New Author E-Book Tips
Okay, so I’ve never written an e-book before, so it may seem alarming to some that here I am, giving tips on something I’ve never even attempted in the past. But, if I was to write an e-book as an author with virtually no following, this is how I would go about it. I know there has to be a slew of people just itching to write something to share, so maybe this will help.
To start, I’d research some websites to help me write and eventually publish. One website I’m dying to try is FastPencil.com (which I will soon write a post about). With FastPencil, you can write and easily get your work published in a physical format aka a book, or translated into a PDF to share online or with iPad and Kindle users. Since we want to avoid the risk of making traditional books at high costs, we’ll only focus on the e-book publication.
Once you have written your masterpiece, the one pricing strategy I recommend may sound foreign, but it’s called FREE. As a new writer, you simply do not have the brand equity to start charging the $9.99 price to front like you are a NY Times Bestseller. At first, giving away X amount of copies free seems like the smartest idea. Until a certain number of digital copies are sold (granted they are of no cost), you shouldn’t try charging. Create the demand for your work at first and expect no monetary value to come from it. If you have the “I’m not doing this for money” attitude from the start, the chances of your e-book being absolutely awesome are much higher. You can always adjust the price of the book later, but first it is important to make sure the demand is present.
Here is something I think many new writers will overlook: Keep It Short Stupid (the new K.I.S.S.). This is your first e-book, so besides your mother and your cat, who will want to chance reading your 500 page thesis? Even though it is free, the appeal of reading something shorter in length is much greater than that of something lengthier. To this day, I shy away from books over 250 pages even from established authors - I’d rather the author break it up into two books and allow me to purchase the second book if I’m intrigued by his or her writing. Time is of value, so keep it under a certain length you feel is appropriate to make your point but more importantly, keep the audience wanting more. Going shorter leaves you with more to write about (and charge for) in the future.
A last option you may want to consider to have more control of your e-book is to restrict it to e-readers only. When you do this, you can control exactly how many people have downloaded your book. While you will not reap the benefits of your book spreading through email and other social media with direct download links to your book, you will be able to effectively start charging. E-readers do not allow people to share books, unless of course, one person was to give their Kindle or iPad to their friend to read from, but who does that?! The transition from free to charging when your e-book can easily be spread through email for free makes it nearly impossible to charge - it’s the Napster effect. When you are targeting e-reader users, you wind up targeting those who are serious about reading. These are the people who shell out hundreds of dollars to read more conveniently and often times, more frequently. If you can win them over, you certainly have a quality e-book on your hands.
Feel free to leave any more tips and suggestions in the comments section.
