Write an eBook to make Money Online
If you’ve ever thought that you had a story to tell or that you wanted to write a book but felt it would be a waste of time then you’re in luck. In today’s world, writing a book is one of the most lucrative opportunities available. Best yet, you no longer have to send countless letters to publishers only to be rejected. You can write a book and publish it yourself.
Kindle, iPad, and Nook have leveled the playing field. They have become so popular that readers spend millions on purchasing eBooks to fill these devices. Most debates in today’s world are not as to whether or not eBooks are better than traditional, but which eReading device is the best!
This popularity has opened up new opportunities for us all. Publishing a book used to be a dream that seemed impossible but now it’s impossible not to think about the possibilities. Dreams have become a reality. Self-publishing is now available to everyone. Does that mean that everyone should publish a book? Absolutely not. You must still produce a great book in order to make money from selling it. The good news is that even if you’re not a good writer yourself, you can outsource the project. The end result is that anyone can bring their dreams into fruition, although for some the opportunity might require a large investment.
A History Lesson in Publishing
Let’s start at the beginning. For years, an aura of failure circled anyone who attempted to self-publish a book. The fate of authors rested in the hands of traditional publishers. Rejection letters were passed out like pink slips, leaving so many writers with only the option of self-publishing. In those days, it was very expensive to have a book printed and the result was sloppy at best.
Even now, traditional publishers would have you believe that self-publishing is bad news. It is bad news – for them! EBook readers like Kindle have changed the game. Why would I mention all of this? Because it’s important to know that this is the time to publish. Right now, the field is still small enough to give up and coming writers a very high success rate. Let’s get started.
Getting Started
Publishing a book is a breeze, writing a book is the real challenge in today’s world. You not only need to fill pages with words, you need to engage readers. The largest problem with many self-published eBooks is that they are poor in quality. So don’t rush it. Take the time to get it right and you are almost guaranteed to be successful.
Before you write a single word (or outsource the work), you will need to consider the following:
- Type of Book (fiction, non-fiction)
- Genre or Niche
- Length (average novels are 80,000 words while non-fiction averages around 30,000 words)
It’s probably a good idea to write your first book around the same niche as your website. This will give you several advantages including a place to promote your book. Guides and tutorials tend to convert highest out of non-fiction books. The key is to narrow down the subject as much as possible. The more specific the subject, the higher it will convert.
When the decision is made to write a book, it’s always smart to read other people’s work before starting your own. This will give you a good determination of what you consider good writing and what you consider to be bad writing. Furthermore, you can see the specifics about what annoys you to the point of considering certain books as poor.
Set a Budget
Once you have the basics in place, you will need to write up a budget for this undertaking. While most of the cost of writing a book is in the form of time, there are some financial considerations. They include:
- ISBN
- Cover Design
- Ghostwriting (if outsourcing)
- Editor (necessary)
- Conversion services (if you don’t have the knowledge to do it yourself)
For now, just list these things. Since we are about to go through most of these in more detail, you can add costs as we discuss each one and you decide what options to take.
Myth: Never Judge a Book by its Cover
This might be the biggest lie in the business. Everyone judges a book by its cover. In fact, a bad cover design will kill a book before it’s even given life. Bad covers are ones that are:
- Poor quality
- Overly complicated
- Designed in such a way that the title cannot be read properly
Try to keep your cover as simple as possible while maintaining a professional look. You might need to hire a graphics designer that specializes in cover design. However, be sure that they are not using a template for your cover. Some designers do so many projects that they tend to use templates. This causes different books to have very similar designs. You want your cover to be completely unique.
Hire an Editor
No one can fully edit their own book. They are too close to the subject. So if you’re writing the book yourself, you really need to hire an editor. Be sure that it’s someone who is impartial (don’t hire your friend as an editor). If there are problems with the writing, you need someone to tell you. Feedback is critical to producing high quality content.
On the other hand, if you are hiring an outside writer, then you can perform edits yourself. Just be sure to keep an objective eye. Most ghostwriters will edit the book once before sending it to you. So your job should be simple. That doesn’t mean that you should just publish it immediately. Make at least one editing run yourself.
The Uploading Process
Now that you have a fully edited book and a cover design, it’s time to get it up and running. There are two factors that are important to the success of your book – and neither is based on content within the book.
Before getting into that, let me quickly say one more thing. Larger companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble provide videos and help for self-publishing authors. Use these tools to walk through the process. It’s a good idea to watch these videos even if you already understand most of the uploading process. Most of the time, you will pick up little tricks that can make your life a lot easier.
Keywords
You are allowed to provide a set number of keywords to associate with your book. These keywords are huge because this is what buyers will search for when looking to buy a new book. For example, a buyer logs onto Amazon wanting to buy a book about losing weight. Will they browse through all books or just type “Books about losing weight” (or something similar) into Amazon’s search engine? We all know they are likely to choose the easier of the two. Upon doing this, they are given a list. These are books that are tagged with the keyword, “Books about losing weight”. See the importance now?
You can use Google Keyword Generator to find highly searched keywords. Better yet, start typing a keyword into Amazon’s search engine. After a few letters, you will notice that a list of options are automatically revealed. This is not by accident but by design. Those are the most searched for keywords by buyers.
Description
Your description should be written in a way that pulls the potential reader in. This is the point when you truly sell your book. If you pull in the reader with the description, then they will buy your book. Be sure to include at least one of your keywords into the description so that it will show up in search engines. Retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble hold high authority on search engines. So your book has a high chance of being ranked on the first page so long as the description holds keywords.
Pricing
There are two options available on most platforms:
1. 35% Royalty: Normally requires your book be priced between $0.99 and $2.98
2. 70% Royalty: Requires your book to be priced at least $2.99.
I see so many posts and blogs that tell new writers that their book will only sell for $0.99. I hate to say this, but that statement is completely ignorant. It’s a common misconception that is brought forth by what seems logical: the cheaper the book, the more likely a reader will buy it. This is not the case! In fact, studies have shown that readers are willing to spend up to $5 on books from new authors. So get the most out of your book by setting the price to at least $2.99. This is actually the optimum price for conversions. Some tend to look at $0.99 books as – well, $0.99 books! In other words, they feel that they are likely not high quality. So don’t sell yourself short: never go less than $2.99!
As far as the naysayers go, let them keep selling for $0.99. 1,000 sales will lead to less than $350 while you can sell 1,000 copies for $2.99 and rake in $2,000! That’s a huge difference!
Sell More Books
Once you have a great eBook and it’s available for readers to purchase, then comes the marketing phase. While your book will actually sell copies without marketing (assuming you utilized the keyword strategy I mentioned earlier), you will increase your sales through a few simple steps. Most people don’t realize that book retailers do a lot of marketing for you. They hold high authority with search engines. They compel people to buy their eReaders. They even generate leads to their pages (which you should be listed on when you utilize keywords). Now let’s increase your sales.
The quality of your book will determine how successful it is. If it’s high quality, you will see it get high reviews. These reviews alone will increase your sales. However, we want to get more readers to see your book’s page. That’s where your website comes in handy. Dedicate some of your advertising space to your book. Send your website’s traffic to your book’s page. This is traffic that you’re already establishing so it will take no extra work on your part (other than setting up a widget).
Use social media to post your book. This will not only lead to sales, but family members and friends will likely leave kind reviews. More importantly, they will tell their friends. Word of mouth travels fast.
Consider some paid ads once your book starts selling. Well placed ads on search engines, in the local newspaper, or on your local radio station will generate lots of sales.
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