Making Money With Ebooks and Reports

This way is really simple!

It consists of seeing your ebook chapters as separate articles. In other words, one chapter = one article.

An article does the following:

. It’s focused on a single aspect of a larger topic that interests a specific audience.

. Its title makes a promise to its readers — making money, making the most of what one has, finding a dream job, financing a new home, avoiding a tax audit, etc. etc.

. Its content matches the title. For example, it may include 55 ways for making money, six things to do before committing to a finance deal, ten things to watch out for before submitting a tax return, etc., etc.

. It’s presented in an easy-to-read format. There may be bulleted items or lists accompanied by short explanations, etc. Its format makes you want to read the article!

. Its material is usually short, direct, right to the point. Today’s readers are busy and want stuff when they want it, which is NOW.  It’s very clear that the writer knows what he or she is talking about.

. And finally, it doesn’t end all of a sudden. Nossir! There is usually a final paragraph or two that briefly summarizes key points. Everything is brought full circle. There’s no beating around the bush.

Paying close attention to these points will increase your ebook’s worth and help you to write even better. They are as follows:

. Write as if you were talking to your reader. You’re not writing to just “anyone.” You’re writing to a target audience, such as parents or golf players or weight watchers or whatever. Use terms and language that he or she is familiar with. Show him that you are “on his side” as you explain the solution to his or her problem.

. Cut out the fluff. Much of this fluff happens because you’ve said all that you needed to say, yet the amount of material is rather sparse. Another form of fluff is repetitive information.

. Have something to say. Instead of the same-old, same-old, consider taking a different perspective. For example, do you want to help your reader do something more quickly? Efficiently? Differently? Let the reader know, of course, and then explain how.

. Remember that an ebook chapter consists of only a few paragraphs. It should include a short introduction, a discussion of the chapter’s topic, and a conclusion. Take advantage of the conclusion to remind your reader of your chapter’s key points. Maybe even consider adding a short exercise or a short list of things for him to do.

. Wait until you’ve finished writing your ebook before editing it. To edit your ebook, work with one chapter at a time. Outline its paragraphs by numbering each one. Next to each paragraph, summarize what you said in one statement. You’ll be able to see at a glance if your paragraphs flow smoothly and logically from one to the next. You’ll also likely catch mistakes such as repetitive material and fluff.

. Carefully proofread and correct annoying spelling and grammatical errors.

As you write, you will be interested in producing the best work possible. And you should review your material from time to time and edit as necessary.

But try to avoid perfecting your work every time you edit it. Going overboard by making sure that every word, sentence and fact is perfect will delay your progress and cost you valuable time. If you give in, you’ll wind up writing your ebook for months and years.

Just do the best you can for now.

Remember that you’ll be writing more ebooks and reports. Whatever you forgot to include in the first can easily be added in the second or third or fourth document. There is no such thing as perfection.

Ultimately, you may wind up with no ebook at all, just a lot of pages that need editing or rewriting. I should know because this has happened to me. Eventually, I abandoned that particular ebook, probably for good. Don’t repeat this mistake!

Now that you’ve created a working title, the next step will be writing a list of contents. You can use chapters instead. Steps might also work just fine. A lot will depend on how simple or complex your material is.

Ok, now for the tips:

. Brainstorm a list of 5 to 10 items for your ebook’s table of contents. The order in which you write them does not matter now. What you are doing is getting words on paper or the computer screen.

. Allow your list some cooling-off time, say a day or two, before reviewing it again.

. Edit your list by crossing out items that are not directly related to your topic. If you are writing a how-to, visualize yourself carrying out the process step by step. Make sure that every item in your list is directly related to your working title.

. Allow yourself about two weeks to write the first draft of your ebook. Plan to write a chapter per day. Mark dates that you anticipate finishing chapters on a calendar and use these dates as deadlines. Once you’ve completed a chapter, cross out the deadline date from your calendar

To avoid getting bogged down in writing and researching your ebook, think about creating a working title for it first. Such a title helps you to focus your efforts and stay on track. It will also help to keep you motivated.

A good way to begin is by using the words “how to.” What problem or process will your ebook help readers to solve?  Examples are “How to Get Instant Relief for a Toothache,” “How to Fix a Flat Tire,” “How to Find an Honest Contractor,” and so on. All of the sample titles are simple and straightforward. Readers can feel confident that they will find just the information they are desperately seeking in your ebook’s pages.

Such a title helps you to focus as well. You can, for example, write a list of steps for your readers to follow in a chapter sequence that will help them solve their problem as quickly as possible. Each step may be included in its own chapter.  And a chapter may only consist of a few paragraphs.  If you write a chapter per day, you will probably finish your ebook in a week or so. This is especially true if you don’t need to do a lot of research.

As you write your ebook’s chapters, you may find that a better title occurs to you at some point — and that’s great! But in the meantime, focus on organizing, writing and completing your ebook, using its working title as a guide.

Adapting and using another writer’s ebook or report is a fairly quick and efficient process. But that process comes with strings attached. First, you must spend some time reorganizing the work so that you can call it your own, which may not be as easy as it seems. The author’s writing style may differ quite a bit from yours. On the other hand, that writing style may be so good that you don’t really want to do anything with it. Yet, you must.

Another point is that when you create your own ebook or report, you know exactly what to include in its pages. You also stand a better chance of being recognized as an expert on a given topic or subject.  Even better, you can figure out what to charge. And the profits are all yours.

Still another advantage is that you can create another ebook on a different aspect of your subject.

Ultimately, the product is yours andyou are free to distribute it or sell it as you wish.

As you investigated possible niches, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that certain areas just keep popping up over and over again:  how to increase attractiveness, get rid of pests, enjoy favorite foods, clean your house more quickly, get convenient career training, getting rich by trading, and so on.

If you look into these areas more closely, you find that they fall into a few general categories that a lot of people are interested in, such as increasing wealth and staying healthy. To increase your chances of selling your ebook or report, you might consider focusing on a smaller aspect of any popular niche.

Once you’ve found that niche, see if you can’t find a connection between it and your personal experiences. If you are enjoying a successful career and are earning a good income from it, what steps did you take in order to make it happen? What problems did you overcome? What solutions did you find? What do you wish you’d done first?

What you did and how you did something is unique. No one else would do it in exactly the same way as you. No one is exactly the same as you or possesses exactly the same background or way of seeing things. Others may have similar problems and might benefit from following a similar path to success.

To break it down more clearly, here’s what you do:

Find a niche

Brainstorm problems that had to be solved within that niche.

Have you solved any of those problems successfully? How did you do it?  (Your answer(s) to this question will help you put a personal spin on helping others to solve that problem.)

All right, so you’ve come across a subject that interests you. The problem now is that you know very little about it and would have to do some research. This is the problem that I encountered in my first year of internet marketing with Tarot. Truth be told, I was fascinated with Tarot and didn’t know anything about it. I never bothered to find out what others might want to know about it and what questions they were asking.

That was a BIG mistake. I compounded that mistake by finding out all that was possible about Tarot and taking copious notes from a variety of books. Then later on, I was seriously bogged down in creating a table of contents and writing chapters. This series of detours cost me well over a year’s time and money.

Getting back to narrowing your search for a niche, then, remember that there is a huge difference between a broad subject, such as Tarot, and aspects of it that people want to know more about.

Another question is whether you could make money by writing about an interest or a hobby. The answer is yes. A teenager wrote about skateboarding and earned some money. He focused on key techniques of skateboarding for beginners, rather than on everything anyone would possibly want to know about skateboarding.

So to summarize, find a subject that interests you enough to want to learn more. You can’t go wrong focusing on stuff that people need immediate answers to. And you sure as heck can’t go wrong with some aspect of a hobby, interest or sport. But do a Google search to find out how popular it is, ie., if there is a market for it. Visit Yahoo Answers for examples of questions that people are asking about it. You’ll save yourself a lot of time, fuss, and work later on if you have everything in place ahead of time.

I’ve read a number of books by Internet marketing experts and found that most of those experts suggest writing about something you know or are interested in. Generally, this is good advice. Following it will give you a good start and help you stay motivated.

The biggest question — and problem— with that, however, is knowing whether your intended/targeted audience would also be interested. And would they be interested in reading your ebook?

Well, they might be and the result might be a sale or two.

Still other experts say that you should consider a subject that many people desperately want answers to, such as how to relieve a toothache or a headache, get back in the house after you’ve locked yourself out, how to find a good mechanic, etc.

Finding and writing ebooks and reports about these and other so-called “desperate niches” might be the way to go. After all, people are still more likely to seek answers to those questions and even more important, be willing to pay for those answers. Now you might be thinking that a lot of answers have already been provided and that’s true. But none of those answers would be exactly the same as yours, especially if you experienced one or more of those problems.

Whete to find such niches? Listen to the radio or watch television and pay attention to ads and commercials. Examples of problems include leaky basements, auto insurance, allergies, colds, rug, tile and floor-cleaning services, and so on.

Writing an ebook or report shouldn’t take several months or years as a rule. When the writing process takes that long, it often means that something has gone awry. Maybe researching material somehow got out of hand.

Stuff like that happens all of the time. And to be honest, it happens to a lot of beginners. But it doesn’t have to happen.

One way to avoid this mistake is breaking your topic down. Imagine that you know nothing about the topic and brainstorm a short list of questions about it before you begin your research! Then pick out two or three of the most interesting questions. Also, visit Yahoo Questions and find out what other people are asking about your topic.

By now, you’re probably thinking, gee, this is a lot of work. But this is work that will save you a LOT of time later on. First, it will help you to find an interesting — and profitable—aspect of your topic to write about. You will attract more interested readers (and buyers). And you’ll finish your project in a reasonable time and move on to the next project just as easily. It won’t take you forever to finish one ebook or report and move on to another.