In my opinion, LSU Press should be ashamed of themselves – I’m sure if the story was the flip-side, they would have published it without even blinking. Good for you for forging ahead and getting your story out there despite the LSU sexism. Best of luck!

I am a ghostwriter and I write ebooks for a living (along with sales copy, websites, etc) through my website http://www.becomea6figurewoman.com and I am also a provider on elance – http://mkulp123.elance.com

I find that many people have great ideas and are what I consider to be an “expert” in a topic, however, they do not possess the writing skills. It’s not only about writing an amazing ebook that people love…there is so much more to it…for example…

In order to sell your ebook, you must have a website…again, most people don’t know how to write “persuasive sales copy that sells”. There is an art to this. When a person arrives on your site, you have about 30-60 second to grab them with your “words” or they are gone.

Then you need a good blog, because people want “conversation” about the topic of your ebook. It will also help you in the Google ratings. It builds relationships and credibility.

Then you need an autoresponder system, an optin with a free gift to start building a list and of course, you need traffic. (I focus on “free traffic”).

I studied under Yanik Silver, who is my long-time Mentor and I have been teaching people how to create information products and do all of the above for over 5 years.

In my “turn key” program where I actually create the website for my customer, create the graphics for the header and the ebook, write the sales copy, write the ebook, set up the autoresponder, etc. I can only take 3 customers per month because it is very labor intensive, but I can tell you that if you don’t have the “writing gene” and you don’t have the internet marketing knowledge, then you are better off working with a highly respected coach and mentor who can guide you and reduce the learning curve for you.

If you are interested in some of these services to help jumpstart your online business, please feel free to take a look at my website and we can talk.

There’s so much more to an online business than just “writing an ebook”.

Like some of the comments mentioned, there is also the Affiliate program. But honestly, until you have a product that is selllng and doing well…you wouldn’t have to concern yourself with an affiliate program just yet.

Baby steps. The key is to be committed to the path and not jump from one thing to the next.

Hope this helps!
Michelle Kulp, the 6-Figure Woman Coach

We’re Accepting Thailand focused authors directly. (ThailandeBooks.com) Ebooks are great for so many reasons, but being able to give the authors 75% of the sale price of the book (net price rather), it feels good like we’re providing a service for them. Authors SHOULD get more than the dollar something they get from selling a paperback book – I think most would agree.

I’m dying for a decent ereader to come out – if it’s an Apple tablet, so be it – but, I’d like to see an option for $199 that does everything: color touch screen; accepts USB inputs including external keyboard; WIFI; BlueTooth; on screen keypad large enough to type on; internal optical drive would be perfect; 10 inch diagonal; speakers; mic and headphone jacks; memory card reader; plays HD 1080 videos without skipping… you know, the basics!

Reallllly hoping someone gets this ereader concept right in the next few months here.

Great post about eBook selling. I have to say that starting out is the hardest part about the whole process. Just writing the darn book is hard… then having to sell it is even harder. But I will say that when you make your first sale and you realize you’ve created something that people are looking for – you feel wonderful.

I wrote a 100+ page book called “21 Days To Twitter Leadership” helping people (mostly newbies) learn how to use Twitter. To drive traffic I bought some keywords on Google and emailed my list.

It worked and I started selling copies of the book in the same week. Don’t get me wrong, I’m by no means a millionaire from selling a $37 eBook. But it has taught me a lot about online marketing, sales and content creation. I’m excited for the next opportunity.

Here are three action steps I would recommend if you are serious about creating an eBook.

1) Use a template to help you format as you write. I did this as recommended by one of my marketing coaches and it made a huge difference. It helps because you can see the book taking shape as you write and you don’t get burned out.

2) Don’t look at the eBook as a the end product. Use the eBook as the beginning of a relationship with a reader/customer – not the last time you will help them.

3) Don’t spend too much on Google adwords and other “for pay” traffic generators. Be sure to mix in affiliates, blogs and other social media elements to help spread the word. I learned this the hard way – so trust me on this one.

Hope these ideas are helpful.

~ Joel Mark Witt