EBooks are one of the hot trends of the Internet world. There is a growing demand for electronic books as readers accept them as a quick and efficient way to get information. Likewise, many people want to write their own eBook but how do they go about it? There is information on eBooks “out there” on the net, but it is spread all over the place, which makes it difficult to use. Fortunately, author Scott Boyd gathered up all that information, added a wealth of his own knowledge, and combined it all into one handy reference book, Make Money Online: Write and Sell EBooks.
Boyd begins his book by discussing the burgeoning market for eBooks, the benefits of writing eBooks (such as establishing yourself as an expert on that book’s topic), and how you can either use eBooks to make a little extra spending money or grow the publishing of said books into a successful business.
Make Money Online: Write and Sell EBooks covers every facet of researching, writing and marketing eBooks. From choosing ‘a compelling title’ to ‘how many pages’ and ‘how to price your eBook,’ there’s not a topic that the author has missed. It was refreshing to read many sections where the author dealt, in depth, with subjects that are often covered, but typically in a quick cursory way in other books. For example, when discussing price, Boyd doesn’t just say, ‘check out what others are charging and price your book accordingly.’ Instead, he explains what will happen if you price your book too high or too low before moving on to finding the ideal price. He also offers great tips to increase sales such as setting your price in an amount ending in 7 or 9 (ex. $47 or $35.97) because marketing research has shown that buyers are more likely to purchase a product priced that way.
Much of the advice in Make Money Online: Write and Sell EBooks works for both eBooks and traditional “hard-copy” books. Both need things like ISBNs and blogging to promote them and Boyd tells you exactly how to do both, as well as many, many other things. Both also need websites for proper Internet marketing and the author, as with other topics, fully explores this issue. I found the author’s suggestion of creating “mini-sites” for each eBook particularly interesting. Boyd explains why each eBook should have its own unique site rather than a page on a larger site. As an added bonus, the author maintains a blog where he offers additional information on eBooks (the site's url is listed in the book).
While the topic of this book could make for a rather bland reading experience, the author injects a bit of humor and personal opinions to add spice. “I can’t stand the bright and thick borders that some authors seem to love. They seem unprofessional to me, maybe I am crazy.” (pg.75). While the writing is entertaining, it must be noted that there are errors in grammar and punctuation that interrupt the flow of the text in places. For example, “If you use their servers, they will run ads in around your blog…” (pg. 197). Having an editor clean up the text would greatly enhance the reading of this book.
Quill says: For those interested in getting into the hot eBooks market, Make Money Online: Write and Sell EBooks will prove invaluable.
