You may think that writing your book has been the ultimate challenge, until you want to get it published when the real nightmare begins.
Getting published with one of the big names is indeed a daunting task; there’s the submission process, followed by the prohibitively long waiting time, and last but not least, the uncertainty of the outcome.
Meanwhile, you, the author, have bills to pay and mouths to feed. You then start looking at alternatives including POD (print-on-demand) services and you think all your problems are over since you can now become a published author without having to wait for one of the big publishing houses to make a decision or even consider your manuscript.
Not so fast! Many authors out there do not have a spare $1,000 or more to spend on POD services to get their book in print. For those who can afford that, there are further obstacles and additional marketing expenses to consider before they can start generating sales and deriving an income from their book.
If the book sells, you probably still have to wait several weeks before the publisher pays you! However, if the book does not sell, let’s hope that the money you poured into getting your book printed and on marketing activities was not the rent and food money for the month. This is the reality faced by many authors trying to make it.
This article will look at a viable alternative for the vast majority who not only want to get published, but also want faster results because they need to survive. We will specifically focus on utilizing the Internet and show how anyone can get their book published as quickly as possible and on a very low budget.
• With your manuscript finalized, the 1st step is to convert it into an appropriate digital format that can be delivered instantly over the Internet to anyone in any part of the world. One of the most common formats is Adobe’s PDF format where a free reader is available for download. Having your ebook in this format will ensure that almost everyone can easily buy and read your ebook hassle-free.
• You need to buy yourself an appropriate domain name for a website dedicated to marketing and selling your ebook. You should be able to shop around and get one for approximately US$10. Once you have your domain name, shop around for a good web hosting company where you can pay a low monthly cost. You want a professional image, so avoid using those free web hosts because they will usually insist on placing banner ads on your site. You want to advertise YOUR ebook and not somebody else’s website. A reasonable cost for hosting should be approximately US$10 a month.
• To sell on the Internet you need to have a way to collect payments from your customers. You must implement an easy way to accept credit card payments for online orders and the process must be totally automated i.e your customer places the order, makes the payment, and then download your ebook – SALE COMPLETED! And you are probably asleep while all that was happening! You need this capability immediately, not in 2 or 3 weeks time. A reliable payment processor is the way to go. They will process the order and payment and in 2 weeks you will get paid. Click here for more information.
• The next step is to get your website designed and also an attractive ebook cover. You may have heard the saying, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”, but unfortunately, the majority of people do! An attractive cover is essential to draw your audience in, so do not under-estimate the importance of your book cover. You can get your ebook cover designed for just US$30. Click here for more information.
• To keep your website design cost low, and yet have a professional look and feel, you might want to consider one of the ebook mini-sites available with various themes and colour schemes that may be suitable for marketing your ebook. Click here http://www.millionebooks.com for more information.
All the above will set you back between US$250 to US$300 but you will be able to go LIVE within days!
Once your site is up and running and your payment processing activated, you just need to focus on driving traffic to your site. Marketing online and offline will take up the rest of your time and the more activity you have, the more traffic you will generate and hopefully these will convert into sales. We will look at marketing in another issue.
Read about "How to Create Wealth with eBook Mini-sites". Good luck.
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About the Author
Publishing Consultant at BRL Global Group s/b