January 23, 2001
Everyone's talking about eBooks but it's hard to find information
on which ebook software to use to produce your own. Imagine the
traffic, a popular eBook can bring you, if it's given away free from
hundreds of web sites. Your eBook can contain advertising from
businesses and programs you're promoting, and you can even sell some
ad space.
Help keep this e-zine free. Visit our advertisers today.
We hope that you find this newsletter interesting and useful.
Patrick Stoddard,
Editor
What Are eBooks?
An eBook is a published book that has been transcribed into digital
form. Digital books can be purchased and downloaded immediately from
anywhere in the world, at prices that are below hardcopy prices.
eBooks are primarily for people who want immediate, up-to-date
information that is reliable, has been properly edited and carries
with it the authority of being published by a reputable publishing
house.
Definition used from eBooks.com http://www.ebooks.com/
The Benefits of Publishing Your Own Ebook
The cost of publishing and delivering an eBook is assumed by no one
--neither the publisher nor the reader. There's no postage, no
waiting, no handling, no printing, and no hassles involved. Best of
all, people can download it almost instantly, or ask for it through
an autoresponder and receive it within a matter of seconds. In short,
the delivery is instantaneous.
If you would like to read about more of the benefits, click here:
http://www.netprofits4beginners.com/products/ebook.html
How To Profit From an eBook
Aim it at your target audience.
The writing style you use should be similar to that of your emails
or web site. Keep it light, with short paragraphs and sentences, and
lots of white space. Writing is just harder to read on a computer
screen, so don't let people get bogged down by it.
Simply creating an electronic book is not enough. Think about how you
are going to distribute it. Unless it's widely available you will
have wasted your time writing it because you will have few readers.
The best way to distribute it is to load it to your own web site,
then write to ezine publishers and high profile sites inviting them
to grab a copy to give away on their own sites.
Include a link to your eBook in your sig file.
If you intend to sell the book you can still give it away but
password protect most of the content, just as you would with a web
site. Then sell people access to the rest of the book on request.
Another way to profit from your eBook is by advertising affiliate
programs, and other biz ops in it. If you can guarantee a wide enough
readership you can even sell advertising space in it.
For more information on this subject, click:
http://ebooks2000.bizland.com/advice.htm
Resources to Help You
The Electronically Published Internet
Connection is a professional organization established to provide a
strong voice in the field and help writers learn about e-publishing
and e-promotion
The Open eBook Forum
The Open eBook Forum is an association of companies - with heavy
input from Microsoft - whose goal is to establish common standards
for eBook systems and products
xLibris
xLibris is the place "where writers become authors" - with a little
investment from Random House.
iUniverse
Barnes & Noble bought a stake in this self-publishing website, which
also helps authors sell and promote their books.
DiskUs Publishing
DiskUs Publishing, publishes - and sells - "quality fiction and
nonfiction" for most formats.
Adobe's eBooks
Adobe's eBooks has free books and information about publishing using
Adobe's PDF format.
