Dorothy Thompson saw a need and
filled it by creating an eBook that teaches others how to promote and sell
eBooks. With a foreword written by Dan Poynter,
it is sure to be helpful to many.
--
1. Do you think publishing e-books is a better route to go
for some writers? Why?
DT: Hi Tom, and thank you for inviting me to
your blog! Publishing eBooks has got to be the best thing that was ever
invented, and I’ll tell you why. I can’t think of a better way for those
writers who want to make a little (or a lot!) of money on the side while they
either wait for that NY contract or those royalties from their
already-published books. Or, maybe they just want to get their feet wet and see
if they can drum up interest in the publishing world. I wouldn't say it was a
better route; I'd say it was an alternative route. It all depends on your
goals. If you want to see instant profits, and want total control over
everything including the book cover and its distribution channels, it could be
for you. If you have exhausted other means of getting your manuscript
published, it could be for you. If you have a manuscript that doesn't "fit"
into the mainstream of what publishers are looking for, it could be for you.
Mainly, publishing eBooks are for the entrepreneur who is looking for an
alternative route to publishing. I have books that are published by a small
press, and I'm very happy with that because for these particular books, I want
different goals for them. I also have many eBooks, as you know, that are
self-published, and because it's more of an informational book with hyperlinks,
at least I have that choice to go with a medium that allows that. It all
depends on your goals and what you want to accomplish.
2. How important is it to find the right market for your
e-books?
DT: Oh, I’m so glad you brought this up. Not
every eBook is going to sell. Before you even write that first word, you have
to have a market. Some writers write for themselves, and others write for the
market. Sure, it’s okay to write for fun, but what’s the point? Write a letter
to Aunt Bessie if you want to write for fun. If you want to make real money,
ask yourself what do you know, and who would buy what you know. Before I wrote
“A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook,” I knew
I had a market. My market is those people who would like to learn how to
promote their eBooks, and that is quite a number. I also knew my market was
those writers who wanted to make some money on the side with their writings.
What better way to do it than self-publishing their own eBooks, and watch sales
come in? Fiction is a tough sale, but it can be done with the right amount of
promoting. Informational eBooks are the best bet if you want to see substantial
profits. Do you know how to do something that people can’t readily already get
over the Internet? That’s the key. Zero in on a subject you know quite a bit
about that people can’t just look up in the search engines. People ask why buy
an eBook when the information highway has all I need to know? You have to come
up with an angle. Maybe you can give them what they can’t find because your
experience is unique, or different. Stand out from the crowd, and they’ll come
around.
3. Besides your own site, where are good
places to have your e-books sold?
DT: Fictionwise is your best bet as it’s the number
one online distributor for eBooks, but this is often hard to do for the
first-time eBook author. If you have several and want to go through the red
tape, it’s a wonderful place to sell your eBook because of the exposure.
However, this isn’t feasible for everyone, especially if you’re a first-time
eBook author, unless you’re published with an e-publisher. So, let’s say you’re
a self-published eBook author, what do you do? Clickbank and Payloadz are good
places to distribute your eBook. Clickbank does charge a one-time fee (I
believe it’s $49) which gives your eBook great exposure, but also gets you into
their affiliate program. Payloadz is free; but it doesn’t give you the exposure
that Clickbank can give you.
4. How should a person go about promoting
their e-books?
DT: There are several methods that I outline in my eBook,
but putting it in a nutshell, the self-published eBook author has to remember
what kind of product they are selling. They are selling an electronic book that
people would either have to read online, or if they have an e-reader, they can
use that, but what better way to promote an eBook but by going online to do it.
Makes sense, huh?
Of course, it does. But, you have to have a
plan, and not go out blind. Some people think all they have to do is put the
book cover up on their website, and that’s it. Oh, so wrong.
There are so many ways to promote eBooks. From
setting up a selling page to entice buyers, to writing articles pertaining to
the subject of your eBook, to even doing what I’m doing right now and that is
setting up a virtual blog tour. The list is endless. The key is getting enough
exposure online to sit well in the search engines, so people will find you.
It’s a known fact that if people do not find you in the first three pages of
the search engine using the search words they would use to find your eBook, you
have just lost potential customers. That’s the reason why you should exhaust
all means of getting your selling page link onto as many online websites as
possible. And that’s what my eBook is all about…teaching you how to do this.
I performed an experiment with a free eBook
that my writing group and I wrote and self-published a few months ago. In one
week’s time, our eBook was number one in all the search engines. Quite a
remarkable feat and this is the reason I wrote “A Complete Guide to Promoting
& Selling Your Self-Published eBook” because I want people to realize how
easy it is to do. And, not only is it easy, but it’s fun, too. Especially when
you start seeing the money roll in. ;o)
