Help writing/marketing an e-book?

@megs85 (3142)
Australia
December 21, 2006 1:49am CST
Okay, so I have compiled around 10,000 bath salt, bath lotion, bath bomb, body butter, etc etc recipes, and now want to sell it as an ebook. Few problems I need some help with... 1. How much do you think I should charge? 2. Where should I sell it, ebay? my blog? or maybe both? 3. How do I make it into an e-book, at the moment it is just a word document?
5 people like this
45 responses
@creationhub (3066)
• Malaysia
23 Dec 06
A good venue of sales for your ebook would be businesses that deals with beauty products. Such are spas, beauty centers, health prducts retailers, etc. Charging too little a value for your ebook has two consequences. First, is that you have taken much much painstaking time and effort to compile such an exhaustive volume of information. Second, is that viewers who are potentially your clients will not think your product (ebook) is worth buying because it is cheap. Place a fair value. Another way could be to add some incentives to your buyers.
1 person likes this
• Singapore
22 Dec 06
1.Charge for about half the price of the market price. 2.Sell your book everywhere 3.make it in to an e-book using adobe arobat
1 person likes this
@NewHeart (528)
• Canada
21 Dec 06
?not sure but didn't steven king do something like this and charge everyone $1.00 for it to be downloaded. is there anyway you can try one of his book sites to see how it worked out... maybe one of his fan sites could give you the information you need to try the same thing...
@megs85 (3142)
• Australia
21 Dec 06
What do you mean deliver it? Don't I just send it as an email attachment? Thats how I got most of the one's that I purchased...
@Surfbay (235)
21 Dec 06
No . . . no . . . I can't suggest you sell your information product for such a low price . . . unless you want to build a mailing list of buyers . . . and you have another similar product to offer these peple at a higher price. On top of all this have you decided how you will deliver your product . . .
@cnetboss (2475)
• Philippines
22 Dec 06
First organize and compile you recipes then make it a pdf file. (use pdfcreator or adobe acrobat pro but I prefer pdfcreator because its free http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/) After you have generated the PDF file you can use e-bay, amazone.com to sell your e-book. For pricing try scouting e-bay and/or amazon.com for pricing.
1 person likes this
@Surfbay (235)
21 Dec 06
To make your - word document file - into an acceptable ebook you need to convert the file into a PDF file. You can do this without having Adobe !!!! You can get hold of a copy of Open Office, load your word file into that and convert to PDF file. Beleive me there are many ways you can do this . . . Selling . . . you should give a try to anywhere you can think of, but eBay is a great place to start. Price, should we say US$ 15.00, 21.00, 27.00 . . . it is up to you to make a start and maybe adjust your price later.
@megs85 (3142)
• Australia
21 Dec 06
I was planning on charging 99cents AU. Do you think thats a little low?
@megs85 (3142)
• Australia
21 Dec 06
You think people would actually pay ten dollars for this info? I was thinking more like a buck...
@Surfbay (235)
21 Dec 06
Yes . . . I do think 99c is tooooo low. Is that the value you place on your work???
@openedone (240)
• France
21 Dec 06
i think you should have some ideas in ecomics and managing to write like this as well
1 person likes this
• India
21 Dec 06
Oh you are at very starting point... Are you familiar with Adobe Acrobat? you need to use this in order to convert your Wordpad files to PDF book format... I think you must master Adobe Acrobat first.. then the second step will begin.. Eabay is probably first choice.. for sellign books. I also recommend Storm Pay.
@megs85 (3142)
• Australia
21 Dec 06
Any hints or tips you might have to share with me about adobe? How much should i charge for an ebook like this?
• United States
21 Dec 06
You should consider Cafe Press. Not only can you publish the book there then sell it on eBay or your own website, you could design t-shirts and more to compliment it. Then, make a Squidoo lens to highlight the items!
@Surfbay (235)
21 Dec 06
Oh my gosh . . . now you are talking . . great idea and opportunity to increase sales. T-shirts is excellent and Squidoo should be a great help. I beleive in information product marketing . . .
@Surfbay (235)
21 Dec 06
I am watching your progress . . . and you feel you need more help then I would be happy to try to provide you with more information. However you would need to contact me . . . send a message or whatever. I am not prepared to continue with this in open discussion. I think you have a great idea . . . and it relly would be a shame to let this just slip through your fingers. Best wishes . . .
@megs85 (3142)
• Australia
21 Dec 06
I have added you as a friend and when you accept I'll send you a message (or should that be IF you accept? lol) Anyway I would appreciate any help u for offer. I totally see what you are saying about na agent, but I am new to all of this. the mailing list thing could work, as I am also compiling a list of gift basket ideas and writing a guide on how to start a gift basket business from home. I wont give away all my secrets here but that list in the thousands too and I still have a long way to go yet...
@Mitraa (3184)
• India
21 Dec 06
Selling the E-book at $1 is no doubt a low value. You have collected treasures for multiple applications world-wide. So the price must be at least $10 and you should not have any doubt about your purchasers. It will sale like hot cakes! Thanks.
@megs85 (3142)
• Australia
21 Dec 06
Thanks for the pep talk. I supposae I am a little nervous as I dont want to feel like a failure. Do you really think the market for such info will be that big?
@Surfbay (235)
21 Dec 06
How very true . . . After doing all the hump and background work . . . you plan to give the results away. I really don't think so. Having gone back over this thread . . . there is NO WAY that you should release all your recipes in one go. Seems to me you have enough material to produce, perhaps four different volumes . . . each with a different slant. But don't give them away . . . as such, unless you know you are building something of value (Mailing List) which you will be able to take advantage of.
@jal1948 (1359)
• India
21 Dec 06
Try and find an agent and market it by publisging as a paperback,as for e book i have not the foggiest.
@megs85 (3142)
• Australia
21 Dec 06
Well do you have any idea about how to find an agent? I live in Australia...
@megs85 (3142)
• Australia
21 Dec 06
Thanks Surfbay for all your input...
@tanya6 (333)
21 Dec 06
you need to get adobe acrobat reader this will make your word document into a e book you can normally get a free trail this will allow you to make three e books i think and then if you like the service then you can subscribe i found them very helpfull and easy to use if i were you i would test the market first check ebay and see if anything like your e book is up for sale already then try £15.00 if no sales then drop the price. i have to say i would like to buy this type of e book so keep me posted on your progress please
@megs85 (3142)
• Australia
22 Dec 06
If you want to add me as a friend, when it is all set up to go, I'll send you an email telling you where to go to purchase it, if you like. AND, because you were the very first person to show any interest in buying it, I'll throw in not one, but two freebies along with it. Thanks for your support...
• India
21 Dec 06
i dont kow anything about it so please help me
@megs85 (3142)
• Australia
21 Dec 06
What do you want help with? Writinga nd marketing an ebook or...?
• United States
27 Jan 07
Try Lulu.com. You can make your book online at no cost. And you can sell it right on that site. Lulu takes a small amount of money when the book sells. Publish your own e-book at Lulu, it's fun.
@Lydia1901 (16351)
• United States
30 Dec 06
I'm not really sure how does that work. So, I can't help you with that. Sorry.
@polson (72)
• India
2 Jan 07
Just think, who will be your target buyers, and search for good recipy making web sites. I m sure this will help you.
@polson (72)
• India
2 Jan 07
I'm ready to help you out. First calculate the total cost incurred for each e-book. Total cost would include the following expenses. Cost of Publishing, Wages, Cost of Marketing and Distribution. Ofcourse you can sell your ebook on ebay. Other than this you can also try sell your book on www.allrecipes.com. I sure this will help you earn big bucks. Any help, please write to me. I m there for help.
@nhtpscd (1416)
• Australia
1 Jan 07
here is a bit more MARKETING YOUR BOOKLET ONLINE TO REACH A WIDER AUDIENCE. Set up a small focused themed-based content site and market your booklet from your site. To see an example of a theme site visit http://www.ragu.com or http://www.hothothot.com both of which have been designed for the purpose of selling a product and offering recipes for using that product based on a single theme.
@nhtpscd (1416)
• Australia
1 Jan 07
here is something I found for you today You may also decide to write a series of booklets e.g. 101 best cake recipes, 25 all time favorite family meals or a cooking from around the world series e.g. French, Chinese, Indian and so on. Side Note: If you are selling your booklets offline then ensure your web site URL is also on the booklet. ------------------------------------------------------------- For more resources, ideas and information for work-at-home writers and e-publishers visit "Net Writing and e-Publishing Success" http://www.netwrite-publish.com or send a blank email to subscribe to ebiz-publisher-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
@jen20619 (1300)
• Ireland
21 Dec 06
good reading this