How to Sell Your Ebooks and Reports in Amazon’s Kindle Store by Denise Wakeman

How to Get Published on Amazon Kindle from Denise Wakeman on Vimeo.

Have you added your ebooks to the Kindle Store? Share your links here in the comments so we can check out what you’re doing!

How to Create an Ecourse That Will Triple Your Prospect Conversions by  Donna Gunter, OnlineBiz.com

For years, I’ve been giving away a PDF ebook as my client attraction device to entice prospects to sign up for my list.  This strategy has served me well as a way to grow my list. However, what I’ve discovered during that time is that many people download my ebook and then never open it. So, as you might imagine, my rate of converting a customer prospect to a buyer isn’t as high as I’d like.

Just like the people who join my list, I, too, often don’t open a PDF ebook when I download it. What I have noticed, however, is that when I subscribe to an ecourse that someone is giving away as a client attraction device, I’m much more likely to pay attention to it, since I’m getting emails every day with new information in them.  And, all indications are that the conversion rate of prospect to customer is higher, as well, for this same reason.  Your mini-course helps you automatically build a relationship with subscribers and drive sales of your products and services.

Here’s how you can create your own client attraction ecourse to help you triple your conversion rate:

1.  Buy autoresponder system.  In order to create your email mini-course, you need to purchase an email marketing system that has autoresponder capability, which is the ability to pre-set emails to go out at a periodic interval when someone opts into a list.  My recommendation is GetMoreClientsAutoresponder.com.

2.  Determine your theme and catchy name. Your ecourse needs to have a theme or subject.  What is it that you want to teach your prospects?  Once you determine the theme, your ecourse needs to have a catchy title.  Typically, you’ll want to focus on solving a problem or the result someone receives by enrolling in your mini-course.

3.  Create content.  Your ecourse should consist of 8-12 emails.  The bulk of these emails need to contain valuable, actionable content that will help your prospect solve her problems.  In a couple of the emails, you can break up the content delivery by introducing your prospect to other resources you offer that will help them, as well.  In my new mini-course, I simply repurposed a number of articles I had already written, paring them down to 400-600 words each, in most cases.

4.  Add your soft sell.  Rather than hammering a prospect over the head with sales hype, I did three things in each of the followup emails.  First, I included a resource box at the end of the email with a link to the call to action I want my prospect to take or a postscript (P.S.) that included a link to the call to action.  Secondly, in the body of the email, I made a natural transition based on the content of the email to ask people to buy the product I wanted them to buy. Thirdly, at the end of each lesson, I added, “In our next lesson, we’ll talk about…” to keep the reader engaged and anxiously awaiting the next email.

5.  Format and upload your ecourse.  In order to best track your open rates of each segment of the ecourse, you’ll want to format each email as HTML.  This means that you’ll want to have a header designed and template created so that you can simple copy and paste the content into a properly formatted HTML template.  To increase the likelihood that your ecourse will reach its destination, also format a plain text version of each segment of the course, as well. Next, create a catchy subject line to entice your reader to open that email. Lastly, copy your ecourse into your autoresponder system and create the followup sequence.  Ideally, you want your prospect to receive one email from you for a 8-12 days.

6.  Design your opt-in box.  Your email marketing program should provide instructions on how to create an opt-in box for prospects to join your list.  Typically, all that you want to request of your prospects is a first name, last name, and email address.  Once you have created the opt-in box, copy the code you’ll need to add the opt-in box to your web site.

7.  Create a graphic.  To make your email mini-course more appealing, have a graphic designed that visually represents the ecourse.  I simply had a spiral book cover designed that contained my name and the name of my ecourse.

8.  Create your landing page.  To entice prospects to sign up for your ecourse, you’ll want to create a landing page that “sells” the mini-course.  In today’s world, you have to “sell” free just like you do something for a fee, so create a short list of the benefits that someone will receive by signing up for your course, and add the code for your opt-in box.  Since anyone opting in for my ecourse is also added to my ezine list, I make sure that all prospects know this at the time they sign up.

9.  Copy the course content to your web site.  To prevent your prospects from emailing you that they are missing some number of lessons in the ecourse, copy the content to your web site.  Then, at the bottom of each email lesson, you can add a note that if they have missed any of the lessons, they can read them on your site.  You can create one page for each lesson, or a couple of pages containing a few lessons.

10.  Track and measure. The only way to realize the success of your mini-course is to track and measure.  Create a simple spreadsheet with the open rates of each email and the unsubscribe rates. If you notice over time that many prospects are unsubscribing from your list when they receive a certain lesson, you need to review the content of that lesson and change it until your unsubscribe rate diminishes.  And, of course, you need to track how many sales result from your ecourse.

Create an email mini-course to help you establish a relationship with your prospects and lead them to taking the action you desire.  You’ll discover that a mini-course is the most effective way to convert a prospect into a paying customer.

Post by Sigrid Macdonald

If you’re a professional speaker, you may wonder what the point is of polishing your writing skills.  Maybe you use index cards when you’re speaking, or have an outline of bullet points in front of you.  Perhaps you deliver your entire brilliant speech right off the top of your head. Why waste precious time improving your writing when speaking is your goal?

First, many speakers deliver presentations on Excel or PowerPoint.  Your thoughts are immortalized in print for your audiences to see.

Second, in order to book speeches, you’ll be writing e-mails, blogging, writing an e-zine or maintaining a website.  Maybe you’re active on Twitter or Facebook, LinkedIn or Self Growth.  It’s embarrassing to have typos or grammar errors in any electronic medium, and it won’t help your sales if readers, companies or agents think that you’re sloppy or illiterate.

Third, perhaps you have a product.  You may have written a book or produced audio clips of yourself speaking.  You don’t want to send out a formal letter talking about your “CD’s!” CDs is the correct term.

I’m a book coach, an author, and an editor; out of the 50 full-length manuscripts that I’ve edited, I’ve noticed a common thread.  Most people make the same mistakes.  They write run-on sentences, not knowing when to use semicolons, colons, periods and dashes. (They also don’t know the difference between an em dash and an en dash ˜ do you?) They stumble over word usage, becoming confused about when to use loath and loathe, further and farther, or less and fewer. Almost everyone misuses apostrophes and puzzles over the plural or the possessive. By and large, my otherwise excellent, bright and ambitious clients rely far too heavily on the imperfect spell-check and have difficulty organizing information.

My latest book, Be Your Own Editor, addresses all of these issues in an informal style.  It has three pop quizzes so that you can test your knowledge along the way.  It’s fun and it’s dense with information.  Most importantly, it will prevent you from making the most egregious mistakes that are so easy to do.

Be Your Own Editor is available at Lulu.com as a 6 x 9 paperback for $17.99 or as an e-book for $8.99.  Read more about it: [http://beyourowneditor.blogspot.com/]. Leave me a comment and I’ll respond back.  I love to hear from people.  Or send me a friend request on Facebook [http://www.facebook.com/sigridmac] and read my regular writing tips there.

Here’s to writing the right way.

Holiday Greetings from Susan Levin, Speaker Services

Many of my colleagues have sent me gifts in the form of e-books and I in turn am passing along a few of the e-books that I will be helpful.

First though, I found the following sample speaker contracts on National Speakers Associations’ Website.  Keep them in a safe place.

contract2.pdf

contract2-1.pdf

contract3.pdf

contract4.pdf

Next is a tool I use everyday.  Powerful verbs for add persuasion to your writing.

powerful-verbs-that-add-persuasion-to-your-writing.pdf

Enjoy the best of 2009 tips from Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound.

ebook-bestof2009publicityhound.pdf

Orvel Ray Wilson shared Guerilla Marketing™ – Unconventional weapons and tactics for the advanced professional speaker.

gm-for-advanced-professional-speakers-handout.pdf

I subscribed to 101 quotes and received a short e-book.

ebook_101quotes.pdf

Another gift from Speaker Services

The Speakers’ Community our membership club offers hundreds of interviews of experts in the archives.  Join for two months for FREE and hten $19.95 a month thereafter.

Listen live or download the mp3′s of two experts each month.

Check it out http://www.speakerscommunity.com .

I appreciate you all and could not do Speaker Services without your love and support for the past 18 years.   Marketing and training services for speakers & authors.

post by Judy Cullins  www.bookcoaching.com

The myth continues-that a real book must be in print and it must be over 160 pages.  Speaker need to rethink the premier approach: Write a short book  and self-publish it, to get more bookings, get your word out to thousands, gain credibility, as well as vast virtual promotion and an ongoing increased stream of income.

1.  You can write your short (50 pages to 100 pages) print and eBook at the same time using  Microsoft Word..

Speakers need to know that business people’s reading hours are down from 123 hours per year in 1999, to 109 hours in 2001, and in 2005–the figure is even lower. They want short how-to books.

Speakers have the edge over other businesses because you already have past talks, cassettes, or articles you’ve already written. Just dust them off with a new angle for each audience. This approach creates even more information products that fill that wealth stream.

2. If you don’t get a book out, you don’t get the bookings, your word out, or ongoing lifelong income.

3. To get started:

-Write about what you know–you are the expert
-Solve your audience’s problem or challenge
-List 5-10 benefits and features of your book
-Know your thesis before you write a word
-List 3-5 major topics to later become your chapter titles
-List 3-5 sub points for one chapter title

Take just five – ten hours a week to get your book written in less than a month. Watch your speaking business thrive!

The following post is from Joan Stewart the Publicity Hound. Internet marketers are hawking thousands of products that promise to help you promote yourself and get rich quick—AFTER you pay, in some cases, several thousand dollars for the how-to information.

I just discovered one of those how-to products that’s perfect for Publicity Hounds, but at a paltry $10.  It just might be the best money you’ve ever spent.

It’s a 13-page report called “Easy 7-Step Fash Cash Strategy, written by Lynn Terry, who I met at a members-only convention hosted by Stompernet, the Internet marketing membership site, earlier this year. (Sorry, but membership in Stompernet is currently closed.)

Lynn’s report teaches you how to market a special report that you’ve written for a niche audience, even if you don’t have a website, shopping cart, or email addresses of people who have given you permission to market to them.  Most Publicity Hounds I know would love to create info-products for their niche, but they abhor the thought of creating a website, processing the payments or delivering the product.

Lynn suggests that you write a content-rich report that walks people through the steps of how to solve a problem, similar to the 52 special reports I sell on publicity-related topics.

You can give away the report as background information for journalists, or for your favorite clients and customers.  But Lynn suggests you sell it to the public like she’s doing so you have an additional revenue stream.

The only 2 things you need

You only need two things: a PayPal account and an email address. I recommend the report for:

—Anyone who has written a book and is looking for a fast, inexpensive product to create so they can upsell their readers to something else.

—Anyone who has written a book and wants a low-price product that catches the attention of people in a particular target audience who also might be interested in the book.

—Publicity Hounds who want to promote their expertise and demonstrate their ability to solve problems.  If people love the report, they might be inclined to hire you at your hourly consulting rate.

—Speakers who are trying to get paid gigs in a particular industry.  Rather than cold-calling meeting planners, you can market the report to a niche, and then include in the report information about topics on which you speak. I’d even go so far as to suggest that within the report, you mention that readers who would like to hear you speak at a live event should contact meeting planners at their trade associations and hire you for their next event, assuming you’re a good fit.

—Anyone in PR who wants more clients. That includes book publicists, PR agency people and sole-proprietor publicists. Write a report on how to a solve a particular publicity problem. Many people don’t want to do their own publicity. They’d rather hire someone like you.

—Small-business owners who can explain within the report a problem and solution that relates to a product or service they sell.  The report can generate leads that turn into paying customers.

In some cases, you can create the report and start selling it in well under a week.  And if you have questions, go over to Lynne’s discussion forum where she’ll be happy to help you.

From drug store manager to Internet marketer

Michael Brown of Howard, Ohio, one of Lynn’s customers, quit his day job managing drug stores earlier this year and started his own Internet marketing business selling information products after he read Lynn’s Fast Cash Strategy report.  He followed her step-by-step instructions, created a special report, and marketed it exactly as she explained.

Initially, he sold 300 copies of the $10 report. He then expanded the report into a $47 ebook and sold 1,200 copies. Total income from both products: $59,400. Since then, he has created dozens more reports and other information products and sells them from his website, TheProfitHQ.com.

While reading the report, my “ah-ha” moment came when Lynn explained how to quietly sell your report at a few specific websites, and then generate feedback and testimonials which you can then use during the product launch.

Michael says his “ah-ha” moment came when he read on Page 13 the exact wording you should use, including the subject line, when you’re emailing someone to introduce yourself and suggest they join you in a joint venture to market the report.

“That was a good starting point for me,” Michael said.  “It’s one thing to create a product but something altogether to try to round up people to help you promote it.”

Today, his business has grown to include managing two membership sites.

Get Lynn’s report.  Read it, choose a topic, write your own report, and then get started marketing it to people who are searching right now for helpful solutions to aggravating problems. Who knows? You just might be able to quit your day job.

Reprinted from “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week,” an ezine featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity. Subscribe at http://www.publicityhound.com/ and receive by email the handy cheat sheet “89 Reasons to Send a News Release.”

One of the ways to get more visibility is by writing articles and submitting them to the various directories on the net. In the post today by Judy Cullins she offers tips on what to do once your submit your articles so that you can keep repurposing your content and continue to gain recognition.

Take it away Judy…

What do you do after you submit an article to a high-traffic web site like EzineArticles.com?

I hope you didn’t say “nothing.”

Remember, you submitted a description with each article. Now is the time to use each article link along with the description to stay in touch with your target audience every few weeks or even weekly to build customer loyalty retention. Now is the time to expand your article marketing network.

This article marketing research includes keeping a growing list from two sites that list so far 57 articles and links from Hubpages.com and 230 from EzineArticles.com.

We choose 2 articles every two weeks already published on these sites, and share them with our many lists including “ezine subscribers,” “question and answers,” “free reports” and “customers.” Sometimes we add a note and a link to a product or teleseminar we’re producing for upcoming months.

Promoting to your Lists by Autoresponder

1. Choose two published articles from either a blog site like hubpages.com or directory site like EzineArticles.com.

2. Choose a proper headline for the subject line of your email promotion. For example,”Judy’s Fresh New Articles for You.”

3. Place a note at the top of your promo saying you are staying in touch and want to share your latest tips.

4. Include the two article descriptions and the live link such as this one:

You may think you don’t have enough time and ask, “Can I learn how to write a book in 28 days? Or “Can I write a book in two weeks? You may want to know how to write a business book.

As a long-time book coach, I can enthusiastically recommend you write a business book or a non-fiction book. Include the title and link after the description such as hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Write-a-Book-Fast. You’ll have to add the http://www. in front of this to actually click to the article.

5. Keep good records of these promotions. It’s easy to get confused who you sent what to if you don’t keep numbered lists of these articles from article 1 at the bottom, adding # 2, 3 as you submit above it. If an assistant does this, you need to stay in the loop by adding your name to each list by autoresponder.

Now you know this wonderful way to stay in touch with your clients, using article descriptions and links sent directly to your potential clients and customers, are you ready to expand this idea to other venues?

Web coach and “Article Lady” Judy Cullins helps small business and their websites get well known, building client base, and increasing sales conversions. Get her free report “Five Article Marketing Mistakes and How to Solve Them” at http://www.bookcoaching.com/free-report-article-mistakes.php

Read posts on article writing

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Judy_Cullins

Post by Helene Malmsio

It’s not true that everything that has been said has already been written.  Since that unfortunate axiom came into use, the whole universe has changed.

Technology has changed, ideas have changed, and the mindsets of entire nations have changed.

The fact is that this is the perfect time to write an ebook. What the publishing industry needs are people who can tap into the world as it is today – innovative thinkers who can make the leap into the new millennium and figure out how to solve old problems in a new way.

Ebooks are a new and powerful tool for original thinkers with fresh ideas to disseminate information to the millions of people who are struggling to figure out how to do a plethora of different things.

Let’s say you already have a brilliant idea, and the knowledge to back it up that will enable you to write an exceptional ebook. You may be sitting at your computer staring at a blank screen wondering, “Why?

Why should I go through all the trouble of writing my ebook when it’s so impossible to get anything published these days?

Well, let me assure you that publishing an ebook is entirely different than publishing a book in print.

Let’s look at the specifics of how the print and cyber publishing industry differ, and the many reasons why you should take the plunge and get your fingers tapping across those keyboards!

Submitting a print book to conventional publishing houses or to agents is similar to wearing a hair shirt 24/7.  No matter how good your book actually is, or how many critique services and mentor writers have told you that “you’ve got what it takes,” your submitted manuscript keeps coming back to you as if it is a boomerang instead of a valuable mine of information.

Perhaps, in desperation, you’ve checked out self-publishing and found out just how expensive a venture it can be. Most “vanity presses” require minimal print runs of at least 500 copies, and even that amount will cost you thousands of dollars. Some presses’ minimal run starts at 1,000 to 2,000 copies.

And that’s just for the printing and binding. Add in distribution, shipping, and promotional costs and – well, you do the math. Even if you wanted to go this route, you may not have that kind of money to risk.

Let’s say you already have an Internet business with a quality website and a quality product. An ebook is one of the most powerful ways to promote your business while educating people with the knowledge you already possess as a business owner of a specific product or service.

For example, let’s say that you’ve spent the last twenty-five years growing and training bonsai trees, and now you’re ready to share your knowledge and experience. An ebook is the perfect way to reach the largest audience of bonsai enthusiasts.

Ebooks will not only promote your business – they will help you make a name for yourself and your company, and establish you as an expert in your field. You may even find that you have enough to say to warrant a series of ebooks. Specific businesses are complicated and often require the different aspects to be divided in order for the reader to get the full story.

Perhaps your goals are more finely tuned in terms of the ebook scene. You may want to build a whole business around writing and publishing ebooks.

Essentially, you want to start an e-business. You are thinking of setting up a website to promote and market your ebooks. Maybe you’re even thinking of producing an ezine.

One of the most prevalent reasons people read ebooks is to find information about how to turn their Internet businesses into a profit-making machine. And these people are looking to the writers of ebooks to provide them with new ideas and strategies because writers of ebooks are usually people who understand the new cyberspace world we now live in.

Ebook writers are experts in Internet marketing campaigns and the strategies of promoting and distributing ebooks. The cyberspace community needs its ebooks to be successful so that more and more ebooks will be written.

You may want to create affiliate programs that will also market your ebook. Affiliates can be people or businesses worldwide that will all be working to sell your ebooks. Think about this? Do you see a formula for success here?

Figure out what your subject matter is, and then narrow it down. Your goal is to aim for specificity.

Research what’s out there already, and try to find a void that your ebook might fill.

What about an ebook about a wedding cake business? Or an ebook about caring for elderly pets? How about the fine points of collecting ancient pottery?

You don’t have to have three masters degrees to write about your subject. People need advice that is easy to read and easily understood. Parents need advice for dealing with their teenagers. College students need to learn good study skills – quickly. The possibilities are endless.

After you’ve written your ebook

Getting your ebook out is going to be your focus once you’ve finished writing it, just as it is with print books. People will hesitate to buy any book from an author they’ve never heard of. Wouldn’t you?

The answer is simple: give it away! You will see profits in the form of promoting your own business and getting your name out. You will find affiliates who will ask you to place their links within your ebook, and these affiliates will in turn go out and make your name known. Almost every single famous ebook author has started out this way.

Another powerful tool to attract people to your ebook is to make it interactive. Invent something for them to do within the book rather than just producing pages that contain static text. Let your readers fill out questionnaires, forms, even crossword puzzles geared to testing their knowledge on a particular subject.

Have your readers hit a link that will allow them to recommend your book to their friends and associates. Or include an actual order form so at the end of their reading journey, they can eagerly buy your product.

When people interact with books, they become a part of the world of that book. The fact is just as true for books in print as it is for ebooks.

That’s why ebooks are so essential. Not only do they provide a forum for people to learn and make sense of their own thoughts, but they can also serve to promote your business at the same time.

Article reprinted with permission from Strategic Services. All rights reserved.

Helene Malmsio has been a successful business entrepreneur for nearly 30 years and has been operating Strategic Services group of Companies since 1987.

For more information on how to write and publish your own ebook, and to get your own copy of our free self publishing ebook, go to http://www.buybooks-online.com