It has been said that here is nothing new under the sun and that everything worth anything has already been written. However, that saying was for another age. Since then everything has changed. Technology has changed beyond recognition, ideas have changed, and entire nations have changed.

This can be the perfect time to write an e-book. What the cyber market wants is information about the world as it is today, what things are new in the field in which they are interested.

E-books are a new and powerful tool for supplying information to the millions of people who are trying to figure out how to do different things.

Let's say you already have an idea, and the required knowledge that will enable you to write a best seller. You may be asking yourself, “Why go through all the trouble of writing my e-book when it's nearly impossible to get anything published?”

Well, publishing an e-book is entirely different than publishing a book in print.

So let's look at the differences between the traditional print industry and cyber publishing.

Submitting a print book to conventional publishing houses or to agents can be an expensive and demoralising exercise. No matter how good your book actually is, or how many critics and relatives have praised your literary effort, your submitted manuscript will most probably keep coming back to you with the dreaded rejection slip.

Perhaps you've thought about publishing your book yourself and found out just how expensive a venture it can be. Most printers will require a minimal print run of at least 500 copies, and even that small run will cost you thousands of dollars, especially if artwork and colours are required. Someprinters' minimal runs start at 1,000 to 2,000 copies, and that's just for the printing and binding. Add in distribution, shipping, and promotional costs and the costs start to add up very quickly. My wife self-published her book "How to make a website", and it was very expensive, even though it had no colour, was a soft cover, and was spiral bound.

On the other hand, suppose you already have an Internet business with a quality website and a quality product. An e-book is one of the most powerful ways to get traffic and promote your business while educating people with the knowledge you already have of a specific product or service.

For example, let's say that you're an expert on the growing and training of bonsai trees, and now you're ready to share your knowledge and experience with a wider audience. An e-book is the perfect way to reach a massive audience of bonsai enthusiasts.

E-books will not only promote your business and get you traffic - they will
help you make a name for yourself and your company, and establish you as an expert in your field. You may even find that you have enough to say to fill a whole series of e-books. Specific businesses are very complicated and often require the intricate details to be separated in order for the reader to get the whole picture.

Perhaps your goals are more specific in terms of writing an e-book. You may want to build a whole business around writing and publishing e-books. You may be thinking about an e-business, or putting up a website to market your e-books. Maybe you're even thinking of producing a newsletter or ezine.

One of the main reasons people read e-books is to find out information on how to turn their own internet businesses into a money-making ventures, and they are looking to the writers of e-books to provide them with new information and strategies because
writers of e-books are usually people who understand the new world of internet marketing. The cyberspace community needs e-books to be successful so that more and more will be written.

You may want to create affiliate programs that will also market your e-book. Affiliates can be people or businesses worldwide that will all be working to sell
your e-books. Mind you, your e-book had better be good, and have a high enough commission structure to get them interested and keep them committed.

Get your subject matter, and then narrow it down to a narrow niche. Your goal is to aim for specificity and profitability. Research what's out there already, and try to find a profitable void that your e-book might fill.

How about an e-book about organising a wedding? Or an e-book about caring for exotic pets? What about the finer points of collecting ceramics?

You don't have to have a masters degrees to write about your subject. With the advent of the internet and Google, anyone can become an expert on anything, if they do their research properly.

After you've written your e-book

The distribution of your e-book into the internet community will be your main focus once you've finished writing it, just the same as ordinary print books.

People will hesitate to buy any book from an author they've never heard of, especially when it's just a name on a hyped up sales letter. So how do you get your book out there if you can't sell it?

The answer is simple: give it away! You will soon see profits in the form of visitors to your links and in getting your name known. You will soon find affiliates who will ask you to place their links within your e-book, perhaps through rebranding, and these affiliates will in turn go out and make your name known. Ask people to email their friends with a copy, or give it away with their ezine, if they have one.
This is what I did with my own e-book.

Don't forget to include an order form at the end, so the readers can buy your product.

E-books are so essential. Not only do they provide a means for people to learn, but they can also serve to promote your business at the same time, and get heaps of free traffic to your site.

Peter Phillips
© 2006

Peter Phillips is an accountant and internet entrepreneur living in Canberra, Australia.
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