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How to Write and Make Money From an eBook Without Actually Selling It

Sunday, October 18th, 2009 at 4:39 am

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Red e-books An eBook is a great way of making money on the internet and you don’t need to have a website to do it. Nor do you need to actually sell the eBook to make money from it. So how do you do it…well in a nutshell, it involves you writing a short ebook preferably about a topic you know about and distributing it for free around the internet. It doesn’t have to be long – 10-15 pages is enough. In order to make money from it, you add multiple affiliate links to different products within the ebook.

Here’s how it works…

Step 1: Choose a topic that you have an interest in

The best eBooks are written by those who know what they are talking about. It will also make it easier to write if you have an interest in the topic. Having said that however, there is no rule that says that you need to know the subject to write about it but it will take longer because you will need to do the research for it first.

Step 2: Find products to promote in your ebook

There is no point spending hours writing an eBook only to find that there are no products to add to it. So before you start writing, you need to find products that you can ‘sell’ in your eBook that relate to your topic. You can choose products from Clickbank, CJ.com, Linkshare.com, ShareaSale.com, Amazon.com or any of the other affiliate networks. These companies are all free to join and offer thousands of different products and services that you can promote. Clickbank is a good one to start with as they don’t care whether you have a website or not.

Once you know that there are plenty of products you can start writing.

Step 3: Start Writing

This is not as scary as it sounds. If you have a flair for writing then you will probably have no problem getting started but if the last thing you wrote was a report in high school then you might find it hard to get going.

The easiest way to write an ebook is to break it up into sections first. For instance, say we decide to write an eBook on dog training. We might break it up into the following sections:

1. Introduction
2. How to train your dog to sit
3. How to train your dog to come when called
4. How to train your dog to shake hands
5. etc, etc

Once you have the main sections you can then provide the content. Always leave the introduction till last as it will be a lot easier to write.

Here is a really good tip. Start out with dot points. Don’t worry about making it read right at this point. Just jot down as many things as you can think of for each of the sections of your ebook.

Once you have the dot points then just expand on each dot point with sub-dot points. Before you know it you will have lots of content.

Now you just need to structure those dot points into coherent sentences.

If you really don’t want to write it yourself then pay a professional. Elance is a great place for this – it is full of writers willing to work on your projects and you would be surprised at how little it costs.

Step 4: Add Affiliate Links

Once you have completed your ebook you will need to add affiliate links. You can add them within the content itself where appropriate or add them at the end as a list of recommended products – or both if you like.

Step 5: Convert to PDF

Before you distribute your eBook you will need to convert it to PDF. There are a number of free versions available on the internet that are simple and easy to use. Ensure that once the document has been converted that you check to ensure that it has formatted the content correctly and that any links within the document work correctly. Some converters work better than others but we recommend one of the following:

http://www.freepdfconvert.com/default.asp
http://www.doc2pdf.net/

Step 6: Proofread Your eBook

There is nothing worse than reading a document with multiple spelling errors or bad grammar. Make sure you run a spell checker over it and read it through thoroughly yourself. Better yet, get someone else to do it for you. The more people that look at it the better so get your family or friends to help out.

Step 7: Distribute Your eBook

The next step is to distribute your ebook. Here are some ideas:

- email websites that relate to your ebook topic and tell them they can send out your ebook to their email list if they have one or they can use it as a free giveaway to encourage people to sign up to their newsletter.
– submit your ebook to ebook directories – there are plenty of them…just do a search in Google
– create a Squidoo lens, Hubpage (hubpage.com) and attach your ebook to the page so people can download it.
– submit to forums

And if you found that your ebook turns out better than you expected and you might just be able to sell it rather than distribute it free them sign up with Clickbank.

What Excuse Are You Using for Not Making Money Online?

Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 11:43 pm

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Making money online is one of those truly unique methods for making a living. It doesn’t have to involve selling a physical product, it costs practically nothing to start, you can work from home, you can live anywhere in the world (as long as you have a good internet connection) and in a lot of cases you don’t need to work long hours to succeed.

A good majority of the population aspire to working online but never get any further than thinking about it. And in most cases their thinking involves negative beliefs that keep them rooted to their 9 to 5 job. I’ve heard lots of excuses over the years – I don’t have the time – When my kids are bigger I might start looking into it – I spend all day on a computer at work, I don’t want to have to come home and do the same – I can’t type (hello!?…you only need 1 finger to type on a keyboard).

Every one one of these excuses is simply that – an excuse to keep that person from even trying. For most it is easier to not attempt something than to attempt it and fail. Their fear of failure keeps them stuck doing the same 9 to 5 job day after day. Unfortunately they don’t realise that the most successful people on this planet have failed again and again, but the difference between them and anyone else is that they see these failures as opportunities. They know that they can learn more from their failures than they can from their successes.

I think we’ve all heard by now the story of Thomas Edison who failed over 2000 times before he finally perfected the light bulb. Imagine if he had given up after the first failure? Would we all be sitting in the dark now? Probably not, as someone else who wasn’t afraid of failing would have taken over.

You only have to see a baby attempting to walk to see how this all works. They get up, take a step and fall straight back down again. But do they give up?…no way, they keep getting up and falling down until they take that second step and the third and before you know it they are walking across the room towards you. And the thing is, we expect them to fail again and again before they eventually start to walk properly. We don’t codemn them, or think they’re stupid or tell them to stop trying. We know that the only way they will walk is if they keep trying.

So if you think about it why aren’t you doimg the same? What’s holding you back from taking the next step to making money online?

Let go of the fear and just do it. If you make a mistake then don’t beat yourself up about it – instead look at that failure and see how you can improve upon it. Just keep at it and you can only succeed.

How to Work from Home Writing Articles

Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 8:58 am

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writing Working from home is something that more and more people are trying to achieve. You get to work the hours that you want and can earn money in your pyjamas…right? Well, yes and no. If you’re considering earning a living by writing articles at home, read on…

How easy is it to find a job writing articles?

Actually, it’s harder than you might imagine. If you do a Google search for Work From Home Writing Articles you will get a huge number of hits so it would appear that there is a lot of work available. However, be very, very careful. There are many sites which look extremely professional and are easy to sign up to. But a lot of them are scams or very low paying at best.

Scam sites

Adsense Revenue Type Sites

These sites say that you can write about anything you like and post articles to their site as often as you like. They will then put your article onto a website that matches its content and you get paid a percentage of the advertising revenue from that site. You can build up a modest revenue over time. For example, if you had 150 articles up, you could expect to earn around $1 per article per month. To do well at this you would need to know a fair bit about SEO (search engine optimization) and be sure that your article contains the correct percentage of keywords. Too many and the search engines will boot out your article – too few and it won’t get found. Google offers a free keyword analyzer which is worth a look. The good news is that once your articles are written and submitted, the money just keeps coming in. The bad news is that it’s not great money.

Credit card scammers

As we said, be very, very careful what you sign up for. There are other sites that entice you to write articles for them and they are easy to sign up to – just your email address and name. Then when you click to register, a grey box pops up, offering you an amazing discount to join them and get the benefits of their membership club. This discount price is usually around $2.95. This obviously makes it very tempting to sign up to but please, don’t! There is a box to tick to say that you have read the Terms and Conditions and in those T’s and C’s you will read that if you give them your credit card details, they will take a substantial sum each month. We have seen amounts varying from $47 to $70. A quick trawl of forums shows that some people were able to cancel after the first amount was taken but many were still frantically trying to get through on the ‘helpline’ number.

So are there any real opportunities? Yes, there are. Here are a few of the better ones.

Craigs List

You could try Craigs List. This looks like a very basic site but has a wealth of job opportunities for anyone who wants to write from home. First, select your city from the list on the left of the page. When the page has refreshed, look under jobs and scroll down to writing / editing. Then simply browse the jobs by each area and when you find one that you like the look of, email the address at the top of the page. Clicking on it will take you to Outlook or you can copy and paste it into another email provider such as Hotmail etc. You still need to be careful as some of the scam sites do post on Craigs List which can be disappointing. But as long as you don’t sign up for them, that’s all it is. Look for jobs that don’t require you to be in a specific area and accept ‘telecommutes’ i.e. working from home. You can browse every city which is broken down into towns. This can be very time consuming but it is worth it as it won’t cost you anything to apply and you may get work from it.

Associated Content

AssociatedContent is free to sign up to and will pay an upfront payment ranging from $1 – $20 depending on the content of what you submit. The average payment is $5. They accept articles, as well as audio, slideshows and others. You can either write whatever you wish or look for assignments. These are articles which AssociatedContent wish to be written so it’s a good idea to go for these. They also offer Performance Payments which pay $1.50 for every 1,000 page views your content receives. It’s worth noting that if you’re not a resident of the United States, you can’t get upfront payments – you may only submit content for Performance Payments.

There is a lot to learn about how to get the best from this site so spend a good chunk of time reading their faq’s, their help pages and other people’s articles on what to do. There is money to be made but you need to put a lot of work in to get started.

Elance

Elance is a site for professional freelancers and writing is among the skills that buyers are looking for. You can signup for a basic free membership and get to work that way, although it can be slow to start with. If you’re really committed, shell out for an Individual or Business membership which will display you higher in the search ranks when Buyers are looking for a writer. You can also optimize your chances of success by filling out your Profile page and taking the free online tests that Elance provide to show Buyers your level of ability.

A Buyer will post a project. They describe the job, how long they wish you to spend on it and how much they are willing to pay. You then bid for the job, using a ‘connect’ to do so. Each level of membership awards you a certain number of connects. If you are awarded the job, it then goes into a ‘workroom’ where you and your buyer can Private Message each other if required.

Before bidding on a job, check out how many projects the Buyer has posted and how many they have accepted. If a Buyer has posted several and not accepted any, it’s a good idea to pass – however tempting the job may sound. You can also checkout the Buyer’s feedback and they can look at yours so make sure it’s good! Elance displays your 6 monthly earnings, lifetime earnings and feedback score when you bid. Payment is usually through Escrow and you can then transfer it into your bank account or PayPal. Don’t forget that Elance takes a cut so add that to the price that you bid. Be aware that there are many providers on Elance so the competition is fierce. However, stick with it and if you are lucky, you may find a Buyer who posts repeat projects and invites you to bid for them.

Other bid sites

The other main sites where you bid for writing jobs are GetAFreelancer, Guru, and iFreelance.

Advice

This will sound obvious but it is something that many Freelancers don’t pay attention too, surprisingly. Always remember that you are selling your writing, so first of all, make sure that your profile is filled in as comprehensively as possible. Check the spelling and then check it again. When you get a job, do it to the best of your ability, present it well and make sure it’s in on time. And enjoy! Good luck!

The Lonely Affiliate: Is Internet Marketing All It’s Cracked Up to Be?

Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 1:16 pm

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Tonight I read a forum post by an internet marketer who found that although he was making money online and was successful at it, he found it all incredibly lonely. He was so lonely that he was asking for suggestions from readers as to how he could get around this problem.

What the…?! was my initial response but as I sat and thought about it I realised that in fact, working from home can be very isolating for many. As the ‘Lonely Affiliate’ said, the ‘grass is always greener on the other side’. In other words, those lucky people working a 9 to 5 job have got it all when it comes to social interaction – they get to communicate all day long with other people…they get feedback and hopefully lots of recognition for the good work they’re doing. They get to chat about the latest fashions, which celebrity has just died and gossip to their hearts content about the latest office relationship.

If you work from home, you don’t get any of that. The feedback especially is non-existent and you are often left wondering if you are doing the right thing for the most part.

For this reason, working from home is not for everyone. If you don’t like being on your own, and I know lots of people like that, then you might have trouble adjusting to this sort of lifestyle. I personally like being on my own…not all the time of course, but when I am I relish it.

I don’t feel isolated…I kind of figure that I have millions of people right inside my computer if I want to interact with any of them. And as for face to face contact?…well there are plenty of options open to me if I choose to take them and the same applies to the ‘Lonely Affiliate’. How about taking up a hobby, or joining a gym, or getting involved with your local community centre or joining a club. The possibilities are endless.

I know that I will never get bored or lonely working from home – there is so much more to life than that…but what about you…are you a ‘Lonely Affiliate’?