DH001 - How to publish and sell an eBook

Digital Hustle

Episode 1: How to publish and sell an eBook

“So if you’re selling a product at 5000 euros you probably only need to sell two of those a month and you have yourself a full-time business.”

Intro: Hello everyone and welcome to the SendOwl Digital Hustle podcast the show where we get deep into the details and sometimes into the weeds with today’s movers and shakers in the online selling space.

I’m James Milliron from SendOwl, and if you want to make waves with your ecommerce business you have tuned into the right frequency.

Our goal is to help you uncover new ideas and tools to add to your online sales strategy and that through the experience of our expert guests.

This podcast is hosted by SendOwl the leading digital sales and delivery application for entrepreneurs who want to increase their online sales conversion rates, to provide a seamless checkout experience for their buyers, and for those who want to get setup up and selling in under 5 minutes.

You can learn more about SendOwl by visiting SendOwl.com/pod where you will find a 30 day free trail waiting just for you.

So thank you everybody for tuning in. Do subscribe to the podcast feed on iTunes or on the SendOwl channel on YouTube to stay up to date on future episodes.

So let’s get into it, our topic of discussion today is how to publish and sell an ebook and today we're kicking off our first podcast with our very own George Palmer the owner and founder of SendOwl.

What’s happening George?!

George Palmer: Hi James thanks for having me and it’s very strange to be invited as a guest to a podcast for my own company.

James Milliron: I’m actually really excited to have you speaking to kick off even though we have a great line up of future podcast guests, because digital hustle is something you know a lot about. Why don’t we start off by giving the listeners a quick intro on how you started SendOwl and how it relates to our topic of ebooks.

2:15 – How George Palmer started SendOwl as a means to sell his eBook.

4:50 – Agenda and introduction to the main content

• What you should do before you start writing your eBook
• What you should do during the process of writing your eBook
• How to prepare for publication
• Pricing and publishing your eBook
• Distribution
• Go to market strategy
• How to maximize all the efforts you’ve made after the launch

5:25 – How can someone go about finding a good eBook idea?

• Determine what you’re good at.
• It’s easy to forget that the average person on the street doesn’t know as much as you do about your choice topic.
• Take your knowledge and get it into a really accessible form.

8:15 – If I’m writing an eBook should I choose a topic that I think will sell or should I choose a topic that I enjoy writing about? What’s the balance?

• If you choose an extremely niche topic that only 100 people are interested in, you will have a hard time.
• So you should consider that your topic is sellable.
• Out of the two options, you should still choose something you enjoy writing about or you will hit a wall.

10:00 – Should I use my own name or an alias/stage name?

• It’s personal choice but personal brand will become more and more important as time goes on.
• Only choose a pen name if there is some conflict of interest in your life that would make it so your book shouldn’t have your name attached to it.

10:50 – How do I come up with a good title?

• Leave it to the end. You have 3 to 5 words to get across the content and your unique angle.
• Ask someone who is good with words to help you with it.
• Don’t get too hung up on titles before you start writing.

12:20 – Is there any way to know whether or not my book will be successful before I begin? Are there any tests I can do to gauge the market?

• Throw $100 at Google AdWords.
• Bid on the keywords you’re interested in.
• Send people to a simple Wix
• Create a buy button.
• When they click it, say you’re not ready yet but leave your email and we’ll notify you when it’s ready.
• This will give you an idea of the conversion rate you might get from your website eBook.
• This will help you see if the market fit is wrong or if there are enough people interested.

15:00 – I have a lot of ideas about my next upcoming eBook. Should I just start writing or do I need a plan?

• When you have the enthusiasm, start writing. But don’t write the whole book like this.
• Create a plan for the structure of the book so you can see how you can market it when finished.
• You can’t do anything in life without a plan!

17:20 – How can we mitigate distractions while writing?

• See where you can find an extra hour in your day.
• Set aside that one hour with zero distractions.
• Turn off technology so you can focus.
• You must be dedicated to do it.
• Keep resources available throughout the day so you can pen down your ideas.
• If you work from home one day a week, use your commute as writing time.

22:10 – Is there anything else I can do while writing my eBook to start building awareness? Is this the right time to start doing these activities?

• Build a community of followers ASAP.
• Offline communities convert faster, so try to build relationships in the community.
• The benefit of an online audience is it scales faster.
• Hang out in places where your consumers will be.
• Get involved in Facebook groups, Twitter, etc.
• Once your book is ready you can market to these people.
• You can use this as a platform to start gathering feedback for your book so you can make changes.
• You might also get testimonials about the quality of your book by sharing a first draft with influencers.

26:30 – We have a first draft ready. What else should I do before I’m ready for publication.

• Think about graphics for your book, should you hire or buy the rights to existing images?
• Hire a proofreader.
• Think about how you will convert it into something sellable.
• Start preparing a go-to-market plan.

28:00 – What’s the best file format to use for publishing an eBook

• There are 3 formats.
• .PDF
• .MOBI
• .EPUB
• Never publish a finished version in Microsoft Word or another editable format.

29:55 – How do we get our finished eBook in front of an audience.

• Option 1: Sell via marketplace by using something like Amazon.
• Amazon would take 30% – 70% of your profit.
• They give you a platform for people to search for your eBook.
• Another downside is you don’t get to keep data on your buyers. You miss out on email data and other useful stats.
• Option 2: Sell direct from your own website.
• In this way you can save all the email and customer data.
• You get to upsell and cross-sell other products to them later.
• You get complete control on your pricing.
• If you sell direct you can sell eBooks at prices up to and over $100.
• More details in this section about eBook sales math.
• One example here about an eBook writer who made a fortune on his 100 page book at a very high price.

37:30 – Other preparations for a go-to-market launch

• Hype around your product creates desirability. Setting a launch date can be helpful for this.
• Announce to social media.
• Announce to your email list.
• Set up affiliate deals to get others talking about your eBook.
• Get your “buy button” live on your own website.
• Make it all happen on one day!

40:00 – What are some tips that we can use to maximize the effort of our sales post launch?

• Get your buyers on a mailing list so you can sell to them again in the future.
• Create a secondary product on a similar topic to use as an upsell.
• It’s easier to sell to an existing customer than a brand new one.

42:20 – Q&A with SendOwl

[In Owl Language] “What is the most innovate eBook that anyone has ever created?”

• Colored Pencil Magazine

[In Owl Language] “What is the most expensive eBook you’ve seen?”

• Market research report on mobile phone apps. Sells for EUR 5000.

45:30 – Additional resources

• Blog articles
• PDF file creators
• Get started now! Get stuff done!

46:30 – Wrap up and contact information

Visit SendOwl.com/POD to get a 30 day free trial of SendOwl.

If you liked this episode, subscribe to the Digital Hustle podcast on iTunes and the SendOwl channel on YouTube.