably made plans, or at least, had thoughts of, someday, having
your own product to proudly sell to the world. But, something is holding
you back!
THAT’S exactly why I’m
writing this book. Over the past 6-7 years, I’ve received, literally,
1000s of emails asking me the same questions:
“Can you help me write
my own e-book?” OR, “How can I do the same thing you’re doing?” OR, “I really
want my own product like you, can you help me get started?”
I answered probably 99% of those emails with
good, helpful advice for quite a while…but, as time went on the emails got more
numerous. That’s where this book comes in!
I distilled all of that
advice, all of that experience, into these pages that you hold in your hand or
see on your computer monitor. It’s the sum total of what I’d tell you if
you were sitting right here in my office discussing your business with
me. The advice comes from all of the mistakes I’ve made along the way…AND
learned from. It comes from my successes. It comes from my heart,
because I’d TRULY like to see you succeed in your own business…I’d TRULY like
to see you take control of your own future…your own family’s future.
So…if YOU really want
that…control over your own destiny…you can get started by learning how to
create and produce your own e-book using this guide. Together, let’s
figure out what’s holding you back, what you need to finally get started, and
figure out which tools and instructions are going to get your first e-book out
there where you can start making some money with it!
Hold on…things are
gonna get real exciting here…it’ll be fun, you’ll see!
The very first thing
you have to do before you get started creating your own e-book is:
GET RID OF YOUR STINKIN’
THINKIN’ !
You have stinkin’
thinkin’ whether you know it or not. You MUST have, or you’d already have
your own product out there being sold! Somewhere, somehow you’ve gotten
it into your head that you can’t write a book, or that you don’t know how to
put a book together, or that you don’t have any good ideas for a book.
This book isn’t really
about changing your thought patterns, your beliefs about yourself, but I will
tell you these two things:
IF YOU THINK YOU CAN’T WRITE A BOOK,
YOU’RE RIGHT!
IF YOU THINK YOU CAN WRITE A BOOK, YOU’RE
RIGHT, TOO!
It’s TRULY up to you!
If you think you can’t, you won’t; if you think you can, you will. I know
it’s “corny’, but it’s true.
You DO have a book in you…probably a LOT more
than that, once you get yourself started. Everybody has a book in their
head or can get one planted there!
I really don’t care if you THINK you can’t write
a book…I KNOW that you can! You’ve talked yourself into the “fact” that
you couldn’t write a book if someone held a gun to your head.
YOU’VE done that…now, let’s undo it!
Have you ever told your husband, wife, mom, dad,
best friend… anybody!…a story or an idea and they got it? They understood
what you were meaning to say and were affected by what you said…maybe they
laughed, maybe they cried, maybe they agreed with you…maybe not! The
important thing here is that they understood and reacted to what you told them.
What I’m trying to tell YOU here is that you’re
already writing a book, in a sense, every time you get an idea across to
someone else.
Realize this: You’re already writing book
chapters almost every day… right now! Every time you get an idea from
your head into someone else’s head, you’ve just finished a sentence…a
paragraph…a page!
When you look at it like
that, can you write a book?
Maybe you’re one of those people who have to
have everything perfect BEFORE you even think about publishing a book…are
you? Well, the old story about Thomas Edison and his 1139 failures before
inventing the light bulb comes to mind…but the best one is the Wright
Brothers…good old Orville and Wilbur.
Did you know they put their first airplane all
together…let everyone in Dayton, Ohio know that they were going to fly like
bird…had a brass band hired and everything.
On the day they had announced, a HUGE crowd
gathered…the band played…children ran around…people brought picnic
lunches…newspaper reporters were there…a BIG deal! The airplane never
moved an inch! Not one inch…as a matter of fact, the wings came off!
Know what? It didn’t move the 2nd time
either…or the 3rd time…OR the 4th! Talk about
public failure!
They learned from their failures…especially
since they were so public… and the 5th time they made history!
The point here is, what’s the WORST thing that
could happen if you wrote a book and it wasn’t absolutely perfect?
It’s an eye-opening experience to look at some
of the e-books that are selling…right now…on the Internet. All you have
to do is find one that, after you read it, you say, “MAN! Even I could do
better than that!” But that book’s selling and yours isn’t because you’re
waiting to get it perfect! Don’t get it perfect…get it out there!
To sum up this chapter, get rid of your stinkin’
thinkin’…start saying to yourself, in your head…unless you want people to think
you’re really crazy…I CAN write a book! I KNOW I can!
Know that your brain is already writing books
for you each day. All you have to do is figure out how to get it down on
paper…and that’s what this book is all about!
Get over that perfectionist stuff. It
ain’t never gonna be perfect…just like that grammar, but it gets the point
across, doesn’t it? Get your book as good as you can at the time, get it
out there, see what happens and then test and tweak it till it sells.
It’s NEVER going to be completely perfect, but it can be profitable! So get
ready, we’re movin’ on!
Okay, you’re working on
your stinkin’ thinkin’…you know that you’re already writing e-books
whether you want to or not…and you’re not quite as afraid of failing as
before…that’s a pretty good start!
This chapter’s going to
teach you a valuable method to get original ideas for an e-book. I
learned it several years ago from my friend, Bryan Kumar, who’s a master at
this. Over the years, I’ve added to Bryan’s original idea and have come
up with a “sure-fire” way to get ideas out of anyone’s mind…no matter what’s
going on in there!
We’ll get to this
technique in a moment, but, first, let’s get the ideas you already have
floating around in your brain down on paper. Oh, you don’t write them
down? I hate to say this, but… that’s just plain stupid! Any one of
those ideas may well be a million dollar idea…the one that puts you over the
top…the one that changes your life forever! Those ideas of yours are
valuable things, so let’s get started doing that first.
Nothing….and I mean
absolutely nothing…ever truly exists until it’s been put down on paper
first. Think about it! An airplane, a new car model, a building, a
dam, the clothes you’re wearing right now…they all existed on paper before they
existed in real life. I can’t stress this enough! Put those ideas
down on paper RIGHT NOW!
Before we even get
started, you HAVE to have a few blank pieces of paper right there in front of
you…and a pen, not a pencil!
Now, just write those ideas floating around in
your head down. They don’t have to be in any order or any format…just
write them down as quickly as you can without editing them in any way.
Each idea may only be a word…or it may be a whole paragraph…doesn’t matter…just
get them out of there and down on paper.
At this point, you have to make yourself a
solemn promise that you’ll hide these ideas away from everyone…even your wife,
your best friend, everybody! It’s important that your sub-conscious KNOWS
that no one will ever see these ideas unless you want them to.
Sub-consciously, if you think someone will be reading your ideas, you’ll
naturally edit your thoughts. The main reason is that you don’t want
people to make fun of your ideas.
So PROMISE yourself that these ideas are private
property and that you’ll put them someplace where they’ll never be found by
anyone else. Don’t skip this step…it’s vital to being able to REALLY tap
the energy of your brain.
Okay…spend a few minutes…or as much time as you
need…getting the ideas that are on the surface of your mind down on
paper. Then we’ll REALLY get about the task of drilling for ideas!
Now, let’s start using the “Kumar
Technique”. First of all, you’re going to HAVE to have a minimum of 30
minutes during which you won’t be disturbed by anything…anything! No
phone, no IMs, no TV/radio, no people! Just yourself…alone…for 30
minutes.
So figure out where the best place to do this is
going to be for you. Then, you’re going to need to get a few supplies.
You HAVE to have a blank writing pad of some
sort. Almost everybody has a yellow legal pad lying around someplace…go
get it.
You’re also going to need a timer of some
sort…one of those kitchen timers is great for this. You know, the type
where you twist the dial and it counts off 30 minutes. Get that while
you’re getting the legal pad and a PEN!
You’re probably wondering why I keep harping on
using a pen, instead of a pencil, or a word processor, or your computer.
Here’s why. Your mind is pretty smart. It instinctively knows that
if you use anything other than a pen, you have the option of erasing what
you’re writing.
The ONLY way to get the most out of this
technique is for your mind to (1) feel completely safe in spouting out what may
seem to be crazy ideas…that’s why you made yourself the promise to keep your
ideas private…and (2) be sure that you’re taking these ideas seriously and
intend to bring them to life. If you’re using a pencil or an erasable
medium, your mind knows that you can always edit things.
Okay, let’s get this out in the open right
now. I know you’re probably thinking, “What a bunch of BS this
is!”. The problem with that thought is, you’ve probably already done this
exercise and never even knew it!
Have you ever awakened in the morning with
a great idea…or maybe it happened in the middle of the night while you were sleeping.
It happens to some people while they’re driving a long distance. An idea
pops into your mind! Where do you think that idea came from? That’s
exactly what we’re going to do right now…tap your subconscious in a controlled
way…a way that allows you to capture the ideas easily.
If you’re still taking this lightly, then I
recommend you find out about sub-conscious writing. A good starting point
is to read anything by Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the
Bones. She’s the acknowledged expert on this technique. Her
teachings are used by just about every big-time author you can think of.
You CAN skip this section all together.
The ideas you’ll be working with won’t be as exciting to you…as powerful to
you…and, probably, not as good…but you can still use the rest of this
book. I do urge you to try this method…it’s amazing how it works!
Back to the “Kumar Technique”! You’ve got
a quiet place with no interruptions, a yellow legal pad, a pen and a 30 minute
timer.
Find a comfortable place to sit and relax. Your
first step is to breathe! That’s right, big, slow deep breathes…in
through your nose and out through your mouth while you relax your body.
Go ahead and start the timer now.
The next thing is to picture the most relaxing
place you’ve ever been. Get the smells, the feelings, the tastes of the
beach, the mountains, a fluffy bed…whatever… embedded in your mind.
Now, just start writing! Whatever comes
into your mind…write it down. Don’t think about it…don’t think about
anything other than that relaxing place you’re in. The words will start
to flow out onto the legal pad. Pretty soon, you won’t even know you’re
writing. That’s when it REALLY gets good!
This technique works so well because you’ve done
a few things here. You’ve promised to keep the ideas safe; you’ve shown
that you’re taking the process seriously, you’ve pre-programmed your mind to
work on the ideas you’ve already been playing around with…and then, you’ve
turned your mind loose on them.
You’ll be amazed what comes out!
The really great idea people all use some
technique like this. Edison and Bell used focused naps. They’d work
like crazy on an idea and then, just take a nap! They almost always got
some idea about how to proceed from that nap. That’s basically what
you’re doing here.
Make a point to use this technique often, you’ll
be glad you did.
Up to this point,
you’ve worked on yourself…the stinkin’ thinkin’ thing…you’ve found out that
you’ve already “written” several dozen e-books in your life…you’ve also found
out that it ain’t so bad to fail! You’ve also learned how to work on your
mind…or, rather, work with it a LOT better. That’s a good little bit in
just 15 pages or so!
The next 5 chapters are
VERY task-oriented. They’ll give you step-by-step instructions on how to
actually turn an idea into a good, profitable e-book. You’ll be working
pretty hard during those 5 chapters.
But, if I had to pick
the most important chapter in this book…it’s this one!
In this chapter we’re
going back to working on you…and that’s the most important part of this whole
project.
Look, it’s time to
REALLY figure out if this is what you want to do…really do! If you’re not
willing, or ready, to set aside 4 hours for each of the next 5 days/nights to
finish up your very own product…your very own e-book…then you need to take a
minute and think about that.
Why are you even
reading this book? Something must’ve struck a chord in your
brain…something must’ve sparked a NEED in you…or you wouldn’t have bought this
book in the first place, right? Let’s look a little deeper here.
What is it that you want? What do you want
enough to give up time away from your family…time away from your TV or your
video games or your newspapers or books…time away from sleep? Can you
name it? Can you put a name to what you REALLY want, NEED to have?
You have to have a concrete goal or you’re never
going to get what you want and need. Setting a goal helps you turn that
want of yours…I really want a brand new 2006 Ford Mustang…into a need…I NEED a
brand new 2006 Ford Mustang. There’s a world of difference between a want
and a need. A person with a full stomach may say, “I want a piece of
pie.”, but a person who hasn’t eaten in a few days says, “I NEED something to
eat.” You have to turn your wants into needs.
Here’s how you do that in the case of this
book.
Write down…on your yellow legal pad…with a
pen…the following statements.
I NEED TO HAVE MY OWN E-BOOK!
I WILL HAVE MY OWN E-BOOK BY (5 days from now)!
I’LL GET MY OWN E-BOOK BY DOING THE FOLLOWING
STEPS:
1. BY FOLLOWING CHAPTER 1 OF THE BOOK,
2. BY FOLLOWING CHAPTER 2 OF THE BOOK,
3. BY FOLLOWING CHAPTER 3 OF THE BOOK,
4. BY FOLLOWING CHAPTER 4 OF THE BOOK,
5. BY FOLLOWING CHAPTER 5 OF THE BOOK.
WHEN I GET MY E-BOOK WRITTEN, I’LL REWARD MYSELF BY …
(Here you’ll pick a reward…maybe not
a new car, but a good book or a great time with the kids at an arcade, a great
romantic meal with the spouse)
Then you HAVE to sign this sheet of paper, date it and hang
it up right there beside your computer and anywhere else in your home that you
see a LOT every day. Maybe your bathroom or on the ceiling above your
bed!
But, before you hang it up, go on Google and
find a picture that represents what you want. If it’s the latest version
of X-Site Pro, then get a picture of it and tape it to the sheet you just
filled out. If it’s a romantic dinner, find a picture of 2 gorgeous
people having a fancy dinner with all of the trimmings.
Leave that piece of paper up until you get what
you need.
What I’m after here is getting you to make a
commitment to yourself…and your family…that you’re going to do this.
Without a commitment, you’re really increasing the odds that you’ll never get
that e-book done…you’ll never have a product of your own…you’ll never really be
in control of your own business destiny.
This is such a tiny commitment to make…4 hours a
night…for 5 days…that’s not really so much now, is it? Don’t you owe it
to yourself and your family to REALLY do this?
It’s YOUR decision! If you’ve truly
made the decision to go on, then let’s get going!
Okay, up and at
‘em! Time to get started. Make sure you have 4 hours today to work
on this chapter and nothing else. It’s important to focus on this one
task till the end of this chapter. Go ahead and answer your emails and do
your daily routines…then come back here and be ready to get going.
Alright, you’re
back! You’ve got 2 lists lying there someplace…the first was your list of
ideas you had been consciously kicking around in your head…the second was the
list of words, phrases, paragraphs that came out of your timed writing exercise…go
get them and let’s take a look at what we have.
When you look at your
first list, and then compare it to your second list, do you see any words or
phrases in common? You probably won’t right off! But, look at each
idea on your first list and THEN, try to apply the words from your second list
to that particular idea. You’ll be surprised at what pops out at you!
Somewhere in there,
you’ll run up on an idea that has a lot of interchange between the 2 lists…that’s
the one your subconscious was working on hardest!
Pluck that idea out of
your first list, take all of the applicable words/phrases out of your second
list and set them aside. That’s probably a keeper!
You’ll find that you
probably know a lot about this subject already. It may be one of your
hobbies or interests or something you’ve read or heard a lot about. The
fact that your subconscious has called it up says that you need to take a
greater interest in it and DO something with it!
So, you’ve spent 30
minutes and come up with an idea that means something to you, personally.
Whether you know it or not, you belong to a niche. That niche covers the
subject of your idea. That’s pretty straightforward. But, now we
need to find out if there’s any money to be made in that niche.
You need to come up
with one phrase…2-4 words…that sums up your idea. It may be something
like, “indoor water gardens”, for example. You have to make it as clear
and concise as you can. A good trick is to think of what you’d type in to
the Google search bar if YOU were looking for information on the subject.
That’s your keyword phrase for the next part of today’s task.
Before you spend a
bunch of time writing, you need to see if anyone is even interested in your
subject. The whole idea here is to make yourself some money…not just
write a book!
So, your next step
today is to become a private investigator…a P.I. …just like Magnum or Sam
Spade! You’re going to be doing some researching online…sorry, no guns or
car chases today!…in the niche which covers your subject.
My good friend, John Taylor, has just written,
what I consider, THE resource book on ways to investigate a niche in order to
determine if it may be profitable or not. He really pulls out all of the
stops and gives you very specific, very useful sites where you can do your
research easily and quickly. The book retails for less than $50 and is
worth, at least, 20 times that in the time and effort it will save you!
You really NEED to grab a copy right now since, for my readers, he’s added 2
great bonuses that build nicely upon his book to thoroughly educate you in
niche research. Click Here To Check It Out.
That’s something we need
to talk about right now. You ARE going to need to spend some money! Not
much…but some! There are specific tools and resources you HAVE to have in
order to have an ongoing e-book business. And, that’s the whole idea
here, isn’t it? Having many e-books out there all selling 3-4 copies a
day? THAT’S a TRUE business you can count on since all of your eggs
aren’t in one basket. The tools and resources I’ll be recommending are
the ones I use myself everyday. They save me time, effort and a TON of
money! I’ve been able to arrange special pricing for my readers on most
of them.
I’ll always try to offer you free alternatives
whenever I can, but sometimes, that just isn’t possible, and others, the
freebies just aren’t worth a darn. I just want to be straight with you
here. My goal is for YOU to have a growing and profitable online
business, NOT to sell you stuff. I make my money from e-books…and I want
you to be able to say the same thing one day soon!
Here are some great, free places to get started
on your keyword phrase research. The easiest to use is WordTracker.
It has a web-based free trial that use can use over and over. The free
trial doesn’t offer you the full statistics that the paid version does, but
it’ll allow you to get started with your research.
Go to www.wordtracker.com and click on
“TRIAL” on the top Nav Bar. You’ll need to give them a name and email
address. Don’t worry, they don’t swamp you with emails, as a matter of
fact, I barely hear from them! You’ll get an instruction page next…and
then the page to start your work.
Type your phrase in the text box and follow the
steps clear through. You’ll come up with a page that gives you an
analysis of your phrase. To understand it, let’s hear what WordTracker
has to say:
“What does it all mean?
This is where you spot your niches in MSN. The figure you want to take note of
is the 'KEI Analysis'. The higher this figure, the more popular your keyword is
and the less competition it has. This generally means that you will find it
easier to reach the top of this keyword. Now you need to make sense of the KEI
figure. Generally, a poor keyword to target will have a KEI of between 0 - 10.
It's not wise to target keywords with this KEI as there is too much competition
and you will probably end up on page 34 and no-one will notice you! Good
keywords to target have a KEI of between 10 - 100. These are good value bets
and you have a good to medium chance of reaching the top. Between 100 - 400 are
your best bets and anything above 400+ is a gift!”
The free version of WordTracker only lets you
look at MSN search which only accounts for about 22% of the daily searches on
the Internet. If you like what you’ve come up with, then great! If
not, go back and try again by scrolling clear down to the bottom of your
results page and clicking the “Give It Another Go” link.
You’ll be using
something like WordTracker almost every day as you’re developing your
e-books. It may pay you to buy a membership…they have several different
price levels. I use mine every day at least 3 or 4 times!
Here’s special PDF
keyword research instruction booklet full of great tips and techniques that
will help you a LOT with your keyword research. It’s FREE! Click Here!
To sum all of this up,
you need to see if your idea is being searched for…and if it is, how much
competition is out there.
You really don’t need
to worry too much about competition. I know that sounds stupid!
But, you really don’t! You’re going to learn a method that takes that
competition and makes it work FOR you instead of against you!
So, your first day has
been spent on research. You’ve found your best ideas and you
discovered how often that idea is searched for each day. That’s important
stuff! Tomorrow, you’ll learn how to pick up ideas that are already out
there. Then, the next day will be spent on actually writing your book and
the final day you’ll learn how to put it all together and start
selling!
Good work today! Get some rest and
be ready to roll tomorrow!
Well now, you’ve
learned a powerful technique in the last chapter. It allows you to tap
into your subconscious and drill for ideas. If you use that technique
consistently, it will only get more powerful…just like a bicep muscle does when
you exercise it!
The “Kumar Method” is
excellent for generating your own, original ideas…one’s that may be VERY
profitable…or ones that may be a big flop! That’s why we spent so much
time and effort on learning about niche research. With an original idea,
you MUST find out if there is, not only a market for your idea, but if the
market is willing to pay you for that idea.
I hope you’re
thinking…”There HAS to be an easier way to do that if I’m going to eventually
have dozens of products out there for sale!”
Well, there is!
But, please don’t discount your subconscious. Even if you decide to use
this second technique I’m going to teach you, that “drilling for ideas”
thing…the “Kumar Method”… will help you refine it, put a new twist on things…and…make
you a LOT more money!
A friend, and
exceptional marketer, John Reese, is famous for saying, “Sell what people are
buying!” Now, that’s so simple, you may just miss the power of the
statement. Let’s put it another way: Don’t re-invent the wheel…just
make it roll better.
Today’s work will help
you do just that.
Think, for a minute or two,
where you’d go to find out what people are, first of all, looking for…and
secondly, what they’re buying. The first part is pretty simple. There are
several sites that will show you the top 100 or 500 or 1000 searches for that
week. WordTracker has a free service that you can sign up for…they send
you a great list once a week. The list has the “trendy” searches, as well
as the searches that are continually in the top of the rankings.
The trendy list is highly influenced by holidays
and news events. WordTracker calls this list its “Surge Report”. If Brad
Pitt and Jennifer Anniston are in the news, you can be sure they’ll be in the
trendy list. Same with hurricanes and mine disasters. All of these
subjects spark very high search numbers, but they’re almost impossible to
predict…and usually go away so quickly that it’s just as impossible to create a
product and get it out in time to capitalize on them.
The second list is where the smart ones go to
drill! WordTracker calls this their “Long-Term Keyword Report”. These are
the traditional, everyday top searches. That’s the list you want to work
with! If a keyword is continually in the top 200 searched for items,
doesn’t it make sense that a LOT of people are searching for it every day?
Let’s take a look at a typical Long-Term Keyword
Report…this one is for November 1, 2005 and covers the 130 days prior to that
date.
4
159537 Paris
Hilton
10
129888 eBay
11
129087 poetry
15
97960 dogs
22
90441 top 100 baby names
The #4 position goes to the keyword phrase Paris
Hilton. In the 130 days prior to November 1, 2005, 159537 searches were
done for that phrase. That means that each and every day 1227 searches
were done! Since that phrase is a real person, writing a book with her
name in it may get you in trouble, but the phrase is instructive because it
shows you how to evaluate and interpret the list results.
The # 15 result is a good example for us to work
with. Its in the top 20…it’s a big, wide niche…and there are a lot of
sub-niches there.
If you go to the WordTracker free trial and just
type in the word “dogs”, you’ll find a gem! It has a KEI of 385!
So, maybe an e-book about dogs isn’t such a bad idea! That means that
people are searching for information on dogs…AND, that there isn’t a lot of
competition out there in this case!
If you do the same thing with the word eBay,
you’ll find another gem…a KEI of 703…but with a BIG number of competitors…34
MILLION! Is that something that should scare you off?
Absolutely not! In this case, for a couple
of reasons. First, the KEI is so high, and secondly, the number of
searches in a 24 hour period is so high!
So look, out of those 5 WordTracker list
results, we’ve found 2 gems…and maybe more! See what those lists can do
for you?
WordTracker isn’t the only tool to use to find
out where the action is, by any means! A friend of mine, David Guindon,
has developed a tremendous tool for examining another widely used site that
you’ve probably heard of…eBay! What better place to see what people are
interested in buying? And…if they’re interested in buying
something, could it be that they’d be interested in getting some information
about that item? You know, how to take care of it…how to use it
best. There’s your e-book!
David’s program is called Hot Item Finder…and
that’s EXACTLY what it does…easily and quickly! It’s VERY inexpensive and
pays for itself with one use. If you’d like to find out more about it,
you can click here. I use it almost
daily.
There are a TON of free places to do your market
research. Just take a moment and think about where you’d go to see what
people are buying. Did you come up with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CNET,
Tucows and a host of others? Then, good on you!
You’re thinking along the right lines.
The whole idea here is to find out what types of
things people are already buying…and buying a LOT of! Once you know that,
you’ve taken a giant step towards your first e-book! That’s a good place
to stop today. Tomorrow, we’ll refine your research even more!
Good job so far!
You’ve learned a lot and have started to put that knowledge into use.
Hopefully, you’ve learned how to get ideas out of your mind and down onto
paper, while at the same time, you’ve learned how to step back and take a look
at an overview of what’s actually being bought out there in the market.
Maybe, you’ve been smart enough to try the
“Kumar Method” out on your market research. If you have, you’re really
way ahead!
Last chapter, you found
out ways to see what people are buying. The chapter before that, you
learned about tapping your subconscious. Let’s put those two techniques
together for a moment and see what happens.
Do a little market
research and come up with 5 keywords or phrases that apply to things that
people are already buying…and buying a LOT of! You just learned about how
to do this…check WordTracker, check eBay, check the best sellers…all of those
things! Come up with a list of 5 potential keywords or items, or
topics. ONLY 5!
Now, just study that list of 5 for a few
minutes. Think about each keyword or phrase and then write down ideas
about each one of them. As fast as you can…with no editing (you ARE using
that pen, right?). That’s your conscious mind working. Now it’s
time to get your subconscious kicked into gear!
Us the Kumar Method to focus your mind on those
5 items…the last 5 things you were thinking about. Relax like we talked
about earlier and just let things flow out of your mind and onto the paper.
Do a 30 minute session. Most people find
that after 30 minutes or so, it becomes more difficult to keep their minds
focused on just the things they want to work on.
Again, you’re going to end up with 2 lists…your
conscious list and your subconscious list. Compare them like before and
find which one of the 5 items comes out with the most things scribbled down
about it. That’s probably the one you should pick to write about for your
first e-book!
That’s an important step you just took there
whether you knew it or not. You did some good research, you put some
quality conscious thought into it and then, you turned it over to your
subconscious to work on. If you TRULY went through those steps, then you
are definitely in the 5% of e-book authors (or soon-to-be authors!) who will
turn out an excellent product…one that people will LOVE , get a LOT out of…AND,
tell their friends about!
Pat yourself on the back and grab a cool
refreshment, but, don’t close this chapter yet. We have more work to do
today!
The very next thing you need to do is go out and
find everything you can on your subject. Let’s say you came up with
“diets for dachshunds” as your topic. You need to go out and find what’s
already been written on that subject.
Here’s an excellent FREE way to do just
that. Go to Google and type in your keyword or key phrase.
Take a look at the statistics there, but don’t worry too much about them right
now. The important part for you, at this point, is the bottom part of
that page…all of the website URLs you’ll see there.
Click on some of the top rated sites and see
what information they have on there. See what they have to say…what they
have to sell. See what price points they set for their products…if it IS
their own product! See what affiliate products they’re selling. If
it’s a popular product, don’t you think that people may be interested in
learning how to best…or better…use that product? Or maybe take care of
that product?
What you’re trying to do here is check out your
competition…get the lay of the land…do some reconnaissance! Not with the
idea of talking yourself OUT of writing a book about the topic, but with the
idea of getting you excited about it!
While you’re searching, make sure you find some
sites that have free articles about your chosen topic. Copy those
articles into a folder on your desktop entitled, “Resources”…we’ll come back to
them in just a bit.
Also, while you’re searching, try to find forums
that deal with your topic. That’s easy to do. Just go to Google and
type in forum: dogs or forum:dachshunds …you get the
idea. These forums are a treasure trove of great information! Make
sure you bookmark the ones that closely fit your topic…you WILL be coming back
to them! Add them to your resource file.
Take a little time on each of the forums to read
a few posts…see what questions people are asking…see what people are talking
about. Find a forum topic that has a lot of responses and read through
them. What you’re doing here is getting a feel for your market…what they
want to know…what they already know…what they buy…what they don’t buy…how they
talk. This will help immeasurably when tomorrow rolls around and you
start actually writing!
Now, let’s get back to that file you put on your
desktop. You should have quite a few articles in there by now if you’ve
been copying and swiping. That’s why it’s called a swipe file!
Everybody who’s really serious about marketing keeps one. If they see
something that looks really cool or interesting or applicable, they just add it
to their swipe file.
This is NOT a file to steal content from.
That’s just plain dumb…and illegal! It’s pretty hard to make a decent
living from the state pen! It’s your resource file. A resource for ideas,
methods, techniques that you may end up using in the future. The best way
to use a swipe file for your first e-book is to read through the applicable
content…articles, web pages, whatever …and internalize that information.
Think about how you could use that information in what you’re
accomplishing. Think about what the information means to you and how
you’d tell your wife, best friend, mother all about it without any notes.
So, during this session, you should’ve spent
nearly all four hours with your nose in Google. Getting a TON of
information in your swipe file… and more importantly, in your brain!
Tomorrow, we’ll get to work on getting all of
that information you’ve just put in there back out in an orderly and readable
manner. Remember what you’ve done here. This is one of the vital
steps to writing a great e-book.
If you have any spare time tonight, get yourself
buried in your swipe files and get your brain really filled up with information
about your topic. Don’t worry…we’ll get it out of there tomorrow!
Good job today!
Well…today’s the day you actually start
writing! Now’s a good time…before you get all involved in the writing…to
think back and see what we’ve covered since day one. You’ve covered a lot
of stuff…learned some techniques that were new to you…and, probably were a
little strange to you as well!
You may be getting
tired of all of the review we do at the beginning of each chapter. I’m
doing that for a very good reason! What you’re really trying to learn
here is the process…the process of how to write a book! Sure, this time
around I’m sort of holding your hand through that process, but the next time,
you’ll be on your own.
It’s sort of like when
you were first learning to drive. You had to concentrate on each step as
you took it. Put your foot on the brake, put it in reverse, check and see
if anything’s behind you…you remember having to think about all of that. After
a while, you just jumped in the car and took off! That’s what I want you
to be able to do when you start your next book.
So, up to this point,
we’ve talked about what you think about your writing ability…and given you some
powerful reasons to think more highly of it. I’ve also given you an
exceptional tool to grab ideas out of your sub-conscious and get them on paper
where you can work with them and make them come to life. You’ve learned
ways to work in niches, to find out if your ideas are profitable, and to start
filling your head with the first thoughts of your new e-book. Man!
That’s a lot in just 30 pages. Now it all starts to pay off…it’s time to
write! Let’s get going!
First of all, wipe that
sweat off your forehead, wipe those sweaty palms on your jeans and stop feeling
that knot in your stomach! This is going to be a lot better…and easier than
you think it is. Remember that “stinkin’ thinkin’” thing and look up at
the side of your computer monitor and see that piece of paper with those
promises you made yourself back a few days ago. Relax! This is
gonna be fun!
First of all, let’s
think up a catchy title for your new book. Grab that legal pad…and
pen! For the rest of this book, we’re going to say that your book will be
about diets for dachshunds. Whatever your topic is, write it down at the
top of a blank yellow pad page…right in the middle…and in BIG LETTERS.
DIETS FOR DACHSHUNDS
Although that phrase
alone may be a good title for a book, we’re looking for a title that will make
people want to read this book…not even want to…HAVE to read this book!
The best way to do that
is to insert some other words in there to grab their attention. Words
like, delicious, easy-to-do, cheap, healthy, …can all go before the word
diets. Words like your darling, your fat, overweight, older, …can
go in front of dachshund. Here’s what you need to do.
Right below that big topic title write a list of
descriptive words that will work with your topic…make it at least 10 words
long. Then, right below the big lettered topic, start writing the new
titles.
Delicious Diets For Your Darling Dachshund…Easy-To-Do Diets
For Your Fat Dachshund…Healthy Diets For Your Older Dachshund…and so on.
Do that with your
title. Have some fun with it. You probably will come up with some
really funny ones, and some really smelly ones! Doesn’t matter.
Just put them down on paper till you’ve used all of your words.
Now, sit back and read
each of them out loud! One or two of them will really sound good…really
sound like the title of a book that you’d probably buy. Those are the
ones to work with. All you have to do now is pick your favorite and
you’ve just come up with the title for your first book!
Here’s a little trick
that always gets me really going when I’m first starting a book. It may
work for you as well.
Go to Google and type
in your topic…dachshund, in our example book. Then, click on the “Images”
link right above the search box. You’ll find all kinds of pictures of
dachshunds. Take a few minutes and pick one that really catches your
eye. You have to know right here that you probably won’t be able to use
that exact picture for your book cover since it probably is copyrighted…I’ll
tell you a couple of places to get some great pictures that are copyright free
here in a minute…but just having a picture helps this process along
tremendously! Leave it up on your screen and continue.
Your next step is to
start an outline. How do you do that? Well, the best way to show
you is to refer you to the Table Of Contents for this book. Just click on the link and
you’ll be taken there.
That’s what we want to
end up with…a list of chapters.
But for now, we need an
outline before we get it in that shape. The first shape your outline will
take is just a list of everything you want to tell me about diets for
dachshunds. Do you want to tell me a little history of dachshunds?
Do you want to tell me how many dachshunds are registered in the US? Do
you want to tell me about the different kinds of dachshunds?
How about health problems that dachshund
routinely suffer from?
Just write down
everything you can think of to tell me about dachshunds right there on your
legal pad. Put each thing on a separate line and leave a few…3-4…lines
between them. We’ll fill those spaces in momentarily. Don’t edit
yourself here! Just write everything down for now!
If you look at my Table
Of Contents, you’ll see that I ended up with 10 chapters. (There’s more
there, but I always use an introduction, a summary chapter, and a resource
chapter in every book. We’ll cover that tomorrow in greater depth.)
What you don’t see there is that my list of
things I wanted to say was about 30 lines long rather than 10. So, keep
writing! Don’t try to put anything in order right now. Just throw
all of your ideas down on the page.
You should be able to
come up with 20-40 things you want to say about dachshunds. If you don’t
have that many, go back to your resource file and read some more. Try to
get at least 20 lines filled up on that legal pad. This will take you
some time, so I’ll go get a Pepsi while you’re happily writing. I TOLD
you this wasn’t going to be so bad, now, didn’t I?
That wasn’t so hard…he
said between chugs of Pepsi…now was it? You’d done your research, you’d
read about your topic, you’d read articles on the topic, you’d visited forums
that talk about the topic…there was a LOT of stuff in your brain that you
didn’t even know was there!
If you’re REALLY smart
and really want to have a great first book, you’ll use the Kumar method on your
list of things you want to tell me to see if there is anything in your
sub-conscious that needs to be added to the list. You might just be
surprised here!
Okay, you’ve got a page
full of things to say now. Each thing is on a separate line with several
lines in between them. All you need to do is fill in those blank lines between
each thing you wanted to say. Those are the details.
For example, if your first line was the history
of dachshunds, then your detail lines would be something like, Came from
Europe, Used for hunting, Hunting ferrets, used by royalty, brought to US in
1813, good natured dogs, loyal, protective, weak backs.
Now, you see that some
of those things don’t fit under the history of dachshunds, do they? Weed
those out and put them under another main topic. Keep doing that until
you have 8-10 things under each topic. Anytime you need to refresh your
ideas, go back to the resource file or do the Kumar thing again. See why
those things are so important now?
Ideally, you want to
end up with about 10-20 main topics with about 10 sub-topics below each
one. Do you see what you’re doing here? You’re actually writing the
book!
Each of those main
topics will probably end up being a chapter. The points below them will
be the individual paragraphs in that chapter.
One last thing before
we call it quits for tonight. You have quite a few main topics
there. You need to get them in some kind of logical order so the reader…your
reader… won’t feel like you’re jumping around all over the place. The
absolute BEST way to do that is to read the topics out loud! See if the
way you have them ordered makes sense to you when you’re talking them.
Pretend you’re talking to your beloved Uncle Gus. Read him the topics and
see what he thinks…he’ll let you know!
Can you see this e-book thing starting to come
together? Can you see how close you are to having it done? That
ought to REALLY excite you! I know it excites me.
You did a good job
today. By the way, have you forgotten those sweaty palms and that knot in
your stomach? I thought you might!
Tomorrow, we put it all together. Be there!
Okay! Today’s the
day! By the end of this chapter, you’ll have your very first
e-book! Do you feel it yet? Do you feel like that guy who’s
running the mile and is coming around the final turn and can see the finish
line? You should! You’ve done a LOT of work to get here. But,
now isn’t the time to slow down…it’s the time to do what the milers call “kick
it”. That’s where you suck it up, reach down and get all you have in you
and run as fast as you can!
That’s exactly what
we’re going to do in this chapter. We’re going to cover a whole lot…in
great detail and at a pretty fast pace. Why? Momentum! You’re
excited right now because you can smell, taste that e-book. I want that
enthusiasm you’re feeling right now to come out in your writing…it’ll make a
HUGE difference in the words you choose, in how you put those words together…in
how your book sounds to your readers…in how well it sells!
So…let’s get going!
I’m going to be talking
a LOT about Microsoft Word in this chapter. Most people have this
installed already. If you don’t have Word, you can go to http://download.openoffice.org/2.0.1/index.html and download Sun
Microsystems Open Office. It’s a great office suite…has a TON of
features, most of which are almost entirely identical to Word features
(sometimes better)…and it’s FREE! Please save yourself some frustration
and use either Word or Open Office. Microsoft Works just doesn’t do some
of the things you’ll need to do with your book.
Now, you still have
that yellow legal pad you were working with in the last chapter, I hope?
The one with all of the things you wanted to say about your topic…and all of
the explanatory details you added to those points.
Good, grab it and sit
down in front of Word (Open Office) and let’s get going on your book.
Okay, the first thing
we’re going to do is actually construct your book. I’ve found over the
years that this really helps me get everything straight in my head before I
even get started doing a lot of writing…I’m sure it will help you as well.
Go ahead and open Word
up and get a new page started. Then, before you type a word on the page,
minimize it!
Let’s go get a cover
picture for your book first. You can easily find just about any type of
picture you want at a couple of sites I’ve found over the last several
months. The first site will cost you a little bit of money…about $1.00 a
picture…but it is well worth it! It’s called I-Stock www.istock.com
They have more pictures there than you can shake a stick at! The deal is
that you have to set up an account with them and fund that account with, at
least, $10.00. Then, you can grab any picture you want…most are
$1.00…download it and use it till your heart’s content. Well worth the
money! The pictures are excellent quality and are big enough so you don’t
have to stretch them and get them all out of whack.
The second site, stockexchange, http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml has a TON of free-use pictures. You have
to read the individual license, but you’ll find a bunch of great pictures there
as well as some paid ones. They work the money the same way that Istock
does.
So, go grab you a picture, save it to your hard
drive someplace where you can find it again and let’s get back to Word.
What we’re going to do is actually build the
book first…before you even start writing it!
You’re very first page is going to be your cover
page with the picture you just downloaded, the title, your name and the
copyright statement. Look at the cover of this e-book to see what I’m
talking about here.
Remember that list of things you wanted to say
about your topic…the one with the sub-topics written in right below each main
topic? That’s going to be your guide for writing starting right
now. The first main topic will be your first chapter. The sub-topics
underneath of it will be the paragraphs for that particular chapter.
So, go ahead and put your first topic at the top
of your first REAL page and start writing. Now, you have 5-7 sub-topics
there. Let’s say your first sub-topic is “Came from Europe”. All
you need to do is write a paragraph that says just that. Something like:
Dachshunds were first bred in Europe in the 1600s mainly by the wealthy barons
of Germany.
The first written reference to dachshunds
was… you get the idea. Write 3-4 sentences about each sub-topic and
then, when you finished that idea, move on to the next sub-topic.
When you’ve finished your sub-topics, you’ve
just about finished the chapter. Do a last paragraph that summarizes the
chapter and then a sentence that introduces the next chapter and then you’re
done!
See how simple that is? It really cuts the
BIG task of writing a book into much more manageable tasks…a chapter…a
paragraph at a time!
One VERY important thing here! Unless
you’re a college professor who’s writing to other college professors, don’t try
to sound like one! Make what you say sound exactly like what you’d say if
you and I were sitting on your front porch or on your living room couch and
just talking. Envision telling your Uncle Jim about dachshunds and then
just write those words. Don’t use a lot of big words or try to be
fancy…just TALK to me!
One of the best ways I’ve found to do that is
the use of contractions. You’ll notice I use a lot of them. I don’t
say, you will notice…I say you’ll notice. Isn’t that how
you speak naturally? This one little tip will help you get in the mood
for typing like you talk.
Another tip: type EXACTLY what you
think…don’t try to put it in better, fancier words…if you think something, just
type it! When you’re typing, don’t go back and proofread it right
then.
Just type…you can always go back and correct
things…PLUS, Word will highlight things that aren’t right for you! Get
the chapter done and then, if you need a break, go back and see what Word has
to say about what you did wrong…spelling, grammar, that stuff…fix it, read it
out loud to yourself and then go on to the next chapter.
At first, you’re going to feel a little strange
typing this way, but after a while, it’ll actually start to be a fun way to
communicate! And, truthfully, a very profitable way to communicate!
People like to have you…the author…talk WITH them, not TO them…and, especially
not DOWN to them. If you imagine you’re talking to a favorite uncle…good old
Uncle Jim…your best friend, your wife…whoever…you’ll be a long way to
communicating…to writing…in a manner that people will like and buy more of!
Okay, you’ve got your first chapter done.
Go ahead and move on to chapter two and repeat the process again and
again. One great thing about writing like you talk is that you don’t have
to spend a lot of time trying to come up with just the right word.
Things just flow out of you better and go onto
the page better when your thoughts go right to your fingers rather than being
edited before they ever make it there.
Keep trying to make your fingers type exactly
what you’re thinking. It gets easier as you do more of it. I
believe that, as you re-read your chapters, you’ll be surprised at just how
GOOD you’ve done. Why’s that, you ask?
It’s because your language is fitting well with
how your brain works and seems very natural. It’ll be the same with your
readers. They literally hear each word or phrase as they scan it with
their eyes, so your natural writing style will definitely please them!
Keep up the process of topics…sub-topics… chapters… paragraphs…
until you’ve finished your whole outline. Take some time between chapters
to re-read and correct the little things, but keep on typing…the end is near
First of all, you need
to reach your arm up over your shoulder and pat yourself on the back!
You’ve just accomplished something that very few people ever do…you’ve written
your own e-book! You have your own product now! Welcome to the big
leagues!
Your book still needs a
little polishing, but you’re nearly finished!
All you need to do now
is go back through the entire book and READ IT OUT LOUD! That may sound
really stupid to you and you may feel REALLY stupid doing it, but just do
it! Here’s why: The average reader actually “hears” the words in
their head as they read. If what you’ve written doesn’t sound right to
you when you read it out loud, it probably won’t sound right to your readers
either.
So, don’t skip this
step! Read it out loud and change things that need changed. One of
the things I do is use a LOT of contractions. I’ll instead of I
will…don’t instead of do not. You get the idea here. Think about
how you talk and try to write like that…as we discussed in the last chapter.
Make sure you check
your spelling. Word does a pretty good job of this, but has some built-in
errors. For example, if you forget to put an “r” on “your” and write it
as “you”, Word won’t display that as a spelling error because “you” is spelled
right. That’s the second reason for reading it out loud…to save yourself
from some embarrassing spelling errors.
Now’s the time to watch
for paragraphs at the bottom of a page. Try not to split a paragraph
between pages. Our testing over the years shows that this REALLY bugs
readers! Just slide that last paragraph down to the next page and your
readers will thank you for it!
If you have links in
your text that you want to be clickable, now’s the time to check them as
well. Word will make anything you tell it to into a link…even if it’s
spelled wrong! Nothing is as frustrating as wanting to click on a link
that your book has gotten me really interested in and it doesn’t work!
Check them!
What you’re working on
here is the reading experience. This is a HUGE issue! Your goal is
to write a book that people will buy…that’s a given. But, what you REALLY
want is for those initial buyers to become long term customers…your long
term customers! If your books are pleasant to read, are laid out well and
are written in a way that sounds like you’re talking with them…you WILL make
them long term customers…and have a long term business! This is an
important lesson for you to learn right now, during the preparation of your
first book. Put some time into it, it’ll pay you dividends for years!
Okay, you’ve read your
book out loud, changed sentences that didn’t sound right, checked ALL of your
spelling, checked your links if you have any, and paid attention to where the
paragraphs land on the page. You’re ready to transform your book into a
format that will allow your readers to easily enjoy and learn from it.
There are two
major formats for distributing an e-book to your customers…PDF and EXE.
I’m very partial to the PDF format for one big reason. In all of the
books I’ve written, I’ve done only one EXE book…and gotten the absolute MOST
customer complaints and requests for customer service of my writing career!
EXE books just don’t work on some computers…EXE books cause people’s computers
to throw up all kinds of warning windows they’ve never seen before…and, just
guess who they ask about that warning…you, the author!
For that reason, I’m
going to suggest that, at least for your first book, you decide to use the PDF
format. If you’re dead set on distributing your book as an EXE, then I’ll
recommend you take a look at Dave MacGregor’s product, EasyEbookPro http://www.easyebookpro.com/ It’s about the simplest I’ve seen and
works well. It’s inexpensive at $47.00 and is well worth it. Just
remember, EXE books have some built-in problems that aren’t very much fun for a
beginning writer!
When it comes to
turning your Word document into a PDF document, Adobe Acrobat is the gold
standard of the entire PDF field. Two things stand in the way of everyone
using it. Its cost…expensive…and its learning curve… pretty
difficult! If you already have Adobe on your computer…good on you, just
use it. If you don’t have Adobe, then try this great FREE solution that
does what you need done without a lot of hassles.
PDF 995, www.pdf995.com , will do everything
you need done to your book simply and easily. Take a look at that site
and then we’ll talk about how to make your PDF a real winner!
So, have you got a PDF
converter all ready to go? The PDF995 solution isn’t hard to figure out,
but before you start converting it you need to do a few things first.
Go to your Table Of
Contents page, highlight it and copy it to your clipboard. Now, open a
new document and paste the TOC onto the new page. Save it with a name
like “MyEbookTOC” and set it aside.
Do the exact same thing
with the introduction to your book. You remember, the chapter where you
wrote your motivations, your goals, what you hoped the reader would get from
the book…all of that. Highlight that, copy it and paste it into a new
document. Save it as something you can find.
So, what you end up
with are 3 different documents…the entire book, the Table Of Contents, and the
Introduction…that are ready to be converted to PDF.
We’ll get to what
you’re going to do with the other two documents you made in the next chapter,
so don’t worry about that for now. Just get all three converted to PDF.
Once you have them converted, you MUST open the
PDF files and check out how they look…check to see if any links you inserted
are still functional…check how the paragraphs fall on the page as we discussed
previously. If it doesn’t for some reason, delete that PDF file and do it
again after making the necessary changes to your original Word doc. It’s
back to that old reading experience thing we talked about!
Do all three docs, get
them looking great, and then read on!
Yep…you’re finally done! It’s ready to go
to market and make you some money.
Marketing an e-book is an entire book all in itself, so I
won’t even attempt to do all of that in just one chapter. I WILL,
however, give you a quick list of what’s worked for me over the last 6+ years
and let you decide what’s best for you.
First of all, if you don’t have web hosting, you need to get
signed up with someone. You HAVE to have your own PAID hosting…no two
ways about it! When you’re looking at hosting, you don’t have to worry so
much about the storage space…at least for a while…or the bandwidth. What
you DO have to look at is the types of scripts that will run on the hosting
companies servers…PHP, CGI, that sort of thing. You also DO have to look
at any extra scripts the hosting includes.
Even if you have your own paid hosting now, it’s worth it to
take a look at hosting companies that have a built-in affiliate management
script. You’re going to be using one here very shortly and if you have
one built in you’re way ahead of the game in time, support and money.
You need to have a good…no, very good…website to sell
your book from. Just some basics here: (These have all been tested
thoroughly, by the way.) You need to have either a very unobtrusive
header or no header at all. That varies with your target market and is
something you’ll have to test for yourself.
Your sales page must be very focused on your product…no
other distractions, no AdSense, no extra links…just the product.
You must have a good headline…one that immediately tells the
visitor what your book will do for them.
You must have a list of benefits that the visitor will reap
if they buy your book. 7-10 bullet points seems to be the consistent
winner in testing. Make each bullet point answer the question “What’s In
It For Me?” WIIFM.
This is important! You already have quite a leg up on
others since you’ve just learned how to write effectively…communicate
effectively… during the process of working with this book! Keep that
conversational tone…keep using those contractions…talk WITH the reader, not TO
them!
Get a professional e-book cover done for you! Please,
unless you’re an e-cover pro, don’t try to make your own! You’ve worked
too hard on your book to ruin it with a cheesy looking e-cover.
Your sales copy needs to be written in Verdana font.
Break up the copy with relevant sub headlines.
There are a TON of other things you can do to a website to
make it sell better for you. The absolute most important thing you have
to do is…GET THE WEBSITE UP AND OUT THERE! You won’t make a dime unless
the website is live and trying to attract visitors, so don’t study it to death
or design it to death…just put it out there and THEN work on it. Most
people don’t do this. You need to be different than most people!
Here are the EXACT steps I take to market a new e-book.
1. Write the sales copy while the book is still fresh in my
mind. I even start on the copy while I’m writing sometimes, especially if
I’m really in to the topic right then.
2. Make a sample chapter…the introduction that you did as a
separate PDF…and publish it to my server. I’ll use that as a free sample
of the book…of course, I try to get a name and email address for the privilege
of downloading it…but I DON’T require it! I always give them a small link
somewhere at the bottom of the signup form that will take them directly to the
download. My main objective is to sell an e-book…the sample chapter will
do that for me. So I want as many people as possible to download it. It’s
a lot like seeing people in Barnes and Noble skimming through the books before
they buy.
3. I always put the Table Of Contents on the sales
page. Tests show that this action alone can boost sales as much as
28%! I also offer the TOC as a download as well.
4. I always have a professional e-cover done for the book.
I’m very picky about this and only use the best e-cover creators.
5. I always use a “buy” button, that says something
like…”Grab Your Copy Right Now!”…or…”get Your Copy Today!” instead of “Click
Here To Buy”
6. I always use a 30-day money-back guarantee, worded as
strongly as I can to put all of the risk of buying the book on my shoulders and
NOT the customers.
7. I usually don’t offer bonuses…but in the rare cases that
I have, I made sure that the bonuses were relevant to the topic of my book…not
just a bunch of junk!
8. I ALWAYS offer an affiliate program! I started out
using ClickBank to gather affiliates, but have since moved to using my own
affiliate manager. That’s where selecting the right web host makes all of
the difference…my affiliate manager is built in!
9. I always make sure the affiliates make more money than I
do! I always set the commission level at 50% or above and MAKE SURE that
those affiliates get paid on time, every time!
10. I always send FREE copies of the book
to friends for their
testimonials…and
I always use 5-7 testimonials on every
sales
page.
As I said before, this has all been well tested and
continues to be tested periodically to make sure the techniques are still
working.
All of this should give you some good ideas for your first
sales site. The KEY is to get the site up and running! Don’t
hesitate! Go ahead and do it…right now! If you wait until it’s
perfect in your eyes, you’ll never make a dime, because you’ll always find
something else to change…to make better. Put it out there, check the
stats, change things as needed, but, PUT IT OUT THERE!
That’s a really short marketing course, but it’s enough to
get you started in the right direction. Just take action!
We’ll wrap everything up in the next chapter and get out of
here!
Well, this has been
quite a journey! You started out being a little afraid…c’mon you can
admit it now that we’re friends…of writing. You started out wanting a
product of your own, but only had…maybe…an idea, but NO idea of what to do from
there.
You learned some great
ways to get your ideas down on paper as well as get ideas out of your
sub-conscious. That Kumar method will serve you well in many areas…not
just writing! Use it, you’ll be amazed at what your brain can come up
with.
You learned about niche
research…how to do it quickly and efficiently. You learned to sell what
people are already buying. AND…you learned how to merge your ideas with
your niche research to come up with an idea for your first e-book.
You made an outline of
your book…topics and sub-topics…and learned how to turn that outline into an
actual book, which you then learned how to market!
All in all, that’s a
LOT of stuff to learn! You should feel pretty good about yourself about
now…you’ve accomplished a lot!
I hope the main things
you take away from this book are the facts that you CAN write anything you want
and you CAN learn to effectively write in a way that gets your ideas across to
others in a way that is pleasing to them. If you’ve learned that, you’re
many steps ahead on the way to being a successful e-book writer.
Keep using the Kumar
method…keep writing exactly as you think… keep writing like you’re talking to a
good friend or Uncle Jim…just keep writing!
Your next book will be
a LOT easier. The one after that will be even easier than the second
one. You’ve made a great start here! Learn how to make money from
your books and then just write a TON of them. Now, THAT’S the way to have
a truly BIG online business!
I’d like to thank you
for reading this book. It’s been a pleasure to write it for you. It
was sort of like a brain dump for myself…a chance to look at how I work…and how
well my process works for me! And, you know what? It works pretty
well…I LIKE it!
I’d love to hear about
your first e-book and how the process worked for you. I’d love to hear
about your successes, big or little…as well as what didn’t work for you.
The main thing is…DO
SOMETHING! Take action. Make a goal and jump in there and achieve
that goal. You can do that, I have no doubt! Wishing you success in
everything!
BOBBY GOWEN
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