Best wishes for the festive season

Hi folks,

This may well be my last post of 2011

Are you ready for the festive season yet? I have just about finished shopping and now I am organising my Christmas baking.
Christmas can be a stressful time for the budding cook, but the simple fact is you have to be organised. Anything you can do to ease the work on Christmas day is a bonus, so prepare sauces and stuffings the day before if possible.

I have just cooked a honey glazed ham and am preparing the veggies for tomorrow. I am so used to this now but I am sure last-minute panic will set in!! I have also just finished baking a Christmas loaf which is a nice light alternative to Christmas pudding.

I have quite a lot planned for 2012. I have several guides and ebooks which I am putting the finishing touches to. I really hope you decide to make 2012 the year that you decide to take control and work for yourself – it is very exhilarating when you finally make that decision.

I just want to wish you all a Happy Christmas and have a fantastic 2012. Let’s hope that next year will be bigger and better than 2011, and I hope you realise all your hopes and aspirations for the New Year.

Writing your ebook part 6

Following on from my previous post.

Designing your ebook cover

Remember the four “P’s” of Marketing:

Product, Pricing, Promotion and Placement.

But I think there is a fifth “P” and that is Packaging.

 Presentation is very important in marketing nowadays so try to make your product unique and stand out from the competition. Unleash the inner graphical designer! Because it doesn’t matter how well written your ebook is, or how valuable the information contained within it is, if your package is poorly presented.

You only get one chance to make a first impression, and believe me; people do judge a book by its cover.

“Your cover matters. Way more than you think.” — Seth Godin”

Tips for designing your ebook cover

1. If you have are lucky to have Photoshop on your computer, there are many tutorials that will help you create a great looking ebook cover. Please be aware that you do not need to use the full version of Photoshop, so if you are thinking of purchasing it (and it is very expensive) you could just buy Photoshop Elements which is a fraction of the price and contains all the tools you need to distort your images and produce a cover.
2. Another option is to use an ecover generator such as professionalecovertemplates.com or Ecover Generator Software. With these you can create an unlimited amount of ebook covers. Some people recommend that you get your first cover made by a professional because you can then edit the source Photoshop file for future ecovers using your choice of ecover software. As there are numerous ecover generator products on the market, pick the one that best fits your needs and budget.
3. A third option is to consider hiring a graphic designer to design your cover. If you don’t know anybody personally, you can find graphic designers at freelance sites such as Elance.com, Guru.com, oDesk.com and RentACoder.com. You could hire a graphic designer to design your entire ebook if you wished!

Once you have created a graphic for your ebook cover you can have it converted to a three-dimensional (3-D) image by using Photoshop or one of the various ebook cover software available.

4. I’ve also created an ebook (including the cover page) using MS Word 2007. To insert a cover page using this version of Word you simply go to the Insert menu and select “Cover Page”. You’re presented with a series of pre-formatted templates. Choose one, click on it, and it’s automatically inserted at the start of your document. You can edit it to your heart’s content. Easy!

Next time we will look at compiling your ebook…

Writing your ebook part 5

Following on from my previous post

Choose the title for your ebook

A lot of people spend so much time writing their ebook and then spend hardly any time considering their title. Your title has to be catchy enough to capture your readers’ attention, and it should also contain the keywords that people will use to search for information on your topic.

If you can, try to use a title and a subtitle together such as:

Quit your job: How to get rich working smart, not hard!

This format works because the title gets your attention, and it often makes a promise: such as the promise of being able to quit your job. The subtitle is longer and more descriptive. It should also contain some benefits or the solution to a problem: we all want to get rich while working less. Another powerful tool is to try to elicit an emotion with your title.
It is important to make sure that you test both your title and subtitle. You can use email responders to send out the same promotion using several titles for your product. Monitor the results and stick with the one that produces the most sales.

Never underestimate the power of a good title, and take your time choosing it.

Once you have the idea for a title you need to make it keyword rich.

Select the Keywords for your title

Use Google Ad Words to research and find the best key words to use for your title. This is key to your success as this will push you up the search engine rankings and help Google searchers find your ebook. It will also bring more traffic to your site, and thus hopefully more sales. This is one small part of search engine optimisation (SEO), a huge subject on its own, and something I will cover in the future.

It may also be worth considering buying the domain name for your title although I would only do this if it is a guaranteed seller or you are just wasting money.

Next time I will look at designing a cover for your ebook…

Writing your ebook part 4

Following on from my previous post

D.     Editing your work

 Make sure to edit your work. This is a really important step and you need to take a bit of time with it. Any type of writing that is filled with spelling or grammatical errors can put people off and tarnish your image as a credible writer. You can bend the rules at times to make your writing style more relaxed but just be aware of the pitfalls of grammatically incorrect text. Always remember that you want to provide a smooth reading experience for your readers. Keep these points in mind whilst editing your work:

• Check your grammar, and also check for spelling or stylistic errors. Also try to ensure that the way you have organised the ebook is logical and makes sense, and that you transition well between sentences, paragraphs, and sections.
• If your information appears to be unclear or incomplete, try adding examples and explanations to enhance that information. Also remove any irrelevant information. Be brutal – can you do without it; if the answer is yes, it is probably best to leave it out.
• If possible, try to give yourself a break between writing and editing. This will ensure that you are looking at the article with fresh eyes.
• Try to get several people who are well-read and well-educated to proofread your work. Ideally these should be people you know and whose opinion you respect. Listen to their comments about the organisation and content of your work. Ask them to point out any spelling mistakes and/or errors in your grammar. Ask them to be constructive. This can sometimes be difficult with people who know you but assure them that constructive criticism is a powerful tool. You could also consider hiring a professional editor to go over your work for you.

So, now you have chosen your topic, conducted your market research and finally written your ebook. Next time we will look at choosing a title for you ebook…