In a survey taken on this site we discovered that the majority of visitors are interested in writing a nonfiction book. While we didn't ask why they expressed such an interest, we can speculate that it has more to do with profit than fun.
Ebook in 7 Days
Writing an Ebook can seem intimidating. Jim Edwards, however, has sold millions (yes, millions) of Ebooks on the web. This is his comprehensive, step-by-step guide to writing and selling your own Ebook. He shows you how to do it all in just 7 days.
People who write fiction generally (a gross generalization) write for the love of writing. Although we receive a ghastly amount of email from folks wanting to know how to become a best selling author, every once in awhile someone wants to know how to improve their writing.
However, nonfiction authors are most likely (again, a gross generalization) in it for the money and/or the fame. They have some sort of expertise from which they believe others would benefit. They then want to write a book they can use to make a few extra bucks.
The sad truth, my friend, is that nonfiction print books rarely make any money by themselves, even for popular authors like Loral Langemeier (The Millionaire Maker) who has sold thousands of her books.
But nonfiction books can be written for both fun and profit... often a great deal of profit.
Why write a nonfiction book?
Your reasons are your own, but if you don't go into the process with a game plan for how you're going to leverage your expertise, you'll likely have a miserable time, never finish your book, and lose money in the process. Reasons for writing a nonfiction book vary widely:
Publicity for a business (consulting or other business)...
To enhance or expand a public speaking career...
To make a few extra bucks...
Simply to share knowledge or experience...
But if you're going to take the time to write a nonfiction book, why would you NOT want to make some money from your experience and expertise?
Few people ever make a living writing novels, even those who have written and published a half dozen novels or more. Many more, however, are profiting every day from nonfiction books of every shape and size.
How do people make money writing nonfiction books?
The answer to the conundrum of making money with nonfiction books lay in the realm of what is called "re-purposing."
Say, for example, you're an expert with roses. Look on any library book shelf and you'll see a dozen or more excellent books on how to care for your roses. It's unlikely any of those authors are making more than minimum wage (if that) from their books.
Ah, but what if you self-published your book, then created a video of you showing exactly how to care for roses. Add to that a booklet of "bonus tips" and a special report on how to do the whole thing organically, and you now have a "kit" you can sell on the Internet for a whole lot more than you can sell the book by itself.
It gets better. You offer the "bonus tips" booklet as a free downloadable PDF file on the Web in exchange for the recipient's email address. Once you've built up a sizeable list, you offer a Webinar or Teleconference series to your list for a small fee (but more than the cost of a book). While the book might sell for $19.95, you can sell the webinar or teleconference series for a minimum of $27 (and easily more).
[Note: A "webinar" is a seminar that is held online. Participants all call by phone into a common conference call line. They then go online to a common web page where they can see whatever you have on your screen - slides, photos, etc. A "teleseminar" is the conference call line alone, without the visuals.]
Let's do the math. If you have 100 people sign up for a $27 two-hour teleseminar or webinar, you've just made $2700 for two hours. If you record the call (you should), then you can sell the recording on your site for $27 forever. Even if you make only 10 sales per month, that's $270 in cash without any extra work. It's what we call "mailbox" money, or "passive revenue."
[Note: Check out www.gotomeeting.com for webinars and www.freeconferencecall.com for conference calling. The Freeconferencecall lines are completely free for up to 200 participants, and they include free recording of the calls. You can download the call as an MP3 file.]
You can also repurpose your original book into a series of articles that you use to advertise your web site and webinars or teleconferences. If you "seasonalize" the articles, you can keep your business blooming all year. Why not create a separate seminar for each season? Encourage people to buy the kit as a gift for friends and family?
It's not as hard as you might imagine.
Everything I've mentioned may seem overwhelming, but it's really not that difficult. The first step is to determine if you have a viable product or series of products to sell.
You want to sell to a well-defined niche market. "Rose lovers" is an excellent example of a niche market. They're always looking for the next great technique, method or idea to improve their roses, as well as the latest in rose developments and creations.
Investigate your niche market, either by associating with clubs or doing some online research. You want to know that:
Your niche market is active online
People in your niche market aren't afraid to spend money
They have clear and specific needs and desires
If any one of the three above criteria is not valid, then stop while you're ahead. You probably won't make any money online. For example, rabid environmentalists are notoriously cheap (one more gross generalization). In my experience, they want something for nothing and will become enraged if you expect compensation for your work. That's not a good niche market.
But once you've identified that your market is a good one, work some more on item number 3 - their needs and desires. Dig in and see if you can identify a half dozen clear and specific needs and/or desires people in that market have. What do they wake up thinking about? What do they say they wish they had? What do they feel is sorely lacking or missing?
Identify these needs and you can rake in a ton of money.
Then, all you have to do is create your "kit" around these core needs and desires. Tap into their emotional needs to create something they'd gladly pay a hefty fee to receive.
Where to start
First, create an outline of your base book. Your outline is little more than a list of the information most wanted or desired by your niche market. Just list out as many things as you can, even if they seem trite to you. Remember that there are thousands of newbie enthusiasts who are clueless and get easily overwhelmed by more complex books. Remember back to when you first started. What did you really want to know, but had a hard time finding in books?
Second, rearrange your list into a logical, easy-to-follow order.
Third, fill in the blanks. Take each item in turn and write all you know. You'll go back and edit later. Don't filter or worry about punctuation or grammar. Just get all that information out of your head and onto paper.
Fourth, go back and edit your book 2 or 3 times. Add as necessary, and delete anything that is unnecessary.
Your book is ready... now what?
Have a graphic designer or artist friend create a cover for you. You can get stock images for about $5 each at www.istockphoto.com. You have a couple of choices here: either print your book as a manual or workbook; or publish it as a regular print book.
If you print it as a manual or workbook, then you won't need an ISBN Number, and you won't have any out-of-pocket expenses until the manual is printed for an order. You can arrange for a fulfillment house to print and ship the manual as part of your kit on demand (whenever someone places an order).
Self-Publishing as a print book is a bit more complicated. There are a couple dozen good self-publishing companies who will publish and print your book on demand (as ordered) for anywhere between $0 (Lulu - see the ads on the right side of this page) and a thousand dollars or more. They'll charge you an initial fee, and then make your book available for sale with Amazon. For a $19.95 book, expect to receive between $6-10 in profit per book.
The main problem with self-publishing as a book is that you make it more difficult to fulfill your "kit" orders.
Once you've got the print version ready (manual or book), just convert it into an Ebook (electronic book or PDF file). You can easily sell the Ebook online as a separate lower cost item.
Finally, put the rest of your kit together. Borrow or buy a digital movie camera and have someone shoot you out in the garden with your roses. If your book is on a more challenging subject, such as corporate team development, you can still create a video of you presenting the information in a live seminar. While the information may be identical to that in the book, the perceived value of your kit is increased because it includes the video.
Write your bonus items in the same way. They can be simple 8x11 sheets bound in some way. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Put all your reports and bonus items on a special CD as well. It doesn't cost much, but increases the perceived value of your kit.
Marketing your information product
Marketing information products is a subject unto itself. There are many ways to market an information product, but these days one of the best is through a blog. Blogs are highly popular, and not just for celebrities or chatty teens. Most internet entrepreneurs have a blog. And since you only need to add one new article or post every week, it shouldn't take too much of your time once you get it rolling.
Don't use blogspot or blogging systems like that. Get your own domain name and hosting account. It will cost you less than $100 per year at my favorite hosting company (domain name registration is included) -- Bluehost. Then, install the Wordpress blog. If you go to www.wordpress.org you'll find lists of sites who sell or give away Wordpress templates that you can use off-the-shelf. It's a quick and easy way to get started. They also have some good tutorials.
Once your blog site is up, head on over to BLOGRUSH - a free marketing service for Blog site owners. It uses a viral form of marketing that can dramatically increase your blog traffic.
Got a blog? Then get free advertising and traffic for your blog from Blogrush. Check it out today.
Once you've got everything up and running, start selling your kit on your site. Create or offer a free product. Sign up with a shopping cart service to handle all the orders (try Goldbar One) and to track your mailing list. And, find a fulfillment house (Goldbar One has a nice add-on to help) who will print your manual, produce your CD's and DVD's and ship to your customers on demand. That is, the shopping cart system will automatically send them the order. They'll fulfill the order, and bill you for the production and shipping costs. All of this can happen while you're asleep or on vacation!
There's more, but...
Of course there's a lot more to this process, but I'd have to write a manual, produce a video, and sell you the kit for $97 to say all that can be said. Drop me a line if you're interested in such a kit.
Have fun and be sure to prosper from your expertise.
