Nowadays, the internet has changed so many things. As clients, email letters were replaced by snail mail. Instead of exhausting our pockets with long-distance phone calls, we use Skype. And rather than battling for a parking spot and coping with the crowds at the nearby shopping centre, we shop at Amazon.
On the flip side of that, we use email to advertise our goods and services as internet entrepreneurs, Skype to hold meetings and can make a living selling on Amazon.com.
And that's just a tiny glimpse of all the disruptions that the internet has made us enjoy. Book publishing is one of the biggest disrupted industries and one of those that offers a great route to a solid online money-making venture for an individual entrepreneur. More precisely, publishing and selling downloadable ebooks.
You see, what the large publishing companies are doing with the large editors' offices, the authors' offices, the administrative staff... and then the big printing presses... and the distribution centers to bring their books out to bookstores all over the world... all to eventually bring books into buyers' hands... you can do it right now on the device you have. If it's not a huge disturbance, I have no idea what it is.
Many find that self-publishing is a much safer choice (and, in most cases, a more lucrative option!) with all the red tape, "play to pay" tactics, and the lack of marketing help from the major publishing houses (along with low royalties).
There are some important distinctions between this self-publishing process and the conventional publishing process (which, by the way, does not have the negative connotations it used to have). For one, you won't be concerned with printed books. This reduces the cost and inconvenience of actually making, storing, and shipping books, and may not even sell them. The entire thing is going to be interactive. These are ebooks that can be read on tablets such as Amazon's Kindle, or even on a computer, on another tablet or smartphone.
Ebooks are now selling in the millions per year from modest beginnings, comprising around 20 percent of the United States publishing industry. And there is plenty of space to get a slice of the business for a one-person ebook entrepreneur.
So let's look at how you can make money with ebooks, from brainstorming to publishing, and most of all ... The promotion and selling of your online ebooks.
What are ebooks, though?
Ebooks are, all right, books. But in a way where it is possible to distribute or download them online. You can write them on your own, hire authors, use material from the public domain, and produce your ebooks from several sources. And just about any subject can be addressed, just as many, if not more, than could be published by a conventional publisher because you can tailor your tomes to niche markets. Travel guides, how-to books, mystery, romance, science fiction, self-help, technology, religion ... as long as there is a demand of ready buyers, just about every topic is fair game.
(Scanning the bestseller lists on Amazon is one of the best ways to search for them. And not only the overall chart, but also that for categories and subcategories.)
You would also not have to rely on an editor or publisher asking you whether a book will be written. And in order to put your book on the shelves, you won't have to rely on a bookstore. You're completely in charge of the whole operation.
Currently, you're going to do it yourself, including sale and promotion. And that means that you get all the money to hold. They're not sneezing at something.
In recent years, self-published writers have had significant success. Take Hugh Howey, who, through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing, sold a variety of science fiction books. He sold 20,000-30,000 copies a month at one point, which produced $150,000 in monthly income. Amanda Hocking, who authors "paranormal romance" and fantasy novels, has sold well over a million Amazon books, earning revenue of more than $2 million. That's proof that self-publishing on Amazon will make you money.
Maybe most notably, the author of 50 Shades of Grey, E.L. Before being picked up by a conventional publisher and made into a movie, James's erotica series began life as a self-published work.
Let me show you how the same type of company can be created.
Bear in mind that while Amazon.com is the most famous way most individuals think about selling online ebooks, you can also sell your ebooks directly from your own website. More below on that.
Starting an Ebook Company Where You Sell
You have a few options available as an ebook publisher for selling your works.
You can set up a website of your own and directly sell your ebook online. For instance, you could make a PDF available to your readers. A clear shopping cart or PayPal connect and you're all set. Your site is visited by a reader, they order, and they get a download link and get your book. It's pretty much all automated, and to make sure the site is running smoothly, you simply keep an eye on things.
The advantage of this is that you monitor the whole process, have all the consumer data (so that you can sell additional goods , services, or books), and you can charge higher prices. You may find this shocking, but many ebooks sold directly on a website will sell for $40 or more, which is double what a conventional print book would sell for, especially if it's on a focused subject.
Working with a third-party website like Amazon is one of the best ways to sell ebooks. In the past, you may have purchased items, even books, from Amazon. But this is an entirely different aspect to this big e-commerce platform.
Even though they charge you a fee on your purchases, the major advantage of operating with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing is their scope. It is said that about 89 million Americans are active readers of ebooks. That's your target audience, all those people who come and browse for a new book on this website. When doing a quest for a similar keyword, it could be your book that they find. In fact, 38% of daily ebook sales on Amazon go to self-published titles.
Although you might not make as much money as you can sell directly on your own platform, you will have the chance to meet an audience that you wouldn't have access to otherwise.
The method for selling your Kindle ebook is straightforward. You subscribe, then upload your ebook. They make sure that it is translated to their proprietary format. Then, via Amazon.com, you are ready to sell and grow your business.
With which of these choices should you go? I suggest that both be accomplished.
Put one (or two) of your books on Amazon and consider that as a source of traffic ... A way for new customers to find you; and from the sales of the ebook you get to make money. To drive individuals back to your website and get them on your email list, use your Amazon ebooks.
The easiest way to do this is to have inside your book a free bonus offer and make them go back to your website to claim their bonus. They have to opt-in and give you their email address in order to get access to the bonus.
When you have them on your email list, at a higher price point, you can follow up with them and sell them additional ebooks from your own platform. Using the best of the two worlds!
The first step to making your bestseller-Where to get your content
Believe it or not, you may already have published much of an ebook. Those blog posts could be converted into an ebook with some editing if you are already making money with a blog. Just compile relevant blog posts in a meaningful order, make any appropriate edits to take out references that are not relevant, and add an introduction and conclusion, and you're finished. Any blog posts you use can cover and fit together well on the same or similar topics.
Although the data can be found on the website for free, many individuals are willing to pay money to get it formally packaged into something simpler to consume, such as an ebook.
That's just one way of putting together the material for your ebook, of course. If you want to publish an original work of fiction or nonfiction, which is also a good choice, something you write yourself new.
If you're starting from scratch, the main thing is to continually work towards your goals of completing the book. Each day, write something! Start with an outline and fill it in afterwards.
A book that is in the public domain can also be repurposed. This implies that the copyright has expired and anybody can take and publish the material of those books, either revised or reworked in some way or as is. Have you seen the book the came out a few years ago, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? That's a perfect example of a public domain book being re-worked.
In places like Project Gutenberg, you can find public domain works, including classics such as Call of the Wild by Jack London and Shakespeare and books on just about every topic you can think of (a quick search yielded dog training guides, a how-to guide for amateur singers, and much more).
The key here is not only to republish the works in the public domain, but also to change them and put your own spin on them. The book The Art of War will serve as an example. The book could be repurposed into something like The Art of War for Business Professionals or The Art of War for Freelance Employees.
You can employ someone else to write your book for you as another choice. In the book publishing industry, this is currently a very common practice; these authors are referred to as' ghost writers.'
A final thought to bear in mind is that anything like War and Peace doesn't have to be published. You can write shorter books for Amazon and sell them from $2.99 to $4.99 at lower price points, and people prefer shorter ebooks with more oriented niche subjects. Bear in mind that you can sell a greater number of books and use them as a way to draw customers to the other things you do while you don't make a big profit per book from them.
Your Ebook Marketing
In the conventional publishing world, there is a dirty little secret. Usually, publishers don't consciously sell or support the vast majority of the books they publish. This recognition is gained only by those from proven best-selling authors.
Although, as an ebook publisher, you will enjoy having this same control over your strategy of marketing and sales. You should have no trouble finding a way to get your book title(s) out into the world with all the choices available, and catch the interest of potential readers.
I propose a multichannel approach to marketing from several different perspectives. Social networking is one definite outlet. To get the word out, use your Facebook profile, Twitter, LinkedIn contacts and more. Post it on Facebook when the book is written, with a link back to your website with more information and a way to order, for example.
But one announcement isn't enough to send out. You've got to build a buzz around your ebook. Encourage people to say something about your ebook to friends and spread the word. Upload your book-related material. Build competitions. Take giveaways. For the ads, get creative.
You can also promote your book on your blog, get involved and tell people about it in forums related to the subject your book is about, and if you have an email list, be sure to promote it there too.
You can offer a free section of your ebook as well. That will get readers hooked so that they want more and the rest of the ebook will be purchased.
The aim is to be strategic in your marketing strategies to create buzz and interest in your book on an ongoing basis.
Also, you can do paid advertisements directly on Amazon if you sell your ebooks on Amazon to market your books to a highly targeted audience based on keyword searches and unique items (such as related books).
For a good Ebook, Some Dos and Don'ts
It's not automatic to make money from ebooks. There's nothing you can only bring into it and expect to reap. It's not a hard job, but to make sure your ebook attracts attention from readers and generates sales, you should follow some best practices.
Don't get overpowered
Just because you write a book doesn't mean you're going to have to stress out. You should finish the work with a strategy in place and put it on sale.
You just need to build an outline for the book to follow, set a timetable for when you're going to write (if it's original work) or when you're going to work on it, how you're going to promote the book and when you need to do each job, and set a target release date when it's going to be offered for sale. Each day is a matter of setting aside time. When you "feel" like it, you can't just focus on this ... otherwise, it'll never get done.
Pick a subject you know about.
With authority and trust ... and enthusiasm, you want to publish. Choosing a subject only because you think it could be a best-seller is not a smart idea. Know, the writing can often be outsourced to a professional as well.
Don't make your writing confusing and flowery
Make sure it is easy to read and understand all of your text. Writing in a conversational style is easier and not in an analytical way. Many experts recommend that at an eight-grade writing standard, you can write.
Don't miss Proofreading
Double search for mistakes in grammar, misspellings, etc. Before publication, make sure you have a trusted friend or even a professional proofreader to go over your ebook. There's nothing worse than publishing a book full of mistakes, which can lead to refunds and poor reviews. It doesn't inspire trust in your fans.
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Thanks for sharing