How to Publish an eBook on Amazon - 12 Simple Steps to Getting Published

Writing your own eBook is an effective and an essential tool for establishing credibility. The truth of the matter is whether you are a speaker, writer, teacher, trainer, coach, professor, internet marketer, or whatever your title is...your choices are: "publish" or "perish".

Traditional publishing has changed drastically over the years. Here are the facts:

Traditional publishers are looking for authors who have "already-made platforms", a list, an audience to purchase their books and products; Traditional publishers want evidence of sales and promotion/marketing ability; Traditional publishers take on very few new authors and are only offering large advances to established authors that have demonstrated sales; The old days of writing a manuscript, querying agents and publishers, then waiting for a response and receiving lots of rejection slips are over! The new way of getting a publisher to notice you is to build a large platform online and then they will pay attention to you. Publishing an eBook is very low-cost because there are no printing expenses and the profits are all yours! Online eBook sales are exceeding hardbook cover sales!

So now that we agree, to be successful and to gain worldwide exposure, you MUST publish on Amazon's Kindle (which, by the way is "FREE"), then here are the 12 simple steps to get started:

Set up a free account at Amazon. To get to the right link, simple go to Google and type in" KDP Amazon and then click on the appropriate link (usually the first one that comes up); Login to your account; Go to: Bookshelf and then click on "add new title". From here, Amazon, walks you through the process by asking you to complete certain fields, however, I am going to review the fields because there are a few pointers I want to give you. Book Name and Description should have strategically placed "keywords" in them so that people searching for your topic can find your eBook. So make sure you do your keyword research prior to publishing your eBook on Amazon's Kindle. I suggest using Google's free "keyword tool" to analyze appropriate keywords and use them naturally in your title and description. Book contributor; obviously if you are the author, then you list yourself, if you have a co-author then you list that person as well. You do not need a publication date and I don't recommend putting one in nor do you need an ISBN number to publish. If you are self-publishing this, then under publisher, you can use your own name or what I recommend is putting your website address in this field to help drive traffic to your site; Categories; this is very important that you select the right categories for your eBook. Make sure you do your keyword research and that you aren't in a highly competitive category. There are a lot of sub-categories and you should find the right one for your eBook. Upload your cover; I have a graphics designer do all of my covers and she formats them to the right size, but you can create your own or not put anything at all and Amazon will put a placeholder in the image field if you don't have one; Enable or disable DRM is a field you have to complete; DRM stands for Digital Rights Management and has to do with people sharing your eBook with others; click on the "what's this" link for more information on this. I always "enable" the DRM for me and my clients; There are fields you have to complete like verifying your publishing rights, etc. Those are self-explanatory so I am not going over those. Royalties. I recommend choosing 70% vs. 35% for obvious reasons. Kindle Select is a new program that has to do with Amazon's Premiere membership program. Click on the link to read more about it. I do recommend going with the Kindle Select program if your eBook is exclusive to Amazon.

There you have the 12 steps to getting your eBook published on Amazon, however, I would be doing you a dis-service if I didn't review formatting as this is a critical piece on how your eBook will look to readers. I create my manuscript in Microsoft's Word, however, here are some of the detailed instructions that can be found on Amazon's site:

File Format: Save your content in DOC (or.doc) format, not RTF (.rtf) or DOCX (.docx) as the latter do not translate well to Kindle. Save your work periodically as you make changes to ensure all changes are recorded.

Layout: Use indentations, bold characters, italics and headings, as they will translate into your Kindle book. However, bullet points, special fonts, headers, and footers will not be transferred, so be sure to avoid those.

Page Breaks: Enter a page break at the end of every chapter to prevent the text from running together. To insert a page break in MS Word, click "Insert" at the top menu bar and select "Page Break."

Image Placement: Images should be inserted in JPEG (or.jpeg) format with center alignment (don't copy and paste from another source). Select "Insert" > "Picture" > then locate and select the file. If your book has a lot of images, it can be viewed in color by readers using our free Kindle apps for PC, MAC, iPad, iPhone, and Android. Otherwise, remember that images on Kindle are displayed in 16 shades of gray for great contrast and clarity.

Spellcheck and Grammar: This tool is always your friend to ensure a professional presentation free of typos. Use this tool, but also manually proofread your file to ensure no errors are missed by the automated checker.

Creating Front Matter: Front matter is the beginning pages of a book, which may include a Title Page, Copyright Page, Dedication, Preface, and Prologue. For a stylish and professional presentation, you should add a Title Page at a minimum.

You can find more instructions on the Amazon/Kindle website as you go through this process.

I encourage you to get your eBook published now and start generating new leads and income for your online business!

Self Publishing for Book Publishers With Print-On-Demand   2 Ways To Monetize Your Ebook   Have You Thought Of Creating Your Own Information Products?   A History of E-Books   How to Write an eBook Fast and Not Fail in the Attempt   How an eBook Makes You an Expert in Your Field   

Online Article Directories Should Get Into the E-Book Business, Let Me Explain

With the deluge of information, it is getting harder and harder to find the information you need, or the information you seek regardless of the area of human endeavor. If you are in business for yourself you need this information to make good decisions, and you need to stay up on everything and ahead of your competition when any new innovation comes into your field.

This is why most business people like myself have virtual radar for information in their sector, take Google News alerts, and surf the news in their industry almost on a daily basis. Wouldn't it be better if we can get all of this information consolidated and available to us so we can read it all at once? I believe so, therefore I would like to display a new concept I have, but before I do I would like to enlighten you as to how I came about this thought.

You see, there was an interesting article published on October 15, 2012 in The WRAP (covering Hollywood) titled; "Chicago Tribune Launches Ebook Initiative - but L.A. Times Opts Out," by Alexander C. Kaufman which stated;

"Tribune Company has kicked off an ebook initiative in partnership with Agate Publishing, collecting stories and photos from the Chicago Tribune and two other newspapers and selling them as digital long-form features. Tribune, has already released about two dozen e-books since spring, has strung together archived work from its namesake paper and the Orlando Sentinel and sold the e-books for $4.99."

Is this a viable concept? Sure, and I believe they should be taking this to a whole new level. You see, I myself clip articles out of magazines, newspapers, and save electronic news articles to my "favorites" or "plus them" on Google for instance. Now then, for my e-reader wouldn't it be nice to pick all the articles with certain key words and then have them compiled for me into an eBook format on my topics? It's a natural.

What if the top online article directories which had over 1 million articles on a multitude of different subjects allowed an e-reader customer to specify certain authors, in certain categories of subject matter, along with certain dates to search through their directory and collect all the articles which fit into that criteria, and then make them into an e-book. What if each title of each article became a chapter on the table of contents, and each article was listed in the e-book, perhaps 100 to 150 articles in each e-book?

What if they sold those e-books for $2.99 in formats which might be available on Kindles, Nooks, tablets, or iPads? Wouldn't that be a good idea, and solve the problem which I discussed in the first paragraph? Wouldn't that be an excellent business model to pursue? How hard would it be? The whole thing could be automated. People could order an e-book on demand with the information that they wanted, leaving all the other debris behind. Please consider all this and think on it.

Self Publishing for Book Publishers With Print-On-Demand   2 Ways To Monetize Your Ebook   Have You Thought Of Creating Your Own Information Products?   A History of E-Books   Learning Some Lesser Known Facts About EBook Conversion   Write and Cash in on Short Ebooks Now   

How to Create Your Own Quality E-Book In Lightning Fast Time

In this article you will learn how to create your own quality e-book in lightning fast time. That title might sound like hype but it is true. I was able to create two quality e-books in less than a few days without even having to type. How did I do this?

The first step is to focus on exactly what you want to offer inside of your e-book. If you need some inspiration go to your target niche and start looking around on the threads of forums. You will see all types of repeat questions and issues that your target audience needs to solve.

This will allow you to get market research to be able to come up with the content that your target audience is in demand for. The next step is to create a sizzling title for your e-book that will give the main benefit of what they will get from reading your e-book.

An example might be "The seven steps to creating an automated Internet business for newbies." That statement would only appeal for somebody that is un-experienced with Internet marketing and wants a step by step plan. That statement would be very appealing for your target audience because it speaks directly to them.

The way that I was able to create my e-book in lightning fast time was by using a software called Dragon speech recognition software. Don't worry I'm not trying to promote any sort of affiliate link to the Dragon software. I am simply letting you know that this cut off hours of time because it types up to 120 words per minute. I have tendonitis in both of my arms and rely on the software to be able to produce content online.

I was able to produce my content in lightning fast time by staying extremely focused. Many people have a huge problem with procrastination and take time for granted. I stopped watching television. I no longer went around the internet aimlessly without a core intent.

I decided that I was going to produce two high quality e-books and nothing else. Once you decide that you're willing to cut out all of your distractions you will notice how easy it is to produce content in lightning fast time. Having the ability to produce content in fast amounts of time will allow you to produce a large amount of content to get more and more traffic to your website. So now you have my secret on how I was able to create my two quality e-books in lightning fast time.

Self Publishing for Book Publishers With Print-On-Demand   2 Ways To Monetize Your Ebook   Have You Thought Of Creating Your Own Information Products?   A History of E-Books   How to Write an eBook Fast and Not Fail in the Attempt   How an eBook Makes You an Expert in Your Field   

How to Sell An eBook - You Can Do It

Do you want to work online from home? Learning how to sell an eBook online is a valuable skill that can generate handsome profits or round out the services offered by home-based business owners.

Every day people go online to buy information in the form of an eBook about topics that range from how to do magic tricks and build model airplanes, to how to write a song or pitch a fastball, or how to dance the tango, and more.

How do you sell eBooks online?

The process is not complex but, if you want to succeed, you should know what you are doing. There are two major components to becoming a successful eBook writer and learning how to sell eBooks online: writing and marketing your eBook.

What are eBooks?

Well-written eBooks are similar to paper books in that they deliver the promised information in an easy to read style. In contrast to most paper books, eBooks are pamphlets or shorter books sold online and downloaded from a computer; in other words, they are digital products.

eBooks differ from paper books in that you do not need to have a publisher or agent (or split profits with them) and you do not need to promote them in bookstores because the internet is your marketplace.

Generally,an eBook is written in a word processing program and converted to a PDF file once it is ready for sale. The next step is promoting it with informative articles and the use of social marketing and other options.

You don't have to be a writer to publish and eBook.

It isn't necessary that you have experience as a writer in order to produce an eBook. If you are not a writer and you have a particular skill or information to share on a topic such as how to train a horse, you can hire someone at a very reasonable rate to write you eBook for you.

Write for Others or Yourself.

If you are a writer with information to share, with a little bit of orientation to writing eBooks, you can do well. Even if you don't' have a hobby or interest to share, you can put your research and writing skills to work for others to put real money in your pocket.

If you don't fit any of these categories, there is still an option for you.

We test-drove the services of a company named Niche Profit Classroom. The owners have used their more than ten years of experience in internet marketing to create a comprehensive array of programs covering all aspects of internet marketing.

The eBook Kit:

Relative to eBooks, they offer training in writing eBooks and, on a monthly basis, they release an new eBook kit that can be customized by the user.

The eBook kit contains all of the elements you need to create a website and promote the eBook online: website photos, drafts of articles, keywords, and images. In addition you have access to their keyword and website building software and to support with 24-hour turnaround.

We found this an excellent way for a newbie to learn and a great way for a more seasoned individual to make use of their talent.

Our Review of Niche Profit Classroom:

We spent more than 45 days evaluating this product. We found the programs to be very good and found their clear step-by-step approach to be consistent throughout. We were particularly glad to learn that all recommendations are updated on a regular basis to meet Google's ever-changing standards.

Initially, we experienced a delay in customer support turnaround time, but this was corrected once we brought it to their attention.

They offer a 14-day trial for $1. The trial includes access to every one of their products and programs.

Conclusion:

eBooks cost very little to produce and once you have written them the profit is yours to keep.

The information age is still very new. It is pretty much a given that the internet will continue as the most important platform created for information marketing for many years to come.

We give Niche Profit Classroom a strong 'thumbs up' for those looking to learn how to sell and eBook online for profit. Don't let your fear stop you. Learning how to sell eBooks online is an easily learned step-by-step process.

Self Publishing for Book Publishers With Print-On-Demand   2 Ways To Monetize Your Ebook   Have You Thought Of Creating Your Own Information Products?   A History of E-Books   Why There Is a Need for Creating Information Products   

Preparing to Write Your First Ebook

You've got a great idea for an eBook and you'd like to share your knowledge with the public. You're in good company. The market for informative online content is exploding and new titles appear online every day. Before you can join the ranks of successful eBook writers, you have to create quality content that delivers value to your target audience. Fortunately, with a little preparation, you can deliver the quality product your readers are searching for.

If you have an idea of which topic you'd like to write about, you must determine who your target audience is. Successful eBook writers tailor their topic to their target audience. Do some research into your target audience to find out what topics they're most interested in and what unmet needs they may have. If you've chosen "Party Planning" as your topic and your target audience is women getting married; you'd want to narrow your product to a specific niche of party planning that would be useful to them. One such topic would be, "Planning Your Perfect Engagement Party."

Once you have refined your topic to fit your target audience, the next step is to create an outline for your ebook. Outlines are an important tool for eBook writers as they provide a road map for your ebook. In addition to briefly covering the introduction and conclusion, you'll want to include a brief section for each of the major sections/chapters you'd like to cover. A simple heading followed by bullet points for your key insights is all you really need. At this point you might want to consider doing some basic research to get a better overall understanding of the topic you're writing about and the main points you'd like to cover. A basic outline can be anywhere from 2-4 pages, depending on the intended length of your finished work and the amount of information you'll be covering.

Now that you have your framework ready it's time to flesh out the outline you created. This is when you'll want to do more extensive research into your topic. Remember that your outline is a guideline. It's okay to add information or revise and re-arrange topics. After you've done more research into your topic, your outline may look completely different from when you started. The most important thing to keep in mind is to find good, accurate information for your readers. Keep a record of all sources you end up using so you can provide a comprehensive bibliography and resource section.

You've researched your target audience, honed your topic to fit your readers' needs, crafted a brilliant outline and done your research. Congratulations! You're now ready to begin writing your first ebook. All the preparation you've done will enable you to write with confidence and a clear sense of purpose. With a little preparation, writing your first eBook should be a fun and exciting process, resulting in a great book that will have your audience eager for your next piece.

Self Publishing for Book Publishers With Print-On-Demand   2 Ways To Monetize Your Ebook   Have You Thought Of Creating Your Own Information Products?   A History of E-Books   Avoid The Biggest Mistake Made By The Overwhelming Majority Of Aspiring E-Book Publishers   Writing an eBook - The 5 Most Important Tips for Newbies   

What Should You Charge For Your E-Book?

Now that you have spent valuable time and effort creating and writing your e-book, you will now be wondering how best to price it. Some writers feel they have to sell their first e-book at a low price, just because it's their first attempt, but you need to consider that a low price can give the impression that it is of little value. You know that is not the case, so think carefully before you set a price.

When planning the marketing stage of your e-book, take time to carefully consider this crucial step. Try not to under-price - as I said in the introduction, readers will perhaps judge the value of your book because of its price. Some sellers suggest that you start with a fairly high price, then embark on your marketing campaign and promote it at every opportunity available to you.

A well-known strategy used is to do your own type of survey. Some sellers survey their customers directly regarding pricing. If they have already bought from you, their opinions are valuable and realistic. Others test prices by creating a few sales pages, all running at the same time, but displaying different prices. Each sales page would contain exactly the same sales copy - the price would be the only difference. This then allows you to check and compare the conversion rate between visitors and sales for each price. Many find this an easy way of working out the optimum price for your product and this is a method you may want to put in place.

Because the e-book is a digital product, it can be particularly difficult to actually put a price on it. When you buy a printed book, it is a hard copy you can read and pass on to others and its cost is determined by paper, design, printing and production costs as well as marketing. These costs are not reflected in the production of an e-book as readers are downloading them digitally. However it is important that you do not underestimate the value of the time you spent collating your ideas and the quality of the information you have produced.

A lot of successful information products provide readers with solutions to their problems and they are willing to pay for this service with the facility of being able to download it right away. If they see that you are providing realistic, valuable and informative material, you will find that they will order from you again and again. Don't forget to capture their details to form your own mailing list which you can use for further promotions.

Quite a lot to consider when pricing your e-book!

I wish you every success.

Self Publishing for Book Publishers With Print-On-Demand   2 Ways To Monetize Your Ebook   Have You Thought Of Creating Your Own Information Products?   A History of E-Books   How an eBook Makes You an Expert in Your Field   

Effectively Promoting Your Ebook on Social Networking Sites

Ebooks and social media are two strong symbols of today's digital world. Those of us exploring the new territories of ebooks understand that there is a growing market for them, and we feel intuitively that social networking can be a good way to reach a larger readership.

But how does one use social networking sites for eBook marketing? Is it just a matter of having accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn? Well, it helps to have a good eBook promotion strategy and here are some helpful hints:

Look Beyond the Gadget

As Brian Solis, who is an established thought leader on social media marketing, puts it "Social Media is about sociology and psychology more than technology." This is a critical piece of advice for anyone trying to promote anything on the web.

So, while the idea is to sell a new format for books, social networking is all about building connections and establishing relationships.

Think Beyond the Number

"If you can't sell to 1 in 1000, why market to a million?" asks Seth Godin, the author of Linchpin, as he helps us navigate the marketing potential of social media. This is an important admonishment for those of us who start fretting about the number of likes, followers or retweets.

Yes, it is helpful to build an audience but ultimately social media networking is about making each connection count.

Move Beyond the Sale

It is true that you are promoting your ebook, but it is not necessary to be crassly focused on peddling. Think like a connector - one who is bringing people to your ebook, a group of like-minded folks who'll appreciate what your eBook has to offer.

You can use Twitter to find others interested in the themes of your eBook and engage in public conversations via retweets or comments.

You can draw people to Facebook by posting links to topics similar to those covered in your ebook.

LinkedIn offers groups, which are a great way of establishing connections with professionals likely to be interested in similar topics.

Google+ circles also allows you to create communities around themes or ideas. In each of these platforms, you should think way beyond the sale.

It Really is about the Social!

By thinking beyond narrow parameters, you can successfully build a community. When you engage with each member of this community you'll find your potential readers, and also your best marketing tools.

As social media strategist Jay Baer says, "Focus on how to be social, not how to do social." Social networking works best when friends make recommendations. Create a circle of influence via regular comments, replies and engagement and you'll find the impact on the eBook sales!

Self Publishing for Book Publishers With Print-On-Demand   2 Ways To Monetize Your Ebook   Have You Thought Of Creating Your Own Information Products?   A History of E-Books   

Ebook Marketing Strategy: Best Selling Ebook Topics

What makes an eBook Author Sell? Marketing ebooks.

The answer is in answering the need, which is a truism of all sales. It is very hard to sell a steak to a vegetarian and Eskimos don't need ice.

So what does a reader want? To answer that question is a huge part of the selling solution.

Genre is also a part of the need. Each genre is a target market in itself. As with steaks and ice, it is an up hill battle to sell a love romance to a male.

The good news is there is a huge target market in all genres.

Buyers of books go through a sequential process when buying, which is all driven by not wanting to pay for something they DON'T want. That's why so many readers read by authors. What they are really doing is trying to find another author they TRUST.

Familiarity with an author is the first driver of sales. The dilemma happens when they finally read an author out.

When forced to find a new trusted author, readers take very little notice of personal reviews. What my mother or brother raves about does little for me. We have totally different tastes.

Readers do take notice of new books that are selling in big numbers, working on the assumption that all of the people buying can't be wrong.

Here is how it goes.

After finding out about a new hot author the reader does what the old saying says not to - they judge the book by its cover. To have a poor cover kills book sales.

Next, the prospective book buyer turns to see how many books this author has written. A shelf full of titles builds initial trust; again, everyone can't be wrong.

The fear is that they may spend half a day reading only to be disappointed instead of ENTERTAINED (a reader's need). Yet if they find the entertainment they want then that author will sell them every book on their shelf. What they are really doing is not book buying but buying an author.

Next, readers turn to the synopsis. If this is not well done, goodbye to many book sales. Then we turn to, "about the author", which if not engaging will also kill sales.

Now it is time to read a sample, usually the beginning. How many people looking for a new author spend a lot of time on this step? The motivation again is fear-based as they don't want to waste time and buy something that will not fulfil their NEED - an author they are entertained by.

To address this problem I use a gifted narrator to read 70 pages, free of charge, as a "try before you buy" sales strategy. The advantage of listening to a MP3 is being able to do something else simultaneously. And most buyers purchase well before finishing the audio as they want to read, not "listen", to a book. They know quite soon whether or not they have found the new author they want.

Have you heard of the 10,000 hour or seven year rule? Most authors need that amount of time to make it. Many write a million words before being published. (My web site has less than half that.)

Another observation I have made is that best-selling authors have vast life experience. They are able to draw from this internal well, which is the best source to produce quality writing.

The wonderful thing about the shift to ebooks is that an eBook is forever, whereas paper books only have a print-run life.

Marketing in the forest of ebooks makes it hard to find your special tree. Ebooks have time on their side and the quote on my book "Dream Bouncing" is only true in an eBook world. "A GREAT NARRATIVE WILL ALWAYS MAKE ROOM FOR ITSELF." Quality work will, in the end, always rise to the top.

A huge advantage to books sold online is that sales will come over time. eBook writers report wild fluctuations in sales numbers. Sales will nearly dry up then months later take off again.

In conclusion, if you want more sales build a bigger shelf of work. If it is within your ability, change genres. A buyer may like your well-published shelf but not like all the kinds of books on it.

Self Publishing for Book Publishers With Print-On-Demand   2 Ways To Monetize Your Ebook   Have You Thought Of Creating Your Own Information Products?   A History of E-Books   

Two Ways To Increase E-Book Sales

How would you like more e-book sales? Here are two ways to do this. You'll be able to use these methods continuously and you will sell more.

Affiliates

If you don't already know, affiliates are people who will go out and promote someone's product in return for a percentage of the sale. So an affiliate would promote your e-book and when someone buys they would get 50-75% of the sale and you would get the difference. Why would you only want a percentage when you can sell it yourself and keep all the money?

The reason is say you sell your eBook and could get 50 sales a month as an example. If your eBook sells for $17 that's $850. Not bad. But if 50 affiliates each get you 50 sales each a month then that's 2,500 sales valued at $42,500. If all the affiliates are getting 75% of this then they get $31,875. But you get $10.625. That's without you doing anything. So which is better $850 or $10,875.

So, as you can now see, getting affiliates is the answer to a lot more money. Simply list your product on ClickBank.

JVs

The second way of increasing e-book sales is by doings JVs. In case you don't already JV is short for Joint Venture. This is where you would get another internet marketer to promote your e-book to his list of existing customers. Quite often successful marketers have literally got thousands of people on their list.

Would they would do is send their whole list a promotional email recommending they take a look at your e-book. This often results in a huge amount of money. Once again this is often split 50/50 between you and the person promoting you.

The thing to remember is that the e-book must be about the subject people on this marketers list would be interested in. So if your e-book is about puppy training it makes sense the other marketer is selling information products around this subject. If it's about fitness the they should also be selling information about this.

When contacting potential JV partners don't expect an answer straight away. These people often get many people asking them for joint ventures. The secret is to not just contact them once but two or three times.

I know of one marketer who has a rule to never respond to the first email. This is because he wants to find out how serious the other person is.

Be expected to provide a sample of your e-book as the marketer would want to make sure they're happy promoting it to their customers.

So these are two very effective ways of getting a lot more sales of your e-book. So get out there and start using them.

Self Publishing for Book Publishers With Print-On-Demand   2 Ways To Monetize Your Ebook   Have You Thought Of Creating Your Own Information Products?   A History of E-Books   Learning Some Lesser Known Facts About EBook Conversion   Write and Cash in on Short Ebooks Now