The buzz in writing circles these days is all about self-publishing e-Books. They hear that e-Books are giving authors that added income in between getting their print books published, but they have lots of questions before taking that first step.

“How do I make one?”

“What do I write about?”

“Does anyone even buy e-Books?”

Actually, putting together an e-Book is simple. You write about something you are familiar, put it in a .PDF or .exe file and voila, instant e-Book that you can sell off your website and make a few dollars, or even thousands of dollars depending on your promotional efforts, and you’re all set. Or go to www.make-your-ebook-sell.com

Authors and entrepreneurs are doing this all the time and there’s no reason why you can’t either.

The first step is determining what you want to write about, of course, and what your goal is for writing your e-Book.

In 2004, I became published in print format for the first time. It was for an anthology of soul mate stories. The main reason I wanted to put this book together was because I had a goal in mind. I wanted to show people who have given up on soul mates that they did indeed exist.

After it was published, I started a marketing campaign. I had heard that e-Books were all the rage and that you could make some pretty decent money off of them, so I gave it a try.

I started on another book on relationships, but while waiting on this book to be finished (which was taking an incredible amount of time due to research), I decided to try my hand at writing an e-Book and selling it off of my website for added income while I waited on my print book projects to be finished.

This e-Book was also centered on the soul mate relationship, which I felt would add to my expertise and would help sell my print books.

It worked.

Even though I only had the e-Book up on my website and just a few online storefronts, the orders were coming in. You can log on www.ebook-secrets-revealed.com However, I became disillusioned because I didn’t just want to sell a few copies; I wanted to sell hundreds or perhaps more.

I developed a plan.

Not only did I list it with any website that would announce my book, write up press releases and send them to every free press release service out there, and a myriad of other places, but I decided I’d write another e-Book and give it away free to all those who bought my paying e-Book.

This e-Book was shorter, but to the point.

After I became successful using this promotional device to sell my paying e-Book, I found this experience very rewarding and learned quite a few things in the process:

1.) you do not need a publisher to publish your book.

2.) Self-published e-Books DO sell and create that added income while you’re waiting for your print books to sell.

3.) Writing e-Books help give you expert status.

4.) Your e-Books are 100% profit.

5.) The more you promote and make you and your e-Book visible, the more income you will make.

Writing e-Books and selling them yourself without the middleman - the publisher - is a great way to make money. Turn that “starving writer” moniker into “successful writer” and start cranking out those e-Books. Once you start, you’ll wonder why you never thought of this great way of bringing added income into your household before!

Dalipsharma222
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-marketing-articles/why-you-wanna-write-an-ebook-672131.html

By Bimla sheokand

Every part of your book can be a sales tool. When you include the essential “Seven Hot-Selling Points” before you write chapter one, you’ll sell more books than you ever dreamed off !

1. Write for your one preferred audience. Not everyone wants your book. Find out what audience wants/needs your book? What problems does your book solve for them? Create an audience profile and keep your audience’s picture in front of you as you write. Ask yourself, is my topic narrow enough? The Chicken Soup for the Teenager, For the Prisoner, and other specific groups sold far more copies than the original Chicken
Soup.

2. Write a sizzling book title including benefits. You have 8 seconds to hook your potential buyer. While an eBook cover doesn’t need fancy graphics you will want to create one that can be printed both in color and black and white. It must be easy to see and read. Your title and cover should compel your audience to buy.

3. Write a thirty-sixty second “tell and sell.” You only have a few seconds to impress your potential buyer. Include your title, a few benefits, and the audience. This billboard needs a sound bite to grab attention. “Write, Finish, and publish your eBook Fast to Pull Online Sales” shows professionals how to shortcut each step of writing, publishing, and promoting a salable short eBook.

Add a sound bite to the above “tell and sell” something like this: Compare your book to someone who is famous. One client’s title “Passion at Any Age” used the sound bite “this book is the ‘Artist’s Way’ for seniors.

4. Write your sales letter before you write your book. Think about your potential buyer. What are his resistances? His problems or challenges? Be sure you address these. Your sales letter used to promote your book either by email or on your Web site needs to give the benefits your potential buyers want and need. .Include compelling ad copy, features, testimonials, and a small blurb about you, the author. If your potential buyer likes it, they will buy on the spot.

5. Write your eBook’s introduction. Include the problem your audience has, why you wrote the book, and its purpose. In a few paragraphs include more specific benefits, and how you will present it (format). Keep it under a page. Your introduction will help you write your sales letter.

6. Create a table of contents. Each chapter should have a title, preferably a catchy one. If your reader can’t understand the chapter title, then annotate it. Add some benefits or a sub title. In my first chapter called “Why Write an eBook?” I added this partial list of benefits: Ongoing lifelong multiple streams of income, credibility as the expert, products sell easily online, buyers are more targeted and hence you create more profit.

7. Reach out to opinion molders. After an initial contact of asking for feedback, resend them the same chapter and the table of contents of your book. Ask for a testimonial then. These influential contacts’ testimonials will help promote your eBook Online.

Design every part of your eBook to be a sales tool and a beacon that brings out your best: writing–compelling, easy to read, organized, and enjoyable. Your book can sell to thousands, even hundreds of thousands when you design it correctly

 For more details visit to www.create-free-pdf.com  OR
 www.easy-pdf-toolkit.com

Bimla
http://www.articlesbase.com/ebooks-articles/seven-hot-points-for-building-and-selling-of-ebooks-676727.html

10 Tips To Becoming An Author

Over 412,000 books were published in the past 12 months according to Books In Print, an authoritative publishing database.  That means over 1,100 new books are flooding the marketplace every single day – or almost one per every minute.  So how is one to break through the clutter to get their books published, promoted, and sold?

“The good news, is there is no better time in the history of publishing, for individuals seeking access to the marketplace,” says publishing veteran Brian Feinblum.  “You’re no longer at the mercy of the big publishing houses.  You can get a book published on your own with a minimal financial investment – and you can reap a greater percentage of the profits from what you sell.”

Feinblum, a former book editor and publicist, is the chief marketing officer of Planned Television Arts, the nation’s largest and oldest book promotions firm, often helps self-published or first time authors promote their books.  PTA has helped many authors become best-sellers, as well as nurture thousands of unknowns to become household names. Their clients include: Wiley & Sons, Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, Random House, Penguin Putnam and McGraw-Hill.

His 10 tips to get published include the following:

1.      If you want a traditional publisher to publish your book you usually need to first find a literary agent to represent you.  An agent will take 15% of whatever money you make on the book-for-life.  Once a literary agent agrees to represent you and finds a publisher for you, it can take another 12-18 months to publish the book.  To locate an agent, consult the Literary Market Place, a directory available at most library reference desks.

2.      You can choose to self-publish.  This means you invest money to print your books.  But you also get to keep 100% of the profits this way amd retain 100% control of the editing, cover, and content. To self-publish, it’s best to find a distributor, someone who can sell your book to bookstores and libraries, and to generate special sales to corporations, associations, and organizations.  A distributor typically takes about 25-30% of the proceeds.

3.      If you want to get published quickly, and keep most of your profits, and layout very little money, consider using print-on-demand publishers such as iUnivese.com, Trafford, or Blurb.com.  Instead of printing thousands of books ahead of time, they only print a book when a consumer orders a  copy.

4.      Another way to get published is by doing an e-book.  No printing is involved.  People just order your book online and it’s downloaded or emailed to them.

5.      To convince a literary agent to represent you or a publisher to publish you, a book proposal needs to be created.  In this document you must identify, succinctly, what your book is about, why you’re qualified to write it, how big the marketplace is, what your competing titles are, how you plan to promote and market the book.  It’s not enough to just have a good idea for a book or to have a well-written tome.

6.      Publishers are looking for authors with a platform or following.  So create a website, blog regularly, build up an e-zine mailing list, podcast, speak at local groups, and network at linked in .com and other social networking sites.

7.      Study the news media.  See if they’re covering the topic your book covers.  If it’s fiction, check out other novels to see if you find books of a similar nature.  You want to follow a trend and tie into it.  However, uniqueness counts. If yours is the only book of its kind, you may have found an underserved niche that is ready to be exploited.

8.      Attend Book Expo America, the annual publishing event that features publishers, literary agents, editors, book sellers and publishing industry pros.  The best way to float your ideas and test the waters is to come to BEA.  Consult www.bookexpoamerica.com.

9.      Read up on the publishing industry.  Publishers Weekly is the magazine that covers book publishing.  They also have a free daily e-zine, PW Daily.  Consult www.publishersweekly.com.

10.  Tell everyone you know that you’re trying to get published.  Send sample chapters to friends, co-workers, family, etc.  You may just get lucky and get discovered.  At the very least, you’ll get useful feedback.

For additional tips on how to get your book published or promoted, email feinblumb@plannedtvarts.com. 

Brian Feinblum
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-publishing-articles/10-tips-to-becoming-an-author-736052.html

Give freebies. Who doesn’t like a freebie?! Online freebies are commonplace and they leave the visitor wanting more when they are well written and informative introductory materials. Consider such freebies as:

• Giving away an eBook with your ad on it. Allow your visitors to also give the freebie away. This’ll increase your ad exposure and increase web traffic to your website at the same time;

• Holding free online classes or seminars. They could be held in your website’s chat room. The idea of "live" information will definitely entice people to visit your website. You will become known as an expert on the topic.

• Giving visitors a free entry into your contest or sweepstakes. The prizes should be something of interest or value to your visitors. Most people who enter will continually revisit your web site to get the results.

• Letting visitors download free software such as freeware, shareware, demos etc. You could even turn part of your site into a free software directory. If you created the software, include your ad inside and let other people give it away.

• Targeting specific groups who might worry about using the internet with free classes in using it on your site - senior citizens, busy workers etc. might find these convenient and alluring.

• Offering free online services or utilities from your website. For instance, they could be search engine submitting, copywriting proofreading etc. The service or utility should be helpful to your target audience.

• Giving free consulting to people who visit your website. You could offer your knowledge via e-mail or by telephone. People will consider this a huge value because consulting fees can be very expensive.

• Offering a free start-up package that has a finite time; enough time for the customer to practice with your online product and like it enough to pay for continued use.

• Sending out free CD-Roms, CDs, DVDs etc. that contain starter packs or teasers to encourage the customer to use your site more.
• Offering free screensavers or templates for business cards, cards, writing paper etc., anything that a customer can print out.

Here are 40 simple actions you can take to get started.

1. Your website design is the first impression. Make sure it is
professional and relevant to the subject matter.

2. Navigation must be intuitive. If visitors can’t find what they are
looking for easily, they will question your competence in providing
what they want.

3. Make the website personal by giving it its own tone and voice.
People buy people.

4. Follow the HEART rule of creating o­nline content. (Reminder: HEART
stands for Honest, Exclusive, Accurate, Relevant and Timely.)

5. Use language that is appropriate to the audience. It will build empathy.

6. Regularly add new content to your site. It shows that the business
is alive and kicking.

7. Review all links. Doubts will quickly form in your visitors’ minds
if links don’t work or, worse still, take them to error pages.

8. Good grammar and spelling matter. Errors give the impression of
sloppiness and carelessness.

9. Don’t make outrageous and unbelievable claims, like "Read this blog
and you’ll be a millionaire by the end of the week." People are used
to scams, get-rich-quick schemes and rip-offs.

10. Publish REAL testimonials and third-party endorsements. Try to
always use real names and link to websites where possible. Some sites
show images of letters sent by happy customers.

11. Publish case studies about customers you have helped, who use your
product, etc.

12. Don’t put down, curse or insult competitors. It’s unprofessional.
It is better to offer an objective comparison of competitive services
or products.

13. Focus o­n building your long-term reputation, not o­n making quick sales.

14. Write articles for humans, not search engines.

15. Make your ‘About Us’ page personal and comprehensive. It plays an
important part in making visitors feel comfortable that real people
are behind the site.

16. Publish your photo or the photos of the key people involved with
the site. Again, this reinforces the fact that there are real people
behind the screenshots.

17. Clearly identify who is behind the site. Nothing creates more
suspicion than a site that tries to hide the identity of its
publishers.

18. o­n the ‘Contact Us’ page, provide an email form, telephone
number, fax and address of the company. In <?xml:namespace prefix =
st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place
w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>, it is a legal requirement for sites
taking funds, but even sites driven by advertising will benefit from
openness.

19. Provide a telephone number that people can call and talk to a person.

20. Provide Web addresses linked to the website domain, not addresses
from free webmail services such as Hotmail and Gmail.

.

21. Think carefully about reciprocal links. If your site is about
organic food and you have links to Party Poker, people are going to
question your integrity.

22. Think carefully about the adverts you display o­n your site.
Ensure that they are relevant to your subject and audience.

23. Write and publish your privacy policy. Be clear about what you
will and will not do with any personal data you collect. State that
you adhere to all data protection laws. Make it easy to read and don’t
use legal gobbledygook.

24. Write and publish a security policy. State what measures you take
to ensure that all transactions are secure as well as how well you
handle customers data.

25. Ensure that you have a security and privacy policy which is linked
from the footer o­n every page. Make the link more prominent o­n all
the order pages.

26. Clearly publish your guarantee. I would recommend making it a 100%
money-back guarantee if possible.

27. Clearly state your refund and returns policy.

28. If you use PayPal, put the PayPal logo o­n your site. If you have
a merchant services account with a major bank like Citibank or HSBC,
put its logo o­n your site.

29. Use Google search o­n your site for two reasons. First, it is a
great search solution which will help your visitors find what they are
looking for. Second, having the Google name o­n your site instills
trust.

30 If there are well-known industry associations for your subject,
join up and put their logos o­n your site.

31. Have a forum o­n your site and respond quickly to questions. Have
the attitude that you are happy to help others without receiving
immediate reward. As the old saying goes, ‘Givers always gain.’

32. Allow people to comment o­n articles. Interactivity and an
exchange of views build community and a sense of involvement.

33. If people provide constructive criticism or comments in the forum,
don’t delete them, but respond with your point of view.

34. Use the words ’secure website’ whenever you try to get any
information from visitors, including newsletter sign-ups, forum input
and payment.

35. o­n every page, state, "We take your privacy and security very
seriously." Link the statement to the security and privacy policy.

36. If you are selling a subscription, offer a low-cost, entry-level
option. This could be a o­ne-day taster, ‘a week before billing
starts’ or a monthly trial.

37. o­nly ask for information from customers that you really need. For
example, for an email newsletter sign-up, the o­nly information you
REALLY need is an email address, so that is all you should ask for.

38. If you have pricing o­n your website, make it transparent. I
recently went to buy a book which was advertised for $10. When I
checked out, they added tax, post and packaging, and the final bill
was $19.50. I didn’t buy it as I felt they had deliberately tried to
mislead me.

39. Start a small newsletter of your company/services & circulate it
among your clients/employees. Also, publish it o­n your website
regularly.

40. Allow people to "unsubscribe" from your mailing list. This may
sound very obvious, but I have found that many websites still don’t
follow it.

Maheshg
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-marketing-articles/free-web-traffic-tips-for-web-sites-705871.html

Become a writer. I know this sounds daunting and you may not be interested in writing a book…yet. No problem; start small. You can

create monthly newsletters, accept subscriptions, generate income and expose your services and firm to a whole new audience.

Magazine editors of various trade publications are always looking for experts to write about what they know, and by the way, you are

an expert if you’re in business for yourself. I highly recommend publishing a book as well, I decided to self-publish my work. From that

point on I became more than a consultant. I became an author as well as an expert. Suddenly, I was able to book myself for large

(profitable) speaking engagements with firms that wouldn’t give me the time of day before. It’s the kind of exposure that creates a

buzz about your work which is precisely what you want. And once you’ve written that book, you’ll need to publicize it anyway which is

why I recommend Radio-TV Interview Report www.rtir.com .It’s what TV producers use for finding talent to book on their shows.

Having trouble getting started? Contact info@writethedamnbook.com for info on PR firms as well as workshops on writing a book.

They work with you regardless of your level of talent or venue (magazine writer, columnist, newsletter editor). And don’t forget to Blog.

Blogging is a new forum open to writers who want to publish their work on line. It’s a wonderful way of getting publicity for your

business but and allows you to fine tune your writing skills while you’re bringing in a few bucks. Check with Google.com to see what

blogging websites are available to you.

Advertising and Publicity is still key.

Contact Comcast Advertising www.comcast.com to lease air time for a commercial about your firm, event, product or service. Usually

at a nominal rate and caters to growing firms.

Many of you already know about this next venue but I’ll mention it anyway. Craigslist.org www.Craigslist.org is a great way to promote

your firm event, service for free. You can publish on-line by simply writing the text (or better yet copy and paste from your website) and

posting it for 7-10 days (in the services offered section).Also great for finding prospects to contact.

Contact local smaller newspapers to see if they can post ads or do a story on your event-Great publicity. And often the

smaller newspapers will post at no charge

Offer to write an article for a local newspaper or national industry magazines on an applicable topic to promote your expertise. It’s an

excellent way to get free publicity for your firm’s services.

Attend networking events to get great tips from other professionals. You never know who

you might meet there (see info on my group-Something to Share Business Resource Group) Great for target marketing. It’s also a

great way to promote your firm. If you have the opportunity, become a guest speaker at an event. Often these event organizers are

looking for experts to come in with fresh ideas and info to share with their regulars.

Offer to promote services or products that you use often at speaking engagements in exchange for special rates etc. For example I

offer subscription certificates for the San Francisco Book of Lists and the San Francisco Business Times to workshop attendees. The

attendees receive free subscriptions when they attend (which generates business for me) and the publication gives me a reduced

rate on my subscription.

Don’t forget to send out direct mail postcards and e-mails to select individuals and businesses. Check out www.vistaprint.com for

postcards, business cards etc that are very inexpensive but look great. Vistaprint also has special deals on their services for

example, Premium Business Cards for only $1.99. It’s where I get all of my cards!!

Don’t forget to use the phone. Making cold calls is still a great way to promote your work.

Offer some services such as consulting, at a discount or reduced rate. Attract attention by sending press releases, e-mail and direct

mail campaign. Or simply conduct a contest with the winner receiving your services at a pre-determined rate or better yet …Free!!

A newsletter is an effective way of marketing your services to a targeted audience. By sharing your expertise with a targeted

audience you not only promote your knowledge but your business and services as well. Think about creating a newsletter promoting

it through e-mail and direct mail campaigns. You can also publish online and offer discounts, promote new services etc.

deep raj
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-business-articles/business-development-business-promotional-tips-94995.html

Any info from those with experience would be appreciated!

Ebooks are a viable way to go, but you need to screen the publishers as carefully as you do print publishers. Key things to look for are:

1. Do I have to pay any fees to get published?
2. Will I have an ISBN? (That’s the number on the back of any book cover and ebooks have them, too)
3. Are that publisher’s books available on Amazon and through Fictionwise?
4. Do they publish juvenile fiction?
5. Do they pay royalities?

Do not expect an advance. I don’t believe any epublishers pay advances and most of the big publishers have dropped them as well or limited them to $5,000 for new authors. The good thing about epublishing is your books don’t go out of print in 90 days, but stay available for two years on most initial contracts and most of those automatically renew unless you notify them otherwise.

Is extensive travel one of your unfulfilled dreams?

For years, my husband and I had talked about taking a grand tour of the U.S. and Canada, visiting well-known cities and viewing glorious landscapes. On March 1, 2003 we left in our car to do just that. At the end of May, we returned home having racked up 20,000 miles, having experienced countless adventures. What’s more, by working just a few hours a day, we earned the same amount as at home and will be deducting expenses for the entire trip on our tax return. We plan to repeat our feat this summer, in and around Alaska.

You too can do this! Here are five ways to turn the long trip you’ve been dreaming about for ages into tax-deductible - and profitable! - business travel.

1. Seminars. By announcing my itinerary to subscribers of my weekly newsletter, The Marketing Minute, I received seminar or speaking invitations for Houston and Austin, Texas; San Francisco and Sacramento, California; Seattle, Washington; Langley, British Columbia and several other locations. Most business organizations plan events several months in advance, so time your trip announcements accordingly. Besides appearing at events sponsored by an established organization, you can line up co-sponsors who know one or more of the areas you’ll be traveling to and who will take charge of your legwork in exchange for a percentage of the profits.

2. Client meetings. People I had been working with remotely were thrilled at the opportunity to get together in person when I would be passing through their area. Some of these meetings turned into enjoyable social occasions while others materialized as paid consultations. You’ll need much less lead time to set up these get-togethers than for seminars.

3. Research. Haven’t you always wanted to find out how businesses deal with setbacks differently in different parts of the country or the world? If not, then maybe you can formulate another travel-worthy question whose answers relate to your line of business. Upon your return, you can publish a report and voilà, you have a new product and your trip had a legitimate business purpose.

4. Focus groups. Convene small groups to feel out the market for possible new ventures from your company. You may need just one business contact in each city where you want to do this. Offer a free lunch or dinner for participants and something more for your contact, and ask him or her to round up colleagues for an interesting colloquy on _____ (describe the topic appealingly). To fend off suspicions that this will be a disguised or explicit sales pitch, promise that the event will include no selling.

5. Book tour. Setting up author events is a feasible option if you have at least one published book, even if it came out a couple of years ago. If your book is fiction, the events would normally be readings or book signings, while if your book falls into the nonfiction category, you can either offer a talk about the topic of the book or set up book signings. Besides all manner of bookstores, including specialty ones like those focusing on mysteries, New Age, Christian or gay and lesbian themes, book events also take place at libraries, museums, community centers, churches and synagogues. As part of selling books during your travels, make sure you contact local media outlets along the way!

Reminder: Be sure to consult a qualified tax advisor to determine whether or not your travels will count as tax deductible.

Marcia Yudkin
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/entrepreneurs-take-a-taxdeductible-road-trip-or-long-vacation-134970.html

Presently, the MLB World Series tournament is in progress. Considerable numbers of important games have been played and more attractive games for which 2006 MLB betting is sky rocketing will soon be played.

The game of baseball is not much spread outside of the US. But, Americans are simply crazy about the game and the MLB World Series is the greatest Baseball event in the country. Baseball betting rises to its peak during the running of the tournament.

Sports books are the best avenue for baseball betting and in the US, great sports books like Bet Cris, VIP Sports, Sportsbook.com and many more are doing good business by offering systematic betting opportunities and some times guide the bettors in respect of betting in a particular event or on player.

Betting experts generally recommend these sports books as they publish time to time basic baseball betting guide lines..

Let us discuss about some of the basic MLB Baseball betting guidelines generally one should follow.

In fact, MLB Baseball betting is much more an intelligent and thought provoking activity than betting in other events. You must be aware that the clientele of baseball betting are well informed about the game. Also the MLB baseball bettors are serious enough and hard core gamblers. So don’t take them lightly and bet rampantly.

If you want to bet professionally in 2006 MLB Betting, you must avoid overlays at all costs, particularly with heavy favorites of over two dollars plus.

In MLB betting, the normal range is generally only ten cent. But in practice, it was observed that the games in which the favorite is two dollars or more, the MLB Base ball betting odd makers will increase the spread to a twenty thirty or even up to a forty cent spread. So bettors should be careful about this.

However, our recommendation for Betting on MLB will be with top sport books that allow MLB wagering. These Sports books offer the fairest odds, fast payouts, and superior customer service.

Let us now discuss about some features of the top sports books for MLB baseball betting.

Bet Cris is a great sports book for your MLB betting needs. This sports book has 24 hour service to meet all of customer requirements.

This sports book has a unique interactive sports betting service which allows bettors to bet online or over the phone. This sports book also has wireless services.

Another great sports book is the Sportsbook.com. This sports book process over $3 billion in wagers a year in audited business. The business company is a publicly traded one with sound capital base. This enables the sports book to cover any size bet, from $5 to $1 million. Furthermore the sports book feature uninterrupted live operator support, by phone or via the Internet. This is really a top notch sports book.

In the VIP Sports - MLB betting is at its finest on the web in the VIP Sports. The sports book is one of the top notch sports book. A simple to use interface arrangement enables the bettors to view the games, wager on them, and much more.

This sports book provides up to date news, statistics which will help you make intelligent, informed betting decisions in MLB baseball betting.

Christine
http://www.articlesbase.com/baseball-articles/betting-in-major-league-baseball-excitement-at-its-peak-63981.html

Gianni Truvianni
http://www.articlesbase.com/fiction-articles/gianni-truviannis-inspiration-to-write-rompryska-and-other-erotic-tales-602408.html