"Success Tips!" Newsletter - 10 Steps to Success with E-Book Publishing

February 17, 2010

Issue #31

Success Tips!

Greetings!

On, Monday February 15th, I launched my highly anticipated e-book, The Entrepreneur's Guide to Twitter Success. The book garnered praise from around the web, was downloaded and shared numerous times, and generated more traffic to my blog than I could have anticipated.

Here are a 10 Steps to Success with E-Book Publishing:

What is an E-Book?
An e-book is a book published in an electronic file format. I created mine with Microsoft Word and published the final version in Adobe .PDF file format. This is for easy downloading, sharing, and distributing of the file (plus, no one can alter it once it's published).

Think of an e-book as an extended blog post or detailed report. They typically range anywhere from 10-100 pages but are mostly kept short and to the point.

What are the Benefits to E-Book Marketing?

Quickly establish your expertise
Gain new business leads
Drive traffic to your website or blog
Easy way to create "info-products"
Great for E-mail list building

How Do I Create an E-Book?

Step 1 - Choose a topic that solves a problem, teaches a new skill, or shows a reader how to best achieve a goal.
Step 2 - Write a general outline that leads the reader step-by-step to accomplishing a goal or solving their problem.
Step 3 - Buckle down and write your e-book.
Step 4 - Find great pictures to enhance your e-book. Try Google image search or Flickr for free images.
Note: If you plan on making money from your e-book then you'll have to use original images or get permission from the owners of the images you use.
Step 5 - Edit your book or have someone you trust edit it for you. Look for grammar issues, structure, and how the book flows. A great technique I use is to read everything out-loud. If it doesn't sound right out-loud then it definitely won't "read right" either.
Step 6 - Create a table of contents page and link it up to other major parts of your e-book for easy navigation. Here's a great tutorial that will show you how to do it in Microsoft Word.
Step 7 - Make your document social media friendly by adding a "Re-Tweet" button to it. This will allow your followers on Twitter to share it amongst their network while they're reading your e-book! Here's the tutorial I used to accomplish this.
Step 8 - Refine your title. Make sure the title addresses the problem you're going to solve and who the book is for. (Example: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Twitter Success)
Step 9 - Craft a cool cover for your e-book that will get people interested in the book. Or, hire a designer to create one for you.
Step 10 - Publish your e-book in PDF file format and make it available through your website for download.

Bonus: You can also sell your e-book on Amazon's Kindle through this website.

Quick Tips on Marketing an E-Book
Once your e-book is done, it's time to start generating a little buzz and get people to download it.

Publish a preview of your e-book in a blog post.
Make announcements on Twitter, Facebook, and any other social networking groups you're a part of.
Send an email announcement to people on your email list. (Be careful NOT to send an unsolicited email to people who aren't on your list - this is spam!)
Write-up a press release and email it to media journalists in your town.

E-books are great ways to generate income, grow blog/website traffic, or establish yourself as an expert in your field. Best part of all, they don't cost anything to make other than a little of your time, creativity, and passion for your topic.

Rod Kirby is an Author, Success Coach, Editor-in-Chief of The Success Center, and the Producer of Inside the Success. Read more about, Rod on his about page.

The Success Center is the #1 Christian entrepreneur's "Blog-a-zine" for small business, marketing, social media, and spiritual help. Check out the very best of The Success Center by visiting this page.

Get caught up on what you've missed at The Success Center, below!

Poll: What's Your Social Media Marketing Platform of Choice?