Here is the true story of a rank beginner. It will be an e Book later on, you can be sure of that, but for readers of the EbookNewsroom.com right now, it tells the story of “How I got Started.” I did some things good and some not so good. This is one of those “tell all” ebooks written one post at a time about ebook publishing, and selling ebooks….all from a writer’s point of view.
One of the best things I did was get started.
Some folks just never seem to get started with anything new to them. I will not get preachy about this, but at some point, you just have to get started. I’ll try to tell as much about my blogging journey as I can so maybe you can avoid a few pitfalls. Oh, I was never embarrassed by my blog writing. I knew I could do that part. I’ve seen too many other bloggers who are millionaires and can not spell c-a-t.
The hesitancy and procrastination issue was something else for me.
I was embarrassed that I should have known the ‘nuts and bolts’ of blogging, computer lingo, html code, pixels, Wordpress, SEO, and so on…….but I didn’t. I used a computer daily. I was in an office full of computers. I owned all the computers. But I didn’t REALLY know how to use them other than what I did specifically on them day in and day out.
Looking back on it all, “Why should I have known the ‘techie’ side of blogging and ebooks online and all. Nothing in my background could have prepared me for any of it.” I was a newspaper man, a writer, a publisher. I knew about other stuff, just not ‘that’ stuff. There, I feel better now.
Most writer’s don’t know all that “stuff” either, and that is what stops many of us from ever getting started writing that first best selling Ebook. You know…The one that keeps on selling month after month and allows us the income to do what we really want….write the phenomenal best seller of all time. Something else we should aspire to in the meantime is to write the phenom of all ‘how-to ebooks‘.
We know about writing. We know about analyzing, researching, spelling, grammar. But many of us don’t know how to get started. Two things to mention about all that…It’s not as easy as some might suggest in lots of books and programs folks are trying to sell you and ….it’s not as hard as it looks.
It does take some study and perseverance. That’s all. Mainly perseverance. You CAN find a way over that ‘techie’ hurdle if you just ask for help and can look in the right places. Cursing helps some also. EbookNewroom is designed will help you get started in the right direction.
So who is EbookNewsroom.com for? I thought about that some. Here are a few suggestions: Fiction ebook writers, travel ebook writers, romance ebooks, and folks who have specific knowledge about subjects and can write a “How To” ebook. If you can explain it to a tape or digital recorder, you can have it written for you. Just about anybody who wants to publish an ebook themselves can do it trained writers or not.
If you are a writer and can learn to be a marketer, you are so far ahead of the game. You will be a rich person and my “new best friend.”
1. I’ll tell you what I did right
2. I’ll laugh and tell you what I did wrong
3. I’ll tell you about some of the tools I use and some useless things I bought.
4. I’ll tell you about a huge time waster, distraction, and how to avoid it.
5. I’ll tell you ‘one way’ I did what I did. There are many good ways to go about this business model, mine is just one way. There are lots of talented people out there in internet land and I constantly learn something different. I’m glad I started the way I did and learned from there. Oh, and I will tell you who specifically I learned from.
Here we go.
One of my first introductions to ebooks was reading a classified ad in a magazine about some character who wrote “how to” ebooks. I was probably in college at the time and THAT was a few yeas ago. The ad and information stuck with me for a long time. He sold his little catalog of “how to” ebooks on building doghouses, tool sheds, catching catfish, and lots more. It also sold something else. He sold “How To” sell ebooks or booklets as he called them. He explained how easy it was. Anybody can do it type stuff. Remember, this ad was in a magazine, not on the internet. At that time, there was no internet as we know it.
The ad was a smaller 1×1 display ad about writing “how to ebooks” for fun and profit. The phrase “for fun and profit” has also stuck with me. You mean you can have fun AND make a profit writing how to e books. WOW! I know, some folks will say I’m easily amused, but that’s the way it was.
It was a long time ago, but that ad has stuck with me. Here he was, probably just some old guy who knew how to build something and he wrote a rudimentary ebook about it. Except the ebook was mailed out and not delivered digitally. I’m telling you that guy was not writer, but he was a marketer. He did take action.
If that old guy did it, so can you.
He found something he could do and he built on that. He found something that worked for him and he kept on, refined it, tested what worked and did it some more. That ad was probably in the back of a fishing magazine, hunting magazine, or somewhere men hang out and read stuff. Now he would target his market to women’s magazines, teen magzines, and a number of other unique niches.
Now fast forward a couple of decades.
Even though I had written literally thousands of pages of newspaper articles, thousands of sports stories, thousands of political stories, and the assorted obits of friends and foes, feature stories, human interest, and ‘man bites dog’ stories by the hundreds…..I did not know a thing about blogging, writing e books, and most important, marketing ebooks.
Yes, I am actually an award winning newspaper columnist as chosen by my peers. I have some very impressive wall plaques for award winning columns, biting editorials, feature writing, and more. But the true fact is, there are lots more talented writers out there than me who have never won a thing. They have never been judged by their peers and academic judges as I have.
Why? They just never got started.
When I decided to start blogging and writing about the ebook business, I had to start again as a beginner. That scares most people out of ever trying.
The stories I could tell you about “ignorance on fire”….
In fact, there were so many things I did not know it is now amusing to look back on those humble beginnings. There was one good thing I did, and we’ll get to that in a post on down the line.
So, here I was, an experienced writer of newspaper articles. One who knew word nuances, how to use words, a semi-proficient copywriter, and I actually have a decent although not overwhelming vocabulary. I possessed basic computer skills and vividly remember switching over from using a pencil and a yellow legal pad which I handed to a typist to set the copy for me. I switched from pencil and paper to computer and keyboard without much problem. I remember being very concerned that I would not be able to transfer my ‘thinking’ skills to a keyboard. It was a real concern for me.
Those basic computer skills led me to be able to use a basic skill set in formatting a story, mild pagination skills, some Photoshop, and a bit more than your average child of today. It was a big thing for me. It can be a big thing for you also.
So, keep reading and I’ll regularly update you on how I got started with EbookNewsroom.com and blogging in general and best of all, ebooks and how to get started on your first best seller.
Here’s one thing I did when I first got started to guide me through the blog set up procedure….so I could also get started writing about ebooks. I’m not sure you are ready for this yet, but at some point you will be. The two guys in the picture on the banner are two Aussies who really know what they are doing . I actually used this information when I first started. There are 10 great free videos on how to start your blog. It’s just one tip I will give to get you started in the right direction.
Next post….I’ll explain my unique strategy of having a ‘learning’ blog before I got started with a ‘money’ blog.
