The Benefit of Writing Your Own eBooks and Special Reports

eBooks and Special Reports are becoming more and more popular and publishing your own unique content in electronic form is one of the most cost-effective ways to provide your target audience with information specific to their requirements.

Also, as you develop your business and your list, you’ll find it beneficial to be able to react to the requirements of your readers/visitors to produce an information product within a very short time scale.

Why you should write your own eBooks

The beauty about producing, marketing, selling and delivering your work online is that there are no overheads, printing or distribution costs. As long as you can use a text editor or word processing programme, you will be able to produce your own eBooks.

eBooks can be used as traffic generators, as electronic newsletters, as information products and as an excellent way of generating income through affiliate links.

The eBook is the perfect marriage between writing and internet marketing, providing an opportunity to make money without the risks associated with traditional offline businesses.

One of the main reasons that eBooks are becoming so popular on the web is because most people are searching for easy access to information. Since that is true, the hottest topics are non-fiction ‘How to’ type eBooks.

The possibilities for a ‘how to’ eBook are endless. There will always be a market for good quality and well presented information that meets a specific need and I’ve already become aware of a myriad of different niches being developed by Income Elite members.

Putting your eBook together

Once you have decided on your topic within your chosen niche, there are many different ways to approach creating your eBook:

• Provide your readers with a list of practical tips
• Research the most frequently asked questions or searches within your topic and provide answers that address these issues
• Provide step-by-step instructions for a task or process that people are having problems with
• Provide useful tips and shortcuts to solve typical problems that are encountered within your target market
• Undertake research on your chosen topic and then publish your findings

Bear in mind that people are interested in details and simple explanations so try to be as specific as you can. The majority of your audience are not interested in broad theories – they are looking for information on what to do and how to do it.

You don’t have to write the equivalent of War & Peace. Your eBook or Special Report can be as short and concise as 30 pages but try to pack as much information as possible into this. A high perceived value of any one of your products will mean that your customers will consider you a trusted person and are much more likely to buy further products from you, whether they are your own products or affiliate products you are recommending to them.

I can’t stress strongly enough the importance of providing value in whatever you promote as, without the trust of your customers, you will never be able to grow a responsive list which, after all, is the life-blood of any internet marketer’s business.

One of the biggest benefits of writing your own eBook is that you have many opportunities to insert hyperlinks to your own web pages. You have complete editorial control. If you have a network of sites, promoting relevant products and/or services, this can be a superb source of traffic generation.

When you begin, you should aim to include a suitable introduction and notice about copyright at the beginning of your eBook.

You should also include a table of contents and, of course, it is customary to include a short biography or ‘About the Author’ section too. This promotes familiarity with the reader and makes the product more personal.

When creating an eBook, consider beginning with a Spider diagram or a Mind Map. I’ve found that this is a great way of structuring you eBook and developing the theme and sub-themes. Other people simply list as many topics as possible before finalising the content of their eBooks.

Another really useful way of organising your content is to write each of your ideas on an individual Post-It note. You can then move them around and put them in clusters or classifications until you are happy with the overall shape or structure of your eBook. This then becomes your outline and Table of Contents.

Try writing with a conversational tone as this is easiest for your reader to identify with and it’s easier to convey a sense of quiet authority about your subject.

A quick and easy way of creating a special report is simply to select ten high quality blog posts on a similar topic and compile them into eBook form. You can add value to this idea by including, with permission, articles from other experts on the topic.

Whatever you’re using to produce your eBook don’t forget to use all the tools available within your word processing or text editing package, especially the grammar and spell checking functions. Read your eBook out loud and make adjustments until you are happy with the finished text. You can add content to the headers and footers, insert page numbers and insert images to add emphasis or clarification. It’s really worth spending the time to get this right.

Promoting your eBook

The easiest way to promote your eBook is to have it listed in one of the many eBook directories available on the internet. An eBook directory is a website that accepts eBook listings. These eBook directories are high traffic, so if you list your eBook people will visit and download it.

Here are several high traffic eBook Directories on which to list your eBook:

Bizzy Days Ebook Publications – http://www.bizzydays.com/
Ebook2u – http://www.ebook2u.com/
Ebook88 – http://www.ebook88.com/
Ebook4Free – http://www.ebooks4free.net/
EBook Broadcast – http://www.ebookbroadcast.com/
EBook Heaven – http://www.ebookheaven.co.uk/
EBook Gallery – http://www.ebookgallery.com/
EBook Jungle – http://www.ebookjungle.com/
EBook Leads – http://www.ebookleads.com/
EBooks Library – http://www.ebookslibrary.com/
EBook Palace – http://www.ebookpalace.com/
EBook Zone – http://www.e-book-zone.com/
Ecourse Web – http://www.ecourseweb.com/index.php
E-Library Open Ebooks Directory – http://e-library.net/
Free eBooks – http://www.free-ebooks.net/
Free Book Miners – http://freeebookminers.com/index.php
Free Ebooks Online – http://www.free-ebooksonline.com
Free -n- Cool – http://www.free-n-cool.com/
Free EBook Directory – http://www.freeebookdirectory.com/
Jogena’s eBook and eZine Directories – http://www.jogena.com/
Mushroom Ebooks – http://www.mushroom-ebooks.com/
Power Business Publishing – http://www.powerbusinesspublishing.com/
E-Book Directory Name – http://www.sharewareebooks.com/
The Ebook Directory – http://www.ebookdirectory.com/
Virtual eBooks – http://www.virtual-ebooks.com/index.htm
Web Success Central – http://www.websuccesscentral.com/index.shtml
WitGuides – http://www.witguides.com/

Finally, think carefully about what response you want from your eBook. If you simply want to generate some income, and generating traffic is a secondary consideration, then you should price it according to the market demand.

If, however, you are looking for as much traffic as possible, you may want to give it away or even sell resale rights to get the widest possible distribution.

One last thing you could consider, especially if it is your own product and unique content, is either promoting it or offering it as a special offer of free giveaway on one or more of the many internet marketing forums.

If you’re not aware of the value and power of internet marketing forums, have a look at the biggest and best online, www.warriorforum.com. If you click on the Warrior Special Offers, you’ll see the way people either offer special deals on their products or give them away in order to create further traffic for other projects.

Believe me, it’s powerful stuff and there are a number of really good quality forums online that you should consider for this type of offer.

Good luck.

By: Steve Peirce