E-Books – A Freebie or a Marketed Product?

There is a lot of controversy around e-books. Some claim that they have made millions with their e-book; other insist that they are only good as a hook for a giveaway to draw people to your site.

Actually, both can be true. It depends on whether or nor your e-book is any good! I like to give away an e-book for a time, then if it enjoys huge success and I receive feedback that is positive and frequent I can write another to sell under the aegis of ‘If you liked xxxx you’ll love xxxxxxx!’

A free e-book is usually best received if it is a short one, with concise easy to follow tips, suggestions and possibly a little humor. These freebies can be easy read and digested, and can pave the way to sell your products, services or even a longer book.

For example, if I am in the gardening gadget business, I can publish an e-book of gardening tips, and sprinkle references to my gadgets throughout to encourage them to return to my site and purchase them.

If I actually market landscaping services, I can still give away a free e-book for ideas on designing different types of gardens, flowerbeds, etc, and still advertise my company’s services as many people will want to hire jobs of magnitude out to a professional.

If I simply have written several more e-books on cultivating particular plants, flowers or shrubs, I can issue a generic informational e-book and let the reader order the paid e-book once they have decided what specialty they are interested in.

E-books can also be utilized in other ways. Say you write a twenty chapter e-book – wow, that could easily be turned into twenty articles. All you have to do is take each chapter, turn it into a stand alone article by rewriting the content, and hey presto you have twenty articles ready for publication as a series on a blog or for distribution to directories or how-to sites.

You can use e-books to generate interest in almost anything (did you know there are even e-book directories?) and people enjoy the easy to read format and brevity of a well done e-book.

Remember, format your e-book so it looks professional. No-one likes to receive something and find it difficult to read and hard to understand! Make each chapter clear and compelling, present it in an easily downloadable or e-mail format, and do check it out in various formats to be sure most people will be able to view it easily.

A good way to keep interest engaged is to provide a helpful tip or an activity suggestion at the end of each chapter of your book. This can be simple – just an idea for a project, a chart or graph to track progress or a planning guide.

Don’t be afraid to include things in your e-book like step by step guides or top ten lists. These can provide whole chapters of helpful information and your readers will appreciate the layout if you use your bullet points appropriately.

A well thought out e-book, whether it is a giveaway or a sales item, will engage and retain the consumer’s attention from cover to cover and leave them wanting more.