Research tips for profitable eBooks

by david on October 28, 2008

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Over the last 5 years, eBooks have been selling like hot cakes. Interestingly, if you study the eBook market, you would realize that a majority of websites or even individuals who sell eBooks may not be great writers themselves. But you and I also both know this does not stop a determined individual with a story to tell or a product to sell.

If you have problems writing your book yourself, professional writers can be hired at very reasonable costs to write an e book. There are writing mentors or coaches out there who will assist you in that part of the process if you need that assistance. If you can’t find one, leave a comment on this page and I’ll get back to you with a source.

What’s important is for you to bring in a knowledge, passion, or belief in your subject. That’s what makes your unique writing sell in the first place. Anyone can be taught how to put the words down; it’s what is being said that is important.

Alternatively, writing the book yourself, even without prior experience is certainly an option. Here are several guidelines and tips for getting started writing your next eBook .

eBooks deliver complete, instantly available, expert knowledge in a single, easily handled package. Creating an eBook may not require prior experience, but it certainly requires careful planning and considerable groundwork.

You create eBooks with a focus of building an ongoing, lifelong multiple stream of income. In addition, eBooks should be created with the aim of raising your credibility and trust ratings with clients or customers.

Selling eBooks comprises of three phases:
1) Researching and developing an idea for the book
2) Writing the eBook
3) Marketing the eBook

In this we’re going to focus on how to research and find a profitable idea to write about.

Researching Topics

The Internet is primarily used to communicate, entertain, educate and research. It is no wonder then that information-intensive eBooks are the most popular online products at the current time.

How do you decide on a subject for your eBook?

The simple answer is research, research, and more research.

Your main objective is to write on a subject that has long term appeal. After all, you would like to derive as much profit out of your eBook as possible. It’s necessary that your subject does not get outdated a couple of months after you write it – otherwise it’s going to need continually updating. Just keep in mind, that updating eBooks these days with certain software, is very easy to do.

The best way to choose a topic is to figure out what people look for. This can be done by analyzing top searches at Search Engines. Many search engines as well as other popular portals such as Search Terms keep track of the most popular searches over a period. Besides, there are many other tools such the Keyword Live Software from Google that monitors top search terms at Google’s Search Engines. You could use these lists to figure out the most popular subjects. The new Google Keyword Research Tool is a fancy helper in searching for great keywords and competition in that field.

The next step is to carefully analyze some of the most popular subjects. You can use Google’s keyword search tools to determine popular search terms similar or relevant to the one’s you have listed. The tool even suggests other keywords for you to consider.

This will give you a much more specific and focused list to work from. However, deciding to write an eBook based on a popular search term may not be a very smart idea. The key is to establish the exact need of the people you are targeting. Look for buyers trying to solve a certain problem. Quitting Smoking, pet training, relationship building, are all good topics. You get the picture…try to solve an immediate problem with your unique perspective and info product.

There may be many eBooks that target the same subject. However, most of them would probably be devoid of some aspect of the subject that you would have some expertise in. Remember, unless your eBook fills this void or solves a pressing problem, it might not be a success.

Creating the eBook without any writing experience is not difficult. With a little bit of research and learning you can create an eBook that is workable. The toughest part is to get hold of a killer idea. After all, eBooks are all about ideas — the better your idea, the higher your sales.

Writing the eBook might be the easy part for you. Physically creating the eBook might be a little harder. However, we here at Ebook Newsroom have some good solutions for you to try out risk free. Glad to be of some help to all the writers out there.

Armand Moran contributed to this article

Armand Morin is a world renowned marketing expert who has helped thousands of online entrepreneurs with his bestselling eBook software programs. To claim your free information which outlines exactly how to create your own best selling ebook, go to: eBook Generator Software

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eBooks can be easy (or not)

by david on October 26, 2008

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How about some short tips and a homework assignment?
As a newspaper editor for many years, it became easier and easier to write articles. The more I would get into an article, the more interested I would get. It’s the same with writing an eBook. It’s really just like anything else, It just gets easier every time you do it.
Let’s break it down. You can be very easily discouraged at the bottom of a big hill, but after a hundred steps upwards, you can look back with a certain amount of pride and your hill just got smaller. I have had lots of articles submitted to me by readers who were not real good with grammar and style, but they had really good ideas on certain subjects. This may be you. Don’t worry about the grammar and style to start with. You can always get someone to edit your material. Later on, I’ll even show you how to get your article written by a professional from just your specific notes.

Here’s a few steps I find helpful

1. Start with what you are interested in. If you are a rank beginner, “How To” eBooks are a great place for many people. There are so many things I don’t know how to do that I always like to read a little about a subject before I get started on something. As I write this article, Thanksgiving is coming up. I will search the internet and find an article on deep frying a turkey to make sure I’m up to speed. It’s a Texas thing for a man to do and we all gather around and cuss and discuss while we go about frying the turkey. Somehow, I always seem to get more tips on how to do this by finding something on the internet. “One of these days” if someone does not beat me to it, I’ll write a short $10 ebook complete with photos, on how to fry a turkey. That’s a good example of something “you” might know about already. Can you beat me to it? Probably! So, start with writing “How To” do something you know about. I can’t define for you what that is, but you sure can.

2. Do your research and put in lots of helpful information. Add links to informational sites. You will find over and over in the eBook business that providing excellent value is the best thing you can do. Give lots of sources for your information. Don’t hold back on where to look for more information. This will not only establish your own credibility, it will enhance your standing as the go-to guy or gal in your field. You will be known as an authority in your field. Bottom line: Don’t hold back the good stuff.

3. Who are you writing your eBook for? Who is your audience and readership. Kids, Women. Men, Boys, Girls, Adults. Tradesmen, Professional women or men? Get to know your audience and what sorts of information they might be looking for. As a writer of eBooks, when I first got started, I wanted specific information. I already knew how to write in either a professional voice or a folksy voice. What I specifically wanted to know was how to produce the information, publish the information, and sell the information.
Good sources to find a niche in your market are Google Alerts, Yahoo Answers, Wikipedia, Amazon, Ezine Articles.com, Article City, and one of my favorites, YouTube. You can make a complete market just out of Youtube.

4. Have a keen eye for what works for others. Newspaper editors and writers in general have a unique ability to restate things in different ways. Give me an article and I can rewrite it to fit my own style and make it mine. It’s relatively easy to do. No, what I’m talking about is not stealing an article from someone. I don’t write like other writers. You don’t either. Make a popular niche your own by immersing yourself in that niche and rewriting an “idea” in your own voice and your own understanding.

5. Choose your titles like an advertising pro. Watch what is interesting to you and adapt it to your own article. Read Ads in newspapers and magazines. Read the ‘pitch pages’ for internet products. Use interesting headlines and article titles. If you know the best-By-God way to catch a catfish, then say it like you mean it. If you have a recipe for lemon pudding that will make your mouth water and pucker, describe it in you headline. If you are a CPA and are writing an ebook on how to I can save money on my taxes or business, tell us all how to do that without using technical terms.. If you are a video gamer, give us a great tip, a way to win at that frustrating video game, poker game, or make something intriguing so we want to read or buy your eBook. Don’t hold back!

6. As you gain experience, don’t limit your self. Don’t just stay with what you are familiar with. In order to make the big bucks in the Ebook business, you can do a little research and write on any subject. We’ll get into internet research a little later. Write your eBook on what is selling, not what someone already knows. The object is to sell. If you are a football coach, write an eBook on the 10 best drills for linemen. If your sport is golf, and there are millions and millions of golfers by the way, give me 5 tips to improve my putting. Write what sells.

My final tip and YOUR assignment for the day from EbookNewsroom.com is for you is to get familiar with the New Google Keyword tools. Enter a keyword phrase, pick one you might be interested in, and see what comes up. BTW, a keyword may be one word, two words, or more. An example of a keyword might be ‘golf putting tips’. If there is a market with lots of demand and medium competition, that might be a good niche for your eBook. Start browsing, becoming familiar with the Google Keyword search tool now and we will use it a lot more later on. Go to Google.com and find the new keyword tool. You will have to click on it and enter a phrase to gain access. Have fun with it. You’ll need this skill in your eBook business. You will know you are on the correct Google Keyword site when you have to fill out a capcha form. The old site does not have the form.

Also, click on the ads to the right. Yes, these are some of the tools of the trade and I am an affiliate of this company (and others), but just as important as becoming familiar with some great tools, read the ad pages or ‘pitch’ pages that go along with these products. They are some of the best and you need to start immersing yourself in what is available and being able to write what sells and SELL what you write. Isn’t that what you want to do?

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Just getting started

by david on October 18, 2008

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David Werst, a veteran 4th generation newspaperman, is editor and publisher of Ebook Newsroom, a site designed to be a place to learn about producing and marketing your own ebooks, digital information products, pdf books, and the ebook business side of things. You can find ebooks free if you search correctly and we will show you how to do that. What is it all about? “Ebook Newsroom will be the place for ebook resource center, ebook news, and the place to get tips for your exciting Ebook business.

Click Here to Watch the FREE Blogging Video Tutorials

Management, production, and marketing can be a complicated world, but Ebook Newsroom will address the issues writers have in creating the digital book of their dreams.

From scholarly ebooks to the very useful “how to ebook” that give specific information, “We will journey together finding sources, giving tips and resources, and trying to make things easier for writers who are not especially techie experts as I call them. Why do I call them that? Because until just a relatively few years ago, that writer was me. I knew how to write and get by on my Mac and PC computers, but a lot of the other side of the business was foreign to me. I really had no desire to learn the technical and marketing side of an ebook business or ebook management.”

I have since learned a great deal about how to sell ebooks and I have found the right software to do just that. I am talking about specific software that automates selling ebooks.  After it is written and developed, I will explain specifically how to market and sell your ebook, how to make sales pages, opt-in pages, e-mail capture pages, and all the tips you see on so many sites that make money online. Except it will all deal with what i know to be the key to it all and that is writing and selling ebooks onlineEbook publishing is where it’s at with me.   Is it possible to do all that? You bet.

Make no mistake, E books are still a great resource. A best selling ebook is a beauty to behold and we will try our best to be a good resource center on the internet. Some of the best sellers will be no cost ebooks and some will not. We hope to show you how to profit from your efforts here in the Ebook Newsroom. A free ebook on the right subject, with the right monetization model can be fantastic.  Can average Joe go into ebook publishing and sell ebooks online?  Short answer is yes.

Ebooks are everywhere and you can even get an ebook reader from Amazon in the Kindle model or a Stanza reader for your iPhone. Yes, iPhone has an App called Stanza with a reader that has already surpassed the Kindle. Ebooks are big business whether you are a writer or a business owner taking advantage of ebook marketing in your home town market.

As editor and publisher of a major weekly newspaper, I had to learn everything about the business and my journey began. You can read more about me and about that in the about page as we get started in the ebook business and all they can mean to you as a writer, business owner, and entrepreneur. Whether you call them books, an e book, or if you are just looking for free ebooks, this will be the go-to resource center as time goes by. We’re just glad to be of service to the community of writers who want to learn what is available to help them get to market with their digital product.

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