Note: This is the first in a series of articles about ebooks. We’ll be discussing how to write them, produce them, and build them in a way so that they sell far more easily and quickly than "regular" ebooks. Got an ebook question of your own? Write me here: ask (at) trafficandconversion.com
Back in December, I asked my readers for questions about creating content. What did they need to know? Here are some answers to some good questions about creating content that I think will help you.
The first one will save you a bunch of dough.
Denny L wrote…
Hiya Mark,
I’ve started putting my 1st e-book in writing to organize it and put the finishing touches/changes to it.
My first question concerns converting it from Word doc. to .pdf Don’t really want to pay Adobe $250, do you have any suggestions for who/what to use?
Well Hiya right back atcha, Denny.
Actually Acrobat is up to about $300 to $450 at retail now, and there’s not a heckuva lot of good reasons to invest that much if all you’re doing is creating an ebook. The program does do a great job of creating PDF files — they invented the format, after all — but for our purposes, you can spend a lot less and do a lot better.
Check out some software called PDF995, which you can find at http://www.PDF995.com
As the name implies, you can buy the software for $9.95, and it will do the job for you just fine. And if you’re REALLY on a tight budget, you can even download and use the software for free. You just have to tolerate looking at an advertisement every time you generate a PDF.
But if you pay less than ten bucks, you see no ads at all.
The only downside I’ve notice so far is that the PDF files tend to be a little larger than those created by Adobe’s software. But if that doesn’t bother you, then it’s definitely the way to go.
Okay…Next Question.
Bruce asks…
I have always had tons of ideas that I would love to put into eBooks. However when I sit down to do it I find that it is way to tedious for me. Any information on how to streamline and easily put together ebooks would be great.
Hello Bruce.
This past weekend, I spoke at Eben Pagan’s Guru Mastermind Event on creating content. Five Hundred marketers were there, each paying $500 to $1,000 a month to be a part of this group, and others paying upwards of $5,000 to attend this one event.
I’ve written about 23 ebooks so far, and so Eben asked me to speak to the group about the tactics for creating money-making ebooks.
I talked about overcoming writers block (which I think is part of your problem), how to add size to your ebook without adding fluff (12 ways), and how to build marketing INTO your ebook so that it actually sells itself (6 ways) and makes money FOR you.
And then I showed them my ebook template. You’d be smart to make one of these yourself, too, if you plan on making more than one ebook.
An ebook template is a Microsoft Word document that I put together for myself — you can think of it as a sample ebook — with all of the ebook elements built into it aIready. That way, the moment I start my new ebook, it already LOOKS like an ebook.
It’s got page borders, a table of contents, images, footers, title page, resource page, formatted links, formatted chapter headings….everything.
All I gotta do is start typing.
So anyway, once the talk was over, a flood of people came over to thank me for giving them the tactical advice they needed for creating content that’s easy to write, and that sells.
And I gave them all my ebook template, too, so they don’t have to create it from the ground up.
I’m thinking of doing something similar for my readers….People like YOU.
You interested?
Just reply by commenting on my blog, below. And let me know what your most important question is about making ebooks. I’ll do my best to answer them all, either on the blog, in an email (like this) or if it’s more complex, maybe in a step-by-step course (which is how people seem to learn best).
To Your Success,
–Mark Widawer
P.S. One more thing…let me know if you’d be interested in getting the ebook template that I gave out to Eben’s group.
Free, of course.
If enough people want it, I’ll make it available.
-Mark