Selling Ebooks - Putting Together Your First Successful Ebook

Stick to your Motivation

An ebook is usually written for a purpose, and it's important to keep that purpose in mind when drafting your first copy. Too often newbie writers put together a junk ebook that offers no real value to their readers. They think that any old text will do, or that PLR content is their ticket to big online profits.

First of all a badly written ebook isn't going to impress anybody and will fail dismally in a competitive market. The same goes for rewritten PLR ebooks. There are thousands of other people selling the exact same ebook as you are - and honestly this will drive your business name into the ground, especially if you deceptively alter the name of the ebook and try to pass it off as a new product.

Sticking to your motivation means deciding why you are selling this ebook, and working towards that goal. If you aim to make money, and a lot of it, you better sell something well above the usual online drivel or it simply won't work.

You'll sell a few initial copies and then word will get around that your ebook is terrible. Social media will take care of that. Sales will dry up and you'll be left with the continuous costs of your digital products provider.

If your goal is to get people to sign up for your newsletter, then your ebook has to be something that will interest your main target demographic. If it's to inform people about your business, or to promote your hobby, then it also has to be specific and unique among its competitors.

Don't make the mistake of believing that people will want your ebook if it's cheap or free. They will need motivation to download it, so the content better be up to scratch.

Choosing your Subject

The subject you are going to write about should be something you've researched extensively to gain additional perspectives on its saleability. Don't write on an ebook subject that a million other people have written about.

This flooded market is difficult to break into and you can only really succeed here if your ebook is better than the rest. If you're an expert in a specific field, concentrate on that. Chances are your unique opinions on the topic will add real value to your ebook.

Choosing your Title

Here's a tip and I can't stress this enough - do a draft title before you write your ebook and then once the content is written, make your title fit in perfectly with what your ebook is about.

Often a writer will start with a subject in mind but the ebook will take on new dimensions as the content progresses. If you neglect to change your title then your clients will be buying a whole lot of information they didn't want in the first place. Bad business mojo. Make sure that your title is catchy, clever or direct, and always ensure that it describes your content well.

Choosing your Design

A rubbish ebook design will make many people question the content of your ebook. What you need is a bold, simple cover that when scaled down still makes a statement about your copy. Many novice ebook writers don't include a cover design at all, or they make them too busy.

As a result, the small ebook cover is so complex that you can hardly read the title or the author's name. Make sure that your design looks good big, but looks even better when scaled down.

Choosing your Images

If you want to get into trouble then take random images off Google and use them in your ebook. All it takes is one person who owns the copyright of that image to sue you, and your dreams of ebook wealth will fly out the window. Always put money aside to buy royalty free stock images for your ebook. Most of them are of a better quality anyway, which means that your ebook will have that professional finish.

Formatting your Ebook

A well formatted ebook is easy to read and difficult to copy. Expand your readership by including different versions of your ebook in PDF, Kindle, HTML and Txt formats. If you don't want to format your ebook manually, there are programs that will do it for you, but these are unnecessary for the novice writer.

Package Deals

Over the years I have found that a single ebook on its own can't stand up to package ebook deals. People love free stuff, and they become more inclined to buy your ebook if they think they're getting a real bargain.

When you are drafting your ebook, you should have at least three other short ebooks, mini-courses or webinars to include, for free, in your ebook package. These bonus texts become real selling points in your sales letter. If you plan on selling big, then include these free items with your main product for a massive boost in sales.

Selling your Complete Product

So how in the world do you sell an ebook on the internet anyway? I like to use a complete shopping cart where you can integrate your digital products and manage them from your dashboard.

Often you will need to include additional security to make sure that people don't hack your product for free. You can also use a digital products host like E-Junkie or a service like Clickbank who will help sell your ebook for you.

Your Sales Letter

Once you have your domain all set up with your ecommerce shopping cart implemented you'll need to write a killer sales letter to sell your ebook for you. When people click to your ebook sales page they should be immediately engaged so that they don't click away to someone else's page.

Please don't make your sale letter cheesy and try to force people to buy your products using bold language and intrusive sales talk. It doesn't work anymore and you'll be wasting your time. It all comes down to this one single sales letter to make the sales that you want.

Be friendly but don't come across like you're desperate to sell or people will be put off. A polite, comprehensive sales letter explaining how your ebook will benefit your reader is all you need to make a real impact.

Once you have these main points down, you'll be able to create and market your first ebook successfully. Remember that its one thing to keep your costs low, and another to do things cheaply. A solid initial layout will boost the credibility of your product and it will end up selling more.

For more advice on ebook and sales page creation see http://www.contrastmedia.co.za/ebook-writing/ for quantifiable results, every time.

Carla Dewing is the Managing Director of Contrast Media, a web 2.0 copywriting company based in Cape Town, South Africa. With their progressive copywriting techniques for digital and print media, this copywriting company is a complete 1 stop shop for all of your writing needs, on any platform. See http://www.contrastmedia.co.za for more!

15 steps to a Successful Ebay Ebook Business

Here's are 15 simple steps to make a success of your eBay Ebook Business.

Step 1: Choose your niche or market.

Too many ebay ebook sellers list any ebook they can get their hands on, but there is nothing to say you have to copy them.

Remember quality is much better than quantity.

Choose your Niche i.e. Babies, Dieting, Fitness and build up your ebook stock on one particular subject.

Remember, when an ebayer buys an ebook from you, it's more than likely that they are interested in that particular subject and will therefore become a repeat customer.

Step 2: Watch your competition but don't copy them.

It's always a good idea to find out who your competition is on eBay. I'm not telling you to copy everything they do, but at least KNOW what they are doing.

Sign up for their mailing list, learn how they are getting customers to their ebay store or items.

Watch how they promote the items they are selling. Use their experience to improve your own items and sales.

Look for any flaws they have in their auctions, perhaps they don't link to their other items, maybe they don't have an about me page, this is where you can move in and STEAL their customers.

Step 3: Imagine the next sale.

Try to imagine the next sale, if someone buys an ebook about keeping fit, what other ebooks would they be interested in? Perhaps healthy recipes or low fat recipes.

There are thousands of resell rights ebooks on the internet today, choose a subject you are interested in, then make it your mission to sell every ebook related to that subject.

Do this and watch your repeat customers increase daily.

Step 4: Start small and grow your ebook business.

There is no point listing thousands of ebooks immediately.

Start off small and gradually grow your ebay business.

List a few ebooks and see what works. Remember, it does not cost a high amount of money to list an ebook but listing thousands of ebooks on ebay will soon see your fees eating up all of your sales profits.

Step 5: Try, Try and Try again.

Keep testing your ebook auctions to see what works.

Keep trying different titles and different item descriptions, if your ebook is not selling it's probably due to a bad description or title. Keep working on your auctions until you have a system that works then apply it to all your auctions.

Step 6: Use a Standard Template for all your ebay ebook auctions.

Using a standard template on your ebay auctions listings will give you a professional appearance.

If you can't design your own template, search on the internet for free ebay templates that you can use.

Make sure your template for ebay auctions always contain links to your about me page, your feedback, your ebay shop and a link to add you as a favourite seller.

Step 7: Buy new ebooks and stay up to date.

If you have targeted a certain niche or subject, and you are getting repeat customers, they will eventually have purchased every ebook you have. So you have to buy new ebooks and expand your ebook business. If you don't, you will lose the regular ebay customers you worked so hard to find.

Search on ebay and on the internet for new titles related to your subject and make sure you are selling the most up to date ebooks.

Step 8: Always offer a 100% refund.

Make sure any ebook you list on ebay is of the highest quality, then you can offer a 100% refund if a buyer is not happy.

Do not be scared to offer refunds, if the ebook you are selling contains good information and does what is says on the tin, so to speak, you won't be inundated with refund requests.

Step 9. Read the Ebook, Use the Software.

If you are selling an ebook, always read it first. This will tell you if the ebook has good content and may also give you help composing your ebook description.

If you are selling software make sure you use it! There is nothing worse than a buyer emailing you and asking question about the software and you can't answer it. It will make you look unprofessional and the buyer will probably never buy from you again.

It's also a good idea to check any links in an ebook, never sell an ebook that contains outdated links or links that go to "page cannot be displayed" again buyers will not be happy with their purchase.

Step 10. Give it time.

You are not going to start selling 100 ebooks per day immediately, it takes time. So have patience.

Give ebayers and the Search Engines time to find your items for sale. Slow and steady is always a good rule, many ebook sellers will tell you that selling ebooks is simple, and it is ONCE IT IS SET UP.

Step 11. W.I.I.F.M

When you sell an ebook, or any item on eBay, ebayers will always ask themselves the same question, "What's In It For Me?". You need to list the benefits of buying the ebook, convince the potential buyer that they simply cannot do without this ebook.

There is not point simply rambling on about all the great things your ebook or software can do, describe exactly how the ebook will affect the buyer personally.

If it's a dieting ebook, tell people how great they will feel when they lose weight, how happy they will be when their clothes fit better, how their self esteem will be boosted with lots of comments on their appearance from friends and family.

Step 12. Start a mailing list or newsletter.

If you have an eBay shop, you can start your own newsletter, you can use this newsletter to send out emails advising ebayers of new ebook items you have listed.

If you don't have an eBay shop you can still set up a mailing list, I personally use Aweber but there are many auto responder mailing lists available on the Internet just perform a search on Google. Some are free but will include advertising or limit you to only 10 messages.

Step 13: Automate as much as you can.

As you eBay eBook Business grows you will begin to sell lots of ebooks. You will need to devise a system for ensuring buyers receive their downloads. There are many good instant digital delivery systems you can use. I recommend MYDD, you can fully automate all your ebook deliveries.

Step 14. Back End Sales.

When you make an ebook sale on ebay always follow it up with a polite email to ask if the buyer received their download.

Remember you don't have to simply give a buyer a direct download link, send them to a download page. On this download page you can have a sign form to your Autoresponder, you could have a link to your website or you could have a link for an affiliate product that will earn you a commission.

Step 15: Don't Give Up!

No matter how low your sales are, no matter how bad things look, don't give up.

It may even look like everything is going wrong! But stick with it!

Just keep trying and testing. It takes time to build up an ebay ebook business but if you keep working hard you will finally make a breakthrough.

If your ebooks are not selling change the title or the description.

Each time you sell an ebook, improve the listing, don't simply click to relist, that's plain lazy! Try and improve your item listing every single time.

Apply these simple 15 steps and you will make your eBay Ebook Business a success.

Sally has been selling ebooks online for almost 2 years. Grab a FREE download of her new ebook titled "50 ways to a successful eBay eBook Business here Inside Ebooks Blog