Become an Eook Author

Written by Susan Harrow


What is an e-book?

It's just like a paper book except for a few differences. You write your book in a word processing program like Microsoft Word. In it you can include links to websites for additional information so a reader can click on a URL to accessrepparttar desired information whenever they like.

How does it work?

Once you finish your book you'll convert it to a PDF file using a program such as Adobe Acrobat. The font type-face of your e-book is large so it can be easily read on a computer screen.

Where can you sell it?

Once you've written your e-book and want to sell it you can market it through websites that specialize in selling them. You don't even have to have a shopping cart or e-commerce interface on your website. So everyone of you can get started writing your e-book right away, today.

What sells best?

Some ofrepparttar 147845 best-selling e-books deal with how to make money onrepparttar 147846 web. The least well-selling e-books are poetry.

What if you're not a writer?

Even if you're not much of a writer you can do two things. Talk your book into a tape recorder and transcribe it. Or hire a freelance writer to write or edit your book.

Should you limitrepparttar 147847 number of sites you sell to?

No. Get your book set-up on as many sites as you can so you'll have a steady stream of royalties, reach a wide audience, and get your name out intorepparttar 147848 public eye.

5 Secrets to Selling Products & Services to Your Audience

Written by Susan Harrow


1. Know your audience.

How can you tailor information to your audience if you don't know who they are? In almost every article, book, or manual on publicity and marketing you'll hear this one--and yet few people heed it. When I spoke atrepparttar Los Angeles Gift Show it became evident that many retailers and buyers didn't know their audience. Fellow speaker and communications expert Kare Anderson (http://www.sayitbetter.com) polled over 60 exhibitors and discovered that only 2 felt they knewrepparttar 147844 type of person they were targeting. Huh? How can they sell products to people they can't even profile?

To serve your market you'll want to know what problems you can solve for them, and more specifically what your audience longs for. Most of us have what we need, but desire more or less of what we have--or we yearn for something different or better. A poem byrepparttar 147845 Japanese Haiku master Basho describes this essential state ofrepparttar 147846 human condition--this longing for something other than we are or have.

Even in Kyoto- Hearingrepparttar 147847 cuckoo's cry- I long for Kyoto.

Give people what they are longing for and you will find a permanent place in their hearts.

2. Test, test, then test again.

Many webmasters don't test your shopping cart on different computer platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux), with different browsers, or with various computer configurations. This is essential!

The $10,000/hour speaker discussed above insisted thatrepparttar 147848 shopping cart on his website worked from his computer, though he admitted that he'd heard from a number of people it was often *down.* I tested it on my Mac and Windows PC with both Netscape and Internet Explorer and couldn't get it to function at all.

Understand that I'm no techie (biggest understatement ofrepparttar 147849 year) so these wererepparttar 147850 most basic of tests, all done from a marketing vs. technical standpoint. If you are your own webmaster, have your friends and associates test your ecommerce sections, and your website in general, before you unleash your brilliance onrepparttar 147851 world. It's amazing allrepparttar 147852 things that can go wrong on a web site, including things that you or your tech help hasn't thought of. While it's impossible to go through every conceivable configuration, it is possible to take care of allrepparttar 147853 major ones.

3. Takerepparttar 147854 annoyance out of shopping.

In other words, make buying from you a pleasure. I was on a *professional marketer's* site to scope out a product he sells for $97. I muddled my way through a century of copy before I could get torepparttar 147855 actual *click to buy button.* I know he and other Internet marketers like him think this direct marketing technique (long copy, addressing every objection,repparttar 147856 illusion of giving away meaningful information) really sellsrepparttar 147857 product--but it doesn't work if they don't make it easy to getrepparttar 147858 product inrepparttar 147859 basket.

After about 5 minutes of clicking forward and backward, I gave up. (Byrepparttar 147860 way, women have less patience onrepparttar 147861 Internet than men). Chalk up another lost sale for him.

Userepparttar 147862 fewest number of clicks to get a buyer to where they're going (torepparttar 147863 checkout). This means in navigating forward, towardrepparttar 147864 final sale, or backward to add more items to their cart. Don't have your potential customer waste time and effort trying to figure out where or what to click, because they won't--they'll simply leave. Model yourself after amazon.com who makesrepparttar 147865 process simple and easy.

Also, explain every step of your ordering process so that people feel confident of where they are going and what they can expect from you. This means everything from screens that verifyrepparttar 147866 information is correctly filled out on forms, to email messages confirming and precisely explainingrepparttar 147867 shipping method and timeframe.

4. Don't sacrifice image for speed.

Think about it. If someone is paying you a substantial sum for your services and your website comes across like a poor pauper, do you think they'll retain their confidence in you?

It's important to concern yourself deeply aboutrepparttar 147868 kind of image you're projecting before you slap something up on your website that you'll be sorry for later. Donald Rumsfeld, our current Secretary of Defense, former chairman ofrepparttar 147869 *transition team* for President Ford, andrepparttar 147870 former White House chief of staff, gives this advice, *Think ahead. Don't let day-to-day operations drive out planning. Plan backward as well as forward. Set objectives and trace back to see how to achieve them. You may find that no path can get you there. Plan forward to see where your steps will take you, which may not be clear or intuitive.*

Some questions to ask to help you get clear:

Is what you're offering soft or hard-edged enough forrepparttar 147871 kind of audience you want to attract? What arerepparttar 147872 qualities your audience is looking for from you? Is what you do completely clear? Arerepparttar 147873 products you sell filled with knowledge and information (or inrepparttar 147874 case of 3-D products originality and true value) your buyers can't get from your competitors? Do you make it easy to buy? Remember that most information can be found elsewhere, but your wisdom cannot.

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